Who says atheists are not nice?

Atheists give free hugs to fellow students

By JESSICA PALOMBO

Campus correspondent

Turlington Plaza, the University of Florida's hot spot for preachers of ominous messages, was the backdrop for an ideological clash Thursday afternoon.

Frank Zaccaro, toting a Bible, was screaming warnings of hell to passersby when a group of atheists tried to hug him.

"No, I don't want that!" he yelled, and jumped back beyond their reach.

One of the rejected huggers, Robert Stark, said, "It would have been a good juxtaposition to the whole, him yelling about hell."

Stark and about 10 other members of the Atheist, Agnostic and Freethinking Student Association were tabled nearby, advertising "Free Hugs" and publicizing the upcoming speech "Why There Really Is No God."

On Sunday, the group hosts Eddie Tabash, author, lawyer and noted atheist, who will examine the question: "Who made whom: God or man?"

The event will begin at 2 p.m. in Norman Hall, Room 137, and is free and open to the public. A Q&A session will follow.

"We're working on the image of atheists," AAFSA President Daniel Morgan said. "We're trying to show people that there are young, happy atheists who want to give hugs."

Morgan, a 25-year-old University of Florida chemistry graduate student, said atheism faces a "gray problem;" people often picture atheists as "older, grumpy professors."

Vice President Brandon Smock said tabling was an attempt to dispel some common misconceptions and to "provide an alternative to the inflammatory speech that usually dominates Turlington Plaza."

"Atheists are some of the most moral, friendliest, most intelligent people I know," he said.

Tabash's appearance is sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, an international nonprofit group advocating scientific naturalism.

From Gainsville.com

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I can't believe I just did that

I can't believe it, but I just watched American Idol with almost no interruptions for 2 hours. Man alive! I think my strategy of any excuse of not cleaning the house has really topped it! I do admit, I have watched it more or less semi-regularly for the past couple of weeks, mainly due to the funny 'reject' videos of all the hopefuls, because I often marvel at people's arrogance and the blind belief that they can really sing.

Since the US is about 5 weeks ahead of Denmark they are showing two shows back to back. One of the most interesting contestants was a girl by the name of Antonella Barba. She looked like the epitome of the dumb pretty sorority sister that is so lovingly immortalized in most US movies. She did however project the image of a very sweet girl. What was so interesting is when I browsed about the show a little after the current episodes in Denmark ended and I found that she was embroiled in a bit of a sex scandal, when semi-nude pictures of her surfaced on the Web. So I clicked the appropriate links to see what was the fuss about and voila! I found pictures that at most, match your usual naughty pictures many a stereotypical 'popular' girls make, nothing overly exciting, just a pretty girl in a few 'naughty' poses. I swear, some tabloid journalists are the worse type of hypocrites out there.

I browsed the site, Wizarding Pop, that had the pictures and they also posted another news article that I felt was worth mentioning. Beth Ditto, the lead singer for the punk band Gossip, had refused to sing in-store for Topshop, the full article here. Why refuse such a money making opportunity?

" It's because they don't cater for girls her size."

She went as so far as to offer to design a range of plus sizes for the shop, an offer that was refused. Personally, as a woman who has just has made it to a very tight size 12 after  a 6+ months foray into the higher sizes, I think her decision to stick to her principles is admirable.  There has been many a shop which do not stock size 12 or 14, much less bigger sizes. Actually, writerwench has a post about being overweight, where a lady by the name of Joy Nash talks about the very same thing.

So I am off to see if I can get to listen to some Gossip and see if my admiration of her recent decision extends to her musical talents.

Signing off for the day,

A very lazy windrider_09