Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
Sunday, February 12 — 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM DARWIN DAY CELEBRATION WITH SDCoR AND CAMP QUEST WEST 3855 Ruffin Road, San Diego, 92123
This is a day for kids - old and young. We will be doing science experiments (Chemisty, Physics, Biology), enjoying some yummy edibles (including Darwin's Birthay Cake), and learning about the joys of camping at Camp Quest West.
Camp Quest is designed for children from non-religious families: atheists, humanists, agnostics, freethinkers and others with a naturalistic world view. We blend world-class science and critical thinking games with the traditional all-American outdoor camp experience. Think the glories of evolution paired with campfires and canoeing! Along the way, we build community, letting kids know that the skeptical community has something special to offer the world and role models to emulate.
This summer Camp Quest West is hosting two sessions: July 8-14 in the northern California Sierra foothills near Nevada City July 22-28 in southern California Angeles National Forest near Wrightwood
Both sessions are residential sleep-away camp experiences for campers 8-14. (15-17 year olds who register will be automatically on the Leadership Track as Staff-In-Training - they get their own campout!)
Camp starts on Sunday afternoon at 4pm and ends with Parent Afternoon starting at 1pm the following Saturday. We're switching it up for Parent Afternoon in 2012. Parent Afternoon will feature self-guided tours with socializing and ice cream at the main lodge. Meet your campers friends and staff. Final checkout will be 3:30pm.
Registration will open in January! Prices will be approved at the December board meeting but are expected to be similar to 2011. Meantime, if you have questions, please contact Managing Director Chris Lindstrom at 650-305-1248 or chris@camp-quest.org for more information.
Note: In addition to full payment option, we now have a layaway plan. You can put $100 down now to reserve your spot and make payments each month until July.
Tiered Pricing - You choose the tier that's right for you Tier 1: TBD (2011 price: $465) Tier 2: TBD (2011 price: $520) Tier 3: TBD (2011 price: $575)
Recognizing that families have different abilities to pay, Camp Quest West provides three rates. Tier 3 reflects the actual cost of camp, whereas Tiers 1 and 2 are subsidized by donations from the freethought community. All campers receive the same Camp Quest experience. You choose the tier that is best for your family. If you cannot afford Tier 1 pricing, financial aid is available.
Don't have kids? Borrow some for the day, or just come and offer guidance as we weave our way through the science/activity stations. Please consider making a donation to Camp Quest West so that we can raise more Humanists!
Saturday, February 4 — 11:00 AM — Presentation by Dr. Robert B. Tapp RELIGION AND POLITICS: FIRE AND WATER? Pacific Beach/Taylor Branch Library, 4275 Cass Street, San Diego
How did we get from the "no religious test" of the Founding Fathers to Eisenhower's "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance?
And then from that Cold War innovation to today's pious rhetoric? More importantly, what does it mean?
The various religions of today's citizens differ on women's rights, family planning, consensual sexuality, environmental sustainability, cloning, stem-cell research, capital punishment and many other ethical issues that must have rational and realistic discussion in public education -- and decision in the public arena. Can we get both major political parties to recognize this?
If these issues intrigue you, please join HFSD for a fascinating presentation by Dr. Robert Tapp, Ph.D., a renowned scholar on Humanist and Freethought topics. Dr. Tapp will cover the aforementioned issues and time will be allowed for a question-and-answer session after his presentation.
About Dr. Robert B. Tapp
- Professor Emeritus of Humanities, Religious Studies and South Asian Studies at the University of Minnesota
- Dean & Faculty Chair Emeritus of The Humanist Institute, New York City
- Co-organizer of the SDSU sponsored 2011 conference Toward a Reasonable World: The Heritage of Western Humanism, Skepticism, and Freethought
- Horace Mann Humanist Educator Award, American Humanist Association
- Founding and Continuing Faculty, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Minnesota
- See http://web.me.com/rtapp4/ for full curriculum vitae, publications, and presentations
Thursday, January 19, 6:30 PM - BOOK CLUB AFTERSHOCK: THE NEXT ECONOMY AND AMERICA'S FUTURE by Richard Reich Filter Cofee House, 4096 30th Street, San Diego, CA
In
light of our recent Occupations throughout the country, it will be
interesting to discuss Richard Reich's suggestions for what he terms
"The Next Economy and America's Future". Whether you have strong
economic and political convictions or haven't put much thought into what
has happened to our world markets recently, Reich's excellent writing
and clear explanations will give you a sense of where we've been and
where we're going.
Here's a blurb from amazon: "When the nation’s
economy foundered in 2008, blame was directed almost universally at
Wall Street bankers. But Robert B. Reich, one of our most experienced
and trusted voices on public policy, suggests another reason for the
meltdown. Our real problem, he argues, lies in the increasing
concentration of wealth in the hands of the richest Americans, while
stagnant wages and rising costs have forced the middle class to go deep
into debt. Reich’s thoughtful and detailed account of where we are
headed over the next decades—and how we can fix our economic system—is a
practical, humane, and much-needed blueprint for restoring America’s
economy and rebuilding our society."
Whether you buy from amazon
or audible, use this link, and HFSD will get a portion of the proceeds
(Stick it to the man!):
http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=sandiecoaofre-20
Friday, January 13 — 5:45 PM Happy Hour with the North County new Atheists and Agnostics Cocina Del Charro, 890 West Valley Parkway, Escondido
Enjoy happy hour with Ollie Payne, the Organizer of a new Meetup Group: North County New Atheists and Agnostics
Ollie started the group this past October for freethinkers in the north county.
About himself, Ollie says: "I am a proud and outspoken atheist, nearing the completion of my BA in Philosophy from American Military University. I have been a member of the SDNAA for two years, and decided that it was time to start a similar group closer to home.
I grew up in a staunchly conservative Christian household and had early personal experiences with several denominations, including Baptist, Lutheran, Calvary Chapel, and Presbyterian. By the time I reached high school age I had begun to formulate philosophical questions related to the flaws I perceived both in religion as a whole and with a belief in a supreme deity. Those at the lowest and highest levels of these organizations were too often unwilling or unable to provide meaningful, honest answers to my challenges, and I eventually sought my own path. This was facilitated by a transition to secular philosophy while at Palomar College (back in 2002). Now, after a long hiatus from academia I am 7 courses away from my BA in the subject. My MA program will be in Psychology."
This might be the perfect opportunity to meet other atheists, skeptics and freethinkers in your neighborhood!
TCIF = Thank the Calendar It's Friday!
Friday, January 13, 6:00 PM - 7:30 Miitary Humanists and Atheists Meet and Greet at MCAS Miramar Miramar Chapel, Fellowship Hall
The first meeting of the Humanist Fellowship and the San Diego Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is going to happen...on base, at MCAS Miramar.
This is an historic occasion. If you are retired or active military, and a freethinker, don't miss our first meeting EVER on a military base in San Diego.
Captain Rabbi Elson, Wing Chaplain 3D Marine Aircraft Wing, has agreed to allow the Humanist Fellowship to reach out to active service members, and is offering us the administrative and community support often reserved exclusively for religious denominations.
We will be getting to know one another, and planning for the future. Are you spiritually fit? Download the free Apple App (see below) and find out!
Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP for planning purposes.
MAP FOR MIRAMAR SpirFit App: This Apple app, available thru iTunes, was specifically designed for 3D MAW Marines. The app is a self-assessment tool based on the Navy Chaplain Corps Spiritual Fitness Continuum. Questions or comments about this program should be directed to the Wing Chaplains Office 858-577-7368
Saturday, January 7, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM AN UNSTABLE WORLD: FUTURE TRENDS OF RADICALISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE with Professor Dipak Gupta La Jolla Library, 7555 Draper Avenue, San Diego
Now
that Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki have been killed by the U.S.,
does this mean al-Qaeda and terrorism in general have been dealt a death
blow? Are terrorist attacks such as the ones committed by Timothy
McVeigh in the U.S. and Anders Breivik in Norway rare isolated
incidents, or can we expect more of them in the future? What effect will
the "Arab Spring" and the rise of Western cultural values in Arab
countries have on radicalism and political violence from the Islamic
world? And what are the ramifications of the tremendous economic and
demographic changes occuring in the world today?
If these
questions intrigue you, please join Dr. Dipak Gupta of San Diego State
University for his presentation "An Unstable World: Future Trends of
Radicalism and Political Violence" to find out the answers!
About Dr. Dipak Gupta
Dipak
K. Gupta is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political
Science at San Diego State University. Gupta was the Fred J. Hansen
Professor of Peace Studies from the periods 1998-2001 and 2004-2011. He
is also former Director and one of the founders of International
Security and Conflict Resolution (ISCOR), an innovative
multidisciplinary undergraduate program. ISCOR is one of the fastest
growing majors on the SDSU campus with over 300 declared majors. In
2009, Professor Gupta was awarded the Monty Award by College of Arts and
Letters.
In 1997, he was awarded the Albert W. Johnson
Distinguished Lecturer, the highest research award for the university
and was the "Professor of the Year" in 1994. His areas of expertise
include ethnic conflict, collective action, public policy analysis and
quantitative methods. Born in India, Professor Gupta received Master's
degrees in Economics from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India,
and the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his Ph.D. in the area of
Economic and Social Development from the Graduate School of Public and
International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Gupta
has been a visiting scholar at St. Antony's College, Oxford University,
El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City, Leiden University in the
Netherlands, Fudan University in Shanghai, China and the Terrorism
Prevention Branch at the United Nations Office for Drug Control and
Crime Prevention (ODCCP) in Vienna, Austria. He was also awarded a
summer fellowship in the International Studies Program at the Hoover
Institution for War, Peace, and Revolution, at Stanford University. He
received a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute for International
Politics and Economics in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Professor Gupta
is the author of nine books and has published over 100 articles in
scholarly journals, research monographs, edited volumes and newspapers.
He has also been invited by the Prime Minister’s office of Norway, the
foreign ministries of Sweden, the Netherlands, the Interior Ministry of
Turkey; and was among the invitees of the Safe Democracy forum in
Madrid, convened by the King of Spain.
Saturday, December 17, 11:00 AM - THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS - Presentation by our special guest Tom Flynn, Executive Director of The Council for Secular Humanism Rancho Penasquitos Branch Library, 13330 Salmon River Road, San Diego, CA
Why
do non-Christians make such a fuss about Christmas? How could anyone
have a problem with Christmas? There are parties, gifts, days off - this
should be a fun time for all concerned. Anyone who would challenge
and/or reject Christmas sounds like a Scrooge. . . right?
Tom
Flynn contends that this is part of the problem - the expectation by
the Christian majority that everyone else should be happy to conform and
accommodate themselves to a traditional Christian holiday. America's
most popular holiday is not for everyone. Flynn argues that Jews and
nonbelievers tolerate Christmas too passively in exchange for social
acceptance. Members of faster-growing religious minorities will be less
accommodating. Flynn believes that Christmas traditions must be
redefined. Perhaps most controversially, he re-opens inquiry into the
Santa Claus myth and concludes that belief in Santa harms the young.
