Dr. Victor Stenger, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, will be coming to Calgary to speak about his book God, The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist.

Stenger defends his scientific approach to a theological or philosophical question: “You’ll often hear people say that science can say nothing about the supernatural, science can say nothing about God, can’t prove or disprove the existence of God. And I claim as long as you’re talking about a specific God, the God of the three great monotheisms, science can say a lot about that.” What science says, according to Stenger, is that he doesn’t exist. Not only does the universe show no evidence for God, it looks exactly as it would be expected to look if there is no God.

Who attends Stenger’s talks? Does he end up preaching to the pulpit, so to speak? “The great majority of the people who come out already don’t believe in God, are atheists or agnostics,” Stenger acknowledges. “I get a few people who, out of curiosity, want to come along, who might argue with me, but I don’t get much hostility from the crowd.” Stenger says that his talk is useful, even for atheists. “Most of the people that come to hear me, while they kind of know that they don’t believe in God, they don’t know why. They don’t know all the arguments, and they get into a lot of arguments, with their friends and their family. I’ve had many people say that this has been valuable to them because they’ve never heard some of these arguments before.”

It is not surprising that many people haven’t heard the case for atheism based on quantum mechanics or particle physics. This is precisely what is unique about Stenger’s book. His arguments range from these highly original ones to the more familiar. “In this book, I pretty much tried to cover everything,” says Stenger. “People say, ‘Oh, I’ve heard that one before,’ and yeah, they probably have. But it was because I had to produce something that was complete, so that a person reading it can know what all the [scientific] arguments are.”

Stenger’s talk will be held Wednesday, June 25, 7 p.m. at the Memorial Park Library (1221 2 St. S.W.), and will be followed by a question-and-answer period. The event is sponsored by Pages Books on Kensington.

Sina Queyras, the 2007-08 Markin-Flanagan writer-in-residence, is at the end of her stint at the University of Calgary, but her writing is still going strong. This week, she launches NINETEEN SHORT STORIES BY SAMUEL BECKETT, a new chapbook from No press. Join her at Pages Books (1135 Kensington Rd. N.W.) on June 19, 7:30 p.m.

If Costco and Ikea aren’t your scene, head down to the launch of the Market Collective, an independent market that showcases local artists, artisans and musicians. All sorts of goods will be on sale, including books, photos, clothing, soap, flowers, tea and jewelry, accompanied by live music, a DJ and a barbecue. The market runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 21, in the Carpenters Union Hall at the University of Calgary (310 10 St. N.W.).

Take a trip to Africa, in the comfort of your local library. Mike Potter, author of several guidebooks, presents Adventures in Africa, a slideshow presentation of East Africa. He speaks at the Crowfoot Library (8665 Nose Hill Dr.) on June 23, 7 p.m.