Humanist Association of Tulsa

HAT meeting now at CoR

2011-05-17T13:46:00.004-05:00

HAT meetings will now be held at Church of the Restoration, 1314 N. Greenwood Ave. Last Saturday we held the Humanist Discussion Group at the church. We will be holding another Humanism and the Arts gathering at the church in June. I would like to see a monthly dinner held at the church before long. (For the time being, the monthly chapter meetings will be held at the Genealogy Center.)

HAT to use facilities at Church of the Restoration

2011-04-16T21:21:00.004-05:00

At today's meeting of the Humanist Association of Tulsa, the membership voted to make use of the facilities at Church of the Restoration, 1314 N. Greenwood. Our primary meeting, the third Saturday 2 pm general membership meeting, will continue to be held at the Genealogy Center on Harvard for the time being.

The fee for use of the facilities is $25 per month. Included will be use of the fully equiped kitchen, the main meeting room and piano, and use of the video equipment. I envision us holding a monthly dinner as a fundraiser, in addition to our monthly Humanism and the Arts programs.

We have great potential to reach others of a liberal mindset in the community thanks to our location on a central avenue: Greenwood Avenue. I would like to see a changable letter sign established next to the roadway. I would like to see the title of the weekly sermon posted so that passersby will know what is going on inside the building.

Another great potential lies across the street from the church: Carver Middle School. I would like to get three volunteers to donate an hour a week of their time to tutoring students.

To date, HAT has been an all-white organization. By making use of Restoration, we have the potential to attract black members. Thus far, we have only talked the talk. Let us see if now we can walk the walk.

I believe this arrangement is a win-win situation for both HAT and Church of the Restoration.

Supporting Darwin Day

2011-02-11T20:16:00.001-06:00

Listen to Roy Speckhardt in the video (link below) explain how you can get involved in making February 12 become Darwin Day.

http://vimeo.com/19803382

February calendar

2011-02-02T14:09:00.002-06:00

February 2011 Calendar of Activities for Freethinkers
(Events are subject to cancellation due to snow and ice.)

Sat., Feb. 5, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Gregorian chant practice, Holy Family Cathedral (basement), 122 W. 8th.
Laudamus Schola is seeking men and women to join the group.

Sat., Feb. 5, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 5607 E. 54th St.

Sun., Feb. 6, 11:00 am
Service at Restoration is cancelled.

Fri., Feb. 11, 7:00 pm
Poetry Group, Border’s Bookstore, 2nd floor. Discussion of poetry by Coleridge.

Fri.., Feb. 11, 8:00 pm
Drinking with Atheists, Elote Café, 514 S. Boston.

Sat., Feb. 12, 11:30 am
Metropolitan Opera Simulcast of Nixon in China, Cinemark Theater, 71st St. and Mingo.

Sun., Feb. 13, 1:30 pm
Humanist Discussion Group, Herb’s house, 3414 E. 85th Pl.

Sun., Feb. 13, 4:00 pm
Baby Shower, for Cathy and William Poire, 8017 S. Peach, BA

Wed., Feb. 16, 7:00 pm
Atheists Mid-Month Social, Umberto’s, 3228 E. 21st St.

Sat., Feb. 19, 2:00 pm
HAT Chapter Meeting, Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard

Sun., Feb. 20, 1:00 pm
Bible/Bable Study, Robbin’s Nest Bookstore, 305 S. Muskogee, Tahlequah

Sat., Feb. 26, 11:30 am
Food and Fellowship, Asian restaurant at 51st and Vandalia, formerly Steak and Ale.

Sun., Feb. 27, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, at Agora Coffee House in Fontana Center.

Sun., Feb. 27, 3:00 pm
Dream Group at Marilyn Clarke’s, 4917 S. Maplewood

Sun., Feb. 27, 3:15 pm
Atheists Post-Meeting Social at Rib Crib, 5025 S. Sheridan

Questions? Call Randy (622-6975) or Dan (798-3629)

HAT meeting, 12.18.10

2010-12-19T23:04:00.004-06:00

The December HAT meeting was a special event. Visiting today was Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, Wisconsin. We had a larger than usual attendance: about 30 people. Members of the Tulsa Atheist Meetup had been invited to attend.

Annie Laurie spoke about recent litigation that FFRF has been involved in. She spoke close to an hour and a half. None of the usual business was conducted today due to our special guest addressing our group.

Elections will be held in January. Due to Skepticon 3 in Springfield, MO, the November meeting was cancelled.

Video report about Skepticon 3

2010-11-22T22:16:00.001-06:00

http://www.ky3.com/videobeta/882644f2-77b3-4680-8737-a624ba29116a/News/Skepticon

November 2010 Calendar

2010-11-01T17:14:00.003-05:00

November 2010 Calendar of Activities for Freethinkers

Sat., Nov. 6, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 5607 E. 54th St.

Sun., Nov. 7, 11:00 am
Humanist Sunday at Church of the Restoration, 1314 N. Greenwood Ave.
Speaker: John Lowerison on Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Discussion and meal follow.

Fri., Nov. 12, 7:00 pm
Poetry Group meets at Border’s Bookstore, 2nd floor.

Sat., Nov. 13, 2:00 pm
Secular Singers at Storey house, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sun., Nov. 14, 1:30 pm
Humanist Discussion Group, Herb’s house, 3414 E. 85 Pl.

Tues., Nov. 16, 7:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Mid-Month Social, Delta Cafe, 11101 E. 41st

Wed., Nov. 17, 11:20 am
ALGAE at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sat., Nov. 20, 2:00 pm
HAT Chapter Meeting at Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard.

Sat., Nov. 27, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at My Thai Restaurant, 3023 S. Harvard.

Sun., Nov. 28, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, at Agora Coffee House in Fontana Center.

Sun., Nov. 28, 3:00 pm
Dream Group at Marilyn Clarke's, 4917 S. Maplewood

Questions? Call Randy (622-6975) or Dan (798-3629)

HAT meeting, 10.16.10

2010-10-18T23:00:00.000-05:00

The Saturday meeting of the Humanist Association of Tulsa for October began at 2 pm in the meeting room of the Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard. There were 11 people present at the meeting.

Herb began the meeting by calling attention to “God in America,” a series currently running on PBS. Bill noted that everyone should view the series, especially if you have any lingering doubts that the Republican is not a wholly owned subsidiary of conservative religion.

The program is in six segments and can be viewed by clicking here: http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/view/

Herb also mentioned that Facebook has some interesting information about the AHA. Someone mentioned that there are 38,000 Christian sects in the world. If you are a Christian, what is the chance that you are a part of the correct Christian sect?

The most religious people are often the least informed about their religion. Atheists rank high in their knowledge about religion.

Herb spoke some about the topic of the recent Humanist Discussion Group, which meets at his house. “”Humanism and the Law” was the subject of the most recent discussion. Herb noted that the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment are often pitted against one another.

The Washington Ethical Society was talked about a bit. Bill noted that the Ethical Culture Groups grew out of the Jewish element within the AHA and are found mostly along the eastern seaboard.

Ron McDaniel gave a report on the amount of taxes that go uncollected in Tulsa County due to religious exemptions. He did a case study of Asbury United Methodist Church, studying the property surrounding the church and found that the exemption for this one church amounted to several thousands of dollars annually. If the citizens of Tulsa County were aware of how much more they have to pay to make up for those who feeeload due to their religious exemption, they would be up in arms.

I am to check on t-shirts from a place offering the shirts for $2.95 each. Bill called me a couple of days later to say that the first shirt is $2.95 but subsequent shirts are sold at a higher price.

Bill spoke about “Secular Celebrants” and said he would like to see us issue our own credentials.

Bill will be going to Paris for a month soon and wanted to remind us that we will be having a FFRF Tulsa meeting at Randy’s next Sunday afternoon.

On December 17, Annie Laurie Gaylor will be in Tulsa for a visit.

In the spring of 2011, Rob Boston of Americans United will be in Tulsa.

Bill also noted that the United Way contributed nothing to Planned Parenthood and urged us not to give to United Way. Bill also noted that a new book Inside C Street is being published shortly. Another book mentioned was Inside Job.

Black Elk Speaks was recommended by Herb as a worthwhile read.

I have just touched upon the highlights of this meeting. There are several things that I eliminated due to length. Please feel free to add anything you found to be interesting by clicking on “Comment” below.

HAT meeting, 9.18.10

2010-09-18T23:08:00.002-05:00

There were 13 people at today's HAT meeting. Includedin that number were two visitors: John Demoss and Phil Ferguson. Phil drops in every now and then when he is in the Bentonville, AR area. Otherwise, he is usually found in the Champagne-Urbana, IL area.

Randy expressed his exasperation at churches avoiding the paying of taxes. Herb said that is the way things are and most likely always will be -- a disheatening prospect. Then the idea of "if you can't beat them, join them" was raised. Bill said that if everyone is a "minister" or cleric of some group, then everyone is equal when it comes to tax breaks given to the religioius among us. Bill is a "bishop" in the Universal Life Church. The ULC might be worth checking into to see how it could level the playing field, so to speak.

Larry Roth mentioned that he had posted a reply on the meetup site to an essay distributed by Herb. I have yet to read Larry's reply. I hope I can do so soon.

I stated that we have 30 members and that the treasury stood at around $1400. I could not say exectly how much was in the treasury since I did not have the figure with me. Now that I am home and have looked it up, I can say that we have $1402.40.

The subject of anti-semitism was raised and discussed briefly. Someone mentioned the book God on Trial.

Bill circulated copies of his "God Survey," asking those present to take some and ask others to complete the survey and return the forms to Bill.

Ron McDaniel passed out some papers on education which compared the United States with others countries.

Randy mentioned a book he was reading titled Shop Class as Soulcraft by Michael B. Crawford. Crawford writes of the challenges and pleasures of working with one's hands. "The culture needs to be changed so that people can get satisfaction from making something with their hands," said Randy.

Bill brought a sacks of books with him which he offered for sale. The book is When Men Become Gods by Stephen Singular. It is the story of Mormon polygamist Warren Jeffs. Members bought three copies.

September calendar

2010-09-13T20:21:00.001-05:00

September 2010 Calendar of Activities for Freethinkers

Sat., Sept. 4, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 5607 E. 54th St.

Fri., Sept. 10, 7:00 pm
Poetry Group meets at Border’s Bookstore, 2nd floor

Sat. Sept. 11, all day
Road trip to Diamond, MO to visit GWC National Monument

Sun., Sept. 12, 11:00 am
Humanist Sunday at Church of the Restoration, 1314 N. Greenwood Ave.
Speaker: Marilyn Clarke. Meal follows.

Sun., Sept. 12, 1:30 pm
Humanist Discussion Group, Herb’s house, 3414 E. 85 Pl.
Discussion will be based on articles from the current issue of The Humanist magazine.

Wed., Sept. 15, 11:20 am
ALGAE at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan

Sept. ??, TBA
Tulsa Atheists Mid-Month Social, TBA

Sat., Sept. 18., 2:00 pm
HAT Chapter Meeting at Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard.

Sat., Sept. 25, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at Rib Crib, 5025 S. Sheridan

Sun., Sept. 26, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, at Agora Coffee House in Fontana Center.

Questions? Call Randy (622-6975) or Dan (798-3629)

HAT meeting minutes for August

2010-08-21T23:23:00.002-05:00

The August HAT meeting was held at the Genealogy Center on Harvard this afternoon. Eleven people were present: Randy, Marilyn, Bill, Bob, John, Richard, Ron, Dan, Larry, and Herb. We had one guest today: Mary.

Randy called the meeting to order around 2 pm.

First, he congratulated the group on staging a presence at the Free Tulsa Music Festival. The event gave us visibility. I enjoyed the hours I put in there and am hoping we have another opportunity to share our philosophy with the community soon. Temperatures were around 100 degrees at this event. Nevertheless, we had a half dozen volunteers most of the time. May the next tabling event be in cooler weather.

Randy encouraged everybody present to support the effort to join with Church of the Restoration (1314 N. Greenwood) in mutually assisting one another. The two groups share basically the same values. Marilyn Clarke, HAT VP, will be speaking on September 12. On October 3, Herb Van Fleet will address the congregation. Thereafter, each first Sunday will be Humanist Sunday, with HAT providing the speaker for the service. Anyone with the inclination to “get on your soapbox” needs to contact me to be scheduled to deliver the message for some future Sunday.

I distributed an updated membership list. Anyone with changes to the list should notify me. I reported we had $1519.06 in the treasury. I noted that Skepticon 3 will be held in Springfield, Missouri, with a few of the speakers being James Randi, Dan Barker, D.J. Grothe, and Victor Stenger.

I mentioned that Secular Singers and the ALGAE luncheons will resume in September. Continuation of these efforts are dependent upon good attendance.

The Atheist Meetup will be held at the Agora on Sunday, August 22 at 1 pm. This month’s Food and Fellowship gathering will be at Chopsticks 6193 E. 61st St. on Saturday, Aug. 28.

Ron gave a report on energy issues for the Public Affairs Committee. He distributed some handouts which he referred to in his talk.

Bill mentioned a church-state violation about to occur in north Tulsa. He said Randy had agreed to serve as a plaintiff in possible litigation.

The scheduled trip by Rob Boston to our area has been postponed until next Spring.

Bill mentioned that an award is scheduled to be given to Rep. Ritze. Accepting the award on his behalf will be Annie Laurie Gaylor of FFRF.

Bill said he now has a Jeri Askins for governor sign in his front yard. He spoke about the history of the 60s when southerners switched political allegiance from the Democrats to the Republicans following Johnson’s support of Civil Rights. He cited that as evidence of the Republicans (in general) being racists.

Bill said he would like to see us perform marriages and doing other duties now performed only by clergy.

The above report contains just a few things I recall from the meeting. I’m sure there is more. If you would like to add to the report, please click on “Comment” below and add your recollections.

Today's HAT meeting, 7.17.10

2010-07-17T19:43:00.002-05:00

The meeting was called to order at 2 pm today by HAT President Randy Bradley. There were eight members present and two visitors.

He immediately gave the floor to Bill Dusenberry to finish remarks left over from last month’s meeting. Bill mentioned that he had attended the AHA Conference last month held in San Jose, CA.

Bill spoke about plans to erect a billboard with assistance of FFRF National. Anyone with suggestions for wording should send them to Randy at his email address: randy.bradley@gmail.com. Anyone with a suggestion for a location, should send it to me at hatulsa@aol.com. We have a few Lamar billboard sites from which to choose. Contact me if you would like to see a list. Bill also said that HAT would give a Gore Award to the politician who did the most to promote (intentionally or otherwise) freethought.

Bill also spoke about two letter writing campaigns: (1) to Jimmy Carter, and (2) to state legislators regarding hospitals. Please, once you have written your letter, let me know and I will update the entry on the HAT blog (http://www.tulsaha.blogspot.com/). This will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of this effort. Another blog entry will soon go up on the issue regarding hospitals.

Herb announced the resumption of the Humanist Study Group. The next HSG will be held on the second Sunday in August at Herb’s house, 3414 W. 85th Pl. starting at 1:30 pm. Thereafter, the HSG will meet on the second Sunday of each month.

Bill remarked that The Humanist magazine would make a good source of information for the discussions.

Next I reported that we had a membership of 30 members, having just lost Brian Hill. The treasury stands at $1575.06. I brought up our alliance with Church of the Restoration. I mentioned that HAT would be leading the service on August 1, with Steve Nunn delivering the message. A few other slots are still open, and I hope we will have volunteers from HAT to fill those slots. Watch for an e-mail from me regarding this Humanist-led service.

It seems that our business meetings are so filled with business that our time of poetry reading has suffered. I mentioned that there is a group of poetry lovers who meet on the second Friday of the month at Border’s Bookstore on 21st Street, starting at 7 pm. If you would like to engage in the public reading of poetry, this is an opportunity for you.

Next, Ron McDaniel passed out some printed information about State Representative Sally Kern. He wondered about her sincerity. Several people spoke up and said she actually believed what she said. Ron’s talk was interspersed with humor. He finished his talk by saying Jesus was not married and was known to hang out with a bunch of guys.

Next Randy spoke about the book The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails written for former minister John Loftis. Randy said that Loftis explains that some Christians are non-receptive to arguments against Christianity which are based upon exposure to logical contradictions. Sounds like a must read.

