Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00 PM
Amazon/True Colors Bookstore
4755 Chicago Avenue S
Minneapolis, MN 55407
(Just across from Turtle Bread)
Thursday, November 13th, 7:00 PM
Blegan Hall, Room 10 (basement)
UMN Campus, West Bank
Minneapolis, MN
(Everyone knows where Blegan Hall is, because if you live in Minnesota, you've taken a class or two there.)
Sponsored by CASH
At a time when broad controversy and debate over religion exists on a scale unprecedented in recent times, religious fundamentalists attack the science of evolution and perpetrate the stoning of women and the specter of continued Christian fundamentalism is before us with Sarah Palin as the new wave of the Republican Party - Sunsara Taylor is coming to Minneapolis as part of her national campus speaking tour on AWAY WITH ALL GODS! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, the recent book by Bob Avakian. While the major media studiously avoided discussing religion's role in the last elections (even as both candidates stumped for God and country), Ms. Taylor, in contrast, dives in to the heart of these questions with a direct, scientific atheism that pulls no punches.On her tour, Ms. Taylor has been speaking in classrooms, on panels and in the media. She brings alive some of the themes in Avakian's book - challenging people to think critically about the horrors condoned and celebrated in the Bible and that there is a far greater source for morality in confronting the world as it is and struggling to transform it in liberating ways. She tells of her own experience as a Christian teen shocked and horrified when a Christian fundamentalist gunman killed the first abortion provider during the 90's. Sunsara went on to become a militant atheist who has traveled the country to write about and oppose the rise of Christian fascism in this country. Her transformation from Christianity to atheism was highly influenced by Avakian's earlier works on religion and she brings an enthusiasm and unique angle to a young audience in these highly ideologically charged times.
In her talks in Minneapolis, Sunsara will especially focus on how patriarchy and the oppression of women is foundational to all major religions, even in their more "progressive" forms. She will speak about why religion and all forms of religious myth are harmful, obstructing our ability to scientifically understand why things are the way they are and how they could actually be changed. As she puts it, "We do not need gods or belief in gods to be good, we do need a liberating morality, one that enables humanity to confront reality as fully as possible and as emancipators of humanity."
Sunsara Taylor is a writer for Revolution newspaper, a dynamic speaker and an uncompromising atheist. Her coverage of the rise of Christian fascism has taken her to the gates of abortion clinics across the country, to Terri Schiavo's hospice, to inside the stadiums of the BattleCry movement, and led to impressive verbal battles with Bill O'Reilly & Sean Hannity, as well as thoughtful interviews with reality-based radio hosts. Sunsara co-hosts WBAI (Pacifica) radio program "Equal Time for Free Thought."
Sunsara Taylor's tour is co-sponsored by Insight Press.
Hey, when I saw Ray Paradis, the book's publisher, at the Millionth Comment Party (and afterwards) I suggested Amazon as a venue for this, and I'm glad it worked out! Amazon used to be my friendly neighborhood radical bookstore until I moved into the trailer park ... Insight Press also publishes The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism which I reviewed some time ago and still highly recommend. You can probably pick it up at Amazon when you are down there later this week...
Humanities & Social Science
