INQUIRER Volume 4, Issue 4, April, 2001, Long Island Secular Humanists Box 119, Greenlawn, NY 11740, Email: LISecHum@aol.com . A Thumbs Up Publication Editor: Gerald Dantone, Art Design: John R. Wilmarth Copyright LISH 2000 (All articles in this newsletter may be reprinted by organizations affiliated with the Council for Secular Humanism with a reciprocating reprinting agreement with LISH, so long as the article is used in full and with complete crediting. Edited versions can be used with written permission.)
LISH members, our monthly meetings (Calendar) are your chance not only to see and hear a stimulating discussion on an exciting subject, but also to meet with your fellow secular humanists on Long Island.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) Jimmy Carter, Man of Faith
2) Star Jones' Bigoted View of Atheists
3) Making the Rounds with Norm
4) Quickies
5) Letters to the EditorLISH MEETING INFORMATION Dr. Paul Kurtz to Speak! The next LISH monthly meeting will be held on Friday, April 27th, @ 7:15 PM at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library, 999 Old Country Road, Plainview. The meeting will feature Dr. Paul Kurtz, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism and CSICOP. IT'S FREE! Dr. Kurtz has been the leader of the secular humanist community and has appeared often on the Today Show, Larry King Live and many more shows. He is the author of numerous books including "The Power of Humanism," and "Forbidden Fruit." He is also the publisher of Free Inquiry magazine. If you only go to one LISH meeting ever, THIS IS THE ONE!
Next month: LISH will stage a debate between LISH president Gerry Dantone and Louis Wein on the subject "What is 'Separation of Church and State,' and is it in our Constitution?" This meeting will take place on Friday, May 18th, 7:15PM at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library.
BOOK DISCUSSION CLUB!
On Friday, May 11th, the club meets at Susan T home in Bayside. The book is Paul Kurtz' "Forbidden Fruit."
The Friday, June 8th meeting will be at Warren R's home. The book is John LeCarre's "The Constant Gardner."JIMMY CARTER, MAN OF FAITH Gerry D
I recently received a letter asking for a contribution to the Carter Center, an organization that works for peace around the world. It has had some successes.The fund raising letter however, was awash with calls for faith and implied that it was faith that led to the peace accords between Egypt and Israel. Faith, according to the letter, is instrumental in overcoming obstacles created by, well, er, -- faith! Nowhere was the possibility broached that some persons care for others without the inspiration of faith. I felt compelled to write to the former President:
1/11/00 Dear Mr. Carter: Please may I note before I criticize your letter seeking donations, that I have always admired you. I have had the honor of voting for you twice for president and have approved of your post-elected office conduct in service of peace and the common good. That is why I am particularly disappointed by the nature of your fund raising for the Carter Center.
In your letter you say "faith can help unite us for good when worldly forces seem bent only on destruction." Amazingly the example to which you were referring consisted of a situation where it could not be denied that "otherworldly" forces motivated the adversaries. Faith was precisely the thing that divided Jews and Muslims (in Israel and Egypt). It was overcoming the divisive nature of faith by embracing the humanistic virtues of peace and cooperation that led to peace.
As a person of no faith, I was saddened to see the complete absence of any mention of persons who do well without supernatural inspiration or commands. Do you really believe that faith is necessary to be motivated to care about others? It is a shame that an effort to be inclusive remains divisive. It could not be more clear that if one wants to promote peace and unity among humanity, that the prerequisite should be possession of that desire, not faith. Peace is the value we need to embrace in order to promote peace, not faith, which means different and irreconcilable things to different persons.
You are free to believe that your work for peace is the result of your faith, but I believe it is more enlightened to believe it is the result of your love of peace itself. Why not welcome others who are not faith-motivated to join you? Very truly yours, Gerry Dantone.
Well, sure enough, President Carter responded in a hand written note as follows:
Gerry - Do you have faith in America? Your parents? A commitment to peace? In yourself? We all live and act on faith. I just enjoy a very important faith that you (so far) resist. Best wishes, Jimmy C.
The former president's response is not unusual for someone defending faith. Aside from the unavoidably arrogant idea that the person lacking faith is the one "resisting," the thing that is usually done is to obscure the definition of faith and make it difficult to pin what the apologist for faith is defending. In the fund raising letter faith is used to mean religious belief or belief in the goodness of a deity and/or of the "plan" of the deity. Is not the latter meaning intended when someone claims that "faith can help unite us for good when worldly forces seem bent only on destruction...." How does faith have a power when people have "very different religious beliefs" as the Carter Center letter proclaims?