Tom
Flynn is Executive Director of The Council for Secular Humanism, Editor
of Free Inquiry magazine, Director of Inquiry Media Productions and
Director of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum. A
journalist, novelist, entertainer, and Freethought historian, Flynn is
the author of numerous articles and editorials for Free Inquiry
magazine. in addition to The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, his books
include two anti-religious black comedy science fiction novels, Nothing
Sacred (2004), its prequel Galactic Rapture (2000), and The Trouble With
Christmas (1993), a secularist critique of the holiday. He has made
hundreds of radio and TV appearances in his role as the curmudgeonly
"anti-Claus." He designed the museum at the birthplace of 19th century
agnostic orator Robert Green Ingersoll and co-conceived a related
regional history project, the Freethought Trail.
His
latest work, The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief (2007), is a
comprehensive reference work on the history, beliefs and thinking of
America’s fastest growing minority: those who live without religion.
Friday, December 16, 1:00 PM to 5:30 PM THE UPRIGHT APE: BIPEDALISM AND HUMAN ORIGINS A CARTA Public Symposium Robinson Auditorium at UC San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. CARTA symposia are FREE, but you must register through their website.
Speakers
—Steven Churchill, Duke University, “Pelvic architecture of Australopithecus sediba and the genus Homo” —Jeremy DeSilva, Boston University, “Foot and ankle diversity in Australopithecus” —Matt Tocheri, Smithsonian Institute, “Insights into hominin bipedalism from gorilla anatomy” —Brian Richmond, George Washington University, “Pleistocene footprints and the evolution of human bipedalism” —Carl Ward, Missouri University, “Early hominin body form” —Chris Ruff, Johns Hopkins University, “Limb strength proportions and locomotion in early hominins” —Dan Lieberman, Harvard University, “The evolution and relevance of human running” —Leslie Aiello, Wenner-Gren Foundation, “Bipedalism and the evolution of the genus Homo” —Matt Cartmill, Boston University, “Body fat and bipedality”
Saturday, December 3, 10:00 AM to 12 Noon - THE ORIGINS OF GOOD, EVIL AND MORALITY with Robert Hudson San Diego County Library - Bonita/Sunnyside Branch, 4375 Bonita Road, Bonita, CA
The notion of Biblical-based morality is one of the oldest memes related to Christianity. Many people still believe that one has to believe in God to be a good and moral person and that the Bible is our main source of morality. These ideas are absolutely false.
To learn more about why these ideas are false and why humans have believed them for so long, please join HFSD member Robert Hudson for a presentation on the origins and history of good, evil and morality. Robert will examine the evolutionary origins of morality. He will shatter the myth that humans need the Bible and God to be moral. And he will provide strong evidence that humans can be good without God--and evil with God.
To prepare for this Meet-up, please read the book The Science of Good & Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Share, Care, and Follow the Golden Rule by Michael Shermer. If you really like this topic, then it is recommended that you also read the book The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Paul Carus.
In The Science of Good and Evil, science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates to moral primates; how and why morality motivates the human animal; and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence. Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans. As he closes the divide between science and morality, Shermer draws on stories from the Yanamamö, infamously known as the "fierce people" of the tropical rain forest, to the Stanford studies on jailers' behavior in prisons. The Science of Good and Evil is ultimately a profound look at the moral animal, belief, and the scientific pursuit of truth .
Sunday, November 20, 1:00 PM - MARK TWAIN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY 3855 Ruffin Road, San Diego
Lunch will be provided!! and served hot at 1:00 p.m. Most of the food is very kid friendly, and there are many vegetarian choices, as well.
Activities for the adults!
Pin the Tale on the Jack-Ass - (pin scathing Twain quotes about religion, politics, and human fallibity to photos of various politians from the news today) Twain or Twin: A (guessing) game determining which quotes attributed to Twain were actually said by Twain. You've got a 50/50 chance here, and there are prizes for the winners! Mark Twain's Own Specially Designed Memory Game will be available on a computer laptop.
Activities for the children!
Fishing from a Raft - loop and hook 'fishing' while standing on a Q sized inflatable mattress. Illustrating a Twain Story at the art center- Paper, Pens and Paints provided. The "Mysterious Stranger" dollhouse - Creating intrigue and chaos in miniature - nothing too sinister) Making an eye patch like one of Tom Sawyer's boys wore - you aint got to be a boy to wear a patch. White washing a fence - Tempera on Home Depot picket - out of doors frog jumping contest (plastic frogs provided) (with prizes) Twain Guessing Rope (All guess, One wins, Big Prize)
Mark Twain was an amazing human being. It was once said that a person dearly loves one's family, and if they know Mark Twain and have a little bit of love left, it all goes to him. His unerring humor and with laid bare our foibles and made us laugh at ourselves, but more importantly, made us laugh at others. ;) Mark Twain loved fun, so we are going to have FUN to honor him.
Saturday, November 6, 1:00 PM DOMESTIC HUMAN TRAFFICKING with Deputy DA Gretchen Means San Diego County Library - El Cajon Branch, 201 E Douglas Ave, El Cajon, CA
As Americans, when we hear the words
"sex trafficking," we immediately think of women and children overseas
who are being forced into the sex trade, or who are brought into the
United States for the purpose of sexual exploitation. We usually do not
think closer to home: Americans trafficking Americans.
In many places across the United
States, a darkness that most people overlook clouds the eyes of hurting
children, their stares serving as silent cries for help. They're the
glazed-over gazes of trafficked children who live enslaved, beaten down
and hopeless. In someone else's possession and under their control,
victims of human trafficking silently struggle to survive in this
darkness...
What is being done about this problem,
particularly in San Diego? And how can we help the victims? Please
join San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means for an
informative lecture on domestic human trafficking to find out.
About Gretchen Means
Gretchen Means has been a prosecutor
since 1999 and is currently assigned to the Sex Crimes Unit of the San
Diego County District Attorney’s Office. In the Sex Crimes Unit, she
prosecutes sexual assault, sex based homicides and criminal sexual
exploitation; she also handles sexually violent predator commitments.
Gretchen prosecuted the first cases using California’s human trafficking
statute and helped pioneer a new approach to prosecuting gang pimps.
She participates on the regional HT task forces and provides 24 hour on
call support to law enforcement in the field. Gretchen teaches
nationally on the topics of sexual assault and criminal sexual
exploitation. Before becoming a prosecutor, Gretchen worked with
at-risk youth in Maryland and California.
Saturday, October 29, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Presentation by Robert A. Yourell on "Soul-less Wellness" SD County Library, Rancho San Diego Branch, 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon, CA followed by lunch at the Mandarin Chef Chinese Restaurant, 2654 Jamacha Rd., #111
Psychotherapist, sound creator, writer and San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach (SD-SHOUT) member Robert A. Yourell will present on the latest insights into the psyche, and what they're good for.
Robert A. Yourell's experience in the mental health and social services fields dates back to 1975. He has extensive experience in psychotherapy, social programs and the insurance industry in roles ranging from counselor to program manager. He consults with people preparing for mental challenges such as courtroom testimony and dealing with difficult people. He offers sound environments for inner work and advanced stress management. Mr. Yourell has provided services and presentations for a wide variety of organizations, such as the Veterans Administration, police employee assistance, Federal Probation and Pre-Trial, Ball Aerospace, AT&T, and the Employee Assistance Professionals Association. Mr. Yourell blogs on controversial body-mind-society issues and operates his own website. His M.A. is in Counseling Psychology.
Robert Yourell
Thursday, October 20, 6:30 PM October Book Club - A HISTORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD by Jonathan Kirsch 777 Noodle House, 4686 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92105
Since the world will end on October 21, 2011 according to Harold Camping and other delusional Christian lunatics, we might as well learn about the history of the end of the world on October 20th, the day before Judgment Day, especially since we Freethinkers are going to be "left behind."
Please join us for a spirited discussion of Jonathan Kirsch's excellent book A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization.
About A History of the End of the World
Jonathan Kirsch has written an important study of the "little book" that almost didn't make it into the New Testament: the book of Revelations. For many, Revelations is a pastiche of symbolism impossible to wade through, so difficult that even scholarly St. Jerome threw up his hands. Christians have often been advised to read it symbolically, but throughout history, it has been read very literally indeed, with adherents calculating dates for the last days and condemning others to a lake of fire. Today it has a massive effect on politics, popular culture, and even foreign policy, evident especially in Lehaye and Jenkins' popular Left Behind series. Kirsch, author of the best-selling The Harlot by the Side of the Road (1997), does a masterful job of leading readers through the labyrinth of Revelations, exploring why it was written (and with sound speculation on who wrote it), what it means, and how it has affected history. Kirsch is like a tour guide, making stops in Florence, to show how Savonarola used Revelations as he stoked the bonfire of the vanities; in America, to explore how Protestants used the book's imagery; and in Israel, to elucidate how the predictions in Revelations have formed the basis of an unlikely alliance between Jews and the Christian Religious Right. Throughout, in highly readable style, Kirsch highlights how Revelations has been used as a justification for culture wars from the earliest times to the present. Fascinating--and sure to provoke heated discussion.
The restaurant is located between Menlo Ave & 47th St. Park in the back lot, enter through the rear door and look for Wilfredo.
It's Picnic Time!
Sunday, October 2, 11 AM to 3 PM at Morley Field
Time once again to get all of the San Diego CoR groups together for fun, food, and merriment in the park.
Featuring Volleyball, Croquet, and Board Games
We gather at Morley Field at the intersection of Upas and Texas Streets, near the tennis courts. You'll see the volleyball net near the big tree, and SDCoR banners.
If you missed it, you missed a great time! We will do it again...promise!
Saturday, October 1, 11:00 AM - Responses to Cult Disasters - Lecture of Dr. Rebecca Moore of SDSU SD Public Library, College-Redondo Branch, 6600 Montezuma Rd, San Diego, 92115 (community room)
“Why
do people join religious cults and what are our society's typical
responses to cult disasters? Join Dr. Rebecca Moore of SDSU's Department
of Religious Studies for an intriguing lecture on this topic and learn
the answers to these questions!”
We are proud to host
distinguished scholar Dr. Rebecca Moore of San Diego State University's
Department of Religious Studies for an informative presentation on
religious cults. Dr. Moore's lecture will focus on the Jonestown, Waco
and Heaven's Gate cult disasters and our society's responses to these
tragedies.
Rebecca Moore holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from
Marquette Universtiy (1996), where her specialty was Jewish and
Christian dialogue. She has written and published on medieval Christian
theologians and their debt to Jewish biblical commentary. She
co-authored the book A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and
Christianity, with SDSU colleague Risa Levitt Kohn. The book examines
how first-century Judaic groups interpreted Israelite religion in a new
historical context. Dr. Moore also specializes in American Religion,
with a speciality on New Religious Movements, where she has concentrated
on explicating a group called Peoples Temple and the events at
Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. This effort can be seen on the
website http://jonestown.sdsu.edu. Her book Understanding Jonestown and
Peoples Temple was released by Greenwood Press in March 2009.