We welcome Mr. and Mrs. Dana Swift, our guests at today’s meeting.

These are just the highlights as I saw them from today’s meeting. Feel free to add anything or correct anything by clicking on comments.

July 2010 Calendar of Activities

2010-07-05T21:06:00.004-05:00

Sat., July 3, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 5607 E. 54th St.

Tues., July 13, 7:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Mid-Month Social, Campus Grill, 3148 E. 11th St.

Sat., July 17, 2:00 pm
HAT Chapter Meeting at Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard.

Sat., July 24, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at Lanna Thai, 7227 S. Memorial.

Sun., July 25, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, at Agora Coffee House in Fontana Center.

Fri. & Sat., July 30 and 31
Free Tulsa Music Festival, tabling at. Volunteers needed. Call Kenny Nipp if you can work.

Questions? Call Randy (622-6975) or Dan (798-3629)

Letter Writing Campaign

2010-07-05T19:58:00.007-05:00

I will be posting on this page the names of those who have participated in the Letter Writing Campaign regarding the Boy Scouts of America. Presently, we are seeking to persuade former President Jimmy Carter to disaffiliate from BSA. Once you have written your letter to President Carter, please let me know and I will add your name to the list.

Writer ............................................................Month Letter Mailed
Bill Dusenberry................................................ June 2010
Dan Nerren..................................................... July 2010
Richard Maule................................................. July 2010

Photo from HAT meeting

2010-06-20T07:24:00.002-05:00

Photo taken at HAT meeting, 6.20.10. In photo are (going counter-clockwise from closest person) John, Bob, Richard Larry, Bill, Ron, Jan, Randy, Gail, Marilyn, Herb (legs only), and Barbara. My apology to John and Larry, sitting to the left just outside the camera's field of vision. For more on this meeting see below.

HAT meeting, 6-20-10

2010-06-19T21:19:00.004-05:00

Around 2 pm, Randy Bradley, chapter president, called the meeting to order. I gave the treasurer's report and the membership report. We currently have $1,574. 03 in the treasury and 31 dues-paying members.

Public Affairs Committee chairman, Ron McDaniel, spoke about HB 1001. Bill Dusenberry said he would like to invite area school superintendents to speak to us on the topic of the tyranny of the majority. He said he would have a letter published soon in the Tulsa World. Bill said that soon the Tulsa CoR would have something up on its website regarding writing to area state senators and representatives in hopes of getting them on the record regarding issues of interest to us. One such issue is the question of whether or not a hospital has the right to refuse medical service to patients based upon religion objections.

Marilyn Clarke read an excerpt from 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. Goldstein was featured in the May/June 2010 issue of The Humanist magazine.

Today's meeting was marked by a sense of hurriedness in that we had two hours to talk about four hours of business. The items on the last half of the agenda received short shrift. We never got around to New Business, of which I had two items.

There are two things we could do to resolve this problem: (1) hold two membershp meetings a month, or (2) let the Board wrangle over the minutia and present a recommendation to the membership which could then be voted up of down.

We might want to add another item to the agenda: communications. This would be the reporting of communications to the chapter.

Order of Service

2010-06-04T09:22:00.002-05:00

ORDER OF SERVICE
CHURCH OF THE RESTORATION
JUNE 6, 2010, 11:00 AM

Quiet Music: Edna Works

Announcements: Dan Nerren

Prelude: Edna Works

Chalice Lighting: Joy Avery

Affirmation: Steve Nunn

Opening Hymn: “This Little Light of Mine”

Children’s Story: Rosemary Powell

Children’s Offertory: Rosemary Powell

Welcome: Dan Nerren

Offertory: Dan Nerren

Candle Lighting and Silent Meditation: Mary Rounds

Special Music Selection: Dan Nerren (piano) and Joy Avery (guitar)

Reading: Steve Nunn

Message: Dan Nerren

Closing Hymn: “We Would Be One”

Closing Words: Joy Avery

June 2010 Calendar of Activities for Freethinkers

2010-06-01T16:46:00.002-05:00

.
Sat., June 5, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 5607 E. 54th St.

Sun., June 6, 11:00 am
Humanist Sunday at Church of the Restoration, 1314 N. Greenwood.

Wed., June 16, 11:20 am
ALGAE luncheon, White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sat., June 19, 2 pm
HAT Chapter Meeting at Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard.

Sat., June 26, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at Chopsticks, 6193 E. 61st.

Sun., June 27, 1 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, at Agora Coffee House in Fontana Center.

If an Atheists Mid-Month Social is scheduled, I will notify the list of the day and time.

Questions? Call Randy (622-6975) or Dan (798-3629)

HAT Meeting, 5.5.10

2010-05-15T20:41:00.002-05:00

The May 2010 HAT meeting was held today. There were 17 people present. As always, there was much discussion, much give and take among the membership.

As for the hard news, the membership voted to raise dues to $12 annually, starting in January 2011. A Public Affairs Committee, chaired by Ron McDaniel was established. Members are urged to contact Ron regarding violations of church/state separation, or other issues the committee might like to focus upon.

Herb reviewed the meeting held at his house earlier this month. There was a concern raised that the word “rationalism” found in our bylaws in section II could be misunderstood as “rationalizing” and thus asked for it to be changed to “reason.” This applied only to our chapter’s mission statement and not the bylaws. There is a procedure which has to be followed to change the bylaws.

Marilyn Clarke gave a presentation based upon an article from Harper’s Magazine from December 2007. “Hot Air Gods” by Curtis White was the essay she used.

In the “Readings, Quips, and Quotes” section of the meeting, I read the poem “Blackbirds” by Julie Cadwallader Staub.

Stan Simpson announced he will be holding a gathering at his house in the near future. I will pass along the information on this gathering once I have it.

I invited the membership to attend Church of the Restoration tomorrow morning for the 11:00 service. I think each organization will be able to benefit one another.

Please add your comments below by clicking on “Comments.” I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at Restoration.

Freethought Calendar for May

2010-05-01T14:57:00.003-05:00

May 2010 Calendar of Activities for Freethinkers

Sat., May 1, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 5607 E. 54th St. showing of a film will follow playing of “Castle House Rag” by our piano duo, Gail and Dan.

Sun., May 2, 2:00 pm
HAT Planning Session, at Herb’s house, 3414 E. 85th Pl.

Wed., May 12, 7:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Mid-Month Social, Campus Grill, 3148 E. 11th St.

Sat., May 15, 2 pm
HAT Chapter Meeting at Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard.

Wed., May 19, 11:20 am
ALGAE at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan Rd.

Thurs., May 20, noon
Contest deadline for “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.” Mail your drawing to HAT, P. O. Box 571127, Tulsa, OK 74157. Winners will be recognized at Food and Fellowship gathering.

Sat., May 22, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at La Hacienda, 4518 S. Peoria.

Sun., May 23, 1 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, at Agora Coffee House in Fontana Center

There is a possibility a meeting will be held (in the first full week of May) at Bill Dusenberry’s to discuss action to be taken in regard to “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” May 20.

Due to low attendance, Secular Singers is suspended for the summer. We will resume in September, provided there is sufficient interest.

Questions? Call Randy (622-6975) or Dan (798-3629)

Food and Fellowship at Chopsticks

2010-04-26T19:40:00.004-05:00

This photo was taken by our waitress at Chopsticks last Saturday, April 24, 2010. Seated around the table going clockwise from myself are Bob Hooper, Bill Dusenberry, Herb VanFleet, Marilyn Clarke, Larry Roth, John Lupardus, Ron McDaniel, Barbara Frey, and J.

HAT Meeting, 4.17.10

2010-04-17T19:25:00.006-05:00

Today's meeting of HAT began with Randy Bradley reading the Affirmations of Humanism, a statement written by Paul Kurtz. Randy said that he has ordered a 10' X 10' tent at a cost of about $240. We will be paying a $400 fee to set up the tent on "The Green" in downtown Tulsa on May 6, the National Day of Reason. We will be paying an additional fee to purchase $2 million of insurance to cover us for the five hours the tent will be up.

All HAT members are encouraged to come out to the Green on May 6. After the event, the tent will be made available to the reality-based community for other activities. Interested parties will be able to sign up for the "In Reason We Trust" license plate. Also, information from OESE regarding school textbooks will be available. Randy has put together a list of religion-based conflicts current going on around the world. He will make this list available.

[NOTE: The event on the Green has been canceled.]

HAT treasurer Dan Nerren passed out copies of the First Quarter Financial Report as well as receipts to those who recently paid their dues.

Next the floor was given to Herb van Fleet who presented the results of a recent survey of HAT members he conducted. He went over the questions one by one. The survey generated much discussion. Herb will be holding a meeting at his house of the Executive Committee at 2 pm on May 2 for further discussion of the survey and proposed actions which might follow from the survey. We might try to draft a mission statement at this meeting.

Nancy Kaschel receives award

2010-02-15T21:11:00.004-06:00

Nancy Kaschel, representative of Planned Parenthood, receives an award for her service to humanity.

Epicurus quote

2010-01-17T20:56:00.002-06:00

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing.
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

Epicurus, BCE 341-270

Today's meeting

2010-01-16T22:07:00.003-06:00

Today seems like a Sunday. That is because we had a HAT meeting this afternoon. For the last several years HAT has held its monthly chapter meetings on Sundays. We have now moved the meetings to a new venue at a new day and time. Instead of meeting at the Hardesty Library on the south edge of Tulsa, we now meet in a more central location at 2901 S. Harvard in the Genealogy Center of the Library System. Plus the room we meet in is a bit larger than the room we used at Hardesty. The new location is about six miles south and three miles west of our former location. Actually, we used to meet at the new location back when the building was owned by the Harmon Foundation. It was used by the Tulsa Philharmonic at that time.

We had a good turnout for today's meeting. There were 16 in attendance, if I remember correctly. I circulated a sign-in sheet, but have mislaid it. Otherwise, I would refer to it for the exact count.

KOTV, Channel 6, interviewed Randy recently concerning the billboard currently in place in Tulsa. The billboard says "Good Without God? Millions Are." The billboard can be seen as you travel west on I-44 as you go across the Arkansas River. We do not know when, or if, the interview will be aired.

Randy is continuing with his project of having member letters posted on the HAT web site. If you send in a letter for publication, be sure to send Randy a copy so he can post it also.

Richard told us about a hilarious web site called "Mr. Deity." I look at it ever so often to see what is new there. Check it out at http://www.mrdeity.com/. I would recommend that you begin by watching episode 1 of season 1. In light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, this one is most apopropriate.

We spoke briefly about the unfairness of allowing churches to go tax free, while every other business operation is taxed.

We discussed the move to teach the Bible as literature in the public schools. While this idea may look innocuous on paper, in practice it can be a can of worms. Everything depends upon the individual teacher who has the responsibility of teaching the course. In the hands of the wrong teacher, it can be used to proselytize students. And what Christian teacher is willing to ignore Christ's command to go into all the world and spread the gospel? Teaching this course would be a golden opportunity to do just that.

Richard also mentioned a program on Nova called "Archaeology and the Bible." He said it would be good for all students to see this program.

Randy spoke about the great feeling of love we in HAT have for one another. We get together frequently and know a lot about each other's lives. He is right. I have never felt so loved by a group of people as I do by those in our chapter. We are not just a chapter of the AHA; we are a community of like-minded people who enjoy each other's company. We love being together.

Herb brought up the idea of having shirts with printing on them saying something like "Humanist Association of Tulsa." We could wear the shirts to various community events, thereby advertising our chapter.

Dawn mentioned an organization which prints shirts for something like $6.50 each. She will look into it and let us know.

We had a visitor today. Her name is Judy, and she is a retired teacher. We hope our group can fill a need in her life and that she will become a part of our group and help us grow.

Toward the end of the meeting, I read a poem by Phillip Appleman titled "Noah." I was gratified that the group applauded when I finished reading the seven-page poem.

These are the highlights of the meeting as I recall them. Feel free to add anything you remember in the "Comments" area below.

Coalition of Reason Newsletter, v. 1, no. 1

2010-01-06T14:06:00.002-06:00

Hard CoR News
The insider bulletin of the United Coalition of Reason
Volume 1, Issue 1 ~ January 5, 2010

Welcome to the first issue of the United Coalition of Reason’s electronic newsletter. This is a new service, created to benefit all local CoR coordinators and web administrators in the United CoR network. Other select individuals are also receiving it. The purpose is to keep CoR leaders up to date on organizational developments, plans, and new initiatives. It is also to serve as a forum for sharing information and ideas within the CoR community.

To begin, the United CoR board and staff wish everyone a Happy New Year as the organization sets its course for 2010. There are exciting new projects in the works. But before we begin to fill you in on those, below, we start with a news wrap-up of our progress in 2009.

Rapid Growth in the First Year

The United Coaliton of Reason went public on March 30, 2009, with the launch of the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason in Texas. News coverage was significant, followed by a dramatic upsurge in Web traffic and new membership growth for the participating local groups.

In the months that followed two existing coalitions were brought into the United CoR network: the Greater Philadelphia Coalition of Reason and the Colorado Coalition of Reason. The New York Times mentioned the United CoR phenomenon in its April 27 article, “More Atheists Shout It from the Rooftops.”

Then the billboard campaign for Arizona CoR was unveiled at a well-attended press conference on June 5. For added news impact, this was held in conjunction with the national conference of the American Humanist Association. The media results were impressive and Arizona CoR’s stature in the community rose rapidly thereafter.

Later that month, work commenced on coalitions in Ohio, Washington State, and Oregon. In July CoRs were organized in Minnesota and Oklahoma. In August one was organized in West Virginia. A pre-existing coalition in Houston, Texas, was also recruited. Then in September initial CoR meetings were held in Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Washington DC.

Meanwhile, United CoR provided logistical and media support, but no ad funding, for two individual organizations: the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association and the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. New Orleans unveiled a billboard on May 29. Later, in Des Moines, Iowa, a bus campaign launched August 3.

Then the dam broke as 14 CoRs suddenly went public in the last quarter of 2009. These were Morgantown CoR on September 29 (with media activity continuing well into October), Big Apple CoR on October 19, Chicago CoR on October 20, New Jersey CoR on October 27, and Boston CoR on October 28. In Ohio three CoRs launched at once on November 10: Cin CoR, Columbus CoR, and NEO CoR. On November 11 San Diego CoR launched, followed by Silicon Valley CoR on November 16. That same day, Philly CoR unveiled its second ad campaign (its first had begun May 1, 2008). It involved ads on 25 buses and 25 subway cars. Portland CoR launched its campaign on November 17, Baltimore CoR on December 1, and Tulsa CoR on December 7. In Houston, a pre-existing coalition called the Houston Freethought Alliance unveiled its United CoR billboard on December 9.

A number of local coalitions using the “Good without God” advertising theme were able to coordinate their launches with a book tour for the new book, Good without God, authored by Greg Epstein, who is the humanist chaplain at Harvard University. The book was released October 27 and media attention is still going strong, accompanied by large crowds at Epstein’s speaking engagements. Many local CoRs benefited from the extra publicity boost that this tie-in made possible.

Such a concentrated blizzard of CoR activity in the last quarter of 2009 was not only felt nationwide but overseas as well. The New York story went worldwide, including coverage in the China Daily and on Al Jazeera television. The Baltimore Sun put Baltimore CoR on its front page. The temporary removal of the bus ads in Des Moines and a billboard in Cincinnati created reverberations across the country. And attendance at the annual Texas Freethought Convention, held November 14 in San Antonio, was more than double that of the previous year, reportedly due in large part to the energized coalition activity in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas.

And on November 2, at a special ceremony held on the Harvard campus, the United Coalition of Reason received the Harvard Humanist of the Year Award—the only organization ever to be so honored—for its “historic” multi-city coalition-building campaign. Included in the ceremony was Amanda Gulledge of Montgomery, Alabama, winner of the United CoR “Good without God Essay Contest.” (Her essay is online at http://unitedcor.org/UnitedCoR_essayWinnerWEB.pdf .)

The year concluded with a second Des Moines bus ad campaign, which launched December 22, this one geared to the winter holiday season. Further details on this and all of the above developments can be found on the United CoR website at http://unitedcor.org/whatsnew.htm . Moreover, as the homepage reveals, there are now 20 CoRs in the national network.

