"Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind." Thomas Jefferson
Events sponsored by the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego
A chapter of the American Humanist Association, Washington DC a non-profit educational organization
SPECIAL PROJECT OF THE HUMANIST CHARITIES
Humanists are not impressed by the church charities that went to the aid of victims of Hurricane Katrina by providing Bibles. Humanists say we can do better - let's provide realistic aid more practical than that.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban fundamentalists destroyed the libraries at medical schools. We're collecting donated books to send there to rebuild those libraries. Will you help? Donate your old biology and medical textooks. Deadline is in May. If you still have books to donate, bring them to any meeting of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego or email us or telephone one of our contact numbers.
Typical Humanist Meeting in the Wangenheim Room
Location used third Sunday each month:
San Diego Central Library, 820 "E" St. at Eighth Avenue. The Wangenheim Room, (rare books room), is on the third floor, next to the elevator and stairs.
You can park free on the off-street lot at rear of Library while you attend meetings there (but no other Five Star lot and you must leave by 5 pm.) The Wangenheim Room is a pleasant oak-panelled room with a Persian carpet and teak shelves filled with first editions. Don't miss the showcases of museum-quality exhibits. This elegant room was designed to resemble the private library of a gentleman in the eighteenth century. When you exit the elevator on the third floor, turn right.
On some other Sundays, Humanist meetings are held in the Second Floor Meeting room - enter from hallway ahead on your right as you leave the elevator.
Zen Szatrowski hosts informal discussions on the theme "A Better Future" on all Sundays when there is no regular Humanist event scheduled. These meetings take place in the Library's Second Floor Meeting Room, and typically go on for hours, with people arriving and leaving.
There is never a charge or a collection at meetings of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego.
Sunday May 31 at 2 p.m.: Plato - his influence on Christianity and the development of Western thought. Was Platonism the same as Humanism in the Renaissance? How do Plato's ideas impact your life today - perhaps without your even knowing it? Is Christianity largely a rehashing of Plato's thought - with tremendous effects on the way we all think today? Hear what Jerry has to say on this and discuss it with him.
Come and meet Jerry Dell Ehrlich, author of The Platonic Bible, and discuss Plato in round table discussion in the Second Floor Meeting Room, Central Library, downtown. The author will sell and sign copies of his book. The event includes a wine and cheese reception.
You see, it's like this ...
"All philosophical discourse in the past two thousand years consists pretty much of footnotes to Plato." That's a pretty sweeping statement. Why would anybody say it? Would you agree with it? Come and discuss the impact of Plato's thought with Jerry Dell Ehrlich, author of the new book "The Platonic Bible."
Now, listen up you guys ...
June 5-8: The American Humanist Association annual conference takes place in Phoenix. The Humanist of the Year award will be made to P. Z. Myers, science blogger of Pharyngula. Other awards will be given to Neil De Grasse Tyson, astronomer, and Donald Johansen, paleontologist. Car pooling from San Diego will be organized. Call Michael Summers, 619-590-0491, or email Michael@mesummers.com
June 6-7: For the first time in history, a serious and determined effort to end the dreadful practice of confining people to an "untouchable" caste because of their birth will be launched. Gandhi tried to achieve this and the laws in India and elsewhere now officially prohibit the cruelties of caste untouchability yet the practice continues, firmly entrenched by thousands of years of religious tradition. The Humanists are taking the lead in a renewed attempt to put an end to untouchability at last. This conference in London is the first step, to plan a strategy for success. No more "Mister Nice Guy" praying about it while the cruelty continues. The Humanists want real change. See www.IHEU.org
Sunday June 7: HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA. Commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Tienanmen Square Massacre. Our member Jim Zimmerman is a China specialist with Amnesty International and he will show the film "Tank Man" and address the subject of the way China treats its own people who dare to dissent from the state-imposed orthodoxy. Second Floor Meeting Room, Central Library.
The people of China wanted democracy
The Chinese government doesn't want the people of China to taste freedom. They sent Army tanks in to crush the Tienanmen Square demonstrators. One brave man stood alone in their path. Come and hear Jim Zimmerman discuss the dramatic incident. See the film "Tank Man" from the PBS FrontLine series and discuss it.
