It started, oddly enough, with creationism.
As I sat somewhat nervously in the classroom, I noticed that there were only twelve minutes left in the lunch break. A 10th-grader in the corner - a boy I’d never heard speak before until now - piped up. “What are some of the ways that we can prove God exists?”
I glanced at the clock again. Ten minutes left. He promised this was the day he would talk about evolution and creation.
I slouched in my chair, exasperated.
Eight minutes.
“How in God’s name is he going to treat evolution in eight minutes?” I thought. A moment later, the well-dressed young man at the front of the room spoke.
“If you were to find a painting nailed to a tree in the middle of the forest, would you assume that the colours of a palate combined - completely at random - to produce it? Of course not,” began Jason Cole.
“A painting” he explained, “implies a painter.”
Right. *rolls up sleeves*
This teleological argument is refuted easily enough. First, it’s a logical fallacy. An argument from personal incredulity is being employed in the following way: “I can’t imagine how evolution could have produced such complexity, therefore it didn’t.” Just because we can’t imagine how something is possible, doesn’t mean it isn’t.
Further, everyone agrees that life is complicated, but complexity is not the same as design, and complexity arises by self-regulating processes in nature all the time. What kind of “designer” would give you a vestigial organ that serves absolutely no purpose except to possibly kill you? The existence of the appendix alone should be enough to show how ridiculous this notion is on it’s face.
Would that I had the rhetorical fortitude - or the time - to communicate these ideas that day last October.
But this rehashing of William Paley’s famous “watchmaker” argument would serve as my first introduction to the world of the “Inter-School Christian Fellowship.”
My friends are all well aware of my philosophical leanings, and when one of them learned that a new “youth pastor” running the school’s Christian Fellowship was issuing challenges to atheists in the school, he suggested that I attend a few meetings with him just to see what was up.
What followed were several weeks of spirited debate with one Jason Cole - youth pastor at the local “City Heights Church” (one of those non-denominational evangelical types). Although I’ve since graduated, Jason and I still more or less keep in touch. Last week, we both had a chance to appear on a local radio station where we sparred once again over evolution.
Borne out of this saga however, is the beginning of a story much more interesting, and culminating in an event much more spectacular than anything I could have imagined.
Having listened to the Point of Inquiry podcast for nearly two years, I knew all about the Center for Inquiry and the work that it does not only to advance the scientific outlook in public life, but also to support an enormous network of campus freethought, atheist, and humanist groups across North America and around the world.
Living in a smaller and more remote city like Halifax has always been a bit discouraging. To the best of my knowledge, campus groups like those that CFI supports simply didn’t exist here. I craved the sense of community however, and felt (as I usually do, it seems) that I would forever regret not becoming more involved in the movement. That fall I, along with my friend Sam Mosher and our faculty adviser Mr. McMullin (a man who, during a typical calculus class, could make us think about Plato, Aristotle, or Erathosthanese without even realizing it) started the Prince Andrew Freethought Society.
Of course, one of the first things I did was affiliate the group with CFI, and I can still recall the feeling of excitement when the group starter kit arrived on my doorstep. I still have most of the magazines and pamphlets that they sent me.
The group met every Monday at lunch in Mr. McMullin’s room. It enjoyed moderate success, with about 10 or so regularly-attending members (mostly made up of my like-minded group of friends). I graduated in June, so it remains to be seen if the group will survive into the next school year.
The most exciting development however, occurred a few weeks after graduation. It came in the form of an email from Justin Trottier - executive director of CFI Canada. Justin was following up with me to see how the group did, and asked if I would come to CFI’s annual Student Leadership Conference at their Transnational headquarters in Amherst, NY.
Yup, I went:
Group photo taken at the 2008 CFI Leadership Conference. Circle indicates position of one extremely elated Derek Rodgers.
That image is pretty tiny - you can’t really see my facial expression. Here’s an enlarged version.
Now I suppose I should tell you how it all went down.