New Initiatives for 2010

In addition to new ad campaigns, such as a billboard in Seattle, Washington, this month, and more coalitions forming, the United Coalition of Reason is moving in new directions. For 2010 the emphasis will be on developing the CoRs that have already launched. The idea is that not only should the movement spread wide but it should reach deep. Foundations need to be built that will ensure long-term stability.

Toward this end, United CoR is doing some new things. For starters, it is offering the following list of recommended CoR celebrations that can be used to build local bonds of cooperation and generate further publicity.

Darwin Day (February 12)
Earth Day (April 22)
National Day of Reason (May 6)
Banned Books Week (September 25-October 2)
National Secular Service Day (October 18)
Winter Solstice/HumanLight (around December 21)

Since Darwin Day is just a little over 5 weeks away, it is recommended that local groups and their CoRs begin making plans as soon as possible. Program ideas for this observance can be found online at http://www.darwinday.org/ .

United CoR will also be redesigning its national website to give it more features of value to local CoR leaders and it will be creating a new, more user-friendly Web template which CoRs both new and old can make use of. Details on these changes will be made available as they are worked out.

Watch for the next issue of this e-newsletter for additional news and information.

Fred Edwords, editor. © Copyright 2010 by the United Coalition of Reason.
E-mail news items to Fredwords@UnitedCoR.org . Visit the website at www.UnitedCoR.org.

January 2010 Calendar

2010-01-01T15:56:00.001-06:00

January 2010
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Jan. 2, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., Jan. 9, 2:00 PM
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sat., Jan 16, 2:00 pm
HAT chapter meeting
NOTE: New meeting location, date and time. Meetings during 2010 will be held at the Genealogy Center, 2901 S. Harvard (across from Fellowship Congregational Church). This is the same location where HAT met prior to the Hardesty Library.

Wed., Jan 20, 11:20 pm
ALGAE luncheon Join us at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan Rd., for a seafood lunch.

Sat., Jan. 23, 11:30 pm
Food & Fellowship, Billy Sims Barbecue at Farm Shopping Center, Sheridan and 51st St.

Sun., Jan. 27, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center, Memorial and 51st St.

--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

Bob H. sent this to me

2009-12-16T16:26:00.001-06:00

I received a message from Bob H. today:

http://countdowntohealthcare.com/

Many of you are concernsed about the healthcare issue, and Bob wanted you to see this.

HumanLight 2009

2009-11-29T14:55:00.003-06:00

Our HumanLight celebration this year will be at the home of Randy and Dawn Bradley once again. This year instead of the Bradleys serving a meal, each participant is encouraged to bring a dessert. The event is set to take place on Saturday, December 19. A musical program by the Secular Singers will be the featured entertainment for the evening. Gail Storey and Dan Nerren will play two seasonal piano duets. Below is a link to information about HumanLight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsiYANxesTo

For more information on the event being held at the Bradleys, see the HAT web site.

November calendar

2009-11-02T08:37:00.002-06:00

November 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Nov. 7, 7:00 PM
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th.

Sun., Nov. 8, 1:00 PM
Humanist Study Group, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., Nov. 14, 2:00 PM
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sun., Nov. 15, 1:15 PM
Humanist November Meeting, Hardesty Library, on 93rd east of Memorial.

Wed., Nov. 18, 11:20 AM
ALGAE Luncheon, White River Fish Mkt., 1708 N. Sheridan

Fri. & Sat., Nov. 20-21
Skepticon II, MSU, Springfield, MO. For more info:
http://www.meetup.com/SpringfieldFreethinkers/calendar/11028936/

Sun., Nov. 22, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center

Sat., Nov. 28, 11:30 AM
Food & Fellowship, Rice Bowl, 4307-B S. Sheridan Rd.

--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

Meeting place may change

2009-10-21T12:54:00.002-05:00

At the HAT meeting last Sunday, president Randy Bradley said we might be moving our meeting place back to our former location, the building which now house the TCCL Genealogy Center.

I believe this location would be more centrally located for most of our membership.

August calendar

2009-08-04T08:42:00.001-05:00

August 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat.., Aug. 1, 7:00 PM
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th

Sat., Aug. 8, 2:00 PM
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor

Sun., Aug. 9, 1:00 PM
Humanist Study Group, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th St.

Tues., Aug. 11, 7:00 PM
Liberal Action Network, Zarrow Library, 2224 W. 51st St.

Wed., Aug. 12, 12:45 PM
ALGAE Luncheon, White River Fish Mkt., 1708 N. Sheridan

Sun., Aug. 16, 1:15 PM
Humanist August Meeting, Hardesty Library, on 93rd east of Memorial. Brian Hill will review When I’m Sixty-Four.

Wed., Aug. 19 , 7:00 PM
TAM Mid-Month Social, The Local Table, 4329 S. Peoria

Sat., Aug 22, 11:30 AM
Food & Fellowship, Monterrey’s, east side of Fontana Center

Sun., Aug. 23, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center

To print out this schedule on a calendar page, click here:
http://humanism.meetup.com/201/calendar/

--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

Photos from HAT meeting 7-19-09

2009-07-24T14:00:00.013-05:00

(left to right) Keith McCartney, Bea McCartney, Jackie Martin, Bill Dusenberry, Dave Tinney, Dawn Bradley
(

Here are some photos taken at the HAT meeting on July 19. The top photo shows speaker Fred Edwords addressing our group. We had a record crowd at this meeting: 26.
Fred spoke to us about the Tulsa United Coalition of Reason. Following the meeting Fred held a seminar on getting publicity for our group. Later representatives of TUCAR met at The Local Table for further discussion.

Calendar for July 2009

2009-07-03T13:27:00.002-05:00

July 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., July 4, 7:00 PM
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th

Tues., July 7, 7:00 PM
Liberal Action Network, Zarrow Library, 2224 W. 51st St.

Sat., July 11, 2:00 PM
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor

Sun., July 12, 1:00 PM
Humanist Study Group, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th St.

Wed., July 15, 12:45 PM
ALGAE Luncheon, White River Fish Mkt., 1708 N. Sheridan

Sat., July 18 9:00 AM
Riverside Loop Walk, Pedestrian Bridge, 31st and Riverside Dr.

Sat., July 18, 7:00 PM
TAM Mid-Month Social, La Hacienda, 4518 S. Peoria

Sun., July 19, 1:15 PM
Humanist July Meeting, Hardesty Library, 8316 E. 93rd

Sat., July 25, 11:30 AM
Food & Fellowship, Rib Crib, 5025 S. Sheridan

Sun., July 26, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center

To print out this schedule on a calendar page, click here:
http://humanism.meetup.com/201/calendar/

--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

June 21 meeting canceled

2009-06-18T22:33:00.003-05:00

The June 21st meeting of the Humanist Assn. of Tulsa has been canceled. There will be a gathering to celebrate the summer solstice on June 20 at Randy's house. Randy lives at 6705 E. 54th St. All humanists, atheists, and freethinkers are invited to attend the celebration. Randy's phone number is 622-6975.

Results of HAT board meeting

2009-05-26T14:06:00.004-05:00

The HAT board met on May 25 (Memorial Day) at the home of Randy Bradley. All members of the board were present, namely, Randy Bradley, president; Marilyn Clarke, vice-president; Dan Nerren, secretary and treasurer; Brian Hill, program director. We discussed a number of issues including the following:

(a) Purchase of a canopy tent

Randy will be selecting a canopy tent to be purchased so that we might have shelter from the sun while engaging in tabling at events in the future. When he has chosen an item to be purchased, he will email the other board members with information concerning the tent.

(b) Advertising

Randy will also seek to get notices placed in the Tulsa World newspaper announcing meeting times and venues.

Dan will check on the cost of ads in the Oklahoma Observer.

Marilyn will do the same for Urban Tulsa.

(c) Activities for our chapter

We talked about possible activities for our members to take part in. Randy suggested we go on a volkswalk sometime. I will check on the next volkswalk in the Tulsa area.
***********************

I checked on the cost of ads in the Observer, and was told they cost $20 each (business card size on back page).

The next volkswalk in the area will be the "Riverside Loop" walk set for Saturday, July 18. The walk will start in the morning. I should be getting more details about the walk, which I will pass along later. You should have two options, though. There will be both a 5K (3.1 miles) and a 10K (6.2 miles) walk.

May 2009 Calendar

2009-05-02T12:46:00.003-05:00

May 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., May 2, 7:00 pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th

Sun., May 10, 1:00 pm
Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th.

Sun., May 17, 1:15 pm
Humanist Meeting at Hardesty Library. Brian Hill will speak on the topic “Humanism: Its Past, Present, and Future.”

Sat., May 23, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship, location TBA.

Sun., May 24, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

There will be no meeting of Secular Singers, Liberal Action Network, or ALGAE this month. If there are additional meetings that need to be added to the calendar, please call me at 798-3629.

Calendar for March 2009

2009-02-28T20:42:00.007-06:00

March 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Fri., Mar. 6, 1:00pm
Dawkins Expedition to OU. Leave from the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sun., Mar. 8, 1:00 pm
Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th.

Tues., Mar. 10, 7:00 pm
Liberal Action Network at Zarrow Library.

Sat., Mar. 14, 2:00 pm
Secular Singers at Gail’s house, 4630 S. Victor.

Sun., Mar. 15, 1:00 pm
Humanist Meeting at Hardesty Library. Brian Hill will show a 45-minute DVD of the actual Frost/Nixon dialogue.

Wed., Mar. 18, 12:30 pm
ALGAE at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Wed., Mar. 18, 7:00 pm
Atheists Meetup Mid-Month Social Gathering. Venue: The Local Table, 4329 S. Peoria.

Sun., Mar. 22, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Sat., Mar. 28, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at Te Kei’s, 1616 S. Utica.

Sat., Mar. 28, 2:00 pm
FFRF Tulsa, Brookside Library

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

February Freethought Calendar

2009-01-31T23:18:00.001-06:00

February 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Feb. 7, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Movie selection: TBA

Sun., Feb. 8, 1:00 pm
Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th

Tues., Feb. 10, 7:00 pm
Liberal Action Network at Zarrow Library.ª

Sat., Feb. 14, 2:00 pm
Secular Singers at Gail’s house, 4630 S. Victor. I now have the music for “Life Every Voice and Sing.” Join us as we sing this and many other songs.

Sun., Feb. 15, 1:00 pm
Humanist Meeting at Hardesty Library. See note below.*

Wed., Feb. 18, 7:00 pm
Atheists Meetup Mid-Month Social Gathering. Venue: Rib Crib, 5025 S. Sheridan. For menu go to www.ribcrib.com.

Sun., Feb. 22, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Sat., Feb. 28, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship at The Rice Bowl, 4307B S. Sheridan. Menu with prices can be found at www.thericebowlcafe.com.

ªFor the first time in Oklahoma history both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the Republicans. Those of us with liberal values must write to our legislators and let them know where we stand on the issues. If the laws which the legislature enact have any importance to you, please show up and add your voice to ours.

*Program by Brian Hill: A half hour DVD lecture on the immediate fallout of Darwin's theory on British and American scientific communities in the 19th century.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

January 2009 Calendar

2009-01-01T21:47:00.002-06:00

January 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Jan. 3, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Movie selection: TBA

Sat., Jan. 10, 2:00 pm
Secular Singers at Gail’s house, 4630 S. Victor

Sun., Jan 11, 1:00 pm
Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th

Tues., Jan. 13, 7:00 pm
Liberal Action Network at Zarrow Library.

Wed., Jan. 14, 7:00 pm
Atheists Meetup Mid-Month Social Gathering. Venue: La Hacienda, 4518 S. Peoria

Sun., Jan 18, 1:00 pm
Humanist Meeting at Hardesty Library. Program by Marilyn Clarke.

Sat., Jan. 24, 11:30 am
Food & Fellowship. at La Hacienda, 4518 S. Peoria

Sun., Jan. 25, 1:00 pm
Tulsa Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

HAT meeting 11-16-08

2008-11-17T23:29:00.001-06:00

There were 14 people at the November 2008 HAT meeting.

Randy announced that the annual Human Light (see www.HumanLight.org) celebration will be on December 21, 2008 at his house. Randy and Dawn will serve a meal, followed by the Secular Singers leading the group in song. Next, Marilyn Clarke will have a play for us to read.

Randy read a few poems including “Who Are My People” by Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni, “I Am” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and “Every Child” by Hafiz. Next, Barbara Frey read a poem she had written many years ago, “Credo Contempore.” Lastly, Bob Hooper read a poem by Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess.”

I took a photo of the group. It can be seen at our meetup site.

I passed around a sheet of paper so that everyone present could list what information they wanted included in our new directory.

Nominations were received for offices for next year. The present officers were willing to serve another term. No one volunteered to run against the present officers.

Bill Dusenberry spoke about affiliating with a national organization and recommended the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Affiliation with FFRF would benefit us by making available to us various assets that affiliates receive.

Brian Hill gave a review of the book Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism by James Piereson. The discussion of the book went off on a tangent when the subject of the number of gunmen involved in the incident came up.

November Freethought Schedule

2008-11-02T19:42:00.003-06:00

November 2008 Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

November 2008
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Nov. 1, 7:00pm Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.
Movie selection: TBA

Sat., Nov. 8, 2:00 pm Secular Singers, meet at Gail’s house, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sun., Nov. 9, 1:00pm Humanist Study Group at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th. We will listen to and discuss a Point of Inquiry podcast.

Tues., Nov. 11, 7:00 pm Liberal Action Network at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Sat., Nov. 15, 7:00 pm Atheists Meetup Mid-Month Social Gathering. Venue TBA

Sun., Nov. 16, 1:00pm HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Brain Hill will review the book Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism by James Piereson.

Sat., Nov. 22, 11:30am Food & Fellowship at The Rib Crib, 6902 S. Lewis.

Sun., Nov. 23, 1:00pm Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

HAT Meeting, 10-19-08

2008-10-19T21:55:00.001-05:00

Eight people were present for today’s HAT meeting. Randy phoned me this morning and said he had twisted a knee and would not be coming. I gave the financial report and the membership report. Then I read a selection from Atheist Universe by David Mills. John and Bob also read selections.

Brian gave a review of Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter. Everytime Brian addresses our group I am reminded of how fortunate we are to have him as a member.

General discussion followed the talk until a little past 3 pm.

October 2008 Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

2008-10-01T16:41:00.001-05:00

Fri., Oct 3, 7:00 am
The Breakfast Club with Kimberly Burdick will hold its inaugural meeting on this date. The primary purpose for this Atheists Meetup is to provide an opportunity for those whose work schedule keeps them from meeting with us at other times to be a part of our group.

Fri., Oct. 3, 7:30 pm
Group viewing of “Religulous” at Circle Cinema. Will go out for food following the movie.

Sat., Oct. 4, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Movie selection: Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections. This documentary shows how election fraud changed the outcome of the 2004 election and led to even greater fraud in 2006. The documentary reveals how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity across the U.S. Running time: 80 minutes.

Sun., Oct. 5, 2:30 pm
OCCJ March. Join the 2-mile march which starts at 322 N. Greenwood. Enjoy barbecue afterwards.

Sat., Oct. 11, 2:00 pm
Secular Singers, meet at Dan’s house, 4925 Spruce, Sand Springs

Sun., Oct. 12, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th. We will listen to and discuss a Point of Inquiry podcast.

Tues., Oct. 14, 7:00 pm
Liberal Action Network at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Wed., Oct. 15, 12:30 am
ALGAE luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan. This is the final weekday luncheon of the year. Note the new time.

Wed., Oct. 15, 7:00 pm
Atheists Meetup Mid-Month Social Gathering. Venue TBA

Sun., Oct. 19, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Brain Hill will review the book Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter.

Sat., Oct. 25, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at Lanna Thai, 7227 S. Memorial.

Sun., Oct. 26, 1:00pm
Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

September 2008 Calendar

2008-08-31T21:50:00.002-05:00

Sat., Sept. 6, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.
Gail and Dan will perform a duet at the piano by Eugenie Rocherolle. Feature presentation to be selected that evening.

Wed., Sept. 10, 7:00pm
Atheists Meetup Mid-month Social Gathering at The Royal Dragon in the Fontana Center.

Sun., Sept. 14, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th. We will listen to and discuss a Point of Inquiry podcast.

Wed., Sept. 17, 11:15 am
ALGAE luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan. This month and next we revive our luncheon at White River. Come have a bowl of gumbo or red beans and rice with us.

