Just back from the Texas Freethought Convention, 2011, Houston, TX

Oct 9, 2011, Houston, TX — I’m just back home from the Texas Freethought Convention held atthe Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston. Quite nice to be among approximately 1000 other atheists. That sort of thing doesn’t happen very often in Texas, or anywhere else in this country.

I saw PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and David Silvarman among other atheist luminaries.

Some pics:

Here’s David Silverman, president of American Atheists, making his famous WTF face

Here’s a view from the hotel.

Here’s Dale Mcgowan, who talked about Foundation Beyond Belief.

Here’s a street proselytizer.

Here’s another street proselytizer. These people were actually outside an art festival that was being held a couple of blocks away from the hotel. I asked them if I could take their picture, and they obliged, and gave me a little comic pamphlet that bleated out Pascal’s wager. I asked this guy if he was aware that there was an atheist convention being held just a couple blocks away, he wasn’t, but was very interested. I pointed out the hotel, and told him there were hundreds of unbelievers he could talk to there, and then walked away whistling innocently. Heh. I was wishing I wasn’t at the conference by myself so I’d have someone to laugh with about all this, and as I entered the hotel lobby, who do I run into but Thunderf00t and PZ Myers in the hotel bar having lunch! So I stroll up and lay the tract down on the table “look what someone just handed me… ” Hehehe.
If one were the superstitious sort, one might think God Himself was orchestrating the delivery of this Jesussian message to these two high calibre heathens, eh?

Speaking of PZ Myers, here he is in the Foundation Beyond Belief booth:

And here’s Thunderf00t, Matt Dillahunty of The Atheist Experience, another guy, and Aron Ra of The Magic Sandwich Show:

Michael Shermer

Dr. Victor Stenger, physicist and author of the book “God: The failed hypothesis”

Richard Dawkins demonstrating the iPad version of his new book, The Magic of Reality”, to some kids.

At the banquet on Saturday Night, Christopher Hitchens received the Richard Dawkins Freethinker of the Year award from Dawkins himself, and talked to the assembled audience for about an hour, despite his illness. You can read an account of that in the Houston Chronicle.

~ by scaryreasoner on October 10, 2011.