Saturday, September 24, 1 PM - Creation and Earth History Museum (open from 9 AM to 5 PM) 10946 Woodside Avenue, North, Santee, CA
Opening of the Human Anatomy Wing and Dinosaur Gardens
The Creation and Earth History Museum in Santee will be holding it's sixth annual Museum Day on September 24, but this year's event is special. It will be the grand opening of the Human Anatomy Wing and Dinosaur Gardens...a $250,000-plus expansion.
Admission is FREE, and family friendly events include a Creepy Crawley Reptile encounter, animal balloon making, face painting, free food, and raffle prizes.
Special guests include Dr. Duane Gish, geologist Steve Austin of the Institute of Creation Research, Dr. David Menton of Answers In Genesis, and biologist David Hillaker of San Diego Christian College.
The San Diego New Atheists and Agnostics are hosting a Positive Protest at 1:00 PM at the museum. Read this from John Viggliano, who is organizing the protest.
Put off by the image of a protest as one with angry people carrying pickets? Well, then this event may be for you. I've tried the angry-atheist thing before and, believe me, it doesn't work. So, this time, having learned from speakers at the Beyond Belief Convention, especially science authors Sheril Kirshenbaum and Chris Mooney, I think we should focus more on trying to improve the public image of science than on education and criticism of creationism (although education will certainly be a part of it). Science has a PR problem and it's our job to do what we can to fix it, locally anyway.
Saturday, September 24, 10:00 AM to Noon - Evolution of Human Sexuality with Gerold Firl San Diego County Library 4S Ranch Branch 10433 Reserve Drive, San Diego92127
Humans are extraordinarily sexual animals. To understand human nature, understanding human sexuality is a necessity. Human sexuality has evolved over three distinct domains: (1) biological (providing the hardware and equipment); (2) sociobiological (producing our uniquely human physiological and psychological adaptations); and (3) socio-cultural, producing the ridiculous variety of customs, laws, myths and taboos found in human culture. We'll explore all three.
Complexicologist Gerold Firl will provide a comprehensive and enlightening introduction to one of the most important--and misunderstood--components of human nature. This fascinating presentation will illuminate where our sexual nature comes from, and also why our animal instincts make life so interesting and difficult in the modern world.
Sunday, September 18, 2:00 PM - ANNIE LAURIE GAYLOR Speaks to San Diego Coalition of Reason Chula Vista Library, Civic Center Branch, 365 F Street, Chula Vista, 91910
Annie Lauire Gaylor is one of the most accomplished and influential leaders in the Freethought movement in North America. Ms. Gaylor will be speaking to members of the San Diego Coalition of Reason about FFRFʼs many important legal battles challenging the abuses of the first amendment by local, state, and federal governments.
Annie Laurie Gaylor is co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and with her husband Dan Barker, is the current copresident. She is also editor of the organization's newspaper, Freethought Today, and author of several books, including Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So, Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children, and Women Without Superstition: "No Gods — No Masters." Along with her “friendly atheist” husband and co-president Dan Barker, Gaylor co-hosts a one hour weekly radio show Freethought Radio.
Our program will include a special surprise...singing! We will tackle some old melodies with "humanist" words, and will hear the first public performance of a new song written especially for Annie Laurie Gaylor by Paul Svenson, a new member of HFSD.
This event is co-sponsored by SD Secular Humanist Outreach and San Diego CoR.
SDSU Sponsored Conference Town and Country Resort Conference Center, Mission Valley
TOWARD A REASONABLE WORLD: The Heritage of Western Humanism, Skepticism, and Freethought Friday, September 16th, 7:30 PM through Sunday, September 18 at noon
This international conference is scheduled in honor of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Michael Servetus, and is co-sponsored by the SDSU Department of Classics and Humanities, the SDSU Department of Philosophy, the SDSU Department of Religious Studies, the SDSU Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs, and the Institute for the Study of American Religion at Santa Barbara.
Thursday, September 15, 6:30 PM - Book Club Discussioin - Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Twiggs Bakery and Coffeehouse - 2804 Adams Avenue, San Diego Slaughterhouse-Five is a satirical novel about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim. Ranked the 18th greatest English novel of the 20th century by Modern Library, it is generally recognized as Vonnegut's most influential and popular work.
Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.
Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority.
Saturday, September 3, 10:00 AM - Lecture by Professor Roy Whitaker on The Social Origins of African-American Atheism City Heights/Weingart Branch Library - 3795 Fairmont Ave, San Diego Followed by lunch at the Quehuong Vietnamese Restaurant
There is tremendous pressure to be religious among African-Americans and other minorities. However, there have been brilliant advocates of Freethought and secular humanism within the African-American community. As a minority within a minority in the United States, African-American secular humanists often feel isolated and misunderstood. And unfortunately, their contributions have been largely ignored. That is a shame because we can learn a lot from these African-American Freethinkers. Their viewpoints have challenged our religious (and often hypocritical) society and also mainstream atheism.
For instance, while many white atheists mourn the loss of faith, many black atheists--believing the "God-concept" spawns racism and oppression--consider the death of God a cause for personal and political hope. Some black atheists contend that a belief in God and His “chosen people” necessitates a politics of superiority and inferiority and that religious faith is responsible for justifying oppression, including acts of physical and psychological violence. In their secular vision of social and political justice, African-American atheists argue that only when the culture adopts and internalizes a truly atheist politics--one based on pluralism, tolerance, and freedom--will true democracy be achieved.
About Professor Roy Whitaker
Roy Whitaker is a graduate student at Claremont Graduate University. He is in the philosophy of religion and theology doctoral program. He holds two master’s degrees from Harvard University (2002) and Princeton Theological Seminary (2000) respectively. He has traveled, studied, and worked in Jamaica, India, and Germany. His areas of interest include comparative religion, sociology of religion, 19th and 20th century continental philosophy of religion, philosophies of liberation, African-American philosophy and religious thought, pragmatism, and cultural theory. He teaches World Religions, Christianity, African-American Religion, and Philosophy of Religion.
Saturday, August 20, 10:00 AM - Book Club Discussion - Ayn Rand Lunch following at Janet's Cafe and Deli SD County Library, Santee Branch - 9225 Carlton Hills Blvd. #17, Santee
"I want to be known as the greatest champion of reason and the greatest enemy of religion."
The novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was a powerful thinker whose views on government and markets shaped the conservative movement from its earliest days. Drawing on unprecedented access to Rand's private papers and the original, unedited versions of Rand's journals, Jennifer Burns offers a groundbreaking reassessment of this key cultural figure, examining her life, her ideas, and her impact on conservative political thought. Goddess of the Market follows Ayn Rand from her childhood in Russia through her meteoric rise from struggling Hollywood screenwriter to best-selling novelist, including the writing of her wildly successful novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Burns highlights the two facets of Rand's work that make her a perennial draw for those on the right: her promotion of capitalism, and her defense of limited government. Both sprang from her early, bitter experience of life under Communism, and became among the most deeply enduring of her messages, attracting a diverse audience of college students and intellectuals, business people and Republican Party activists, libertarians and conservatives. The book also traces the development of Rand's Objectivist philosophy and her relationship with Nathaniel Branden, her closest intellectual partner, with whom she had an explosive falling out in 1968.
This extraordinary book captures the life of the woman who was a tireless champion of capitalism and the freedom of the individual, and whose ideas are still devoured by eager students, debated on blogs, cited by political candidates and promoted by corporate tycoons.
Saturday, August 7, 10:00 AM - Film - TOXIC SLUDGE IS GOOD FOR YOU Followed by lunch at Ranas Mexico City Cuisine San Diego County Library, Casa De Oro Branch, 9805 Camp Road, #180, Spring Valley
“Americans are among the most manipulated people in the world; they just don't know it. See this film to learn about the nefarious practices of the PR industry and how it protects corporations and the wealthy while undermining democracy.”
Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: The Public Relations Industry Unspun
While advertising is the visible component of the corporate system, perhaps even more important and pervasive is its invisible partner, the public relations industry. This video illuminates this hidden sphere of our culture and examines the way in which the management of "the public mind" has become central to how our democracy is controlled by political and economic elites. Toxic Sludge Is Good For You illustrates how much of what we think of as independent, unbiased news and information has its origins in the boardrooms of the public relations companies. Toxic Sludge Is Good For You tracks the development of the PR industry from early efforts to win popular American support for World War I to the role of crisis management in controlling the damage to corporate image. The video analyzes the tools public relations professionals use to shift our perceptions including a look at the coordinated PR campaign to slip genetically engineered produce past public scrutiny.
Please join us for lunch after the meeting at Ranas Mexico City Cuisine, 9683 Campo Rd, Ste. "A" Spring Valley, CA 91977
Thursday, July 28, 6:30 PM - Humanist Book Club - THE RELIGION VIRUS Mission Gorge Cafe, 6171 Mission Gorge Road, San Diego
Religions evolve, not metaphorically, but in a very real way. By applying evolutionary principles to religion, we can finally understand how religion became incredibly infectious to the average human, perfectly adapted to its "environment," the human mind. Infectious ideas such as the loving, personal father-figure God, the promise that death is not the end, the attraction of heaven, the threat of hell and many others are traced from prehistoric to modern times, to show why they survived while thousands of other ideas died out. The world's religions have amazing parallels to biological life: They reproduce, mutate, and compete with each other in an ongoing battle for survival. Like biological life, 99% of the world's religions are extinct, but the ones that remain are quite remarkable, the very strongest and best. More importantly, "survival of the fittest" does not necessarily mean survival of the truth, but rather the survival of the things people want to believe, whether true or not.
The Religion Virus - Why we believe in God: An evolutionist explains religion's incredible hold on humanity is the culmination of work that began with Craig A. James' graduate studies in Computer Science at Stanford University, which focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially the semantics and syntax of natural languages (the linguistics of human languages) from a computer science point of view, as well as "genetic algorithms" that showed how we could use randomness (mutations) with directed filtering (natural selection) to create computer programs to solve problems for which no deterministic solution was known. In his AI research, James inevitably encountered Richard Dawkins' seminal book, The Selfish Gene, which introduced the notion of "self-replicating ideas" and the science of "memes."
Saturday, July 23, 10:00 AM - Discussion and Presentation by Gerold Firl: History of Freedom and Tyranny Followed by Lunch San Diego County Library, Rancho San Diego Branch 11555 Via Rancho San Diego El Cajon, CA
Freedom and tyranny have co-evolved over the last 6,000 years as human societies have careened back and forth between order and chaos. As Rousseau stated in 1762: "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are." We still grapple with this dilemma today, trying to find the right balance between liberty and security, and currently many nations with no history of democracy are trying to make the transition to a free society.
