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Philadelphia convention highlights.

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American Atheists 31st Annual Convention

Thursday, March 24-Sunday, March 27, 2005

The City of Brotherly Love welcomed American Atheists for our 31st annual, national convention. As the winter weather finally began to thaw and spring had officially begun, over 250 Atheists from around the country met at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The hotel sits at the water's edge along the Delaware River, and hotel guests were treated to relaxing sights of the river from almost every room.

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The day began with an amusing and warm welcome from our Pennsylvania State Director Lorie Polansky. She regaled us with tales of her interesting experiences as an Atheist activist, and she left us with the thought, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." Punxutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, assisted Lorie in her presentation.

Ellen Johnson also welcomed all the Atheists and speakers to the convention, arriving on the stage to the theme song of Rocky as an homage to Philadelphia's movie hero. She talked about her beginnings with American Atheists and how she came to be its president ten years ago. She also talked about how American Atheists is consistent on its policies and how we differ in that way from many other state-church separation groups.

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Texts of many of the speeches can be found in this issue.

Bart Meltzer, our Director of State and Regional Operations, then introduced the state directors who came to the convention and presented each one with...

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