Sun., Sept. 21, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Brain Hill will review the book The Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America and How We Can Get More of It by Arthur C. Brooks.

Sat., Sept. 27, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at The Royal Dragon in the Fontana Center.

Sun., Sept. 28, 1:00pm
Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Secular Singers will not meet this month. Same goes for the Liberal Action Network.
Both of these events should be back on the October calendar.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

HAT happenings

2008-08-23T23:49:00.002-05:00

Our humanist chapter met twice this week. On Sunday, August 17, we met at Hardesty Library for our third Sunday membership meeting. There were 14 people in attendance at this meeting. Randy spoke about purchasing a tent for tabling purposes, but no action was taken on the matter.

Randy next read a poem by William Blake: "Auguries of Innocence." We don’t hear the word “auguries” used much anymore. It means “omens” or “portents.”

For my part as Secretary and Treasurer, I reported that we have $1588.61 in the treasury, and the membership total is now 27.

I read two selections for my contribution to our literary reflections time. The first was written by Kenneth C. Davis and was from his recent book American’s Hidden History. The second was written by comedian Lewis Black and is found in his book Me of Little Faith. It seemed that many of the fourteen present had much they wished to talk about this day. We were engaged in lively conversation until someone made the observation that Brian had a program to present. Brian showed a portion of a 4-hour PBS special on Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis.

On Saturday, August 23, once again 14 people showed up for Food & Fellowship at Helen of Troy on South Lewis. (It was the same gang of 14, with the exception of four.) We had Greek/Mediterranean food. Some of us were surprised to learn that Bob N, had a new tattoo on his upper left arm. I say some of us, because with 14 people lined up at one long table, those on the north end of the table might have missed out on what was going on down on the south end.

Library dedication, fitness center, drumming

2008-08-07T08:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I did three things: attended the dedication of the new Kaiser Library; joined the fitness center at Tulsa Community College (West campus), and attended the drum circle at the Price house.

The library dedication lasted 45 minutes – not quite the two hours Jan had predicted. The event was larger than I had expected. It was held in the gymnasium of the new community center. The library/community center is all under on roof. One strange aspect of the dedication was the tree watering. A small tree (maybe six feet high in a planter) which is normally at the entrance of the library was moved into the gym. Inasmuch as it is associated with a library, the tree was referred to as “the tree of knowledge.” In the story of Adam and Eve, there is also a “tree of knowledge” (of good and evil), from which grows the forbidden fruit. The symbolic watering of the tree was a way of indicating a hope for the nourishment of the tree. Someone remarked that the complex was to serve the whole person: the library will serve the mind; the community center the body. Did anyone else, I wonder, think of the connection to the Garden of Eden story?

There were many people at the dedication, maybe two to three hundred. I recognized many people at the gathering. Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor was there, along with former Tulsa mayor Bill LaFortune. (The library was built on the grounds of LaFortune Park.) Speaking at the event were Richard Bales (park director), Fred Perry (chairman of the county commission), Bob Dick (a former county commissioner), LaVerne Ford Wimberly (chairman of the library commission), Bonnie Henke (president-elect of the Tulsa Library Trust Board), Bill LaFortune, and Linda Saferite (head of the Tulsa City-County Library).

Funds for building the Community Center came from the Vision 2025 tax; funds for building the Kaiser Library came from private donations. Among the donors contributing to the building of the library is the Humanist Association of Tulsa. The words “Humanist Association of Tulsa” appear on a plaque near the entrance to the library.

Entertainment at the dedication was provided by a band featuring a steel drum. Steel Around is the name of the band. They played several songs including “Yellow Bird,” and “Brown-Eyed Girl.” Refreshments were served, also.

In the afternoon, we went to the TCC campus and joined the fitness center there. We had to have a picture ID made and then pay the fee to use the facility. We then returned home and I took a nap. We returned to the fitness center later in the afternoon and walked for thirty minutes. The walking track is above the basketball court and circles the court. Several exercise machines are available to use. Down on the basketball court were several people attending a lecture of some kind with a powerpoint presentation.

In the evening I attended my drumming group at the Price house. Craig (former drum circle member) called while we were there, saying he may be back with more stories of his adventures.

Movie Night report

2008-08-03T21:32:00.004-05:00

There were just seven members who showed up for Movie Night last night. Present were Randy and Dawn, Jan and myself, and Marilyn, Gail, and Steven. After Gail and I played our duets, we viewed the movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Gail brought some lemon bars, and we had the usual popcorn and soft drinks.

August 2008 Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

2008-08-01T12:46:00.004-05:00

Sat., August 2, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.
Gail and Dan will perform duets at the piano by Wohlfarht and Mozart. Feature presentation to be decided that evening.

Sat., August 9, 2:00pm
Secular Singers at home of Gail Storey, 4630 S. Victor Ave. There will be a whole lot of hootin’ and hollarin’ going on. All welcome.

Sun., August 10, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th St. Topic: TBA

Sun., August 17, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Yes, we are still meeting at Hardesty. Brian Hill will be showing selections from the PBS special “The Question of God.”

Sat., August 23, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at Helen of Troy, 6700 S. Lewis.

Sun., August 24, 1:00pm
Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

Food & Fellowship

2008-07-26T20:43:00.002-05:00

We had our monthly Food & Fellowship gathering today at Billy Sims’s Barbecue at The Farm shopping center near 51st and Sheridan. There were a dozen of us there enjoying barbecue sandwiches and “fixins” (potato salad, baked beans, chips, etc.). The group included Marilyn C., Marilyn G., Brian, Bob H., Richard, Larry R., Dawn, Randy, Kim, Ron, and Jan and myself.

Down at my end of the table, the conversation was mostly about energy (the high price of, new sources of, wind as, effect of China and India’s growing demand for, etc.). I usually learn something new at these gatherings, and today was no exception. I learned from Richard that there are a series of short (usually 2 to 5 minutes in length) skits that go by the name of “Mr. Deity” which you can find on YouTube, or you can just Google “Mr. Deity” at your computer. I don’t know how many episodes there are of Mr. Deity, but I just finished watching the first five. The link to Episode 1 is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzf8q9QHfhI&NR=1

It’s funny, but at the same time it’s not funny.

After we had finished eating, we all got in our respective vehicles and drove over to the new Kaiser Library in LaFortune Park. We saw the name of our chapter, “Humanist Association of Tulsa,” on a wall which recognized groups or individuals who had made donations toward the building of the library.

We spoke with a librarian who seemed to indicate there would be no problem with reserving the meeting room in the library. The person in charge of meeting room reservations was not there at the time of our visit, but Randy got his phone number to contact him later. As it turns out, the meeting room had already been reserved for the times we wished to reserve it. So our meetings will continue to be held at Hardesty Library at the usual time on the usual day.

The community center portion of the building is not yet open, but should be open by September. There is a possibility we might move there this fall, if we are able to reserve a meeting room in that part of the building.

HAT Meeting 7-20-08

2008-07-21T07:20:00.002-05:00

There were 15 people in attendance at the HAT meeting yesterday. There were also several visitors at this meeting. Members attending were John L., Marilyn G., Brian H., Ron McD., Marilyn C., Randy B., Audrey D., Kimberly B., Bob H., and myself. Visitors in attendance were Herb V. F., William D., Larry R., and Jim and Sally McE. After the meeting, three of the visitors paid dues and became new members. Herb, Bill, and Larry.

We discussed moving the meetings to the new Kaiser Library at LaFortune Park. We will go, as a group, immediately after the Food & Fellowship gathering this Saturday (the library is closed on Sundays) to look over the new library and perhaps make a decision then about moving the meetings to Saturday at the Kaiser Library. Anyone interested in having input on this decision should try to join us at Billy Sims’s Barbecue in The Farm shopping center for the Food & Fellowship this coming Saturday at 11:30. After we eat, we will tour the new library. We should also be able to locate the plaque with our group’s name on it as a donor to help build the new library.

I spoke about a new Meetup group I am starting called Liberal Action Network. The purpose of this group is to generate letters to political representatives on issues of concern to ourselves. The first LAN Meetup will be held at The Royal Dragon on 51st Street (in the Fontana Center) on August 16, 7pm. We will be in the room with the large circular table. This will be a working meeting, in that while we are gathered together, we will write our letters. If you would like to do more than bewail the state of things, plan on attending this Meetup group and write a letter with us. Writing materials will be provided. All you need to do is show up.

Marilyn Clarke did an excellent job leading the program, “Freud, Religion, and Primary Process Thinking.” She spoke of the role our parents play in creating religion in ourselves. As young children, we have to rely upon our parents (“magical beings”) who know our needs and fulfill them while we are yet inarticulate. As we get older, we still look for magical beings to fulfill our needs. Now the magical beings become god(s).

June 2008 Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

2008-06-02T22:24:00.002-05:00

June 2008
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., June 7, 7:00pm Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sun., June 8, 2:00pm Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th St. Normally scheduled for 1pm, meeting time changed to avoid a gap between this event and Stan’s party.

Sun., June 8, 4:00pm Stan’s party, enjoy dinner at Stan’s place, 1513 E. 3rd.

Wed., June 11, 7:30pm Atheists Meetup Mid-Month Social Dinner
See atheists.meetup.com/477 for more information.

Sat., June 14, 2 to 4pm Secular Singers at Gail’s house, 4630 S. Victor.

Sun., June 15, 1:00pm HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Program Director Brian Hill will show a travelogue film on Paris, France.

Sat., June 21, 7:00pm Combination Solstice Party and Sky Party, Bradley house, 6705 E. 54th. Celebrate with us the coming of the summer solstice; if we have clear skies, we will look at some celestial objects through telescopes.

Sun., June 22, 2:00pm Atheists Meetup at Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center. See atheists.meetup.com/477 for more information.

Sat., June 28, 11:30am Food & Fellowship at The Local Table, 4329 S. Peoria.

Sat., June 28, 2 to 4pm Keystone Ancient Forest Tour (tentative; depends upon interest shown at June 15 meeting).

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

HAT Meeting (5-18-08) and other events

2008-05-24T16:17:00.003-05:00

HAT held its May meeting on the 18th of the month at Hardesty Library. Attendence was ten. Brian had prepared to show a travelogue on Paris, but the conversation was going so well that when Marilyn spoke up and said lets keep this conversation going, we did just that. For the better part of two hours we sat around the table and talked.

Stan Simpson would like to invite all HAT and TAM members to a party he will host on the afternoon of June 8, which is a Sunday. You may park across the street from his house at the transmission shop. Plan to arrive around 4 pm. The Humanist Study Group will meet at 2 pm and will end in time to drive to Stan's house.

I gave a membership and financial report on our chapter. Ron McDaniel paid his dues, and John Lowerison joined our chapter at the end of the meeting. That brings our membership total for the year up to 23. In the treasury we now have $1,555.31.

I read a poem by Cathryn Essinger titled "The Man Next Door Is Teaching His Dog to Drive." Please, I would like to see a few more people read a poem (or prose selection) at future meetings.

At the Food & Fellowship gathering today, our original venue was closed (second time this has happened to us). Just like last time, we went across the street and ate at a Vietnamese restaurant, Binh-le's. Twelve people were in attendance at this event.

HAT Meeting 3.16.08

2008-03-23T08:59:00.002-05:00

At the HAT meeting last Sunday, March 16, there were 12 people in attendance. Two of the twelve were visitors. The program was presented by our program director Brian Hill. Brian spoke on Suzanne Haneef’s book What Everyone Should Know about Islam and Muslims.
I reported that our membership for the year stood at 20. During the poetry reading segment, I read “Letter of Recommendation” by Robert B. Shaw, another poem I first heard read on Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac.” Marilyn Clarke recited from memory lines from “The More Loving One” by W. H. Auden.

HAT Meeting 2.17.08

2008-02-18T21:45:00.001-06:00

The meeting began with announcements of upcoming events, namely the Food & Fellowship at 11:30 am on the 23rd at Cardigan’s (6000 S. Lewis) and the Atheists Meetup at 2:00 pm on the 24th at The Hideaway (1419 E. 15th).

The new HAT librarian is Kim Burdick. Bob Hooper brought a sack of books and donated them to the Freethinker’s Library. Bob also read a selection from Skeptical Inquirer.

Brian Hill mentioned a report from the Tulsa World about a speaker coming to TU who is going to give a lecture on the “New Atheism.” Some of us plan to attend to see just how hostile the speaker will be to skeptics.

The membership approved spending $144 for a one year trial association with meetup.com. We have had such good results with meetup.com with the atheists group. Also approved was the spending of ten dollar per month on postcards to be mailed to legislators on various issues of concern to us.

I circulated a list for people who would like to take a tour of the Keystone Ancient Forest. If there is enough interest I will schedule a tour for us. There is a requirement that we have ten people minimum to go on the tour.

The program for the day was a reading of some of our favorite jokes.

HAT Meeting 1.20.08

2008-01-20T20:40:00.001-06:00

We had a very good turn out at today's HAT meeting with 19 present. Randy even pondered what we might do should our remarkable growth continue. Pictured here you see Marilyn Clarke who spoke about the article "Hot Air Gods" from a recent issue of Harper's magazine.

Randy read a poem by Thomas Hardy entitled "The Dance Continued", and I read "An Overdue Visit from Old St. Nick" which appeared in the December issue of The Oklahoma Observer.

I mentioned the two remaining events of the month: the Food & Fellowship gathering at The Local Table on Saturday, January 26, and the Atheists Meetup on Sunday, January 27 at The Hideaway.

I mentioned that a calendar of our activities can be found at www.atheists.meetup.com/477/calendar. If you lose the monthly list of activities I send out by e-mail, you can always go to this calendar.

Randy asked the group if they had any objection to telling jokes as the program for the February HAT meeting. Most people were in favor of the idea, so come prepared with your favorite jokes next month.

Barbara mentioned that Stan had been in hospital, but he was expected to be discharged today. Howard just had his 90th birthday last Friday and is now under hospice care.

Marilyn related some personal experiences, including the influence of an uncle. We later learned that Richard had had a similar experience in his formative years. The subject of atheism versus agnosticism arose once again. The usual defenses for each position were voiced. Discussion was lively, ranging from national economic policy to where people get their concept of God. We continued on past our normal ending time of 3 pm. Randy checked to make sure no one was outside waiting to use the room.

This was our first membership meeting of 2008, and, being the treasurer, I was in a dues collecting frame of mind. By the end of the meeting I had collected $72 in membership dues.

January 2008 Calendar

2007-12-30T10:19:00.000-06:00

January 2008
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Jan. 5, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., Jan. 12, 2:00pm
Secular Singers at Gail Storey’s house, 4630 S. Victor Ave.

Sun., Jan. 13, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at Randy’s, 6705 E. 54th St. Topic: “A Brief History of Disbelief” DVD

Wed., Jan. 16, 6:30pm
Atheists Meetup Social at The Hideaway restaurant, 1419 E. 15th St.

Sun., Jan. 20, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Speaker: Marilyn Clarke on “Hot Air Gods”

Sat., Jan. 26, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at The Local Table, 46th and Peoria.

Sun., Jan. 27, 2:00pm
Atheists Meetup at The Hideaway Restaurant, 1419 E. 15th St.

Questions? Call Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

HAT Announcements, Nov. 2007

2007-11-20T18:48:00.000-06:00

Since we ran out of time today, and since we reversed the usual order of business (guest speaker spoke first), I am sending the announcements, plus the other items of business, by this e-mail.

There were 14 of us at the meeting today: Karl, Sonia, Randy, Brian, Polly, Mary, Richard, Kimberly, Marilyn, Ron, Jan, two visitors whose names I failed to record, and myself.

The treasury was at $1391.44; membership stood at 32. (We picked up four new members today, bringing the total now to 36. The new members are Karl and Sonia Sniderman, Kimberly Burdick, and Mary Kay Maule.)

We have three events remaining on the calendar for this month.
(1) On Wed., Nov. 21, at 11:20 am is the ALGAE luncheon at White River Fish Market
(2) On Sat., Nov 24, at 11:30 am is our Food & Fellowship at The Local Table, 4329 S. Peoria.
(3) On Sun., Nov. 25, 2:00 pm is the Atheists Meetup at The Hideaway, 1419 E. 15th St.