Gerold's presenation will illuminate the deep historical roots of freedom and tyranny, tracing the evolution of both systems of social organization from the origins of urban civilization 6,000 years ago to the present day. The co-evolutionary development of middle eastern monotheism and totalitarian government will be explicated, along with the unique history of Western democracy and separation of church and state.
Gerold Firl has a B.S. in Applied Mechanics from the University of California San Diego and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Irvine with an emphasis on solar thermal systems. His day job is engineering consulting and design at PDG Oncore, a San Diego engineering services company. Gerold is also an independent researcher in the science of complexity with an emphasis on the evolution of socio-cultural systems. He is currently writing a book entitled The Fractal Geometry of Culture, which will introduce a new model of culture incorporating the insights gained by evolutionary systems theory to create a comprehensive and coherent framework for both history and the future transformation of human awareness.
Pride Parade
Saturday, July 16th Meet at 10 AM — March at 11 AM
HFSD
will march in support of our GLBT brothers, sisters, parents, and
neighbors. Humanists have long fought for equal civil rights and
protections for all. We cannot sit idly by!
The parade is a short walk from the corner of University Ave @ Normal to the north end of Balboa Park.
For more details and to RSVP, visit HFSD at Meetup.com Wear a solid rainbow color shirt, or order here: http://www.cafepress.com/sk/SDCOR
Humanity On Call
THE 2011 SAN DIEGO BLOOD BANK 5K WALK/RUN
Sunday, July 10 at 7:30 AM
Embarcadero Marina Park North Seaport Village, San Diego CA
Join the "Humanity On Call" Team and enjoy a beautiful walk or run along a scenic course with your fellow freethinkers as we raise money for a worthy cause. Experience spectacular views of San Diego Bay, cruise ships, U.S. Navy ships, classic sailing craft, and the Star of India. The walk begins and ends at Embarcadero Marina Park North at Seaport Village.
Saturday, July 2, 10:00 AM - Book Discussion: Don't Believe Everything You Think by Thomas Kida San Diego Public Library - University Community Branch 4155 Governor Drive, San Diego
Although
the best skills can be developed through courses on formal logic and
philosophy, these courses simply aren’t feasible for most people — they
either aren’t readily available or are too difficult. Fortunately most
people don’t need that level of skill; they just need to be better than
they currently are. This can be achieved if a person is willing to
invest some time and effort into studying some basic texts, then getting
into the habit of applying the lessons from those texts to real life.
The latter can be especially difficult, but at least there are several
good books which people can use to start their efforts.
Thomas E.
Kida, a professor in the Isenberg School of Management at the
University of Massachusetts, wrote such a book: Don’t Believe Everything
You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking. As you can tell
from the title, Kida’s focus is on six of the most common mistakes in
thinking which people make across a wide variety of fields and issues.
He doesn’t claim that these are the only ones, but they are the mistakes
which he sees the most often and which he thinks lead to the most
problems.
Kida identifies the six mistakes that lead many of us unconsciously to accept false ideas:
1. We prefer stories to statistics. 2. We seek to confirm, not to question, our ideas. 3. We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events. 4. We sometimes misperceive the world around us. 5. We tend to oversimplify our thinking. 6. Our memories are often inaccurate.
Sunday, June 19, 7 PM - Reflections on a Decade of Paranormal Investigation featuring Benjamin Radford Joyce Beers Community Center, 1230 Cleveland, Hillcrest, 92103
Join writer and scientific paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford as he discusses the nature of “ unexplained mysteries” such as ghosts, Bigfoot, crop circles , and psychic powers. What does science say about the evidence for these topics? What is the nature of the “unexplained”? And why is there still debate about these issues? Radford will draw from case studies over a decade of personal investigations into these and dozens of other topics. Skeptics and believers alike will enjoy this interesting and informative talk. There will be plenty of time for audience Q&A.
Benjamin Radford is a research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and author of five books. He has written over 500 articles on various topics, including urban legends, mass hysteria, mysterious creatures, and media criticism. Radford is a columnist for Discover News, Livescience.com and Skeptical Inquirer. He has appeared on The Discovery Channel, CNN, National Geographic Television, the Learning Channel, and the Discovery Science Channel as well as MTV.
Sunday, June 19, 2 PM to 4 PM - FILM - "AMEN" based on the play "Der Stellvertreter" San Diego Central Library, 820 E. Street, Downtown San Diego
Join the Humanist Fellowship as we follow last week's play reading with the film!
Amen, which is based on the play Der Stellvertrete (The Deputy), examines how the Nazi Party concocted its "Final Solution," what other countries really knew about the burgeoning disaster and the role the Vatican may have played in Hitler's heinous reign in Europe. Directed by Costa-Gavras. Mathieu Kassovitz stars as Riccardo Fontana, a Jesuit priest fighting Nazism. Ulrich Tukur and Ulrich Muhe also star in this historical drama. (Running time is 132 minutes).
Thursday, June 16, 6:30 PM - Humanist Book Club - The Culture of Fear, by Barry Glassner Jade Thai Restaurant
Each day Americans are bombarded by a barrage of media messages. We can't help but read tabloid headlines that announce what appears to be the umpteenth teen mother tragedy. Each morning, talk shows seem to feature yet another victim of some rare disease. On the car radio we hear the details of what seems to be the latest in a string of ever more serious youth crimes. Television newscasts will spend weeks discussing the latest plane crash.
Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, uses persuasive logic and well-chosen statistics to demonstrate the infrequency of such events as “road rage” and the rarity of such criminals as “cyber-predators.” Our almost pathological fears do serve some function, however. News media may use these fears to earn higher ratings, politicians may play on our fears during elections, and perhaps, in a sense, even lobbyists for special interest groups may exchange fear for increased fund-raising.
This is a beautifully written and thoughtfully argued book. In addition to the rich explorations of youth crime, road rage, and airline safety, Glassner turns his talents to discussions of our overblown fears concerning such phenomena as teen pregnancy, racial stereotypes, crack babies, rare illnesses, and cyberporn. The Culture of Fear offers a much-needed antidote to the pervasive media virus of misinformation Americans encounter on a daily basis.
Sunday, June 12, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM - Reading of the Play, Der Stellvertreter San Diego Central Library, 820 E Street, San Diego
We shall read from Rolf Hochhuth's 1963 play, The Deputy (Der Stellvertreter). Attendees are encouraged to participate, either in reading or in discussion.
This play deals with Pope Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli, and his response, or lack thereof, to deportation of the Jews in Rome and, more generally, with the response of the Church to the political situation of the Second World War. Troubling issues are raised, the resolution of which is not aided by the fact that the Vatican has refused to open archives for the period.
Copies of the play will be provided.
May 19, Thursday, 6:30 PM - BOOK CLUB
Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials by Wendy Kaminer
America has a buoyant love affair with all things irrational. It's not just religion, but also astrology, psychics, wacky conspiracy theories, and worse. This has been going on since at least the last century and while some may treat it as unimportant to how society functions, the widespread irrationalism and uncritical acceptance of things like angels, aliens, gurus, etc. has serious repercussions for everyone.
Kaminer's book combines critiques of religion, critiques of the paranormal, and critiques of other modern myths to create an overall indictment of irrationalism in America today. She starts out with a very good analysis of church/state separation and the problems inherent with an over abundance of public piety — both that of traditional religions and New Age spirituality. She questions, quite well, the traditional and common association of religious devotion with morality. But what is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is that it skeptically and critically looks at New Age ideas at all.
Sunday, May 22, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM - Film IDIOCRACY San Diego Central Library, 820 E Street, San Diego
HFSD Members will gather to view the film Idiocracy.
Mike Judge wrote and directed this offbeat sci-fi comedy which gives a new meaning to the expression "people are getting dumber all the time." In 2005, Pvt. Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) is a soldier chosen to take part in a secret military scientific experiment in which he will be put into induced hibernation for one year, along with a woman named Rita (Maya Rudolph). Bowers is chosen for the assignment because he is statistically the most average man in the Army, while Rita is a hooker ordered to do some community service; however, Bowers and Rita are forgotten when the military base where the experiment took place is closed down, and when they wake up in the year 2505, Bowers finds himself living in a society where intelligence has taken such a landslide he's now the smartest man in the world. Can Bowers save America from its own remarkable stupidity, and he can he get the dunderheads around him to believe what he says? Produced under the title 3001, Idiocracy also stars Dax Shepard as Bowers's numb-skull lawyer, Stephen Root as a judge, and Terry Crews as Camacho, a former porn star and professional wrestler who is now president of the United States.
Sunday, May 1, 2:00 PM La Jolla Library, 7555 Draper Street, La Jolla, CA
Lecture: Complexity and the Evolution of the Universe, by Gerold Firl
Complexity is the youngest of the sciences, emerging only recently from the Information Age to supply the punch line to the timeless question: “What the?!” Uniting physics, biology and philosophy, Complexity Theory connects the dots in the evolutionary trajectory of life and consciousness.
Gerold Firl has a B.S. in Applied Mechanics from the University of California San Diego and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Irvine with an emphasis on solar thermal systems. His day job is engineering consulting and design at PDG Oncore, a San Diego engineering services company. Gerold is also an independent researcher in the science of complexity with an emphasis on the evolution of socio-cultural systems. He is currently writing a book entitled The Fractal Geometry of Culture, which will introduce a new model of culture incorporating the insights gained by evolutionary systems theory to create a comprehensive and coherent framework for both history and the future transformation of human awareness.
Saturday, April 30, 1:00 PM Lake Poway Recreation Area, 14644 Lake Poway Road, Poway, CA
PICNIC
Join SD-SHOUT (San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach) after the morning lecture for their annual picnic.
Saturday, April 30, 10:00 AM Poway Library, 13137 Poway Road, Poway
Just War Theory with Dr. Saba Bazargan
Just War Theory deals with the justification of how and why wars are fought. Is there such a thing as a good war? And can a war, with its violence and legacy of suffering, ever be considered just?
Saba Bazargan is a professor at the Department of Philosophy at UCSD. He graduated from Rutgers University with a PhD in Philosophy in 2009. Prior to that he received a BA in Philosophy and a BA in Political Science at UCLA. His primary research interests are in applied ethics and normative ethics. He is currently working on revisionist theories of Just War according to which the moral permissibility of imposing harms in warfare depends on the justness of the war being fought. He also works on theories of individual responsibility for collectively committed harms.
April 28, Thursday, 7:00 PM Living Room Cafe, 5900 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego CA 92115 619-286-8434
Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith by J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer
This
is an easy-to-read book that gives compelling evidence from psychology,
cognitive neuroscience, and related fields that god(s) were created by
man and not vice versa. Sam Harris says of this book "If you would like
to read, in the span of an hour, why we have every reason to believe
that god is man made, this is the book to read." Religion is not crazy,
it's human.