In no way did the letter imply that faith was really "confidence" in one's parents, one's self, or something other than a religiously based belief. Confidence, in the sense a rational person uses the term, is not based on a supposition of the supernatural. It is based on a more scientific outlook on the world. We have confidence when we have non-supernatural reasons to have it. A person of faith can have "confidence" or "faith" in something or someone based on supernatural assumptions in a way much different than a person without faith would mean it.
Do I have faith in America, myself, parents, humanity or the commitment to peace? Actually, no I don't have "faith" that the above will certainly succeed or prevail. People and humanity may indeed fail, it is sad to say. It is possible that a commitment to peace may fail again as it has in the past. Motivating persons of reason is not "faith" but an appreciation of our lives and the lives of others and understanding the impact of moral choices from which we must choose. We have no choice but to pursue peace and common decency if we care about others and ourselves and we should admit that we might fail in our quest. That makes it all the more imperative to work hard at making this a better world. Belief that "faith" will somehow make it a better world or that we somehow will have a better world as part of a sacred plan can only work to lessen the urgency that our situation on this earth, in this life demands.
It does no good to seek only persons of faith to join in the doing of good deeds. The criteria must become the desire to do those good deeds, and that desire alone.
Perhaps President Carter is learning this. The latest solicitation from Habitat for Humanity now reads "Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit housing ministry based on Christian principles. It welcomes those of any faith - or no faith - to join in the work of eliminating poverty from the face of the earth." Earlier mailings did not make the Christian nature of the organization clear until after one had donated money and previously they did not acknowledge persons without faith. This is an improvement on both counts.
Further, it seems that human conscience is at the root of Jimmy Carter's ethical decisions after all. In a stunning blow to the Southern Baptist Convention, President Carter cut his ties with the organization. Carter said "I personally feel that women should play an absolutely equal role in service of Christ in the church."
The President of the Southern Baptist Convention, Rev. James Merritt said, "With all due respect to the president, he is a theological moderate. We are not a theological moderate convention."
Carter said he would associate with Baptist groups "who share such beliefs as separation of church and state, a free religious press and equality of women."
If these principles were in the bible, the Southern Baptists, Christian fundamentalists, the Pope, and the rest of us I'm sure, would be interested in seeing it. These principles reside in President Carter's conscience.
In irony of ironies, President Carter has done the humanistic thing and rejected some of the teachings of his original faith. Congratulations to President Carter for losing some of that faith and replacing it with common sense and common decency. [TOC]
STAR JONES' BIGOTED VIEW OF ATHEISTS From Margaretey of the Anti-Discrimination Support Network LISH received a transcript via email of the popular weekday morning show "The View," with hosts Star Jones, Meredith Vieira, Joy Behar, and Lisa Ling. Barabara Walters did not appear on this episode. Read it and see if you can believe it!
Transcript of "The View", Jan. 21, 2001:
Star: Well, I want to tell you something. I was absolutely shocked after the speech, the benediction, did you all see it? The very tall distinguished African-American man; that's my pastor, Kerby John Caldwell from Texas. That's where I went to law school, you know that. I was one of the 100 first people to join his church, and this is the man who actually helped to bring me to God, because I heard him speak, and he talked about no woman having the ability to place a period in your life, but God. And, I'm gonna call Kerby John and say, "You like George Bush, let me at least give him a shot." He may actually have a little something to... Don't think I'm abandoning my principals, but...
Joy: I don't think they should put praying or anything because it's fine with me, but isn't there a separation of church and state? I always found that amazing that they say a prayer at the inauguration.
Meredith: He needs a prayer--I don't mean him in particular; that job needs a prayer at the end of it -- no matter what.
Star: But everyone was mad when I said on the television that I wouldn't vote for an Atheist, but it's interesting that the Oath of office of the President is with "so help me God." So who would the Atheists be talking to if they weren't given the Oath? I mean you gotta have someone.
Joy: I think that's religious discrimination that you would say you wouldn't vote for an Atheist. What does that have to do with doing his job as President? That's like saying, "I wouldn't vote for a black man." It's the same thing.
Star: Absolutely not the same thing. I think it is absolutely important for you to be led by a higher power so you feel as if you have some responsibility -- not just to man. I would never even consider it. Anybody got a problem with it, is your problem.
Joy: O.K. that's fine. I'm just saying ... All I'm giving you is a hypothetical point of view.
Lisa: Just out of curiosity, would you vote for someone who is a Muslim?