My flight left for Toronto on the morning of July 17th, and Justin greeted me at the airport. From there, we were off to CFI Ontario where I waited with a bunch of other Canadians who were going. After a few hours, the vans and rental cars arrived. We were on our way to Amherst.
We ended up arriving a little late, but the first evening was no less incredible. I sat in the Center’s ‘95 building and listened as the other attendees introduced themselves and their respective groups. When my turn came around, I related a bit of the story about my involvement with my school’s Christian Fellowship, and the subsequent formation of my group.
That night, I also got to meet Robert M. Price (the biblical scholar known for such books as “The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man” and “The Reason Driven Life”), as well as D.J. Grothe - CFI’s director of outreach and the host of the Point of Inquiry podcast.
After dinner, we all headed to the SUNY Buffalo dorms where we would be staying for the duration of the Conference. I’ll never forget my late-night search for a vending machine that would dispense cool, bottled water as an alternative to the warm, mineral-laden sludge in the dorm’s drinking fountains.
Left to right: John Xu, Katie Kish, and Justin Trottier
The Fabulous Lauren Becker
The next few days were packed with workshops and talks, including one by Matthew LaClair - the high school student who received international media attention when he recorded clips of his history teacher preaching Christianity in a public school. Saturday evening, Max Maven gave a performance of his incredible Thinking in Person magic act. I can safely say that this was one of the most phenomenal live performances of anything I’ve ever seen in my life.
Max Maven captured in a particularly expressive-looking pose.
Me giving a short presentation as part of a group project.
Me hob-knobbing with Max Maven
Left to right: Robert M. Price, Paul Kurtz (yes, the PK), and me
Just as amazing as the conference’s actual content were the group leaders from across North America that I got to meet.
After Saturday evening’s magic show, a bunch of us went to dinner, and then to see The Dark Knight at a nearby theatre. It was the perfect way to end the weekend. I got back to the dorms at around 4AM, and ended up missing the first talk on Sunday morning…
It was worth it.
I hung out with some of the most incredible people that weekend, and I came home on Monday with about 80 new Facebook friends.
This rather unfortunate photo of Dave Fletcher almost got me impaled, even though I assured him I wasn't the one who took it. I'm going to post it here anyway. Why? He got to go to the Secular Society and it's enemies conference last November. He got to eat dinner with Richard Dawkins. Enjoy your photo, Dave.
Left to right: Lucia Guatney, Andrew Struve, Dave Fletcher
Joe Nickell and his wife. This was taken just before I risked making an ass of myself by asking Joe for one of his famous wooden nickel business cards. I now proudly display it on my book shelf.
After listening to D.J. on my iPod for nearly two years, it was a real treat to finally meet him in person. He's easily one of the coolest people I know, and hanging out with him was definitely one of the high points of the entire conference.
Wow. I never would have suspected that attending Chrisian Fellowship would end like this. I wish I had known sooner. 
What have I gained from this experience? Lots of things.
It has cemented in my mind the need for both activism and community among secularists. It’s one thing to be out as an atheist, or to sit around a table with other atheists and talk about another reason why God probably doesn’t exist. It’s quite another to form a group that actively (and effectively) advances our common values, has a real impact, and affects meaningful change in society. This is exactly what CFI and it’s communities are striving towards, every single day.
So, I’ve decided to start blogging again. Hopefully for good this time. I’ve also been working with five other students at the University I’ll be attending in the fall to start a new group there.
Most of all, I hope that I’ve sufficiently expressed my gratitude to the incredible people at CFI for making this possible. It continues to amaze me that such a small staff are capable of pulling off such amazing events (they really seem to have thought of every single detail). Their hard work and dedication really is inspiring.
So, to Paul Kurtz, Justin Trottier, Dan Riley, Debbie Goddard, Lauren Becker, D.J. Grothe, Sarah Jordan, Roy Natian, and anyone else I might have missed:
Thank you.