November is the month we accept nominations to fill the offices for 2008. The current officers are agreeable to continuing on for another year. If anyone would like to place his or her name in nomination for any office, please e-mail me and I will see that you are nominated.

I had intended to see if there is any interest in taking a walking tour of the Keystone Ancient Forest near Lake Keystone (www.sandspringsok.org), but I will bring this item up at the next meeting.

Finally, the new Members Directory is ready. If you did not pick one up today, I will have them available at the next meeting.

HAT Meeting 10.21.07

2007-10-26T16:51:00.000-05:00

There were eleven people present at today's HAT meeting: Bob, Ron, Brian, Larry, Phil, Audrey, Kimberly, Marilyn, Polly, Randy and myself. I reported our membership now stands at 30, and the treasury is at $1395.81

We had a surprise guest speaker at today's HAT meeting -- Phil Ferguson from Arkansas. We actually had two speakers at today's meeting. Our own Brian Hill reviewed the book Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism by Arthur Brooks. Next Phil Ferguson of Arkansas made a special trip to Tulsa to report on his activities.

Due to the length of today's programs, the usual poetry readings were postponed until next meeting.

While Phil searched the library for the equipment he needed, Brian presented his book review -- another excellent job by Brian. Some of the audience voiced some skepticism about the author's objectivity regarding his findings.

Phil had a remarkable presentation, complete with a Powerpoint presentation. His presentation lasted the better part of a hour. Phil had just recently attended the FFRF Convention in Madison and was still fired up from hearing Christopher Hitchens inspired speech.

Phil showed a Powerpoint presentation making use of the Brick Testament, a project of Brendon Powell Smith. It is Smith's goal to reproduce the entire Bible with illustrations created from Lego blocks.

The part of the Bible Phil chose to show (via Brick Testament illustrations) came from the Old Testament story about Lot and his daughters. You remember the story of the angst created in Lot's daughters when they realize that the only way they are going to get pregnant (and thus continue the line leading up to Jesus) is to get their father drunk and have sex with him.

Phil said that he is sometimes accused of taking passages of the Bible out of context. But he points out that when you read the pages before and after the questionable passage, nothing is resolved but more (sometimes embarrasing) questions arise.

Another video Phil chose to show was part of a gut-busting comedy routine by George Carlin. Carlin is known for his no-holds-barred critique of religion.

Following the presentation I asked Phil if he would be willing to come back to Tulsa for an encore presentation for the Atheists Meetup. Today's presentation was his third or fourth before other freethought groups. He said he would be glad to give the presentation again.

Freethought Weekend - 9/22-23/07

2007-09-23T22:39:00.000-05:00

There were two events which made up this freethought weekend: the Food & Fellowship at Helen of Troy and the Atheists Meetup at Border’s.

Helen of Troy serves Mediterranean Food. When Jan said she did not know what the various seasoning were, the waiter was kind enough to bring her four small cups for her to sample each. I had the chicken in pita bread; Jan had the Chicken Shish-Ka-Bob. There were 13 of us all together. We had a room to ourselves in the back. It was a small establishment, and the staff were happy to see us.

The next day 20 of us assembled at Border’s for the monthly Atheists Meetup. I led off with the reading of a poem by Philip Appleman: “Last-Minute Message for a Time Capsule.” Discussion was lively, picking up with last month’s talk about what we can do to become more visible. I suggested we create a video and upload it to You Tube. This would be minimal as for as expense goes. Three people volunteered to work on this project. Beth has a camera which we can use. Noel has video software and volunteered to do the editing. Bob H. agreed to coordinate it all through e-mail. I will be in touch with this team shortly, sharing e-mail addresses.

Weekend Events

2007-08-28T22:34:00.000-05:00

Our first event of this weekend was our monthly Food & Fellowship which this month was held at Billy Ray’s Barbecue on Southwest Blvd. I wonder if anyone else saw the sign which read “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” I can remember the first time I saw a sign with that message. It was in the Park Hotel in Amory, Mississippi, circa 1961. I could not understand why a business would want to refuse service to anybody. You would think a restaurant would want as many customers as they could attract. Then someone explained to me the racial implications of the message.

I’m not sure that Billy Ray’s has the right to refuse service to black people. Perhaps they are just pandering to the redneck element of society. Whatever the situation, I will not be choosing this restaurant again for our Food & Fellowship gatherings.

The next day was our Atheists Meetup at Border’s. The meeting was well attended with 18 people showing up. I began by reading a poem by Philip Appleman. The poem was “Fleas,” which contains the memorable lines “for God concocted pox to mock us,/staph and syph and streptococcus:/poems are made by bards or hacks,/but only God makes cardiacs.”

Then we began discussion. The question was posed: How to get the word out about our existence. One person suggested the possibility of low power radio. What would that cost? Some have heard that the cost is high; others that the cost is low. The potential audience for such a venture is unknown. What would be the reach? In other words, how far would the transmission reach? Another idea raised was to buy time on a commercial station. How much would an ad cost? Would any station sell ad time to an atheist group.

We are going to explore these questions and post the findings on the Meetup message board.

Following this meeting, six of us met at Panera Bread on 41st to have dinner and conversation. Joining us was Bob’s wife – Susan.

Next we traveled to Tulsa University for a speech given by Steven Smith. The speech was follow by a Q & A period. I think there were 6 or 8 of us HAT folks there. Randy said following the speech, “It’s not the speech I would have like to have heard.”

HAT meeting, 8/19/07

2007-08-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

Eighteen people attended today’s HAT meeting at Hardesty Library. Present were Brian, Randy, Ron, Bob H., Bob N., Polly, Kirby, Sharon G., Marilyn, Mary, Larry, Richard, Jeff, Bea, Keith, Gail, Jan, and Dan.

Randy read a poem of his choice and I did likewise a bit later. I had four items of business to present to the chapter. I read a letter from Grassroots Coordinator Michael Friedman regarding (1) Americans United’s First Freedom First Campaign (2) Jonathan Miller’s video series A Brief History of Disbelief, and (3) Dr. Stephen Frederick Uhl’s donation of two copies of his book Imagine No Superstition.

Next, I read a letter from Sarah Burgess, a First Freedom First Intern who is working to promote the film Jesus Camp. Her letter offered to loan us a copy of the film, plus a few other things, including a disposable camera. In return, we would have to send the film back after viewing, along with the petitions and camera.

Following this I read a letter titled “Tabling Material for Events.” The letter listed various materials which are available for free from the AHA. I will order some of these materials. We need to identify some upcoming events at which we can set up a table to distribute these materials.

Next, I read a letter from Dr. Stephen Uhl who is offering his book Imagine No Superstition for just a buck per copy. There were about a half dozen people who gave me a dollar for a copy. I will order a few extra copies just to have on hand.

Finally, Brian Hill gave his usual excellent presentation – a review of the book The WalMart Effect: How It’s Transforming the American Economy written by Charles Fishman.

ALGAE Outcome

2007-08-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

Nine people attended the ALGAE luncheon at White River Fish Market last Wednesday. In attendance were Gail, Keith and Bea, Dave, Sharon, Julia, John, and Dan and Jan. I found it a good opportunity to catch up on the lives of some of the members while enjoying some of the best seafood in Tulsa. (Confession: I had red beans and rice.)

Numerous topics were discussed including the Secular Singers. There was talk of holding the next rehearsal at my house, with perhaps each member choosing one song. This way, with just four or five songs, we should be able to get our rehearsal time down to one hour. We talked about improving the quality of our singing. There is no Secular Singers rehearsal set for this month, but we will resume in September. New members and “listeners” are always welcome to come.

Julia announced that she will be moving to Washington, D.C. She will be missed.

Another topic discussed was the loneliness of atheists.

We spent close to two hours at the restaurant in conversation. Many topics were talked about that are not included in this report.

Dan

HAT meeting, 7/15/06

2007-07-16T19:29:00.000-05:00

Eleven people attended the HAT meeting on Sunday, July 15, 2007 at Hardesty Library. Those present were Marilyn, Glenn, Ron, Ken, Gail, Mary, Polly, Julia S., Julia K., Jan, and Dan. I reported that we currently have 28 members and that the treasury stands at $1396.82. Continuing with our tradition of poetry reading, I read “The Tuft of Flowers” by Robert Frost.

The program was presented by Marilyn, who led us in a discussion of I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter. It is a fascinating yet difficult book to grasp. What does it mean to say that consciousness is an illusion? Does that mean it is less than real? Throughout the book Hofstadter speaks of consciousness as an illusion or a mirage. Take for example this passage:

One day when I was around sixteen or seventeen, musing intensely on these swirling clouds of ideas that gripped me emotionally no less than intellectually, it dawned on me -- and it has seemed ever since to me – that what we called “consciousness” was a kind of mirage. It had to be a very peculiar kind of mirage, to be sure, since it was a mirage that perceived itself, and of course it didn’t believe that it was perceiving a mirage, but no matter – it still was a mirage.
It was almost as if this slippery phenomenom called “consciousness” lifted itself up by its own bootstraps, almost as if it made itself out of nothing, and then disintegrated back into nothing whenever one looked at it more closely.

In other news, Glenn sought input from the group on what book might become the subject of the next Humanist Study Group.

Today's HAT meeting

2007-06-17T22:59:00.000-05:00

At today’s HAT meeting there were 10 members and one visitor present. Members present were Dan N., Gail S., Larry H., Russ B., Mary C., Brian H., Ron McD., Marilyn C., Julia S., and Randy B. The visitor was Ken B.

I reported that we now have 27 dues-paying members. The treasury now stands at $1389.69.

Marilyn said she would be leading the discussion at the next Humanist Study Group as well at the next third Sunday meeting. The subject will be Douglas Hofstadter’s new book I am a Strange Loop.

Today's program was an excellent presentation by Brian Hill, who spoke on the book The War on Our Freedoms: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism.

Among other books and web sites mentioned were The Jovial Atheist by Thomas Blaylock, Born Screaming in America by Bill Hicks, The Assault on Reason by Al Gore, and Just Progress.

As always, feel free to add your own comments to what I have written.

Minutes for HAT Meeting, 5/20/07

2007-05-20T21:35:00.000-05:00

We began with announcements of future meetings. The Food & Fellowship gathering will be this Saturday, at 11:30 pm, 5/26/07, at Thai Siam on 31st. The Atheists Meetup will be next Sunday, 5/27/07, at 2:00 pm at Border’s on 21st St. We will focus upon the question, How does one talk with a Christian believer? These are the last two activities of interest to freethinkers this month of which I am aware.

And since, to quote from a Paul Kurtz document, “[w]e are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences,” we next moved to the reading of literary selections. Randy read the poem “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, followed by my reading of “Silver Jack,” an anonymous poem.

Attending today beside Randy and myself were Jan, Marilyn, Polly, Mary, and Brian. Today’s program was presented by Brian Hill. It was an excellent review of the book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby. Brian spoke about the book for about a half hour and then answered some questions from the audience.

Sex and Movie Night

2007-01-07T00:09:00.000-06:00

It was good to see Bill & Sue Forney at Movie Night tonight at the Bradleys. We had a total of nine people there. I brought a DVD of Neil Young and Prairie Fire, and Gail brought a DVD about owls, but both of those DVDs would have to wait for another Movie Night. What we watched was The Education of Shelby Knox. This documentary tracked the (unsuccessful) efforts of Lubbock, Texas teenage Shelby Knox to bring sex education to her high school. A half-hour discussion (mostly about sex) followed the showing of the documentary. We also talked about NetFlix and the advantages of renting DVDs through that source versus a local DVD rental store.

Join us Saturday, February 3 for the next Movie Night. Bring you favorite DVD and we might vote to watch it.

January Freethought Activities

2007-01-01T13:56:00.000-06:00

January 2007
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Jan. 6, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Feature presentation to be chosen that night.

Sun., Jan. 7, 1:00 pm
Either a Dennett or Dawkins DVD will be shown in one of the meeting rooms at Hardesty Library starting at 1:00 pm. This showing is being arranged by Nicole of the young atheists of Tulsa Atheists Meetup.

Sun., Jan 14, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at Hardesty Library, on 93rd near Memorial. Topic: Humanism and the science of happiness. Read the article at http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=bupp_26_6&back=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.secularhumanism.org%2Flib%2Flist.php%3Fpublication%3Dfi

Wed., Jan. 17, 11:20am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sat., Jan. 20, 10:00am
Volunteer work at Food Bank, 1150 N. Iroquois, Tulsa. Call Randy (622-6975) or Julia (582-6322) for more information.

Sun., Jan. 21, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Library, 93rd and Memorial. Brian Hill will review the book Jesus in America by Richard W. Fox.

Sat., Jan. 27, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at LaRoma’s Gourmet Pizza, 6027 S. Sheridan.

Sun., Jan 28, 2:00pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup We will meet at Border’s Bookstore on 21st St. near BA Expy on the second floor near the computer books. Additional details will be posted later at http://atheists.meetup.com/477 and www.tulsaar.blogspot.com.

Secular Singers will not meet in January.

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

HAT Minutes for 12.16.06 meeting

2006-12-20T13:47:00.000-06:00

The December HAT meeting was held this year at the Bradleys’ house. It was our annual observance of HumanLight. There were about 20 people present.

We began the afternoon by reading the first act of the play Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge. After the first act we paused for our meal. We had a great meal of chicken and rice with sweet potatoes and several desserts, including some delicious chocolate cake balls covered in semi-sweet chocolate made by Julia.

In the business part of the gathering while we were still seated at the dining table, we elected our officers for 2007. They are Randy Bradley, president; Marilyn Clarke, vice-president; Dan Nerren, secretary/treasurer, and Brian Hill, program director. Randy presented Dan Nerren a gift from the chapter as a token of appreciation for his years of service to the Humanist chapter in Tulsa. On the outside of the box is a quotation from Albert Einstein: “Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own heart.” Inside the box is this inscription: “Presented with gratitude and affection by the members of the Humanist Association of Tulsa. Winter Solstice – 2006”

Following the meal we read the second act of the play. Then the Secular Singers sang some seasonal songs, including “Human Light,” which is what the whole event was about. Some of those present joined in with the singing.

Julia said that she had communicated with someone at the Eastern Oklahoma Food Bank about HAT volunteering there. We will work at the food bank on the third Saturday of the month. In January that will be the 20th. Expect to be contacted to see if you can volunteers for this community service project.

9/11 Conspiracy Theory Questions Answered

2006-12-11T20:09:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite quotations is by philosopher George Santayana, and it goes something like this: “Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer.” When it comes to 9/11 conspiracies, I find that many people have jettisoned their skepticism and swallowed a conspiracy theory, hook, line, and sinker.

If you have bought into the idea that the events of 9/11 were perpetrated by our own government as a pretext for other actions, I beg you to read pages 30 through 44 of the current issue of Skeptic magazine (Vol. 12, No. 4). The various claims of the 9/11 Truth Movement are examined, some of which are shown to be untruthful. Many of the unanswered questions about the events of that day are addressed (e.g., Why did WTC building number 7 collapse if it was not struck by a plane?, If the temperature from the fires did not get high enough to melt steel, why did the buildings collapse?, Are the squibs shown in film of the damaged towers evidence of demolition charges?, Did the collapse of the towers look exactly like a controlled demolition?, Did WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein actually confess to destroying WTC 7?

Toward the end of the first article, author Phil Molé poses this question: Why do so many intelligent and promising people find these theories so compelling. Molé then offers possible answers.

The magazine may be purchased at Border’s and Barnes & Noble, among other shops, for $5.95.

News from this weekend

2006-12-10T21:34:00.000-06:00

Secular Singers

The Secular Singers met at Randy’s for a practice session Saturday evening in preparation for a musical presentation at our annual HumanLight celebration on December 16 this year. We practiced our songs and refined the program as we went through the material. We are hoping we have a good showing at this year’s observance.

Randy and Dawn Bradley will be preparing a meal of chicken and rice. Everyone is welcome to bring a side dish or dessert, if they are so inclined. Following the meal we have two entertainment events planned. We have about 15 songs of the season we have been rehearsing, but there may not be time enough for all songs. For a couple of the songs (“Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”), you will be invited to sing along with us.

Humanist Study Group

The Humanist Study Group met briefly before those present jumped ship to see a “9/11 conspiracy” film being shown elsewhere in the library. I knew that the meeting was a lost cause when two of our friends came into the room only to announce they were leaving to go to another room to watch the conspiracy film. So Glenn (our discussion leader) postponed the discussion until next month and most of us went to the room showing the conspiracy film. The postponement will give us time to read the book Flow, if we wish, which is the subject of the article for discussion.

