Humanist Society of Santa Barbara
Newsletter for November 2003

Secular Humanism is a philosphy of life guided by reason and science, free from religious dogma, motivated by an appreciation of life and the life of others, seeking to reach goals of human happiness, personal freedom and growth with responsibility and understanding on this earth, in this life, at this time.

We meet at 3pm on the 3rd Saturday of each month at The Patio Room of Vista del Monte, 3775 Modoc Road, Santa Barbara.

If you would like a copy of this bulletin mailed to a friend or someone you believe would be interested in our Society please drop a line to us with their name and address to P.O. Box 30232, Santa Barbara, CA 93130.
BULLETIN OF THE HUMANIST
SOCIETY OF SANTA BARBARA

OFFICERS 2003 - 2004

CHAIRMAN - Bob Perry
968-1951 bob.perry3@verizon.net

SECRETARY - James Kimberly
969-9686 dr.doboy@cox.net

EDITOR - Dick Cousineau
687-2371 dkcgeo@earthlink.com

TREASURER - Ron Kronenberg
967-0883 seelberg@home.com

PROGRAMS - Bea Duncan
964-3109 bfarwellduncan@cox.net

SOCIAL DIRECTOR - Anne Rojas
564-6086 annehrojas@cox.net

MEMBERSHIP - Mary Wilk
967-3045 mwilk@cox.net

ARCHIVIST - Hope Smith
967-5143 hsmith1923@aol.com

WEB MASTER - Colin Gordon
682-0545 colin3@juno.com

MEMBER AT LARGE - Art Brody
692-8898 brodybiz@silcom.com

MEMBER AT LARGE - Don Young
898-7000 donandjuan@worldnet.att.net

PUBLICITY - Marian Shapiro
968-0478 marianshapiro@cox.net


Please don't forget to bring canned foods and non-perishable goods to our regular Society meetings. These donations are given to the Crisis Shelter (Domestic Solutions) and they are well appreciated by the clients and staff.

  
SOCIETY EVENTS

IN RETROSPECT

October 18: Ellen Johnson, President of the American Atheists, in her only southern California appearance, spoke to us on the topic of, "Separating State and Church". Mrs. Johnson came across as a very dedicated activist herself and one who advocates the same for those who agree with her. Over 150 attended this event - A great success! Many thanks go to Roger, Anne, Bob, Marian, and many, many others.

IN PROSPECT

November 15: While some members will probably be going to the grand opening of CFI West in Hollywood many of us will meet at our regular meeting time and place to "Tell Our Stories". Dick Cousineau, with help from Bea Duncan, will invite you to tell your personal philosophic journey to Humanism. MUSIC TOO! !


MEMBERSHIP NOTES

We are pleased to acknowledge and welcome the
following new member to our Society:

Bob and Jan Britton

Neal Rosenthal and Linda Davis

New individual HSSB name badges are available and can be picked up at the next meeting attended. Please keep yours to wear to meetings to provide easy recognition and prompt check in.


HSSB BOOKCLUB


Our new book club has been initiated and 10 people have signed up (still room for 2 more) for the initial meeting, which will be held on Wednesday Jan. 14 1:30 PM at Dick Cousineau and Judy Freeman's home, 505 Alegria Road, SB - 687-2371 For the first meeting, Voltaire's "Candide" has been selected to be discussed. Future selections will be elicited at the meeting.


It is with deep sadness that we have learned of the death of George Robinson on August 4th. He and Lois became members back in late 1996, but as George's hearing loss became worse he could not attend many meetings. I do remember however his insightful comments and colorful commentaries when he did attend. He will be missed by friends and admirers here at HSSB. We send our love and support to Lois.
Dick Cousineau

Top of Page

MISCELLANEOUS MUSINGS AND LETTERS

Pursuant to Ellen Johnson's advocacy of confrontational tactics in the cause of atheism, you may be interested in the different point of view at the URL below. In case you have not heard of him, Mooney is a brilliant young free lance writer who has put out cogent articles on a variety of topics of interest to humanists. His web site in general is most provocative.

In partial support of Mooney's position there is my article, "Our Turn Now?" in American Atheist, Spring 2003. (It is not available online, but the AA web site will tell you how to get a copy of the magazine.) I mention there some possible non-confrontational strategies. But I wish Mooney had read my article before writing, "O'Hair's pugilistic and insulting public persona hurt atheists a great deal in the long run." The Gallup Poll and General Social Survey data seem to show that the rise in tolerance of atheists was more rapid in the O'Hair era than subsequently.