Sunday June 21st, 2 p.m.: Review and discussion of A. C. Grayling's writings on liberty
Grayling, of the University of London, is coming to the fore as a major influence on the evolving Humanist worldview. Michael Summers, president of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego, will discuss "Towards the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights that Made the Modern Western World." The rights we enjoy in the West today - from the basic right to vote to freedom of conscience - were won in a series of hard-fought struggles over five hundred years. This is the epic, human story of those victories, by one of the world's leading public intellectuals. Wangenheim Room
Discussion Leader: Michael Summers, President
Friday June 26th at 9:30 a.m.:Free! A two hour cruise on the Bay aboard a tour boat. You will be shown shoreline features including sensitive military installations so only US citizens over 18 may go. This tour is free but tickets are limited and few are left. After the cruise we'll eat lunch together at the downtown YMCA.
Dr. Rebecca Moore
Sunday, July 19th, 2 P.M.: "Faith Seeking Understanding: The Tradition of Liberal Thought in Religion" Lecture and discussion by Professor Rebecca Moore, San Diego State University, nationally known scholar of cults and the effects of religious influence on individuals and on society. Dr. Rebecca Moore is the chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at SDSU. Wangenheim Room
Conservative Christians, Fundamentalist Muslims, and Orthodox Jews are giving religion a bad name, linking it to intolerance, bigotry, narrow-mindedness, anti-intellectualism. Yet there is a long heritage of rational and reasoned thought in the Western Monotheisms. Indeed, study and research have been seen as religious imperatives that lead to the knowledge of God. Moreover, Enlightenment empiricism stemmed in part from the pietistic religious movements of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This talk examines the affinities, as well as the tensions, that exist between religion and reason.
Rebecca Moore is Chair and Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She obtained her Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Marquette University. Her research has focused on religion in America, the history of Christianity, and Jewish and Christian Dialogue. Her publications include Voices of Christianity: A Global Introduction (McGraw-Hill 2005), A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and Christianity (Rowman and Littlefield 2007), and most recently Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple (Praeger, 2009).
Sunday, August 2, 2 P.M.: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Magnificient among the great Romantic poets, his words inspire Humanists today.But as a young student of 16, he was expelled from Oxford for writing The Necessity of Atheism.
A short, turbulent and colorful career with elements of cruelty as well as of spectacular creativity. We think Shelley's flamboyant life and his freethinking are worth celebrating by Humanists - don't you? Plan to join with the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego for a Sunday afternoon event dedicated to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and if you have something to contribute let us know so we can schedule you into the program. Read your favorite lines from Shelley, tell a story, crack a joke. Discuss his relationship to the liberated woman, Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the famous Frankenstein monster story. We are eager to hear from actors, public speakers, drama students and others who would like to read aloud some of Shelley's poetry and prose. Let us know. This is Shelley's birthday party - celebrate with the Humanists. Wangenheim Room.
Sunday September 6 at noon: Rally for Science. We will organize an event in San Diego in support of the March for Science planned by the American Humanist Association to take place this day in Washington DC. The San Diego location will probably be either Horton Plaza or Balboa Park's Prado. Details to be announced soon.
Dr. Judith Hand, HFSD Board Member
September 20 at 2 p.m.: WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT.
Nobel Prize winning women, discussed by Dr. Judith L. Hand. Wangenheim Room, downtown Central Library. We're planning a movie on this afterwards, to be viewed worldwide on YouTube.
Dr. Hand is herself a woman of achievement, author of books intended to point the way to a more peaceful world. Wangenheim Room.
Saturday September 26: Group outing to the Getty Villa, Malibu, by tour bus.
This will be a great day. We will see the classical Greek and Roman sculptures, mosaics and ceramics. The architecture and gardens alone are worth your visit. Docent tours (free) as well as the self-guided taped discussion of the wonders in the galleries and grounds.
Corliss Lamont, in The Philosophy of Humanism, says "The Humanist viewpoint permeated much of Greek culture during the Periclean Age." Now you can go with the Humanists to stand before some of the art which links you with your spiritual ancestors, the precious traces of the cultures that gave birth to so much of the best of our world. The Villa is a shrine of Humanism, and your day there with the Humanist Fellowship will be a memorable part of your life as a Humanist.
We expect to be accompanied by a professor of classics who will discuss Greek culture during the two hour bus ride. We are likely to be joined there by Humanists from around the region.