April 17, Sunday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM - Earth Fair 2011 Balboa Park, San Diego
Mark your calendars for the 22nd Annual EarthFair 2011. This year's theme is Take It Back! We are lucky to have the world's largest free annual environmental fair right here in Balboa Park. The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego will have a booth next to other humanist and atheist groups of the San Diego Coalition of Reason.
Come visit us, or better yet, agree to spend two hours in the booth, letting people know about the HFSD, humanism, and why humanist values better address the issues facing us as inhabitants of our vulnerable planet. The HFSD does not attempt to engage in controversy with fair visitors, and most of the queries are by people sympathetic to the humanistic worldview and are surprised and pleased to find that there are organizations like ours.
Come early, stay late. The Children's parade begins at 10:30 am, and the total marching time is about 30 minutes. There are hundreds of exhibits, musical events, and FOOD, FOOD, FOOD. The crowd is expected to reach 50,000 to 60,000.
April 10, Sunday, 2:00 PM - Humanist Huddle - MOVIE "Magdalene Sisters" San Diego Downtown Library, Second Floor Meeting Room, 820 E Street, San Diego, CA 92101
This week we will be watching a movie, The Magdalene Sisters, the story of three young Irish women struggling to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum. Fore more information and to view a trailer, go to the movie's website.
April 7-10 -70th Anniversary Conference of the American Humanist Association Boston, Massachusetts at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge Hotel on the Charles River
Honoring: Rebecca Goldstein, Bart Ehrman, Judy Norsigian, Steve Wozniak Special Guests: Cecil Bothwell, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Jeff Sharlet, Roy Zimmerman Speakers: Maggie Ardiente, Bill Baird, Jennifer Bardi, Margaret Downey, Greg Epstein, Sean Faircloth, Judith Hand, Anne Klaeysen, Barry Klassel, Sara Lazar, Mel Lipman, David Niose, Roy Speckhardt, Jay Wexler
April 8, Friday, 1:00 PM - Symposium: The Genetics of Humanness UCSD Liebow Auditorium, UCSD School of Medicine San Diego, CA
CARTA, the Center for Academic Research Training in Anthropogeny, has been very generous to invite the public to it's symposia.
THE GENETICS OF HUMANNESS sessions include: The Orangutan Genome - Neandertal and Denisovan Genomes - Segmental Duplications/Deletions - Genetic Comparisions of Human and Ape Stem Cells - Human Accelerated Regions in the Genome - Uniquely Human Gene Regulation - Chimp-Human Gene Difference - Updates on FOXP2 and Gene Expression - Human-Specific Changes in Siglec Genes
The symposium is free, but you are required to register. The registration deadline is 8:55 AM on April 8th, and is limited to 150 people.
March 27, Sunday, 2:00 PM - MOVIE INSIDE JOB Second floor meeting room, San Diego Downtown Library, 820 E Street, San Diego, CA 92101
Inside Job was the winner of over 8 awards, including the Oscar for Best Documentary, because it is brilliantly crafted and blindingly illuminating. TIME Magazine says of Inside Job, "If you're not enraged by the end of the film, you weren't paying attention." The economic meltdown cost an estimated 20 TRILLION dollars, resulting in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews, Inside Job documents the rise of the rogue industries and corrupt politics, regulations and academia. This film will enthrall you. Free popcorn will be provided.
April 2, Saturday, 10:00 AM - Simon Mayeski Speaks on Clean Elections. . . then lunch! Serra Mesa Library, 9005 Aero Drive San Diego, CA
Secular humanists should be concerned about the issue of 'buying' elections and we should advocate for laws that make elections more fair and equitable. Our April 2nd meeting will give members and guests the chance to learn about clean elections.
We are proud that Simon Mayeski has agreed to make a presentation on clean elections to our group. Simon Mayeski is a software developer in San Diego. A Common Cause activist since 2005, he acts as a watchdog on the San Diego Ethics Commission and sits on the California Common Cause state board. He is a writer and researcher and studies social organization, social media and future trends. A San Diego native who is a strong supporter of sustainability, environmental protection, individual rights and the labor movement, he received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of San Francisco and called the Bay Area home for many years. He has made presentations on Clean Elections / Public Financing to the San Diego Ethics Commission and has spoken often on this and related issues.
March 24, 7:00 PM - Book Club
GOD AGAINST THE GODS: The History of War Between Monotheism and Polytheism
by Jonathan Kirsch
SYNOPSIS
A groundbreaking look at the battle between monotheism and polytheism and the origins of religious intolerance.
Holy war. Inquisitions. Crusades. For centuries, they have set faith against faith in a seemingly endless cycle of violence that continues even today. But as Jonathan Kirsch shows in this fascinating book, it wasn't always so.
This is the epic story of how classical paganism, with its tolerance for many deities and beliefs, lost a centuries-long struggle with monotheism and its chauvinistic insistence on belief in one God. With his trademark blend of wit and scholarship, Kirsch traces the war of God against the gods from its roots in Ancient Egypt to its climax during the last stand of paganism in the tumultuous fourth century, when two passionate, charismatic, and revolutionary Roman emperors, the Christian Constantine and the pagan Julian, changed the course of history and shaped the world we live in today.
March 18, Friday, 8:00 PM - Karaoke Night at Cafe Libertalia Cafe Libertalia - 3834 5th Ave San Diego, CA
We did this last month, and it was a blast! There was a variety of folk, and everyone had such a good time. Even some folks who don't sing got in on it and got their props!!
There's no cost, but the coffee is good (thus the name 'cafe'), and the people are great!! If you've never done karaoke or if you're a pro, you're going to fit in. There are no haters here.
March 7, Monday, 7:00 PM - DEBATE: Is Religion the Problem? UCSD Price Center (West Ballroom)
When Dan Barker and Dinesh D'Souza meet, there are always fireworks. This event is being sponsored by several Christian and Young Republican organizations. It is FREE and open to the public. A book signing will follow the debate. Members of the HFSD will meet before the debate, and some of us will be carrying signs promoting Humanism, reason, skepticism, etc. JOIN US! The Gilman parking structure is at the intersection of Villa La Jolla Drive and Gilman Drive, and is two long blocks from the Price Center. The Price Center has several restaurants and a coffee shop. Come early, relax, and enjoy the beautiful campus prior to the debate! Be sure to RSVP through Meetup.com so that you can receive relevant updates about this event.
Mini-Course on Evolution
February
12th is Charles Darwin's birthday, a day for scientists and everyone
who trusts in science to celebrate. But, although we may pay tribute to
Darwin for his genius, do we really understand the mechanisms by which
evolution works? Can we explain his "elegant theory" to friends or
relatives who reject it on religious grounds? Well, now you have the
chance to study evolution, either to "bone up" or review it, and to do
so in three short but entertaining sessions.
Starting on Darwin's birthday in 2011, San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach is sponsoring a Mini-course on Darwin and Evolution,
consisting of three engaging study sessions stretched out over three
successive weeks -- one session per week -- during the month of
February, 2011.
Serving as moderators will be local high school
science teacher Jim Bruton and research scientist Greg Wanger (both of
whom have brought us excellent presentations on science before).
To
prepare in advance for the roundtable discussions and question and
answer sessions, we suggest that people who plan to attend begin by
reading the highly regarded but easy-to-read volume Why Evolution is True,
by Dr. Jerry A. Coyne, geneticist and ecologist from the University of
Chicago. In
addition, for those of you who are visual learners, segments of the NOVA
documentary What Darwin Never Knew will be shown at each session of the
mini-course to demonstrate how recent scientific discoveries prove the
validity and explain the mechanisms of Darwin's theory.
Session II:
Wednesday, February 16th, 6:00-7:45 p.m. at the El Cajon Central
Library. (Address: 201 E. Douglas, El Cajon, CA 92020) Suggested reading
(recommended but not required): Chapters 4-6, pp. 86-167 of Coyne's
book.
Session III: Thursday,
February 24th, 6:00-7:45 p.m. at the Rancho San Diego Library in El
Cajon. (Address: 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon 92019) Suggested
reading (recommended but not required): Chapters 7-9, pp. 168-233 of
Coyne's book.
February 20, Sunday, 2:00 PM - The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse San Diego Central Library, 820 E Street, Second Floor Meeting Room, San Diego, CA 92101
Professor Steven D. Smith, JD, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, USD,
will speak to
the Fellowship about The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse.
Prominent
observers complain that public discourse in America is shallow and
unedifying. This debased condition is often attributed to, among other
things, the resurgence of religion in public life. Steven Smith argues
that this diagnosis has the matter backwards: it is not primarily
religion but rather the strictures of secular rationalism that have
drained our modern discourse of force and authenticity.
Thus,
Rawlsian “public reason” filters out of public deliberation any appeals
to religion or other “comprehensive doctrines”. But these restrictions
have the effect of excluding our deepest normative commitments,
virtually assuring that the discourse will be shallow. Furthermore,
because we cannot defend our normative positions without resorting to
convictions that secular discourse deems inadmissible, we are frequently
forced to smuggle in those convictions under the guise of benign
notions such as freedom or equality.
Smith suggests that this
sort of smuggling is pervasive in modern secular discourse. He shows
this by considering a series of controversial, contemporary issues,
including the Supreme Court’s assisted-suicide decisions, the “harm
principle,” separation of church and state, and freedom of conscience.
He concludes by suggesting that it is possible and desirable to free
public discourse of the constraints associated with secularism and
“public reason.”
Professor
Steven D. Smith is one of the nation's foremost scholars in the area of
law and religion, and teaches in the areas of law and religion and
constitutional law. Before joining the USD law faculty in 2002, he was
the Robert and Marion Short professor of law at the University of Notre
Dame Law School. Prior to this, he was the Byron R. White Professor of
Law at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Among his many
scholarly works are The Constitution and the Pride of Reason (Oxford
University Press 1998) and Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a
Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom (Oxford University Press
1995). Professor Smith’s articles on law and religion and constitutional
law have been published in the Michigan Law Review, the Yale Law
Journal, the Virginia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law
Review and the Texas Law Review.
Steven D. Smith
February 12, Saturday, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Mini-Course on Evolution (Session 1 of 3) Casa De Oro Library, 9805 Campo Road, Spring Valley, CA 91977
February
12th is Charles Darwin's birthday, a day for scientists and
everyone
who trusts in science to celebrate. But, although we may pay tribute to
Darwin for his genius, do we really understand the mechanisms by which
evolution works? Can we explain his "elegant theory" to friends or
relatives who reject it on religious grounds? Well, now you have the
chance to study evolution, either to "bone up" or review it, and to do
so in three short but entertaining sessions.
Starting on Darwin's birthday in 2011, San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach is sponsoring a Mini-course on Darwin and Evolution,
consisting of three engaging study sessions stretched out over three
successive weeks -- one session per week -- during the month of
February, 2011.
