Did God create man or did Man create god?

Friday 23rd of August

At Theatre 7 at the University of NSW Central Lecture Block (CLB7)

On Friday the 23rd of August Sydney Atheists will debate the Muslim Students Association and the Islamic Awareness Forum of NSW at the University of NSW. 

Their side will be represented by:

Uthman Badar. Uthman is a well known speaker, writer and activist within the Muslim community. A student of the Islamic sciences as well as a current candidate for a PhD in Economics, Uthman is actively involved in public discourse surrounding religion, politics and social affairs. He regularly lectures at universities and debates within the fields of religious and theistic apologetics.

Faraz. Faraz is an activist within Sydney's Muslim youth community, and has been actively involved with campus activism for several years. A graduate of combined Economics and Law, Faraz is an economics consultant and a student of religious apologetics, including theist/atheist and inter-religious discourse. He has a keen interest in the Quranic sciences and has also debated at the state and other representative levels.

Sydney Atheists will be represented by:

Steve Marton. Steve is the President of Sydney Atheists, and an event organiser. Steve has a particular interest in the Abrahamic religions . He is the author of "The Man who created God".

Aleks Zablotskii: Aleks is a speaker for Sydney Atheists, researcher and amateur essayist; focused primarily on the subjects of religiosity and totalitarianism.

The debate will be: Did God create man or did Man create god?

The moderator for the evening will be Dr Andrew Morrison SC. Andrew is a barrister (Senior Counsel) at Wardell Chambers in Sydney. He specialises in alternative dispute resolution and medical/professional negligence cases. He holds a PhD and has published various papers, as well as holding membership of various institutes. Andrew has served as both a Supreme and District Court Arbitrator as well as an acting judge.

Please RSVP on our website: http://www.meetup.com/sydneyatheists/events/130863342/
If subsequently you find that you are unable to attend, please update your RSVP so that others have the opportunity to attend.

Attendees will be able to assemble from 6.15 and we ask that everyone is seated by 6.45. Seating will be determined on the basis of arrival time. The debate will commence between 6.45 and 7.00pm and end between 9.30 and 10.00pm.

 There will not be a fee or donation required at this event.

  Friday 9th of August Monthly talks

First floor Strattons Hotel 249 Castlereagh Street, 2000, Sydney

Dinner from 6.00pm with talks beginning at 7.00pm

RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/sydneyatheists/events/121084592/

Call Morgan on 0451 035 088 or Steve on 0450 123 211 if you have any questions

We do request at a minimum a couple dollar donation to cover any other costs we incur, we are not for profit and 100% of funds will go to operating the group.

First talk;

Professor Peter Baume - From Judaism to Disbelief

Synopsis;

Professor Peter Baume is a former senator. One of his final acts as a senator was to cross the floor of parliament to vote in favour of a bill giving equal employment opportunity in some government-owned bodies. More recently Peter has been Professor of Community Medicine at the UNSW, chancellor of ANU. Since 2000, he has been an honorary research associate with the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW. He has also been Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission, Deputy Chair of the Australian National Council on AIDS and Foundation Chair of the Australian Sports Anti Doping Agency.

How a tsunami can affect belief.

Second talk;

Dr Stephen Mutch  - Political Secularism in Australia.

- Cults and religion

Synopsis;

Dr Stephen Mutch is a former member of both the NSW State and Federal parliaments. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University.

This talk will focus on the status and effectiveness of secularist forces in Australia. Time permitting Stephen will also discuss cults and religion from the perspective of policy frameworks for the regulation of religious and quasi-religious groups.

Please note that the dinner and talks will both be at the one venue, First Floor Strattons Hotel, 249 Castlereagh Street Sydney.

Dinner will be available from 6.00pm whilst the talks will begin at 7.00pm.

You will be able to eat before or during the talks. We will also have a 15 minute intermission. This venue affords us much in the way of social possibilities as well as the talks. Please note that catering will not be available after 8.30pm. Meals are available from $10.00.

Location: 249 Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW 2000
The nearest station is Museum, whilst Town Hall Station is a 5 to 10 minute walk.

Friday the 12th of July will be a well remembered date. We moved to the Strattons Hotel, a venue that proved a great success, with some 65 attendees at our talks. This venue has enhanced the experience and social intercourse of Sydney Atheists. It has provided us the opportunity of having a larger audience in more comfortable surroundings.

On behalf of all of our attendees I would like to thank Kuhen and Vinay very much for two excellent and intriguing talks that provoked many questions, much discussion and even some controversy.