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Humanist Fellowship of San Diego activities are always held in downtown San Diego - right in the heart of the community, symbolizing our recognition of Humanism as the central focus of civilization's advances since the Renaissance.
Now celebrating an unbroken 26 years representing Humanism in San Diego, meetings of the Humanist Fellowship are held downtown usually on the third Sunday. The format is usually "round table" discussion. Meetings typically last two hours. Always free.
Location used most:
San Diego Central Library, 820 "E" St. at Eighth Avenue; the Wangenheim Room, (rare books room), third floor, next to the elevator and stairs. You can park free on the off-street lot at rear of Library when you attend this meeting (but no other Five Star lot). This location is a pleasant oak-paneled carpeted room. It's not always open to the public. Get there early and enjoy the unique exhibits in the glass showcases around the room before the meeting. Other Humanist meetings are held in the second floor meeting room - enter through the Media Center or from hallway.
Saturday July 5, 6 p.m.: Dinner to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the announcing of the Theory of Evolution, by the Darwin-Wallace paper presented to the Linnean Society in 1858. This is a private invitational event, limited in numbers, and resrvations with the Humanists are necessary. Please call Susi at 619-670-4159 mornings after 10. As of July 4 we are pretty much filled up however if you call Susi we will do our best to fit you in. We will eat at Hob Nob Hill, where the house specialty is braised lamb shank with mint dressing. They also offer filet mignon, prime rib, and many salads. Wine is available. Order from the menu. All seats are by reservation and we cannot accommodate drop-ins. Special guest, well-known author and biologist Judith L. Hand, will lead the conversation.
Sunday July 6, 1:30 p.m.: Round table discussions organized by Zen Szatrowski under the heading High priority: A Better Future: A Humanist Vision. Call Zen for more information, 619-294-9584. In the second floor meeting room at the Library, access through the Media Center.
Sunday July 13: see June 29
SUNDAY JULY 20, 2 p.m.: "Black-and-white" thinking - why are people this way? How does it affect you and me today? Manicheanism, politics, sociology, religion, psychology. Thomans Paine and extremism. Ambiguity tolerance. Opposites, or shafes of grey? "Religious" and "secular" Humanism? Belief and disbelief? Love and hate? Atheism and theism? The "black hat, white hat" or "good guy, bad guy" syndrome. The Cold War. What about the claim "either you're for us or you're against us?" Round table open discussion.
SUNDAY JULY 27, 2 p.m.: Government and Religion - Must They Be Separated?Constitutional scholar and controversial author Steven Smith (University of San Diego) in dialogue with Las Vegas attorney Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association. A comparison of ideas and convictions - with lots of questions and answers (including yours.) Rebecca Moore, author, chairman of Religious Studies at SDSU, will moderate.
Sunday August 3: to be announced
SUNDAY AUGUST 10, 2 p.m.: We'll commemorate Felix Adler, the first person in America to be called "a Humanist." Neither a theist nor an atheist, he understood that learning right from wrong is a human responsibility, not handed to us off the shelf from any outside authority, and we humans can and must learn from experience what good and evil are. Adler didn't like the term, but he was in fact a Humanist and was correctly so described by the media. We'll celebrate his birthday, with a meal together, and discuss his ideas over Chinese food at Gen Lai Sen Restaurant. Parking is free on the resturant's lot. Trolley station: City College.
Wednesday August 13th: Bus trip to Pasadena for the day for a conducted tour of NASA's JPL facility, and learn about the exploration of space by their robots now sending back spectacular images from the outer planets of the Solar System. The Cassini probes are orbiting Saturn and Titan now, after passing through the famous rings and sending back amazing photographs. The director of this project, Carolyn Porco, has just received the Humanists' Isaac Asimov Science Award, and we'll see if some of her team may be in Pasadena when we visit so we can meet them. Space is limited on this trip and as of June 27 only five seats remain unsold on the bus so act right now if you wish to participate. Call Susi after 10 a.m. at 619-670-4159 or better still email Humanists@gmail.com for details or call the tour company at 299-5777 with your credit card ready. Trip cost is $65 and admittance to JPL is limited to US citizens.
Sunday August 17, 2 p.m.: Coffeehouse discussion, with light food and espressos or fruit juices, etc., at Libertalia Coffeehouse, 3834 Fifth Avenue, near University Ave., Hillcrest. [619-299-9360]. Invited speaker. Topic: Marriage. Who defines what it is? By what authority does anybody define marriage for you and those you love? Why is the government involved in a private personal relationship? Is the structure of marriage dictated by religious tradition? Who says who you may or may not marry, what gender they are and how many they may be?
Sunday August 24, 2 p.m.: to be announced
Sunday August 31, 2 p.m.: to be announced
Sunday September 21, 2 p.m.: In the Auditorium, downtown Central Library. View the feature film Pleasantville and discuss the Humanist messages in it. An imaginative fable. Comparing the 'fifties with our own time, we see more freedom today - but do we pay a price in erosion of values? Of stability? Of contentment? What happens when a modern person is miraculously carried back to the 'fifties? Can the people of that repressed era deal with today's sexual liberation? Does contact with their "black-and-white" world upset their lives as they emerge into the world of color and passion we now take for granted? In the 'fifties, people accepted censorship; this month is Banned Books Month and libraries nationwide are celbrating your freedom to read anything you like; this contrasts with the 'fifties when libraries were closed, books were removed from shelves, and with the 'thirties when the Nazis made bonfires of books by non-German authors. Celebrate your freedom to read and to speak out! Aren't you glad you don't live in the 'fifties? Come view this Canadian film and discuss it afterwards.
Sunday December 21, 2 p.m.: Time to celebrate the Christmas holiday season. Paul Martin, writer and performer of music, will entertain you with his irreverent songs. He is a recording artist who calls himself "the Aspiring Atheist" and apparently enjoys being provocative. Come and hear him and perhaps sing along with him.
Coming soon:
- The poetry of Humanist Octavio Paz, winner of Nobel Prize for literature in 1990, laureate of the International Academy of Humanism, often called the most eminent poet of Latin America
- Darwin 200: The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego will join in the worldwide celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. The website listing all events throught the world is www.DarwinDay.org We're planning a major event for Sunday February 15th at 2 p.m.
- Benito Juarez: In March 2009 we will honor this Mexican patriot on his birthday with a rally at his statue in downtown San Diego. He liberated Mexico from the stranglehold of the Roman Catholic Church and restored possession of Mexican lands to the Mexican people
There is never a charge or a collection at meetings of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego.
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