Serving as moderators will be local high school science teacher Jim Bruton and research scientist Greg Wanger (both of whom have brought us excellent presentations on science before).
To
prepare in advance for the roundtable discussions and question and
answer sessions, we suggest that people who plan to attend begin by
reading the highly regarded but easy-to-read volume Why Evolution is True,
by Dr. Jerry A. Coyne, geneticist and ecologist from the University of
Chicago. The book is available in several local libraries, and is also
available for purchase on Amazon.com. And, to give folks a head-start,
Michael Summers has named this book his January selection of the month
for the Humanist Book Club, which will meet on Thursday, January 20th at
7:00 pm in the Living Room Coffee Shop. (Address: 5900 El Cajon
Boulevard, San Diego 92115.)
In
addition, for those of you who are visual learners, segments of the NOVA
documentary What Darwin Never Knew will be shown at each session of the
mini-course to demonstrate how recent scientific discoveries prove the
validity and explain the mechanisms of Darwin's theory.
So, pencil in the dates on your calendar NOW for each of these three sessions!
Session I:
Saturday, February 12th, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at the Casa de Oro
Library in Spring Valley. (Address: 9805 Campo Road, Spring Valley, CA
91977). Suggested reading (recommended but not required): Chapters 1-3,
pp. 1-85 of Coyne's book.
Session II:
Wednesday, February 16th, 6:00-7:45 p.m. at the El Cajon Central
Library. (Address: 201 E. Douglas, El Cajon, CA 92020) Suggested reading
(recommended but not required): Chapters 4-6, pp. 86-167 of Coyne's
book.
Session III: Thursday,
February 24th, 6:00-7:45 p.m. at the Rancho San Diego Library in El
Cajon. (Address: 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon 92019) Suggested
reading (recommended but not required): Chapters 7-9, pp. 168-233 of
Coyne's book.
(Did you notice? Three sessions, but on different days of the week and at different libraries. So don't get mixed up!)
Darwin Tree
February 5, Saturday - The first annual Southern California Secular Humanist Conference
This was a wonderful opportunity for all local Humanists and Freethinkers to celebrate the growing secular movement and meet an amazing lineup of speakers including Dan Barker, August Berkshire, Ted Cox, Brian Keith Dalton (Mr. Deity), Sean Faircloth, Bruce Gleason, Bobbie Kirkhard, Michael Newdow, Roger Nygard, Roy Speckhardt, Jamie Ian Swiss. HFSD Board Member Debbie Allen Skomer received the "Local Event Organizer" award for her work with the San Diego Coalition of Reason.
When they are available, photos will be posted on this website, as well as on our Facebook Page.
January 27, Thursday, 6:00 PM - Assisting the Food Bank
We have registered the HFSD with another organization called "Volunteer San Diego" in order to create a group community-service activity to feed the homeless. W have called this project group "Humanity On Call".
Our first project is preparing food for the San Diego Food Bank. If you are interested, please follow this link to the HFSD Meetup Page for details on how you can get involved. There are only 8 openings for this project, so act now!
January 23, Sunday, 2:00 PM - Contemporary Islam: Crises, Confrontations and Contexts
San Diego Central Library, 820 E Street, Second Floor Meeting Room, San Diego, CA 92101
Dr. Khaleel MoHammed,
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Core Faculty Member, Center
for Islamic and Arabic Studies, San Diego State University will speak to
the Fellowship about Contemporary Islam. Dr. Mohammed completed
high school at 15, and has studied in Mexico, Canada, Saudi Arabia,
Mauritania, Syria, and Yemen, at both traditional Islamic institutions
and Western universities. After a bachelor's degree in Religion and
Psychology (Mexico), and a brief stint in the Canadian Army, he received
a Saudi government scholarship and studied at the Kulliyat al-Shariah,
Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, in Riyadh. Upon his return to
Canada, he received numerous fellowships and awards, completing an M.A.
in religion (majoring in Judaism and Islam, Concordia University), and
then his Ph.D. (Islamic law) at McGill University, with an FCAR (Fonds
pour les chercheurs et aide a la recherché) fellowship from the
Government of Quebec. To RSVP for the lecture, go to Meetup
January 20, Thursday, 7:00 PM - Book Club - The Living Room Cafe
5900 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115
Join the HFSD Book Club as we
discuss, Why Evolution is True, by Jerry Coyne. In all
the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its
descendant "intelligent design," there is an element of the controversy
that is rarely mentioned: the evidence - the empirical truth of
evolution by natural selection. Even Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay
Gould, while extolling the beauty of evolution and examining case
studies, have not focused on the evidence itself. Yet the proof is vast,
varied, and magnificent, drawn from many different fields of science.
Scientists are observing species splitting into two and are finding more
and more fossils capturing change in the past-dinosaurs that have
sprouted feathers, fish that have grown limbs.
Why Evolution Is True
weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics,
paleontology, geology, molecular biology, and anatomy that demonstrate
the "indelible stamp" of the processes first proposed by Darwin. In
crisp, lucid prose accessible to a wide audience, Why Evolution Is True
dispels common misunderstandings and fears about evolution and clearly
confirms that this amazing process of change has been firmly established
as a scientific truth.
January 16, Sunday, 6:00 PM - James L. McElroy discusses Mt. Soledad Joyce Beers Uptown Community Center, 3900 Vermont Street, Hillcrest, 93101
Join members and guests of the Humanist Association of San Diego to hear Attorney James L. McElroy
discuss the current status of the campaign to remove the Mount Soledad
Cross from public land. This controversial struggle was initiated in
1989 by Phil Paulson, the former head of the local Humanist Association,
who continued the effort until his death five years ago. At that time
the torch was passed to McElroy, who has once again won a legal victory
when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared on January 6, 2011,
that the religious symbol on government property is unconstitutional .
McElroy will be discussing the history of the crusade, the recent court
decision, and likely future developments -- including the possibility
that the matter may eventually be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.
January 9,
Sunday, 2:00 PM - Bonita Public Library, Sunnyside Branch
Join HFSD and the San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach as they welcome local freethinker and author Howard Jones, as he discusses his recently published book, The Man on the Bench.
Howard's book recounts the story of Jeff Pastorino, who, afflicted by
mental illness, spent the last 15 years of his life sitting every day on
a bench in Point Loma.
Our invitation to Jones to address us is intended to raise a larger issue: How should Humanists demonstrate in practical ways their adherence to the philosophy they espouse?
After all, Humanists are supposed to be concerned about the well-being,
happiness, health and survival of all fellow human beings in the here
and now, right? So how do we respond to conspicuous matters of human
need, such as the question of homelessness? By blaming the victims? By
repeating moral platitudes alluding to the survival of the fittest? Are
there practical ways of demonstrating our concern without enabling
self-destructive behavior? These may be issues you will want to bring up
in our Q & A session and discussion period after hearing Howard's
talk.
December 19, Sunday 6:00 PM, Human Light: A Seasonal Holiday Celebration of Reason and Humanism (hosted by HASD)
If
you're looking for a way to celebrate the holiday season with secular
friends, make plans to join Jason Frye, Jennifer Brauer, and the
Humanist Association of San Diego, who will be hosting the Second Annual
Human Light Celebration -- a celebration of reason and Humanism. This
year's affair will revolve around a potluck dinner, and will be held at
the Joyce Beers Uptown Community Center.
December 16, Thursday, 7:00 PM - Book Club - The Living Room Cafe
Join the HFSD Book Club as we
discuss, In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic by Peter Berger and Anton Zijderveld. Modernity
was supposed to usher in a rational secular world where religion was
marginalized. Some even predicted it would disappear. But religion has
not only survived—it is growing and thriving in the modern world.
Defying predictions, we live today in a world of plurality where diverse
groups live under conditions of civic peace and in social interaction.
However, this arrangement is not without tensions. How do we handle
moral issues, such as abortion or homosexuality, when different groups
have strongly held but opposing viewpoints? And how does culture
maintain its harmony when confronted with the challenge of an aggressive
fundamentalism?
December 4, Saturday, 10:30 AM - Discussion on the Origins of Religion Public Library in La Jolla, 7555 Draper Avenue, La Jolla
The
upcoming Christmas season confronts freethinkers and humanists once
again with some of the familiar myths of Christianity -- the Incarnation
and the Virgin Birth -- which we rightfully question and reject. But it
begs the question, How did ideas relating to religion originate,
anyway? What religious ideas predate the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam, with which we are most familiar?
As a
conversation starter, we will view a 25 minute segment of the 2005 BBC
documentary The Story of God, narrated by Professor Robert Winston. The
segment touches briefly on the subjects of animism, prehistoric cave
paintings, ancient burial practices, agriculture's dependence on nature,
animal and human sacrifice, and the most ancient of religious texts
(engraved on clay and stone tablets).
November 23, Tuesday 6:00 PM - An Antidote for Pre-Turkey Day Anxiety with our friends at Recovering From Religion
No doubt you're looking forward to the
holiday's turkey and pumpkin pie, but not the religious relatives that
garnish the Thanksgiving table! But we freethinkers can be thankful for
each other! If you need a booster shot with a turkey baster to prepare
you for Thanksgiving, come on out, talk things over, and load up with
some ammunition and fortitude for those inevitable harangues by friendly
believers determined to reconvert you at the yearly family gathering.
November 21, Sunday 6:00 PM, Freethought Thanksgiving Gathering with the Humanist Association of San Diego
November 18, Thursday 7:00 PM, Book Club - Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.
From Publishers Weekly: "Schlosser's
incisive history of the development of American fast food indicts the
industry for some shocking crimes against humanity, including
systematically destroying the American diet and landscape, and
undermining our values and our economy. The first part of the book
details the postwar ascendance of fast food from Southern California,
assessing the impact on people in the West in general. The second half
looks at the product itself: where it is manufactured (in a handful of
enormous factories), what goes into it (chemicals, feces) and who is
responsible (monopolistic corporate executives). In harrowing detail,
the book explains the process of beef slaughter and confirms almost
every urban myth about what in fact "lurks between those sesame seed
buns." Given the estimate that the typical American eats three
hamburgers and four orders of french fries each week, and one in eight
will work for McDonald's in the course of their lives, few are exempt
from the insidious impact of fast food. Throughout, Schlosser fires
these and a dozen other hair-raising statistical bullets into the heart
of the matter. While cataloguing assorted evils with the tenacity and
sharp eye of the best investigative journalist, he uncovers a cynical,
dismissive attitude to food safety in the fast food industry and
widespread circumvention of the government's efforts at regulation
enacted after Upton Sinclair's similarly scathing novel exposed the
meat-packing industry 100 years ago. By systematically dismantling the
industry's various aspects, Schlosser establishes a seminal argument for
true wrongs at the core of modern America."