Someone from the group showing the film said it was 50-minutes long, but when the film ran past an hour I asked how long the film was and was told two hours. Since I had seen previously two other films arguing for a 9/11 conspiracy and had spent an hour and 15 minutes watching this film, I decided to leave. The films I have seen on this subject, including the one today, do not strike me as an objective examination of events. Rather they seem to me to be aimed at emotionally exciting the viewer. They appeal to emotion rather than intellect. If the films should happen to contain some accurate explanation of events, I am too skeptical of their claims since their credibility has been lost with me. I am no fan of Bush and company, but when these films devolve into a vehicle to verbally attack the Bush administration, I have to question their motive and objectivity. What are they really after? According to the film I viewed today, our government, or its allies, is behind a whole host of calamities including the London bombings, the Madrid bombings, and the bombing of the Murrah building in OKC.

AHA Survey

I received by e-mail today a survey from two members of the AHA Chapter Assembly regarding our chapter and our activities. I responded and forwarded the survey with my responses to the Board. If anyone else would like to read the survey and my responses, please let me know and I will forward the same to you.

If anyone would like to comment on anything I have written, just click on the comment option feature of this blog.

December Activities Calendar

2006-12-01T11:56:00.000-06:00

December 2006
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Dec. 2, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Feature presentation to be chosen that night.

Sat., Dec. 9, 5pm to 7pm
Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome. Rehearsal for our annual HumanLight celebration. See www.humanlight.org. The revised program has been posted on the HAT blog.

Sun., Dec. 10, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at Hardesty Library, on 93rd near Memorial. Topic: Humanism and the science of happiness. Read the article at http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=bupp_26_6&back=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.secularhumanism.org%2Flib%2Flist.php%3Fpublication%3Dfi

Wed., Dec. 13, 11:20am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sat., Dec. 16, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at the Bradleys. Business: Election of officers for 2007 and participation in Food Bank volunteer program. Program: Musical entertainment by The Secular Singers and the reading of a humorous play selected by Marilyn Clarke. This event will double as our December F&F.

Sun., Dec. 17, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup We will meet at Border’s Bookstore on 21st St. near BA Expy on the second floor near the computer books. Additional details will be posted later at http://atheists.meetup.com/477 and www.tulsaar.blogspot.com.

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

Revised song list for HumanLight celebration

2006-11-30T21:43:00.000-06:00

1. HumanLight
2. O Tannenbaum
3. Home for the Holidays
4. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
5. Mr. Santa
6. No ‘L’
7. Sleigh Ride
8. The Good King
9. Jingle Bells (duet)
10. Frosty the Snowman
11. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
12. The First Nowell (duet)
13. I Saw Three Ships (duet)
14. Silent Night (duet)
15. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Nine Attend November F&F

2006-11-27T17:14:00.000-06:00

The November Food & Fellowship was held on Saturday, the 25th, at TeKei’s on Utica. Those present were Glenn, Gail, Dawn, Randy, Ron, Marilyn, Barbara, Jan, and Dan. That’s nine people – a pretty good showing.

Randy told us about a marathon race he had participated in. The course was 26 miles long, and Randy completed it. What a feat!

Barbara told us about the great view she had of fireworks from her apartment high atop the University Tower – that’s the cylindrical building on the east bank of the Arkansas River near downtown.

Other topics of conversation included Chinese food, the Prairie Home Companion movie and Robert Altman, assassinations, Edna St. Vincent Millay, whales, and tiling floors.

In December, there will be a combined HAT meeting and Food & Fellowship gathering. This will take place at the Bradleys (6705 E. 54th) on Saturday, December 16, beginning at 2 PM. The Bradleys will be providing the food. The occasion will be our annual HumanLight celebration.

Minutes for meeting on 11.19.06

2006-11-19T22:06:00.000-06:00

At the HAT meeting today nominations were received for officers for 2007. The officers for 2006 were all agreeable to having their names placed in nomination to serve for another year. Thus we will have Randy Bradley as president, Marilyn Clarke as vice-president, Dan Nerren as secretary and treasurer, and Brian Hill as program director.

Attendance was down today with just nine people present. At today’s meeting were Marilyn, Julia, Mary, Polly, Brian, Ron, Sam, and a first time visitor, Vernon. Randy participated in a marathon run today and did not attend, but Marilyn, our vice-president, took over in Randy’s absence. Randy and I had earlier talked about getting a video recorded describing HAT and uploading it to YouTube.com. Vernon, our visitor, said he had some experience in making videos. I think he will assist us in making a video and getting it on You Tube.

Today’s program was presented by Brian Hill. He gave a book review of Piety and Politics by Barry Lynn. He gave us an informative overview of the book -- an excellent presentation, as usual.

Next month HAT will meet at the home of Randy and Dawn Bradley for our annual HumanLight celebration. The Bradleys will provide a light meal. The Secular Singers will provide musical entertainment. This meeting will be on Saturday, December 16, starting at 2:00 PM. There will be no Food & Fellowship gathering in December.

Julia is looking into the possibility of HAT members volunteering for work at a food bank as a community service project.

In January, our program will be the reading of a play. The play for this Readers’ Theater presentation will be selected by Marilyn Clarke. We don’t know at this time how many “actors” will be needed, but if this activity is of interest to anyone reading this, please contact me.

*********************************************************************************

The ALGAE meeting last Wednesday saw seven old friends coming together for a meal: Dave, Dana, Larry, Julia, Sharon, Patricia, and Dan. It’s always interesting to hear what Dave has been reading. Presently, it is the recently published The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine. This book reveals the mysteries of how the brains of women function. Other topics we talked about included a Nova program about a small group of people who walked using their arms and legs like a dog or cat, South Park TV program, geocaching, science magazines, family reactions upon learning about one’s atheism, and campaign finance reform.

On Saturday a group of five HAT folk drove to Oklahoma City to see an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts at the OKC Museum of Art. Also at the museum we saw many Chuhuly glass works, and we watched a video titled “The Way Things Go.” We then walked to Bricktown, not far away. We then returned to our cars and drove to see a sculpture commemorating the westward expansion of the U.S. We were going to eat at the nearby Bass Pro Shop but discovered there was no restaurant in the building. We drove to a Chinese restaurant a few miles away and ate there.

Weekend events

2006-11-12T22:04:00.000-06:00

HAT folk had two opportunities to get together this weekend. The Secular Singers gathered at Randy’s to practice some music for our annual HumanLight Celebration which is scheduled for Saturday, December 16, starting at 2 pm. We have one more rehearsal scheduled before then. It will be on Saturday, Dec. 9, probably starting at 2 pm if that does not conflict with anyone’s schedule.

What a stimulating and wide-ranging discussion we had today at the Humanist Study Group meeting at Hardesty Library. In addition to myself, the others there were Randy, Glenn, Dave, Ron, Audrey, Marilyn, Mary, Richard, Sam, Russ, Polly, Larry, and Don. An attendance of 14 is pretty good for our small group. The subject of discussion was an article by Steve Paulson, “The Flying Spaghetti Monster.” No one believes there is a flying spaghetti monster, just as in Bertrand Russell’s day no one believed there was a silver teapot orbiting Mars. Yet neither of these concepts and be proven not to exist.

Randy asked that each of us put in writing our own personal philosophy. He would like for us at some future meeting(s) to read our statement to the group.

I had to miss the first ten minutes of the meeting. I have been attending Church of the Restoration on Sunday mornings, and that often puts me late getting to 1pm meetings. If any of you would like to add your recollections of the discussion, please use the comment option.

HumanLight 2006 Planning

2006-11-11T10:10:00.000-06:00

Nothing is set in stone, but this is more or less the way I envision the program shaping up. We have a set of 15 songs. (If this seems too long, we will cut some.) The program is mostly vocal music with a few instrumental selections. Numbers 10, 11, and 12 will be sing-along.

1. HumanLight
2. O Tannenbaum
3. Home for the Holidays
4. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
5. Mr. Santa
6. No ‘L’
7. Sleigh Ride
8. The Good King
9. No Masters and No Gods For Me
10. Jingle Bells
11. Frosty the Snowman
12. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
13. I Saw Three Ships
14. Silent Night
15. We Wish You a Merry Christmas

November Calendar

2006-11-05T19:13:00.000-06:00

November 2006
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., Nov. 4, 7:00pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Two piano duets (from the movies) by Gail & Dan. Feature presentation to be chosen that night.

Sat., Nov. 11, 5pm to 7pm
Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome. We will focus on getting ready for our annual HumanLight (www.humanlight.org) celebration coming in December to be held once again at the Bradleys. The program will soon be posted on the HAT blog.

Sun., Nov. 12, 1:00pm
Humanist Study Group at Hardesty Library, on 93rd near Memorial. Topic: Richard Dawkins and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. See www.salon.com/books/int/2006/10/13/dawkins/

Wed., Nov. 15, 11:20am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sun., Nov. 19, 1:00pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Regional Library. Business: Nominations for officers for 2007. Program: Brian Hill will review Barry Lynn’s new book Piety and Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom.

Sat., Nov. 25, 11:30am
Food and Fellowship at TeKei’s Asian Restaurant at 1616 S. Utica.

Sun., Nov. 26, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup We will meet at Border’s Bookstore on 21st St. near BA Expy on the second floor near the computer books. Additional details will be posted later at http://atheists.meetup.com/477 and www.tulsaar.blogspot.com.

Field Trip to OKC Plans are being made to caravan to OKC to view an exhibit at the Oklahoma City Art Museum, possibly on Nov. 18. Details to follow.

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

Movie Night at the Bradley Abode

2006-11-05T18:48:00.000-06:00

I feel so fortunate to know Randy and Dawn Bradley. They open their house to us the first Saturday evening each month for the HAT Movie Night.

In addition to the Bradleys last Saturday, there were Sharon, Gail, Dan, Jan, Marilyn, Sam, and Audrey present. After a few moments of light repartee and jocular banter, Gail and Dan sat down at the piano and knocked out a couple of tunes: “The John Dunbar Theme” and “Moon River.”

We next retired to the Bradley Media Center for the evening’s DVD entertainment. First we watched a five-minute segment from Buena Vista Social Club – a duet sung by Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo. Next we watched two 30-minute episodes of Penn and Teller’s Bullshit! TV series. The episodes we watched were titled “Signs from Heaven: The Virgin Mary or Grilled Cheese Sandwich” and “Conspiracy Theories.” We talked about watching “Circumcision: Snip and Chuck” but decided instead to watch A Prairie Home Companion. Many of you are familiar with Garrison Keillor’s radio show by the same name. It’s a delightful show filled with music, storytelling, and cornball humor. The radio show serves as the setting for the movie.

In addition to the popcorn and soft drinks provided by the Bradleys, Gail brought homemade bread pudding and Audrey brought cheese and crackers. I feasted upon these treats as if I had not eaten all day. It’s good to be alive and great when you can be among friends.

Our geocaching outing

2006-10-29T22:04:00.000-06:00

We had a great time geocaching today. The weather could not have been better. We found three of the four caches we searched for. I suspect the cache we could not find was missing since the difficulty rating was 1 star (out of five stars) and we had seven people looking for it.

The first two caches we searched for were fairly easy to find. We spent a lot of time looking for the third cache due to an error I made entering the coordinates into my GPS receiver. I was one digit off and that error put us about a mile from where we should have been. It also caused us to waste about an hour; thus we searched for only four caches today.

Afterwards, we all enjoyed food at Mazzio’s Pizza near the Bradleys.

Taking part in today’s geocaching adventure were Randy, Dawn, Dan, Jan, Sam, Gail, and Audrey.

I love this sport. Anytime any of you would like to go caching again, just let me know and I will plan another outing.

Talk at the ALGAE luncheon

2006-10-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

There were seven of us at the ALGAE luncheon today: Julia T., Sharon B., Patricia B. (Sharon’s daughter), Jan N., Diana B., Larry H. and myself.

Sharon has been kayaking. She owns two kayaks – a single seat kayak and a two-seater. Sharon had recently been to a weekend event billed as “Becoming an Outdoors Woman” at Ft. Gibson Lake which taught a variety of outdoors skills including rappelling, kayaking, geocaching, orienteering, and basketmaking. She went with HAT member Gail S. and both of these “outdoor women” had a great time. I heard a rumor that some of those at the event had smuggled in some wine. For shame, for shame. I hope that these two HAT ladies will be able to join us as we go on a HAT geocaching adventure in Tulsa on Sunday, October 29.

We talked a little about movies we had seen recently. I mentioned Man of the Year starring Robin Williams, which I had recently seen. I recommend it. Larry and Diana had recently seen The Little Prince – a theatrical production staged in Tulsa. Julia suggested that HAT get involved in a community service project of some kind. She is going to look into the possibilities and let us know what she finds out.

By the way, the movie we will see this coming Sunday at the Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous will be The Illusionist. More on this will be sent out by e-mail tomorrow.

I learned from Larry that there is a difference between driving under the influence and driving while impaired. Larry is going to send me more info by e-mail. I figure we need to know this since at times the wine flows freely at events we attend.

Larry mentioned two websites of interest: www.greenstonemedia.net and
www.onegoodmove.org.

Other topics of discussion included sex offenders and their difficulty in finding a place to live, and traditional households now being in a minority position.

It was good to see everyone there. There were a few others I was hoping to see, but they weren’t there. Maybe next time.

HAT Minutes 10.15.06

2006-10-15T22:19:00.000-05:00

At the HAT meeting today we had 14 people. Not a bad turnout for a rainy day. We had one visitor, and he was from Hong Kong. That’s quite a way from home. He is in Tulsa because he has a job as an instructor at a local college.

The door prize – a one-year subscription to Audubon magazine – was won by Richard Maule. Anyone interested in sponsoring a door prize for the next meeting should let me know.

Randy read a short poem. I have forgotten the title and author. I should have taken notes. Then I read some short quotations by Emily Dickinson. Next I read two of her poems: “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” I concluded by reading a poem by former U. S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes.”

Randy mentioned that we (at least five or us, that is) gathered at his house on October 7 for the monthly Movie Night. We watched a musical documentary A Vision Shared. Randy invited everyone to attend the next Movie Night on November 4. A likely candidate for the feature presentation is Buena Vista Social Club, but the selection has not been firmly decided. Since we usually consume wine at these gatherings, I suggested that we obtain a portable breathalyzer to insure no one leaves (if driving) with a blood alcohol level in excess of .80. I did not put this in the form of a motion, and no action was taken on it. But it is something we should consider.

Randy suggested that at our next meeting we all bring a joke or two to read or tell. I assume this is in addition to a presentation of some type which Brian will prepare. And for our December meeting, we will meet at Randy’s on Saturday, December 16, for our annual Human Light celebration and concert by the Secular Singers (Randy, Bea, Gail, and Dan). There will be no third Sunday meeting at Hardesty Library. The Bradleys will provide the entrée and fixings. Those attending are welcome to bring a dessert, if they so choose.

The program was a lecture on DVD presented by Edward Larsen. The title of Larsen’s lecture was “Scientific Creationism.” Discussion followed. Two of our members in attendance are retired teachers of biology. They shared their personal experiences in teaching the sometimes controversial subject in their classrooms.

October 2006 Activities

2006-09-28T12:13:00.000-05:00

Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sun., Oct. 1, 5pm to 7pm
Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome. We will focus on getting ready for our annual Human Light celebration coming in December to be held once again at the Bradleys.

Sat., Oct. 7, 7pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Feature presentation: A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. This documentary includes more than a dozen songs performed by Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Bono, Little Richard, Sweet Honey in the Rock and others. 72 minutes.

Sun., Oct. 8, 2pm
Humanist Study Group at Hardesty Library, on 93rd near Memorial. Topic: “The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion” by Steven Pinker from The Humanist magazine, Sept./Oct. 2006. Article to be provided by e-mail.

Sun., Oct. 15, 1pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Regional Library. Program: “Scientific Creationism” lecture (DVD) by Edward J. Larsen from “The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy,” produced by The Great Courses.

Wed., Oct. 18, 11:20am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sun., Oct. 22, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup Plans are to see a movie at about 2pm then eat afterwards and talk about the movie. Times and locations will be announced later. To be kept informed of what’s happening, go to http://atheists.meetup.com/477 or www.tulsaar.blogspot.com.