In the interest of "intellectual stimulation," I would welcome reactions to either or both of these pieces. A little networking might provide some insights that do not come out in our standard lecture/question format at meetings. (On the other hand, if you are not interested, please opt out.)

Dudley Duncan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40996-2003Oct17.html


Why should any "God" bless America? And what actually is a blessing? - Some kind of divine protection or instant increase in natural bounty? Is this so-called blessing relative to other areas of the world? Does America signify just the United States of America, or the United States of Mexico, Central America, South America? How about Canada or Haiti or the Cayman Islands?
What kind of blessing are we asking for when we say those words - More Goodness, Increased Diversity, Tolerance, More Goods, Less Poverty, Less Selfishness. Republican Wins, Democratic Wins, Green Wins, Decisive Military Conquests, Selected Safety for Certain Persons, Longer Life, Less Domestic Violence, Fewer Immigrants, Less Political Friction, A Living Wage, All of the above, All of my wishes?
Does deserving such blessing mean anything? Aren't Panama, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Afghanistan more worthy than 'America'? Aren't most other countries needier than the USA and deserving of any blessing they can get? Isn't "God Bless America" just a nonsensical prayer (or a mass wish as you like) ? Isn't the USA the richest, strongest, best fed, most open society in the world? What more blessing is needed from any all-powerful god? I guess greed is still alive and well in our Country and we want our children to keep repeating this mantra without ever asking what it means.


Andy Rooney On Cripes:

My wife's from the Midwest. Very nice people there. Very wholesome. They use
words like 'Cripes'. 'For Cripe's sake.' Who would that be; Jesus Cripe's?
The son of 'Gosh' of the church of 'Holy Moly'? I'm not making fun of it.
You think I wanna burn in 'Heck'?

Top of Page


EDITOR'S NOTES

All too often, and especially of late, Humanism is seen a "Church/State Separation" organization, much like' Americans United', and indeed this issue is of considerable concern to us, especially Americans fighting a resurgent right-wing Christian movement. But there are a number of other Humanists principles and issues that we should not loose sight of, namely those published in our October Bulletin, which has as the very first item: We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and the solving of human problems. Also including; we believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life, and we believe in the common moral decencies; altruism, honesty, truthfulness, and personal responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical and rational guidance. In short, the critical thinking process lies at the heart of Humanism.
In order to foster critical thinking within our group, with this issue of the Bulletin, your editor is initialting a "Critical Corner" column that will appear on an occasional basis. This column is open to all who wish to speak out on any issue but is not intended to be in a style of Letter to the Editor column but rather one where the rules of evidence and rational a inquiry will prevail. In addition, news of conferences, books, recent research, etc. would be welcome. Critical Thinking need not investigate the origin of every statistic, but rather, being Critical means appreciating the inevitable limitations of all statistics, and not being awestruck in the presence of numbers. It means not being too credulous, not accepting every statistical value at face value, at same time not being cynical in rejecting and discounting all numerical facts. We reserve judgment, and then try to learn more, evaluate, and weigh in the light of reason and reasonableness. Such thinking should extend to news reports, speeches, articles etc. Remember that whenever examples substitute for definitions, there is a risk that understanding may be distorted. Back in the 80s Anorexia was touted as a national problem and it was estimated by activists that some 150,000 women were anorexic and noted that this condition could lead to death. At some point, the 150,000 cases became 150,000 deaths per year; the mutant statistic became quoted widely. We should have know that something was amiss because anorexia affects young women, and according to the US census only 8,500 females between 14 and 24 die each year. Often times these mutations spread and take on a life of their own and actually become worse with each telling. A great book to read is Damned Lies and Statistics, by Joel Best (2001). Lets continue this column with your insights and observations.



HSSB Book Drive

Do you recognize the name Neil Mellen? Sadly, neither did I when I read an article written by Neil in the October, 2003 issue of Freethought Today, the bimonthly newsletter published by the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). Neil won the FFRF 2003 Student Activist Award for his successful efforts to eliminate mandatory mealtime prayers at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a state supported college. Apparently, the military life as presaged by his experience at VMI ("My demerits quickly skyrocketed [to] more in the weeks following the case, than in the prior three and a half years combined") did not suit Neil, so he joined the Peace Corps. He is now in Micronesia, with part of his work devoted to creating a library for children at a reading level of U.S. grades one through five. 		  As I announced at our October meeting, on behalf of the HSSB I am collecting young reader books for Neil's library. I'll bet your kids or grand-kids have outgrown their early reader books and now they are just taking up bookshelf space. Now is your chance to put these books to good use. All books are welcome, but any that have a Humanist theme would be particularly welcome. Ellen Jackson has volunteered to "seed" our book collection by donating numerous signed author copies of her books. And the Board has agreed to pay for shipment (at the very low cost domestic book rate) of the books to Neil. Please look on your own bookshelves and if you have any "gently used" books for kids, donate them to this cause. Contact Roger at rogers@west.net or 962-6316 to arrange for your donation.   Thanks, Roger.