November 14, Sunday 2:00 PM, Lecture - Religion, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court - SD Central Library
During the past quarter century, the
Supreme Court has been dominated by a conservative majority, appointed
by a succession of Republican presidents. For much of this time, the
religious right has been one of the Republican Party's most important
constituencies. In this lecture, Professor Ken Vandevelde will provide a
brief historical overview of provisions of the Constitution relating to
the separation of church and state and freedom of religion and will
discuss how conservatives on the court have reinterpreted these
provisions, in some cases seeking to turn the clock back by more than a
century. Ken Vandevelde is currently Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where he served as Dean from 1994 to 2005. He teaches constitutional law, American legal history, and international law.
November 6, Saturday 10:00 AM, Humanist and Freethought Meetup for North County
Heads up! Freethinkers, Humanists, Brights, skeptics, and secularists of North County! San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach
(SDSHOut) is sponsoring another meetup in your part of the county. Join
us to consider the contributions made to the history of freethought by
Thomas Paine, Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud. View
with us and then discuss the third and final episode of Jonathan
Miller's 2004 BBC documentary A Brief History of Disbelief, appropriately titled The Final Hour. And then, if your schedule permits, join us for lunch and fraternization at a nearby eatery.
Miller's
documentary will help viewers connect the dots, mentally speaking,
between freethought and the ideas of the self-taught philosopher Paine,
Lyell's revolutionary studies of geology, the evolutionary theories of
Darwin, and the Freudian view that religion is a 'thought disorder.' It
also considers the atheists' understanding of mortality, while touching,
too, on the subject of religious fanaticism now so prevalent in the
21st century. Plenty of food for thought!
October 27, Wednesday 7:00 PM, Lecture and Book Signing with Sam Harris - UCSD Price Center
The author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason and Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris will be speaking about his new book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values, on October 27th at 7:00 PM at the UCSD Price Center Ballroom.
October 24, Sunday, 2:00 PM, Lecture - SD Central Library
Dr. Edward J. Blum, professor of History at San Diego State University, presents a lecture titled, The Almighty Has His Own Purposes: Abraham Lincoln and the Slippery Separation of Church and State.
Heralded as one of the finest expressions of religious thought in the
English language, Abraham Lincoln's "Second Inaugural Address" stands
out as one of the most profound speeches in our nation's past. It is
known as the speech where he attacked slavery as a moral wrong. It is
known as the speech where he encouraged the nation to act "with malice
toward none" and "with charity for all." It is known as the speech
wherein Lincoln acknowledged that God may have His own divine purposes
and that those purposes may be larger than our own.
But did this
speech violate the American norms pertaining to the separation of church
and state? Did Lincoln not only invoke religion to clarify national
issues, but to mystify them as well? In short, is there veiled content
contained in the Second Inaugural deserving condemnation rather than
accolades?
Dr. Blum is a historian of race and religion in the United States. He is the author of Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism (2005) and W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet (2007); is co-editor of Vale of Tears: New Essays on Religion and Reconstruction (2005) and The Souls of W. E. B. Du Bois: New Essays and Reflections
(2009). Currently, Blum is co-editing (with Paul Harvey) the
Columbia Guide to American Religious History and writing a book on race
and depictions of Jesus Christ in American culture, society, and
politics, titled Jesus Christ in Red, White, and Black.
October 21, Thursday, 7:00 PM - Book Club - The Living Room Cafe
Join the HFSD Book Club as we
discuss, Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners & Madmen: A Study of Gurus by Anthony Storr. Every
generation has its charismatic spiritual leaders, its gurus. Some are
true saints while others conceal unspeakable depravity. Anthony Storr,
Oxford professor of psychiatry, analyzes an interesting array of gurus
and finds many commonalities among them--an isolated childhood, a need
for certainty, a demand for obedience. He also elucidates aspects of
this psychological profile in various intellectual, artistic, and
political figures of history. This eye-opening book invokes a larger
issue: in our search for guidance and truth, when and why do we cross
the line from reasoned inquirer to unquestioning follower?
October 10, Sunday, 2:00 PM - Humanist Huddle/Film THE CORPORATION - SD Central Library
At today's Humanist Huddle we will show the second part of the DVD The Corporation, winner of 26 International Awards and 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Provoking,
witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the
nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time.
Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences
and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking
its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts
the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person
is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders
and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman,
Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions,
case studies and strategies for change. The film is based on the book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan.
October 8 and 9, Friday and Saturday, ONLINE streaming of Council for Secular Humanism keynote speakers!
Select sessions of the
Council for Secular Humanism's sold-out 30th Anniversary Conference will be streamed online. Science and Religion: Confrontation or Accommodation? The State of Church and State Where Should Seculars Stand Today and Tomorrow on Questions of Religion and Belief?
September 26, Sunday, 2:00 PM - Humanist Huddle/Film THE CORPORATION - SD Central Library
At today's Humanist Huddle we will show the first part of the DVD The Corporation, winner of 26 International Awards and 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Provoking,
witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the
nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time.
Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences
and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking
its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts
the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person
is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders
and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman,
Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions,
case studies and strategies for change. The film is based on the book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan.
September 18, Saturday, 11:00 AM - Picnic! - Morley Field
The
Humanist Fellowship of San Diego is joining with the SD New Atheists and
Agnostics, and 10 other member groups of the San Diego Coalition of
Reason for a Community Picnic! There
will be plenty to eat...barbeque, sides, desserts...plenty to drink
(BYOB), and opportunities to show off your frisbee and volleyball
skills! It will be lots of fun and an opportunity to become acquainted
with people from the other local secular organizations. Bring your
friends...the more the merrier!
September 16, Thursday, 7:00 PM - Book Club - The Living Room Cafe
Religious
passions are again driving world politics. The quest to bring political
life under God's authority has been revived, confounding expectations
of a secular future. In this major book, Mark Lilla reveals the sources
of this age-old quest -- and its surprising role in shaping Western
thought. Join the HFSD Book Club as we
discuss, The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West.
Secularists
take pride in their supposed ability to solve problems rationally,
whether in their personal lives, on the job, or in the political or
philosophical arena. But do we know how to be tactful? Partisanship in
America is rampant today, and we deplore the vitriolic nature of our
public discourse. However, do we know how to improve it? Can we learn
how to cool the rhetoric in the heat of debate and dial down our own
emotional responses and those of our opponents? In charge of the presentation will be Fran Howard and Barbara Anderson from the Hands of Peace / Alternatives to Violence Project,
which is a non-profit, all volunteer group dedicated to reducing
conflict in our homes, our relationships and our community. HOP
regularly holds workshops in the community, in prisons, colleges, and
for Americorps and other groups. AVP is an international organization
(you may visit its Web site at www.avpusa/org), and is a recipient of
the Gandhi Non-Violence Award.
August 29, Sunday, 2:00 PM - Humanist Huddle at the SD Central Library
We will be showing the DVD "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Movie",
an unsettling yet visually fascinating documentary presenting the
history of the design, development, production and testing of nuclear
weapons between 1945 until 1963. Narrated by William Shatner and
featuring an original score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra,
this award-winning documentary reveals previously unreleased and
classified government footage depicting in graphic detail these powerful
and awesome weapons.
August 22, Sunday, 2:00 PM
The HFSD will come together to commemorate the life and works of Lloyd Morain,
who prior to his death on July 13 at the age of 93, was the last
surviving member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union's
founding generation. The
program will include readings, commentary, and messages from around the
world. To enhance the discussion please read in advance two short books
by Lloyd Morain, Humanism as the Next Step and The Human Cougar; the first of these was co-authored with Mary Morain.
August 22, Sunday, 7:00 PM - SDARI
Join
your friends with the San Diego Association of Rational Inquiry as they
welcome Dr. Rebecca Moore, chair of the Religious Studies Department at
SDSU. Dr. Moore will speak about Jonestown and the Peoples Temple.
Two of Dr. Moore's sisters were followers of Jim Jones, and lost their
lives in the group suicide at Jonestown. Her academic understanding of
cults, as well as her heart-wrenching personal association with the
Peoples Temple is NOT to be missed.
August 19, Thursday, 7:00 PM - Book Club Discussion
Who
has more power in this world to directly and adversely affect your
life... God or the Global Corporation? Join the HFSD Book Club as we
discuss, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Porfit and Power.
August 14, Saturday, 11:30 AM
Do
you live north of San Diego proper? Wish to strengthen the Freethought
presence in North County? We'd love to meet you! In a joint effort
sponsored by the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego and its affiliate, San
Diego Secular Humanist Outreach, we're calling interested secularists
to a meetup, documentary viewing, and roundtable discussion in the
Seminar Room at the Rancho Bernardo Library, on Saturday, August 14th, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. We'll be showing the second episode of Jonathan Miller's 2004 BBC documentary A Brief History of Disbelief. Episode 2, Noughts and Crosses
discusses Christianity's domination in Europe from 500 AD on, and how
disbelief began to re-emerge in the 15th and 16th centuries. Miller
discovers that division within the Church played a more powerful role
than the scientific discoveries of the period. He also visits Paris, the
home of the 18th century atheist, Baron D'Holbach, and shows how
politically dangerous it was to undermine the religious faith of the
masses.
August 1, Sunday, 2:00 PM Perhaps
you've read recently that scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute
have accomplished a major breakthrough in the creation of synthetic
cells. In its ongoing series of lectures on science, San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach will sponsor a lecture on this topic. Our speaker for the occasion will be Greg Wanger,
a post doctoral fellow at JCVI. While Wanger is not a member of the
Synthetic Biology research team at the institute -- he is presently a
part of the Electro-microbiology group there -- he has agreed to present
a talk focusing on the science behind the construction of synthetic
cells in general, some of the ethics and new policies being proposed,
and possible future directions for synthetic biology.
July 31, Saturday, 10:40 AM
Join
the HFSD at the Landmark Theatres in La Jolla for a showing of Agora.
Winner of seven Goya Awards (Spain’s equivalent of the Oscar), Agora
is a breathtaking, English-language historical drama directed and
co-written by Academy Award-winner Alejandro Amenábar (The Sea Inside). The film is set in ancient Egypt under Roman rule, where violent
religious upheaval in the streets of Alexandria spills over into the
city’s famous Library. Trapped inside its walls, the brilliant and
beautiful astronomer Hypatia (Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener) and
her disciples fight to save the wisdom of the Ancient World. Among these
disciples are two men competing for her heart: the witty, privileged
Orestes and Davus, Hypatia’s young slave, who is torn between his secret
love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join
the unstoppable surge of the Christians.Following the film we will go to the deli next door for lunch and
discussion!
July 28, Wednesday, 10:00 AM
Groundbreaking ceremony at the NEW San Diego Central Library location at 11th and K Streets in downtown San Diego. Finally!!
July
25, Sunday, 2:00 PM
Join us for our Humanist Huddle at the Central Library in downtown San Diego. We will be featuring the debut of the "Humanist News Reel", a selection of topical and relevant video clips created by HFSD Board Member James Zimmerman.