Star: Absolutely! If that person was a good person. I'm not as concerned with the manner of in which....
Meredith: You could be a very good person and not believe in God, but the question -- it doesn't necessarily apply if you believe or don't believe.
Star: I didn't say you weren't a good person, just you wouldn't get my vote. I mean you could be a nice person -- you could baby-sit my kids -- possibly -- but that doesn't mean you would get my vote because you got your finger on the button. I want you to feel like there are long term, everlasting ramifications.
(Inaudible chatter from all.)
Star: Yeah they go together.
Meredith: They don't go together.
Lisa: You know what? I appreciate that you feel that way, but it's just kind of ironic right now that there are a number of people who profess faith in a higher power, but who are accused of doing some things lately which are -- you know people find...
Star: And you know what the best part about religion is? Forgiveness. And you can always bow on your knees, and you can always be forgiven.
Meredith: Forgive the Atheists, they know not what they don't believe.
Joy: Forgive the person who is an Atheist because if that's true he or she is going to suffer if he or she does not believe in heaven.
(End transcript.)
Obviously Star Jones is clueless when it comes to non-belief. To have a concern about an atheist's "finger on the button" is perverse. Non-believers would be the last ones to sacrifice the only life or reality they believe exists. Actually it is unnerving to consider a person dreaming of a blissful afterlife with their "finger on the button."
If you'd like to write to the show: c/o ABC, The View, 320 West 66th Street, New York, NY, 10023. [TOC]
MAKING THE ROUNDS WITH NORM Norm R
Feb. 6, Friday afternoon at the Long Beach Firehouse: This event featured Ed Klein and Len Cherlin debating about spirituality in a Secular world.The term "spiritual" seems to be the point of controversy. We talk about experiences that some call spiritual but the word sometimes is a roadblock to effective communication, especially among secularists.
We sometimes search for other words such as exuberant and even awe and wonder. Ed Klein used the word spiritual and points out that words evolve and their usage changes. Len Cherlin points out that the use of this word brings out the idea of a realm beyond the material. Other words are more effective to use in the secular world.
We found that other words such as "visceral," that had connections with the emotional side of us could be more effective.
When these two gentlemen get together we can only respect both of these folks. I tend to agree more with Len but Ed has such a positive approach that one has to hear out his position. We look forward to more dialogues with these two folks.
Sunday afternoon, Feb. 18, LISH Annual Meeting, Sunday Feb., Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island: That afternoon LISH had the pleasure of having Ethical Humanist leader Arthur Dobrin address us on the importance of children in our Humanist movement. Arthur pointed out that there needs to be a strong community of reason, not only for those who think similarly but also as a place for various events to take place. This provides opportunities for people of all ages to interact. Ethical Humanists events that occur weekly and during the week as well enhance the opportunities for this to occur.
Arthur explained the curriculum for children that exists in Ethical Humanism. He displayed materials that were found to be effective with his program.
We hope to stay in touch with Arthur and other groups working effectively with young people.
Saturday, Feb. 24, Humanistic Judaism Community of Queens: Speakers Gerry Dantone and this writer addressed the subject of the Long Island Humanist Coalition.
The Humanist community is a very fragmented community and some earlier coalition efforts turned out to be failures. I recounted my personal understanding of this history and the need to look at the personal views of leaders and see if their differences were the causes of these splits.
Gerry gave the account of his personal development leading to the founding of LISH. Seeing the small size of this movement we sought out means to build up a stronger voice highlighting our common needs and minimizing our differences. Gerry did much of the groundwork in this coalition building, including the creation of documents and working along with this writer to set up meetings with other humanist leaders. We are at an early stage in this development.
At this meeting, in the open forum afterward, we saw the prevalence of Jewish issues on the minds of those in the Humanistic Jewish movement. Greater understanding should lead to more effective coalition building.
Contemporary Issues in Liberal Theology, Saturday March 24, 2001, Shelter Rock Unitarian Universalist Congregation: On this date three theologians addressed a group of Unitarian Universalists and other interested listeners.
One speaker, Dr. Thandeka addressed an idea of UU original sin. This is based on the idea that some people are just bad and are born that way. This is the "bad seed" idea in other words. Thandeka suggests that the problem results from bad treatment of children at an early age and thus comes across as "bad seeds". Her suggestion solution is a more compassionate treatment of young people.
Another speaker, Dr. David Bumbaugh, addressed the issue of classism in Unitarian and to a lesser extent Universalism. These traditions have always been upper middle class and this attribute persists to this day. We wondered if humanism in general has this problem as well.