Top of Page

CHAIRMAN'S COLUMN
by
BOB PERRY

November 2003

Well.. it WAS quite a meeting! Just ask any member who stood along the wall or at the back of the El Patio room during Ellen Johnson's visit with us. About twice the number of members were present as usually attend the third Saturday meetings PLUS eighty-six paying visitors. Every chair in sight, inside and out, was filled and more could have been. Forty six attendees also came to the reception at the El Encino following the meeting. In every respect a highly successful event for which the credit goes to: Roger, for persisting in his efforts to get Ellen to come here; Bea and Anne, for skillfully managing the scheduling and logistics involved; and, all of the above, with a special kudo for our Publicity Chair Marian Shapiro, who combined to produce the outstanding coverage in the News-Press and Independent that we received. One visitor even joined the society on the spot.

As the occasion was focused on atheism I felt that it was importent to include in my welcoming remarks to the visitors that: HUMANISM IS NOT A SYNONYM FOR ATHEISM, and while many of our members are quite proud of their atheistic philosophy and some might even prefer that name for our society, there are importent distinctions between the two terms, which were elaborated in an excellent series of commentaries written by Roger in his Chairman's Columns of June, July and August of 2002, copies of wbich were available on the information table for those who wished to read them. Of thirty copies only several remained after the meeting.

Other activities in October. On the 25th, UN Day, the local United Nations Association with the League of Women Voters sponsored a conference at City College 'Addressing The Unintended Consequences of War'. Many local non-profit organizations participated in the event by having information tables at the entrance of the Fe Bland Forum on the West Campus. The Humanist Society of Santa Barbara was there at one of the best locations with our brochures, Robert Ingersoll ad display, another stack of Roger's Humanism/Atheism columns and membership application forms. Many of the applications and brochures were picked up by the attendees. It will be interesting to see if they are returned. A new six foot banner: THE HUMANIST SOCIETY OF SB, with our website and PO Box number, at least told everyone that we were there.

As I will be attending the CFI-West grand opening on the 15th, the program for our regular November meeting will be planned and conducted by Program Chair Bea Duncan and Newsletter guru Dick Cousineau. It should be interesting to know why and how some of our members decided to join this parade.
Top of Page

WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
BY
COLIN GORDON

The Brights are here so, thanks to Diane Freeman, our featured site this month is the Bright site:

http://www.the-brights.net

This belongs to a would-be International Internet Community, with co-Directors Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell, who introduce themselves like this:

"THE REASON & PURPOSE

Currently the naturalistic worldview is insufficiently expressed within most cultures. The purpose of this movement is to form an Internet constituency of individuals, the Brights, having social and political recognition and power. There is a great diversity of persons who have a naturalistic worldview. Under a broad umbrella, the Brights can gain social and political influence in a society otherwise permeated with supernaturalism."

Just what is a Bright you say? They put it this way:

"In current dictionaries and in usage, "bright" is an adjective (e.g., shining, clear, radiant, luminous, brilliant). As such, it is used to modify a noun. This new and different "bright" is a term for a person or persons; thus, a noun in and of itself. The defining attribute of the person (a Bright) is not the former adjectival meanings. Rather it is this: possessing a worldview that is naturalistic."

Its an easy site to explore and offers an interesting new perspective on the philosophy of naturalism, which turns out to be much like Humanism. The name they have chosen, Bright, may seem a little pretentious but it's worth a visit.


I have encountered a few 'creationists' and because they were usually nice, intelligent people, I have been unable to decide whether they were really mad or only pretending to be mad. If I were a religious person, I would consider creationism nothing less than blasphemy. Do its adherents imagine that God is a cosmic hoaxer who has created the whole vast fossil record for the sole purpose of misleading humankind?
- Arthur C. Clarke, Science Week October 24. 2003 (Borrowed from Ventura Freethinker's Newsletter)
Andy Rooney On Phone-In-Polls:

You know those shows where people call in and vote on different issues?
Did you ever notice there's always like 18% that say "I don't know." It costs 90 cents to call up and vote and they're voting "I don't know." Honey, I feel very strongly about this. Give me the phone.

(Says Into Phone) "I DON'T KNOW!" (Hangs up looking proud.) Sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe you're not sure about." This guy probably calls up phone sex girls for $2.95 to say, "I'm not in the mood."

Top of Page