July
15, Thursday at 7:00 PM
The
Humanist Book Club discusses Salvation Boulevard
by Larry Beinhart. From the Edgar Award-winning novelist and author of Wag
the Dog and The Librarian comes a new mystery
novel about a private investigator and a case that tests his courage,
character and soul. The victim is an atheist professor, the main
suspect—who has confessed and is in custody—a Muslim foreign student,
the defense attorney a Jew and the detective a born-again Christian. As
P.I. Carl Van Wagener gets deeper and deeper into the investigation of
the death of Professor Nathaniel MacLeod, his most basic beliefs and
relationships are tried and his world is turned upside down. Salvation
Boulevard is a page-turning thriller in the tradition of John
Grisham and Richard Condon that grapples with the ecstatic and entropic
nature of religious faith in contemporary America.
July
10, Saturday at 6:00 PM
A lecture sponsored by the San Diego Secular Humanist
Outreach.
Most of us have discovered the fallacies inherent in
traditional religion. But we're now being inundated by a new wave of
imaginative hucksters advocating their own versions of supernaturalism,
and hawking their similarly bizarre notions in the guise of science --
even attempting to co-opt its language. Scientists have a
recently-coined term for this pseudoscience and crackpottery: they call
it "woo" -- I suppose as in "Woo-ooh, that's really far out!"
For example, there's been Oprah Winfrey's recent ballyhooing
of The Secret, a best-seller that slaps the "The Law of Attraction"
label on the popular notion of positive-visualization, then "cranks it
into hyperdrive, [applying] it to to the Self and personal desire . . .
and pretends that the whole thing is a revelation backed by both modern
science and thousands of years of wisdom." And don't overlook Depak
Chopra's fanciful assertions regarding "Biocentrism," the idea that the
universe is the product of human awareness, and that quantum mechanics
somehow supports his "theory."
Enter Jonathan Whitmore a PhD candidate in theoretical
astrophysics at UCSD. He writes: "Concepts within physics are frequently
misused to support all manner of 'woo': New-Age cures, homeopathy, 'The
Secret,' magical thinking, and wishful thinking in general.
Creationists sometimes attempt to use physics to argue against the
theory of evolution. Physics is a powerful tool for understanding,
predicting, and controlling the natural world -- so it is an attractive
ally if you want to find support for your ideas. The problem comes when
people try to use physics to support ideas and conclusions that physics
simply does not support."
July 9, Friday at 7:00 PM
The
Humanist Fellowship of San Diego gathers for the showing of The Nature of Existence, a film conceived, written and directed by Roger Nygard. "I went to the source of all the major religions and belief systems and asked people why we exist. The contrasts were interesting, but where I was truly amazed was at the overlap, the agreement between many religions…"
Traveling the globe for four years and hundreds of interviews, Nygard took the 450 hours of footage and made it into a 94 minute feature documentary. Combining an investigative approach to the spiritual with a humorous edge, Nygard offers a challenging, funny, and enlightening view to one of humanity's most universal quests, as the most important journey we ever take may be the journey to find meaning in our own existence.
July 4, Sunday at 1 :00 PM
The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego joins the Humanist Association of San Diego for their Fourth Annual Independence from Dogma Day Picnic!
June 27, Sunday at 2:00 PM Humanist Huddle will watch the library's showing of Agens Varda's autobiographical film. Following the film we will have a short discussion and adjourn to Brian's Pub.
June
19, Saturday at 11:00 PM
The
HFSD is meeting in North County! Join with us to view part one of the BBC documentary A Brief History of Disbelief by Jonathan Miller that traces the history of atheism. The series includes extracts from interviews with various academic luminaries including Arthur Miller, Richard Dawkins, Steve Weinberg, Colin McGinn, Denys Turner, Pascal Boyer and Daniel Dennett. The series also includes many quotations from the works of atheists, agnostics and deists, all read by Bernard Hill.
June 17, Thursday at 1:00 PM
The
Humanist Book Club discusses The Humanist Tradition in the West
by Sir Alan Bullock. Humanism is universally recognized as one of the
most basic concepts in the development of Western civilization, and yet
the meaning of the term itself is far from clear. By following an
historical rather than an analytical approach, the author demonstrates
that it is possible to make sense of the different meanings which have
been attributed to humanism, and to place them within a coherent
framework.
June
4-6,
Friday-Sunday
Don't
miss one of the largest gatherings of humanists, atheists, and
freethinkers from across the country! The Annual Conference of the
American Humanist Association will feature informative breakout
sessions, activist training sessions for humanist chapter leaders,
banquets honoring distinguished awardees, book signings by celebrity
authors, and more!
May
27, Thursday at 7:00 PM
The
Humanist Book Club discusses Elmer Gantry
by Sinclair Lewis. Besides being an effective satire targeted against
religious hypocrisy, Elmer Gantry provides insight into the clash of
cultural forces in America in the 1920s. During this period, traditional
religious believers were deeply disturbed by the encroachments made on
faith by science and secularism. They also decried the growth within the
church of the “higher criticism,” that sought to understand the Bible
based on modern methods of scholarship.
May
23, Sunday at 2:00 PM
Lecture
Series on Science and Religion: Sex, Love, & Death:
Socioevolutionary Theory and Science
with Dr. Brian H. Spitzberg with the School of Communications at SDSU.
This presentation, based on Dr. Spitzberg’s plenary lecture from the
SDSU symposium dedicated to Darwin’s impact on the humanities and social
sciences, deals with issues about differentiating “science” and
“pseudo-science” with particular regard to challenges in
socioevolutionary theory and research. This technical lecture, which
touches upon the works of Popper, Lakatos, Kuhn, and Gould, is focused
on how to see the way forward in guiding future socioevolutionary
exploration. Dr. Brian H. Spitzberg is the Senate Distinguished
Professor in the School of Communication at San Diego State University
and author or co-author of 3 scholarly books, co-editor of 3 scholarly
books, and author or co-author of over 40 scholarly articles and over 40
scholarly book chapters. Included among these are four books on "the
dark side" of communication and relationships. His 2004 book Dark
Side
of Relationship Pursuit: From Attraction to Obsession and Stalking
won
the International Association for Relationship Research book award in
2006.
May 12, Wednesday at 6:00 PM
Secular Coalition for America,
The first organization representing Secular Americans to engage in a
formal briefing with White House officials, invites you to hear their Executive
Director Sean Faircloth speak to us on: A
Plan for a Secular Decade: One Nation Under the Constitution.
The Secular Coalition for America lobbies for secular policies in
Washington, D.C., and recently held the first-ever policy briefing for
Secular Americans with Obama administration officials. Secular Coalition
Executive Director Sean Faircloth will discuss how the values of our
nation's founders directly connect to the values of the secular movement
and how theocratically-based injustices in American law are not an
historical artifact -- but rather a stark, current reality that we all
have a moral obligation to address.
May
8, Saturday 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM
Members
of the HFSD will be traveling up to Costa Mesa for the first
annual Orange County Freethought Alliance Conference. The
conference will address: Can Science and Religion Co-exist? Featured
guest speakers will include Dan Barker, Michael Shermer, Eddie Tabash
and PZ Myers. Additional information will be found at
http://www.freethoughtalliance.org.
May 1, Saturday
Join
us in celebrating May Day! We will have a Chinese lunch at the
Panda Inn and celebrate the May Day Holiday in a Humanistic way. We
will also discuss the Humanist Manifesto.
April
25, Sunday at 2:00 PM
Lecture
Series on Science and Religion: The Biological and Evolutionary
Basis of Romantic Relationships: Are Social Scientists and Humanists in
Biological Denial? with Professor Peter Andersen of SDSU. This
lecture examines the sociobiological and evolutionary basis for of
romantic and sexual relationships. Over the past decades scholars have
looked at the sociological, cultural, and individual basis of romantic
relationships with little regard to evolutionary theory or the
biological basis of human behavior. Dr. Andersen examines a series of
recent studies including several of his own that demonstrates the
powerful influence of unconscious, genetic factors on human courtship
and mating behavior. Dr. Peter Andersen is professor of
Communication at San Diego State University and has degrees from
University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois State University and Florida
State University. He has done extensive research on Interpersonal
Relationships, Persuasion and, and Nonverbal Communication. He has
authored over 150 book chapters, research papers, and journal articles,
as well as 5 books, including, The Handbook of Communication and
Emotion.
April 18, Sunday - all day
The
Humanist Fellowship of San Diego will be celebrating Earth Day at
EarthFair 2010 in Balboa Park. Come visit our table (#1056)
which is at the northeast corner of the Museum of Art parking lot!!
EarthFair features more than 350 exhibitors, special theme areas, a
Food Pavilion, a special Kids’ Activity Area, three entertainment
venues, the Children’s Earth Parade, the eARTh Gallery art show, and the
Cleaner Car Concourse. There's something for the entire family!
April
15, Thursday at 7:00 PM
Humanist
Book Club meets to discuss, Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a
Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce.
April
11, Sunday at 2:00 PM
The
Humanist Huddle will view part two of the film Origins: Fourteen
Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Discussion to follow.
April 3,
Saturday at 11:00 AM
Preparatory meeting for "Peak-of-the-Month"
club. Start planning now to get in shape physically and with the
necessary mental preparation to climb the great mountain peaks of North
America, such as California's tallest, Mount Whitney. The Humanist
Fellowship of San Diego will organize expeditions to take place
beginning next year. There is a magical world up there awaiting your
exploration and it will be awesome to go with a Humanist group. This is
living life to the full and you won't want to miss it. First step is a
planning meeting to discuss these expeditions, talk about what it will
take, and to get to know the members of HFSD who will embark on this
memorable adventure. You will discover new things - not just about
nature, but also about yourself.
April
3, Saturday at 2:00 PM
Why
Humans Believe in God by Craig A. James, author of The
Religion Virus: An Evolutionist Explains Religion's Incredible Hold on
Humanity. South Chula Vista Branch Library, 389 Orange Ave., Chula
Vista. Free. Sponsored by San Diego Secular Humanist Outreach, an
affiliate of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego.
March 25, Thursday at 7:00 PM
The Humanist Book Club discusses Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic
by Chalmers Johnson. In Nemesis, the third installment in his
“Blowback” trilogy, Johnson analyzes U.S. imperial overreach and the
threat it poses to the republic — to our very democracy. He offers a
striking description of the trap that the grandiose dreams of America’s
leaders have led us into.
March 21, Sunday at 2:00 PM
What
is Secular Humanism? What are its objectives? What is its importance?
Why should one support it? Why are the comparatively small numbers of
the nonreligious actively involved in the secular humanist movement?
Dr. Ron Lindsay, CEO of the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles, provides
an unsparing review of the state of secular humanism today and issues a
rousing call to arms. He demonstrates the critical significance of the
secular perspective, especially as it relates to public policy in this
video titled: Secular Humanism and Its Discontents.
March 18, Thursday at 7:00 PM
Join us for an evening with Dr. Darrel Ray, author of The God Virus.