The final speaker and the one most interesting to me spoke on the subject of religious humanism and how it is evolving.
Of course we debated the term "religious" and discussed some other troubling trends in the "religious Humanist evolution". Dr. William R. Murry, President of the Meadville Theological School, a UU Seminary, presented this talk.
Dr Murry spoke about a change from the "old humanism" to a "new humanism." The old humanism was described as dogmatic and strictly rational. The new humanism is more accepting of some Post Modern approaches. The use of intuition and other spiritual concepts were troubling to this writer. My experience with this at other UU gatherings only confirms my concerns in this area. I see this as a mushy humanism as I have mentioned in previous forums.
I had to question this postmodernism with considerable force by pointing out that perhaps the old humanists were too quick to dismiss different views, but that we can find a middle ground where we can address this respectfully. It was important to highlight the need for the inductive scientific approach and still be people of compassion. We highlighted the importance of freedom, reason, compassion and service liberally spiced with responsibility. We also pointed out the problem with the words religious and spiritual.
I am glad to say that there was considerable respect shown to my queries. With numerous questions addressed to me about secular humanism, I explained why I believe this philosophy works more effectively when we engage folks of other religions. Dr. Murry was gracious in receiving these queries and was very responsive to my concerns. Frankly I hope all humanists can also respond respectfully to opposing views while maintaining our perspectives and be able to learn from contrasting positions if they have merit.
This was a good place to hear and exchange views and I felt rather good about the environment. [TOC]
QUICKIES! Gerry D
Item: It was Church against Church as clergy flocked to Albany, NY, in March, to lobby lawmakers over legislation that would require all employers, including religious institutions such as the Catholic Church, offering insurance to cover prescription birth control. The scene pitted Catholic clergy against Protestant and Jewish leaders as Catholics lobbied to be exempted from the legislation. The NY Post said Cardinal Edward Egan "dismissed surveys showing that Catholics use birth control as much as others do, saying that was irrelevant to the morality of the topic."
Comment: Aside from the wisdom of the law itself, if the religious institution involved is using 100% private funding then it should be exempted. If it is even partially publicly funded then it should obey the law. I suspect the Roman Catholic Church would like to have both the funding and the exemption. As far as morality goes, it is clear that what is moral to the Catholic Church is unrelated to the well being of Catholic and other women. Surely the Catholic Church hierarchy stands almost alone in condemning all methods (except abstinence) of birth control as immoral.
Item: Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have imposed the death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion and for any non-Muslim proselytizing.
Comment: I understand, however, that Afghanistan has a thriving state funded faith-based community service program!
Item: A minister in the state of Karnataka, T. John, could not resist the old Christian temptation to capitalize on natural calamities by claiming that that the earthquake in Gujarat was an expression of God's wrath over ill treatment of Christian missionaries in India.
Comment: Well, what if he was right? What if God was ticked off? Can't he kill 30,000 people if he wants to?
Item: Reuters reported that Ukraine's. Orthodox Church warned the Pope to postpone indefinitely his planned trip there in June 2001 because of possible street protests by angry Christians. Since the collapse of communism, religious sentiment has flourished, with the Christian believers split into denominations with fierce rivalries.
Comment: Religious freedom has not been the fruit of thefall of communism - religious privilege is the fruit.
Item: In January, 2001, the Boy Scouts national organization rejected the charters of 7 Cub and Boy Scout packs because their sponsor's had challenged the organization's policy of excluding gays. Parent-teacher groups sponsored the packs.
Comment: How dare teachers and parents refuse to discriminate! That'll show them.
Item: "All statues will be destroyed," said the Taliban's culture minister. Therefore destruction of the historic giant Buddhas, carved in sandstone 1600 years ago, were begun in March. "They should be destroyed so that they are not worshiped..." despite the fact that no one has been worshiping them and that they have historic value.
Comment: Of course, this sort of thing could never happen here, right? Read on... G.D.
Item: Last year, a number of citizens in the Comfort, Texas area formed a committee that planned, designed and raised money for a monument to the town's founders, a group of immigrant freethinkers. The town's government approved the plans and only private money was raised to fund the monument. The town's religious residents then found out that a number of atheists partly funded the monument and that the founders were irreligious. The upset residents protested and demanded that the monument, a large stone, be removed. They ultimately got their way.
Ed Pina, attorney for San Antonio's American Civil Liberties Union, thinks that what happened to the Comfort rock - intended as a tribute to the German Freethinkers who founded the town - is an example of the religious bigotry those pioneers came to Texas to escape.