Sat., Oct. 28, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at Thai-Siam, 6380 E. 31st.

Sun., Oct. 29, 2pm
Geocaching adventures with Randy and Dan. Learn about geocaching at www.geocaching.com. We will start at Randy’s, go caching, and eat pizza afterwards.

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

HAT Minutes, 9.17.06

2006-09-17T16:47:00.000-05:00

There were 17 people at today's HAT meetingRandy read three poems by e.e.cummings, and I read three poems by three different poets, including the freethought poet Philip Appleman. I also read a letter HAT received from Millie Vance, who now lives near Spokane, Washington. I reported that we now have $1,139.47 in our treasury and our membership stands at 24.

We decided to change the venue for the Food & Fellowship on Saturday, September 23, to the Mexicali Border Cafe restaurant at 14 W. Brady. Following the F&F gathering many of us will go to the Grand Opening of the Tulsa Peace House just west of downtown Tulsa. Take 3rd Street and go west until it becomes Charles Page Blvd. The Peace House is at the intersection with Phoenix.

A discussion began about the 9-11-01 attack on the Pentagon. Some people are of the persuasion that the plane on which Barbara Olson was traveling did not crash into the Pentagon. The destruction according to this conjecture was caused by a cruise missle. After the meeting was over some in our group went to Randy's house to view a film, Loose Change, which is about this subject.

Brian gave an excellent presentation on the book The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad written by Fareed Zakaria. Following the presentation there was discussion concerning current politics and the war in Iraq.

Evolution Song: Suggested revisions from Dr. Hill

2006-09-10T16:50:00.000-05:00

Dan,

I am really surprised at the tenacity with which Evolution is contrasted with ID in various writings, songs, etc. ID is a philosophical speculation. It is not a scientific theory. There is no conflict between the ID and Evolution, a scientific theory. For example: one can speculate that the evolutionary process, easily visible to scientists, may reasonably be considered the process an Intelligence has Designed to cause biological mutation.

If one has a problem with the scientific theory in Genesis (it meets all the criteria for classification as a scientific theory; the "Creator" is simply the First Cause of the "Creation"), one should forget it. That theory became untenable centuries ago and was discarded by scientists--including many who are believers in a god [theists] and most professional scholars associated with the study of the Bible.

Earlier theories of evolutionary process have been discarded and the theory at present is constantly being modified. Look at Stephen Jay Gould's treatises on the subject and his own theory of evolution which accounts for more facts than earlier theories of evolution. He expected and hoped for future theories to cover yet-discovered facts. If one has a problem with the Bible as an authority, one should forget it. Very few well-educated clergy (admittedly a minority among clergy) gave up that idea long ago. But if one must attack, attack the authority of the Bible--not I. D. and Creationism; he/she should cut the tree off at its roots and avoid clinging to the illogical contrasting of ID and Evolution. And, by the way, please don't--if one does--think of atheists and agnostics as among the only enlightened "free thinkers" in human society. That's a step along the road of ignorance which leads to self-righteousness. Remember, too, that ridicule often boomerangs.

Below is my suggestion of changes to make the verse less naive and vulnerable to boomerangs:

Evolution Song
(sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic)

My bones proclaim a story of incomplete design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won't align.
If I had drawn the blueprint, I would certainly resign,
A creationist am I. [not a "Creationist"; the verse--talking about 'blueprints' suggests design hence leads to the label 'creationist']

Evo- evo- evo- lution,
The theory seeks solutions.
How come the changes in life forms?
The search will still go on.

I appreciate your mailings, Dan, and your service to our Humanist group. Sorry about your back problems. Hope you're soon relieved of them.

Cordially, H
-------------------------

Note from Dan:

For those who missed seeing the original lyrics, here they are:

My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs,
my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint,
I would certainly resign,
Incompetent design.

Evo- evo- evo- lution,
Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution.
Science shall prevail.

To hear a group of (unidentified) faculty and students sing the song with gusto (if not a lot of harmony) go to www.youtube.com and type into the search box "incompetent design."

From the HAT Post Office box

2006-09-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

I went by the HAT P.O. box today (first time in a week) and picked up the mail. We had a newsletter from the Rationalist Society of St. Louis and a newsletter from the Humanist Association of Salem, Oregon. We also had a letter from Millie Vance. Those of you who have been long-time members will remember Millie. Before moving to Washington state a few years ago, she had been for several years a member and loyal supporter of HAT. Her letter is addressed to "Fellow Humanists," and I will read it at our September general meeting (Sept. 17). She also sent a check and a photo of herself taken on her 69th birthday.

Some comments from Harold Hill

2006-08-30T00:32:00.000-05:00

Dan:

I appreciate Brian Hill's having called our attention to the useful article and your seeing to it that all of us where thereby given an opportunity to see it.

I do wish, however, that it be clearly understood that many of the so-called "religious beliefs" are actually closely related to primitive science (magic) and do not by any means express the concepts of the educated constituency of our culture who are related to religious organizations and traditions. Many of the latter are at the forefront of theological, philosophical, scientific, social and cultural advances.

Humanists, I suggest, should take another look at the apparently common assumption that they are the only ones who are rational, logical, and intellectually honest and enlightened.

As a member of the Tulsa Humanists, I support the organizations efforts. And I care enough about the group to hope that it will get on with the business or learning in depth about what goes on in the intellectual world of theists instead of tending simply to point to the antics of the least intellectual.

On the one occasion when I was asked to speak to the group, several of those there were visitors who were, in fact, theists. Two were clergypersons.

The Humanists present were very cordial. I appreciated that. However, their questions and personal conversations with me betrayed that they had acquired little knowledge about the real world of theistic intellectuals and about serious philosophic thought.

I am frustrated that my Sunday schedule prevents my attending the society's discussions. My absence, be it understood, is due only to schedule barriers; never to lack of interest and support.

Fraternally, Harold E. Hill

"The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance which fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. There can be no true goodness, nor true love, without the utmost clear-sightedness."--Camus

Report on freethought events this past weekend

2006-08-28T01:07:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to be able to get away for a while and attend the Food and Fellowship gathering of the Humanist Assn. of Tulsa on Saturday. We met at TeKei’s, and there were twelve of us there. Attending were Larry, Julia, Polly, Randy, Elaine, Audrey, Dave, Ron, Dawn, Marilyn, Howard, and myself.

The Salmon salad I had was excellent, but even more enjoyable was being in the presence of my friends and hearing what they have been up to. We began by talking about letters which appeared in the Tulsa World that morning. Larry was the author of one of the letters, and he remarked that a small portion (in my opinion the best part) of his letter had been excised by the newspaper. I hope that Randy will be able to post the full unexpurgated text on the HAT web site.

In another letter in the same issue of the newspaper, one writer made reference to a previous letter written by Polly Mark. Polly had objected to the newspaper giving the religious affiliation of political candidates. The writer said she wanted to know the religious affiliation of candidates, presuming that if she knew what religion a candidate adhered to she would know enough about the political views of the candidate to vote either for or against the candidate.

Larry said that the drought up in Kansas was getting so bad that the Catholics were looking into converting wine into water.

Randy and Dawn talked about their climb up Pike’s Peak earlier in the month. What was it? Nine miles of walking uphill? I think of that as quite an accomplishment, especially since neither Randy nor Dawn are exactly spring chickens? Congratulation to you two on this feat of physical prowess. I am in awe of you both.

Julia told us about hunting fossils in the Dakota Badlands while deftly handling her food with chop sticks. She is pretty skillful at it. I should take up eating with chop sticks; I’m sure I would lose weight. We all learned a new word from Julia: fossiliferous. Had to look that one up in my Webster’s to see if I were spelling it correctly. I’ve found there’s a lot my spell checker doesn’t know. Fossiliferous soil is soil that contains fossils. As Will Rogers might have said, That’s a two-dollar word for a 25-cent concept. I will have to see if I can work the word into the conversation at the next meeting.

Another topic we talked about is the difference between a news article’s headline and content. Sometimes a headline seems to suggest one thing, but then when you read the article the content contradicts the headline.

Julia recommended the film V is for Vendetta. She owns a copy on DVD and has offered to bring it to Movie Night sometime. Randy said that Netflix was a good deal. It gets around the problem of going to the movie rental store and finding that the movie you want is not available.

Other conversation topics included the misreporting of the number of deaths in the Iraq War, how voting can be manipulated by voting machines, and whether people who will be supposedly “raptured” will make the journey with or without their clothes. Can’t you just visualize a church congregation floating away in the buff?

We also remarked about the fine décor in the restrooms with piped in, not music, but lessons on the Chinese language.

At the end of our meal the waitress brought us fortune cookies. One read “Skepticism is the first step toward truth.” We found that very appropriate for our group.

I am sure there were many other things we talked about, but I was seated at the north end of the table. What Audrey, Elaine, and Ron, who were seated at the south end of the table talked about, I cannot say.

Sunday morning I attended the service at All Souls Unitarian Church where the guest speaker was Bishop Carlton Pearson, formerly or Higher Dimensions Church in Tulsa, now minister of New Dimensions Church. In case you missed what happened to Pearson over the last several months, he has undergone a theological shift. He no longer believes that God operated a cosmic concentration camp where He tortures for all eternity those who beliefs are religiously incorrect. He has become a Universalist and believes all people are “saved” whether they know it or not.

The idea did not sit well with most congregants at Higher Dimensions, donations dried up, mortgage payments could not be met, and the church was lost. I guess some people are just not happy unless they can be told that a certain number of their fellow human beings are going to be tortured for being wrong about their religion. But all did not abandon Pearson. A small following stuck with him, and they meet in the sanctuary at Trinity Episcopal in downtown Tulsa on Sunday afternoons.

I thoroughly enjoyed the service. Pearson’s sermon was the best I’ve ever heard. Of course, being an atheist I’m not in the habit of taking in a lot of sermons. The place was packed. Thirty to fifty people were standing in the outside aisles.

The service began with UU minister Marvin Lavanhar telling a story to the children who gathered at the front. His story was about a frog who lived in a well. He had lived there all his life, and the well was all he knew. One day another frog falls into the well. The new frog tells the other one about the ocean, but the well frog cannot fathom the idea of a larger world outside of his well and tosses the ocean frog out of the well.

The symbolism was obvious. Pearson was a frog who had discovered a larger world – a world of a new dimension. His church and denomination had tossed him out.

Following the frog story, the New Dimensions Chorale sang. There were just twelve people in the choir, but they sounded like 40. They sang with strong, powerful voices. Their singing reminded me of the group Sweet Honey in the Rock. At the end of their first song the room erupted in applause as everyone jumped to their feet to give the singers a standing ovation.

The pianist was quite good as he sprinkled in jazz riffs in the selections the choir sang. I would love to hear this choir perform again.

Pearson’s sermon was titled “Get the Hell Out of my Bible.” I tried to take notes but found it difficult to listen and write at the same time. I hope the talk will be made available in transcript or on audiotape.

He spoke of dual loyalties to Jehovah and to Satan. There is the inspired word of God and the expired word of God. He said there is a little bit of Hitler in all of us. He spoke of moral dysfunctionalism and of deacon possessed churches.

As he wound down, his pianist came in on cue and Pearson broke into song. Pearson is also known for his singing, having made several vocal albums. The song was “I Can See Clearly Now.” He sang a verse and then asked the congregation to join him in singing the verse again.

It took quite a while for the sanctuary to empty since many people stood in line to shake Pearson’s hand.

I must say I felt somewhat abandoned in the afternoon at the Atheist Meetup at Border’s on 21st St. You never can predict how many people will come out to support this event. As it turned out, there was just Ron, Elaine, and myself. We talked a bit about various freethought organizations and their publications.

I read two selections. The first was the poem “Sarah” by Philip Appleman. In this poem we have Sarah, wife of Abraham, recounting some of the history of her times. She tells of Abraham’s courage in bargaining with God in an attempt to save Sodom and Gemorrah from destruction. Starting with an agreement to spare the cities if 50 righteous people can be found in them, God eventually agrees to spare the cities if only 10 righteous people can be found. If it seems that God is too easily persuaded to spare the cities, it is because he has no intention of keeping his word. Yes, God lied to Abraham, and it’s there in the Old Testament as well as in Appleman’s poem.

The poem ends with these words:

But whenever I think of Sodom…Well,
what had those people done that was so bad,
anyway—some dice and booze,
some frisky girls, willing boys,
a little fooling around—I know
it’s not exactly orthodox, but
to kill them all? To peel
the cooked flesh off those one-year olds,
just learning their first words?
All I can say is,
God must have a weird set of values,
and if there’s a Judgment Day,
as some folks think,
He’s going to have a lot to answer for.

I also read an essay by James Haught titled “Why Would God Drown Children?” Haught asked why some 80,000 children lost their lives as a result of the tsunami which struck Asia the day after Christmas in 2004. He quotes John Scarp as saying, “Natural disasters like this reveal the ultimate weakness of nearly all religions…. The desperate attempts of religion to justify them as part of God’s plan simply reveal the delusional nature of religious belief.”

I appeal to you, my fellow freethinkers, to support freethought activities, to keep freethought alive, with your attendance at freethought events.

Quote from Sharon Nichols

2006-08-23T14:23:00.000-05:00

"Tyranny of the majority is the most insidious tyranny of all--and leads to the worst oppression. The only innoculation against this tyranny is to follow Thomas Paine's injuncture so that no minority group, however much detested by the majority, will ever fall victim to the tyranny of the majority. Protecting the Constitutional rights of all citizens is our greatest duty as citizens, for it is all that separates us from despots and dictatorships." Sharon Nichols

Minutes of HAT meeting, 8.20.06

2006-08-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

There were 17 people at the HAT meeting yesterday. It was good to see so many attending on that hot Sunday afternoon.

In the business part of the meeting we approved spending $100 for an honorarium for Sharon Nichols to come to Tulsa and speak to our membership about her experiences regarding her lawsuit to force the removal of a Ten Commandments marker from the lawn of the Haskell County courthouse in Stigler. I don’t yet know whether Sharon will be interested in accepting this offer. I e-mailed her yesterday but don’t yet have a reply.

This month’s Food & Fellowship will be at Te’Kei’s at 1616 S. Utica on Saturday, August 26, starting at 11:30 am.

We gained a new member yesterday: Bob Freeman. Welcome to Bob. We now have 24 dues-paying members.

We will soon be losing one of our members: Harold Dundee, who will be moving to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Harold is retired from Tulane University where he taught biology for 30 years. Harold came to Tulsa last year about the time hurricane Katrina devastated a large part of New Orleans. In Baton Rouge he will have the opportunity to stay active in his professional life.

The program was presented by Marilyn Clarke. Her presentation was based upon an article from The Journal of Psychohistory. She related much of the article to current events, especially to the behavior of the Bush administration.

Somehow we got off to talking about the growth of the Christ legend and the history of the Bible. “A fun story,” commented Glenn Visher. Glenn spoke of the Greek influence upon the Apostle Paul.

Other topics of discussion which sprung from Marilyn’s talk were child abuse, parenting, abortion, and God as a parent figure.

As always, feel free to add comments of your own about the meeting using the comments feature of this blog.

Larry Forrest on the war in Iraq

2006-07-23T20:05:00.000-05:00

The writer of this piece, Larry Forrest, is currently living in Norman but has plans to move back to Tulsa.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072206G.shtml

I am so goddamned tired of this nanny-state bullshit! It's not enough that naughty words be bleeped, but the speaker's mouth has to be blurred so as to keep lipreaders from being corrupted. Worse, our foul-mouthed, hypocritical Prude-in-Chief signed legislation in June that increases the fine to $325,000 for each instance of broadcast indecency.

What insane culture we live in. The whole damn country has a conniption fit over the quickie revelation of one female breast during a Super Bowl halftime show, but we fall for the neocon job that landed us in Iraq, and we allow that illegal, immoral, and irresponsible war to continue. That, my friends, is the real obscenity.

Of course we all know that Dubya cusses a blue streak, and that if he were fined for every expletive he fails to delete he'd be in hock to the FCC for millions of dollars. Yet that son of Bush can sign legislation that effectively chills broadcasters from using his favorite cuss words. Hey, I'm all for little children not being exposed to vulgar language, but that's why parents and channel changers exist. If the former can master operation of the latter, then their children will be spared a life of crime resulting from hearing such shitty words as spurt forth from the mouth of our Pastor-in-Chief. Look, it's just not the responsibility of Uncle Sam to censor every program so that it will [be] acceptable to the most prudish of prudes.