Your fee covers everything - coach fare, reserved admission tickets, museum tours. Members of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego $59; non-members $65. Treasurer Susi (619-670-4159) will hold your $20 deposit to secure your place. This tour is sure to sell out since others will be joining us for this outing.
We can pick you up in La Mesa, Mission Valley, North County or Orange County. We will arrange discounted group hotel rates for those who want to make a weekend of it in Santa Monica and you can go by car if you wish but it's not so simple as going by tour bus - consult with us about it first before you think of driving your car to the Getty Villa. If you're not with the bus group you will need to deal with the reservations issue and they admit only a limited number of visitors each hour. When you go with the group the tour organizers take care of all that.
Octavio Paz
Sunday, October 16th, 2 P.M.: 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 in all Latin American literature. A reading of his poems in both Spanish and in English translation accompanied by discussion. We are cooperating with the Consulate of Mexico for this event and you will meet some diplomats. Wangenheim Room.
Saturday September 26: Group outing to the Getty Villa, Malibu, by tour bus.
This will be a great day. We will see the classical Greek and Roman sculptures, mosaics and ceramics. The architecture and gardens alone are worth your visit. Docent tours (free) as well as the self-guided taped discussion of the wonders in the galleries and grounds.
Corliss Lamont, in The Philosophy of Humanism, says "The Humanist viewpoint permeated much of Greek culture during the Periclean Age." Now you can go with the Humanists to stand before some of the art which links you with your spiritual ancestors, the precious traces of the cultures that gave birth to so much of the best of our world. The Villa is a shrine of Humanism, and your day there with the Humanist Fellowship will be a memorable part of your life as a Humanist.
We expect to be accompanied by a professor of classics who will discuss Greek culture during the two hour bus ride. We are likely to be joined there by Humanists from around the region.
Your fee covers everything - coach fare, reserved admission tickets, museum tours. Members of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego $59; non-members $65. Treasurer Susi (619-670-4159) will hold your $20 deposit to secure your place. This tour is sure to sell out.
We can pick you up in La Mesa, Mission Valley, North County or Orange County. The date will be set finally when we work it out with the bus company and with Humanist organizations and the Getty Villa. We will arrange discounted group hotel rates for those who want to make a weekend of it in Santa Monica and you can go by car if you wish but it's not so simple as going by tour bus - consult with us about it first.
November 7: The big Charles Darwin exhibit from the American Museum of Natural History, New York, arrives San Diego. We will arrange Humanist group discounted tours. At the main downtown Library, there will be coordinated activities probably including shows of dance from the New York Living Theatre on the theme of evolution, and art specially created to honor Charles Darwin. We'll plan a marathon reading of "Evolution of Species."
Saturday November 20th at noon
March for Voltaire ...
on Voltaire Street
We'll celebrate the iconic figure of the Enlightenment with a costumed dramatic impersonation and a parade down Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach. Here's your chance to dress up as the "Sun King," Louis XIV, or Marie Antoinette or Madame Pompadour and have fun parading down the street in Ocean Beach singing the Marseillaise. Historical anachronism won't get in the way, and we'll flaunt the tricolor flag. We'll invite the local Francophile community to celebrate Voltaire with us, maybe the French Consul. Afterwards we'll enjoy a discussion on Voltaire and Humanism in a private room at a restaurant and socialize over good food to celebrate Voltaire's birthday.
Sunday November 21st at 2 pm: THE POETRY OF PERSIA. We will celebrate the tradition of freethinking and and naturalistic Humanism in the literature of Persia and Iran. There will be discussion of great literature and readings in two languages - Farsi and English - of classics such as the Rubaiyat.
This event will be held in the rare books room at the Public Library. Their collection includes some valuable antique volumes such as "The Rose of Persia" and books about Omar Khayyam. The librarian will exhibit these for us. Wangenheim Room
USD Professor Evelyn Kirkley
Evelyn Kirkley, professor of comparitive religion at the University of San Diego, spoke to us about the relationship of Humanism to other belief-systems, and discussed why the Humanist movement, while growing rapidly, is still quite miniscule.
The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego salutes Sir Salman Rushdie, honored by Queen Elizabeth 2 with a knighthood in recognition of his services to English literature. Salman Rushdie recently accepted an award at the meeting held at Harvard University to celebrate thirty years of the Humanist chaplaincy at Harvard. Other speakers included Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker and Alan Dershowitz.
The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego is a non-profit educational organization.