When some Comfort residents had the stone removed from Comfort Park last month, said Pina, they may have violated the First Amendment rights of the people who wanted it to remain, especially those who contributed money to put it there.
Comment: Hmmm, perhaps the Taliban have opened a Comfort, Texas, branch office.
Item: A man, Tom Green, is facing trial for bigamy and child rape in Utah, where some Mormons still support the practice of polygamy.
One of his wives, LeeAnn Beagley, at age 14, plead to her high school counselor, "They want me to marry my father." The plea was not taken seriously and she became the seventh wife of her stepfather, Mr. Green.
The polygamist population in the US is estimated by historians at 50,000 to 100,000 persons, and is protected in some cases by the close-knit communities they have settled in.
According to journalist Suzan Mazur in Newsday, polygamists use religion as a guise for pedophilia and incest. Polygamist police answer to God and priests and are sometimes out of the control of secular authorities. Mazur writes that Arizona Rep. Linda Binder believes that Colorado City is a hotbed of pedophilia by the men, and racketeering on the part of multiple wives who claim they are single and seeking welfare.
Comment: Polygamy on the part of willing persons of the age of consent should be no business of government. Then again, licensing marriage generally should be no business of the government. However, forced child marriage (or rape as it should be known), fraud, and a justice system that answers to "God" and/or religious leaders is unacceptable even if it is Mormonism to some. Some family values! This is a point to where "religious freedom" cannot be extended.
Item: A stampede on the third day of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia has killed 35 Muslim pilgrims. It occurred during the ritual of the symbolic stoning of Satan. In 1998, 118 died in the ceremony.
Muslim tradition says it was the site of the pillars where the devil tried to tempt Abraham to disobey God by refusing to sacrifice his son according to news reports.
Comment: Let's get this straight - Satan did NOT want Abraham to kill his son, as God had ordered. Yup, that Satan is a real bad guy! I'll bet that evil Satan would also tell those pilgrims to not participate in the Hajj because so many of their fellow humans are likely to get crushed and killed in the process! How low can you go?
Item: Rev. Jerry Falwell made controversial remarks when he discussed the latitude of funding under the new White House faith initiatives. He mentioned a "pork barrel" of federal revenues with "the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah Witnesses, the various and many denominations and religious groups ... and I don't see how any can be turned because of their radical and unpopular views."
Falwell proposed establishing "criteria... which make only seasoned veterans in the ministry to the poor and imprisoned even eligible to apply." Surprisingly, he suggested "that no religious teaching, preaching, or ministry is funded at all," but then reversed course and declared, "That doesn't mean they cannot do it their way, but they cannot add something of a religious nature just because the money is there."
Other groups were included in Falwell's not-eligible list for public funding of faith-based social outreaches, such as the racist Christian Identity group known as Aryan Nations. He added, "Scientology has a terrible track record of bigotry," and described the controversial religious sect founded by the late science fiction pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard as "cultic."
Falwell also was critical of the Islamic religion, and said, "The Moslem faith teaches hate." He cited "clear evidence" that in Islamic nations, people of other religious beliefs are not free "to express themselves or evangelize or to exist in their presence." As for seeking funds from Mr. Bush's White House initiative, Falwell added, "For that reason, Islam should be out the door before they knock."
That statement ignited a fury from various Muslim groups and publications. Following up on the beliefnet.com interview, Falwell told USA TODAY that "Most American mosques and most individual Muslims are people of love who would hold no bigotry toward anyone. But I did say anyone who steps up to the door bearing any bigotry toward any human being should be disqualified (for federal grants)."
According to NewsMax, "Islamic, Christian and Jewish leaders, even a spokesman for the Middle East terrorist group Hezbollah, denounced Falwell's remarks." In a letter faxed to the televangelist, Omar Ahmad, Chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said, "These offensive remarks are symptomatic of the very intolerance that you claim Islam promotes." The letter called for an open apology from Falwell, and suggested that his remarks "could lead to discrimination and even physical attacks against Muslims."
Comment: Hey, just wait 'til they actually start giving out the money! Make no mistake - this is not a case of Falwell suddenly respecting separation of church and state-it's just that he wants all state funding for himself and others like him ONLY!
Item: Rapper/producer Puffy Combs is found not guilty on all counts in a nightclub shooting incident. Said a reflective Puffy, "I've done a lot of things and I have to see what's important: my family, my children, my faith in God. I'm giving all glory to god. If it wasn't for God, I wouldn't be here."