Rather than censor documentaries about war, or the daily coverage of the gory carnage in the Middle East, I think we should show it in all its realistic horror. Show the bloody corpses, show the decapitated heads, show the wounded in hospitals--let's hear their screams of agony (the universal language), let's hear our troops cursing the enemy, the weather, and--yea verily--even our leaders in Washington, DC.

I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I read that somewhere in Iraq a teenage girl was murdered, decapitated, and the head of a dog sown on her neck. If this is so, a photo should be taken and shown on every goddamn media outlet: it should be on the front page of The New York Times; it should be on billboards all across the country; it should be on milk cartons. The caption would read: "This is your fucking war, America! This is what your tax dollars are buying. This is what happens when you go to war with barbarian religious fanatics who are happy to die for their barbarian God and happier still to murder for Him. This is what happens when you don't pay attention to what the hell is going on around you. This is what happens when you allow yourselves to be seduced by all the flag-waving, jingoistic bullshit your "Christian" leaders flummoxed you with. Wake up, you dumbshit assholes, before it's too late!"

Whew! I really went off on a rant there, didn't I? But it's hard not to be blind with anger when you consider the blatant stupidity being practiced right before our unbelieving eyes. As Bob Dole put it during the 1996 presidential race: "Where's the outrage?" Relatively speaking, there was very little then to be outraged about. Now, however, there's a flaming shitload.

Wait a minute: what am I upset about? Maybe the FCC is right. Maybe, in fact, it doesn't go far enough. Concerning the WWII documentary: sure, let's mute the sound and pixilate the mouths of those who swear. But more than that, we shouldn't allow people to see that most common outcome of war: dead bodies. Instead, let's superimpose cute little teddy bears and ducks and bunny wabbits and TeleTubbies on all those ugly corpses. We certainly don't want people to get the impression that war is hell, particularly when it's being fought for a noble cause, like the war in Iraq. Yes, I can see so much better now.

Thank you for inserting the brain probe into the back of my skull, you kind and patriotic FBI agents.

I love Big Brother.

Jingoistically,

Larry

HAT Minutes 7.16.06

2006-07-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

There were 16 people in attendance at today's HAT meeting at Hardesty Library. Attending were Stan, Larry Hi, Randy, Polly, Brian, Gail, Ron, Jean, Harold, Mary, Russ, Elaine, Marilyn, Audrey, Don and myself. We gained two new members today: Ron McDaniel and Elaine Liddell. Welcome to you both.

Due to the annoyance of the music at Border's on 81st St., those who attended the Humanist Study Group meeting on July 9 at Border's decided to change the venue for the next several HSG meetings to Hardesty Library. Polly took the initiative of reserving a meeting room at Hardesty for the HSG. I can't recall if the meeting time is the same or not, but I will check with Polly and get the word out about the change.

[Polly says the new meeting time is 1pm.]

There is also a change in venue for the Food & Fellowship gathering this Saturday, July 22. Originally set for Furr's Cafeteria, the F&F venue will now be a Chinese restaurant on 71st St. I think the name of the restaurant is Hong Kong, but I will have to check with Polly, who is reserving a meeting room there for us, to get the correct name and address.

[Polly says, Hong Kong on Memorial at 73rd.]

Following the F&F, Stan is hosting a showing of a film produced by the ACLU. The showing will be at the Tulsa Central Library. More details will be sent to members as they become available. As of now, Stan is still trying to obtain a copy of the video. He has ordered a copy, but it has not arrived yet.

I read a short piece at the meeting by William Falk, editor of The Week, a newsmagazine. The jist of the piece is that there have always been crackpots predicting the end of the world, but now some of today's crackpots have access to weapons which could kill hundreds of thousands of people. I also read a satirical piece by George Carlin from his book When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?

Randy will not be able to host Movie Night on Saturday, August 5. We are looking for a volunteer to host that Movie Night. Anyone willing to host it should contact either Randy or Dan.

The program was presented by Harold Dundee. It was a chapter by chapter overview of the book The Naked Mind by Shelton Gottlieb. It was quite an interesting presentation, made even moreso thanks to Harold's personal acquaintance with the author.

As always, feel free to emend these minutes by adding your own commentary using the comments option. I try to be complete, but I usually forget to include something that was talked about.

Freethought Events for July 2006

2006-07-03T11:35:00.000-05:00

July 2006 Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., July 1, 7pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., July 8, 10am
Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome. If you play an instrument (lightweight and portable), bring it.

Sun., July 9, 2pm
Humanist Study Group at Border’s, 81st & Yale. Topic: American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips. Discussion leader: Dan Nerren. Read chapters 5, 6, and 7.

Sun., July 16, 1pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Regional Library. Speaker: Harold Dundee on The Naked Mind by Sheldon F. Gottlieb.

Wed., July 19, 11:23am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sat., July 22, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at Furr’s Cafeteria in The Farm shopping center.

Sun., July 23, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup Meet at Border’s Bookstore on 21st St., second floor. (Go to www.atheists.meetup.com to sign up for meetups.)

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

About the Nonviolent Communication Training Course

2006-06-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

I am hoping that sometime later on this year HAT and TPF can present this course at the Tulsa Peace House. The course is recorded on nine audio CDs. Here is a little about each disc:

Disc 1. ORIGINS OF NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION
The purpose of NVC
Compassionate giving
A radical transformation of language
Refraining from criticism making demands

Disc 2. APPLYING NVC WITHIN OURSELVES
Four friends: anger, depression, guilt, and shame
Becoming literate in a “language of life”
From self-judgment to self-forgivness

Disc 3. A RADICALLY DIFFERENT KIND OF HONESTY
Evaluation without blame
How to make clear requests
How to choose the right strategies for getting your needs met

Disc 4. EMPATHICALLY CONNECTING WITH OTHERS
The dynamics of empathy
Connecting in the now
How to respond with NVC when you are judged

Dics 5. MEETING OUR NEEDS IN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
The difficulties of expressing the need for love
How to use NVC to declare your intimate needs
Communicating about sexuality
Vulnerable self-expression

Disc 6. EXPERIENCING AND EXERCISING AUTHORITY
Authority, fear, and respect
Influence vs. control
The person behind the title
How labels affect behavior
Standing up to authority

Disc 7. HEALING, MEDIATION, AND RECONCILIATION
How empathy supports healing
Mediating “impossible” conflicts
Reconciliation and harmony through NVC

Disc 8. HOW NVC SUPPORTS SOCIAL CHANGE
How to make powerful requests
The protective use of force
Restorative justice in action
Beyond punishment and reward

Disc 9. LIVING COMPASSIONATELY WITH CELEBRATION AND GRATITUDE
Creating the conditions for compassionate giving
Gratitude you can trust
Recognizing opportunities to give and receive sincere gratitude

HAT Minutes 6.18.06

2006-06-18T20:12:00.000-05:00

The June HAT meeting was held at Randy and Dawn Bradley’s house. Charcoal hamburgers were served to the ten people in attendance: Brian, Harold, Bea, Phil, Gail, Marilyn, Polly, Dawn, Randy, and myself. Phil was a first-time guest at our meeting. Phil mentioned, among other things, the excellent freethought programming available at www.pointofinquiry.org.

We ate in the backyard underneath the shade trees. The Bradleys’ son, Patrick, assisted in serving the food. Following the hamburgers, we ate watermelon and brownies.

A lot of the conversation dealt with this question: Are we too focused upon our atheism? Are we turning people off because we talk about atheism? Most present expressed this idea: the role HAT serves is to bring together like-minded people, which gives us the opportunity to give and receive love from each other. No one objected to this idea. I read newsletters and web sites from other freethought groups. You can pick up from these sources what other groups find important to them. For some it is combating the Religious Right; others focus upon philosophy. The focus of our group seems to be on loving and supporting one another.

Gail mentioned that she likes the oral reading of freethought writings. I concur; the oral reading of freethought writings is probably the best way of keeping them alive.

Harold mentioned that he would be moving to Baton Rouge, although I don’t recall if he said when this would happen.

I informed the group that Susan Singh of the Tulsa Peace Fellowship has offered to loan us the Nonviolent Communication Training Course. I am hoping we can work in conjunction with the Tulsa Peace Fellowship and offer the course (one day per week for nine weeks) to HAT and TPF members. I will cooperate with Susan to see if we can set up the course at the new Tulsa Peace House.

I forgot to mention at the meeting, although I may have mentioned it in an e-mail, that supporter Larry Forrest (presently in Norman) has given us a DVD which we will view at an upcoming Movie Night. The DVD is “A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly.” It runs 72 minutes – about the ideal time for a Movie Night presentation. Larry intends to move back to Tulsa soon. Larry, an excellent wordsmith, was an integral part of HAT when he lived in Tulsa in the 1990s. He moved to Norman to become caregiver for HAT member Patti Reames who was stricken with MS. Patti died last December.

As always, if I failed to mention something I should have, feel free to add your own comment in the comment section.

HAT News

2006-06-13T01:34:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, Bea, Randy, and I met at Randy’s house for the monthly Secular Singers get-together. Randy baked cinnamon rolls, and the three of us selected twelve songs for a “standard” presentation. The songs chosen will be worked up and serve as a core repertoire. Randy will send a list of these songs to all members of Secular Singers by e-mail. Meanwhile, I will make a list of all songs the group has performed in the past. This also will be distributed by e-mail to those on the Secular Singers e-mail list. If you are not already on the Secular Singers e-mail list and would like to be added, please let me know.

Then last Sunday, six HAT members took part in the monthly Humanist Study Group which met at Border’s Bookstore on Yale. Attending were Richard, Randy, Larry Hi, Marilyn, Mary, and myself. The focus of the discussion was chapter four of American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips. We were a small, but intimate, group. The camaraderie was palpable. Perhaps that explains why we stayed so long – a full two and a half hours. The group wishes to continue with this book at the next HSG in July. We will talk about chapters five, six, and seven. The group also called upon me to again lead the discussion.

I will try once again to prepare a list of discussion questions. I will send out the questions by e-mail. (Due to a lack of time, last Sunday’s questions were distributed on paper at the time of the discussion.) Two of us at the meeting had recently read Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg. We recommend this book for a future HSG.

In other news, the HAT Board decided to purchase “The Nonviolent Communication Training Course” by Marshall Rosenberg. The course comes on nine one-hour audio CDs. We hope to offer this course to all interested persons at the new Tulsa Peace House in partnership with Tulsa Peace Fellowship.

We also talked about some movies we would like to view at our monthly Movie Night. Three that were recommended were An Inconvenient Truth, A Prairie Home Companion, and Neil Young: Heart of Gold.

Minutes of HAT meeting, 5.21.06

2006-05-21T20:32:00.000-05:00

Attending the HAT meeting today at Hardesty Library were Brian, Harold, Dana, Marilyn, Randy, Mary, Paula, Don, and myself. There are now 19 dues-paying members in HAT. The HAT treasury stands at $1,186.76.

I received an e-mail from the Colorado Coalition of Reason (COCORE) seeking support for the distribution of a DVD the group has produced. It is my understanding that all money donated toward this project will be applied to mailing the DVD to high schools. I inquired of them if we could select high schools to receive the DVD. They responded by e-mailing me a list of all public schools in Oklahoma and inviting me to designate which schools we would like to have receive the DVD.

Someone asked: If we pay the postage to have a DVD mailed to a school, what are the chances the DVD will actually be shown to students at that school? That’s a good question. I guess we will never know. However, COCORE is willing to pay for the production of the DVDs. I would like to see us spend a little toward the distribution of the DVDs.

The DVD runs 38 minutes and will be shown at the June HAT meeting.

The outline of the DVD from its storage case is as follows:

1. Definitions of basic terms about nonbelievers.
2. Are there different kinds of atheists.
3. The secular humanist’s view of space.
4. Don’t freethinkers fear hell?
5. Doesn’t ID prove that God exists.
6. Where do you think we came from?
7. Isn’t America a Christian nation?
8. Do nonbelievers believe in good and evil?
9. Isn’t atheism a religion?
10. Comments about school harassment.
11. An end-of-life view from a freethinker.

The June HAT meeting will be held at Randy’s house and will be combined with a celebration of the Summer Solstice. The date of that meeting will be Sunday, June 18 – a few days before the actual solstice.

Also discussed was a request made earlier by Polly that we talk about atheism versus agnosticism. Each person who would like to speak to this subject will be given time to do so at a future meeting. We talked about doing it in June, but I don’t think any firm decision was reached on when it would be. Brian also had a proposal to address certain other questions.

After the Summer Solstice Celebration/cookout at the Bradley’s and the COCORE DVD viewing, there will not be much time remaining for any other activity, I would guess.

Among other ideas discussed was the preparation of press releases by the board on an ad hoc basis to be distributed to local media outlets whenever some issue that is of interest to our group is in the news.

Following the business meeting Brian Hill gave a descriptive talk on the book You’re Wearing That? by Deborah Tannen.

I have most likely overlooked something about today’s meeting. If you were at the meeting, let me invite you to add your own observations by appending a comment to this posting.

A Little Group of Atheists Eating

2006-05-17T13:56:00.000-05:00

Question: What HAT member hopped a freight train back in 1934 in order to be able to go to Chicago and see the World’s Fair? Answer: It was Howard Kelley. This was the first of many freight train rides Howard took back in the days of his youth. Howard entertained us with stories of riding the rails at today’s ALGAE luncheon.

In addition to Howard there was Larry, Dana, Julia, Mary, Gail, Jan, and myself. It was good to see so many friends once again. Other topics of discussion included the book The DaVinci Code, the book Who’s Who in Hell, church camps and homesickness, the Girl Scout camp murders, authors and geographical places associated with them, the treatment of books, Civil War markers and monuments, and The Hobo’s Hornbook.

If you missed the gathering today, you will have an opportunity to be with your humanist friends this Sunday, 1:00 PM, at Hardesty Library.

See you there.

May Activities for Freethinkers

2006-05-03T12:53:00.000-05:00

Sat., May 6, 7pm Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St.

Sat., May 13, 10am Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome.

Sun., May 14, 2pm Humanist Study Group at Border’s, 81st & Yale. Topic: Leo Strauss. Discussion to be led by Randy Bradley. Read material to be distributed by e-mail.

Wed., May 17, 11:30am ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.

Sun., May 21, 1pm HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Regional Library. Program: Brian Hill will speak on the book You’re Wearing That? by Deborah Tanner.

Sat., May 27, 11:30am Food & Fellowship at Panera Bread, 5601 E. 41st St.

Sun., May 28, 2pm Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup Meet at Panera Bread, 5601 E. 41st St., near Southroads. (Go to www.atheists.meetup.com to sign up for meetups.) Randy Bradley will be leading this rendezvous/meetup.

Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629

Info from Harold

2006-04-06T13:35:00.000-05:00

Harold Dundee sent the following information.

The AARP Bulletin v.47, no. 4 (just arrived) carries an article about a
Florida pharmacist who says most prescription drugs are completely safe to use long after the stated expiration date. He says manufacturers set dates short so that they can make more sales. He has gotten the Florida
Legislature to tell the Florida Board of Pharmacy that it could no longer
require phamacists to use discard-after dates on prescription labels as it
had done since 1993.

The US Food and Drug Administration has determined that many drugs remain effective, often for many years after the stated expiration date. FDA does, however, warn against drugs stored in steamy bathrooms or hot cars. [I am aware of the recommendation that drugs be stored at temperatures below 76 degrees F. Accordingly, when I travel I keep my medications in a small styrofoan box with a bottle of ice in it so that the drugs will stay cool--HD]

I learned from my second wife who was a pharmacist that with aspirin, you can tell when it has aged beyond reliability. Sniff the bottle of aspirin. If it smells of acetic acid (vinegar smell) then it has lost much of it
efficacity.

Later Harold added this:

The recommendation is to keep drugs under 86 degrees F., not 76 as I
stated. Of course the cooler, usually the better.

One response that I had said, "When I have an expired medication I call
the pharmacist and he/she tells me if it can be used or not. I had some
things that were 10 years old and still good, just had to use a double dose because they weakened with time.