Comment: I'm sure his world famous and high-priced attorneys appreciate the (in) gratitude. Or is he saying he needed a miracle to be found not guilty? Meanwhile, God, in its infinite wisdom, has seen fit to have only one person convicted when two shooters were known to have fired guns, hitting three persons. [TOC]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
3/15/01 In response to my letter in your last issue, urging atheists in LISH to recognize that denial of God -- or Gods -- is as unreasonable as religious faith, because both lack objective evidence, you responded that some people define atheism "as simply non-belief in the existence of a deity."
This seems to me an equivocation. "Non-belief" is still a denial. To an agnostic, the only valid and reasonable point of view lies in simple acceptance of the reality that no objective facts exist to support or exclude either belief.
Within the belief systems of most religions there are, of course, enormous inconsistencies--such as the view of the Christian God as all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good... side by side with the non recognition that this God, if he exists, must therefore be responsible for all the pain and suffering in the world, including that which is visited on the littlest child.
But inconsistencies in religions are not factual evidence of anything. I repeat that only the agnostic viewpoint--that lack of evidence means we cannot deny any possibilities--offers the only rationally supportable humanist position. We may abhor the possibility of a God willing to inflict untold cruelties on his creatures, and deplore faith in such a being, but that's another matter. Gerald A., Hicksville, via Internet
Response: As an agnostic and atheist, I would agree with your cosmology. There is no support for or against the existence of God in that there are no good facts. I'd say it would be difficult if not impossible to ever have such facts either way. That makes me pretty much an agnostic although I would add that I'm not 100% sure that one could never have such facts. I'm not that smart.
But I also do not then, without the good underlying evidence, believe in any coherent definition of God that I have thus far heard of. That makes me an atheist. I do not see how I can escape this labeling. It doesn't really matter if I also think that finding such facts one-way or the other is impossible or at the least, very unlikely.
The whole thing hangs, as I wrote, on the definitions. I would say that we pretty much agree on the cosmology but not on what to call it. That is a minor matter.
I favor defining atheism and agnosticism the way I do because it makes useful distinctions. Atheism has its compliment in Theism and Agnosticism has its in Gnosticism. They seem to cover all the bases. G.D.
3/26/01 Good Morning You All, O430 and all is quiet, not a creator is stirring, not even a sea gull! I'd like to bring to your attention a couple of pieces that were printed recently in the News and Times.
The Sunday News (Ideas and Opinions) had an interesting piece, "Keep Religion out of Insurance." The Times, a very pleasant surprise, on Saturday, had the regular presentation (Beliefs) by Peter Steinfels with some thoughts about nonbelievers, atheism, and its growth in our society.
It surprised me that Peter would write about other views. He even mentioned Madalyn O'Hair, and gave some credit in that unbelief is the fastest growing group in our country. Anyway it is worthwhile reading and I feel the door has become a little ajar. Happy spring, Paul Lozowsky, Massapequa, NY via Internet
Response: Only time will tell. G.D. [TOC]
BLASPHEMY?
What is blasphemy to a humanist? It's not quite the same as religious blasphemy.What Is Blasphemy? By Robert G. Ingersoll To live on the unpaid labor of others. To enslave the bodies of men. To build dungeons for the soul. To frighten babies with the threat of eternal fire. To appeal from reason to brute force, from principle to prejudice, from justice to hatred. To answer argument with calumny. To beat wives and children. To reward hypocrisy. To persecute for opinion's sake. To add to the sum of human misery. He who hates blasphemes.
SOS NOW AVAILABLE ON LONG ISLAND
SOS is a program for those who abuse alcohol or other substances. Unlike Alcoholics Anonymous, it does not require that those attending meetings accept the religious claims of the program. SOS is not just for the non-religious; it is also suitable for those who prefer to focus on sobriety rather than the religious components of AA.One meeting is in the North Fork of Long Island, N.Y. The contact person is Matthew R., 631-477-0746. The meetings are each Tuesday from 6 to 7 P.M., at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Main Road, Route 25, Southold, Suffolk County, NY.
The other meeting is on the north shore, mid-Suffolk County. The contact person is Kathy, 631-689-1683. The meetings are each Wednesday, 6:30PM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 380 Nicolls Road, StonyBrook, Suffolk County. LISH will support the efforts of other interested parties to start SOS meetings in other locations on the Island with press releases, mailings to substance abuse centers and other humanist organizations, and meeting materials. Just ask us to help!
The home page of SOS is http://www.secularsobriety.org. This web site has much information forloading on running SOS groups. [TOC]