We started with a pot-luck dinner, followed by a brief annual meeting and election of officers for 2011. After that we had our winter solstice party with music, dancing, and a silent auction.

Humanist Conversations: “Justice”

We viewed and discussed another of the “Justice” lectures, in which Michael Sandel posed the questions, “Can ideas of justice be detached from ideas of good? Why do these arguments keep going even if they raise questions that are impossible, finally, to resolve?” (We also discussed the issue Sandel chose to illustrate his question, gay marriage.)

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

Thanksgiving pot-luck dinner.

We held a pot-luck dinner as a chance to get together before Thanksgiving.

Book discussion on The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris. It's available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

Our speaker was Dr. Larry Rifkin, a frequent contributor to Free Inquiry and the Humanist.

Humanist Conversations: “Trail of Tears”

We watched and discussed “Trail of Tears,” an episode of the PBS series American Experience. This episode deals with the accomplishments of the Cherokee in developing a true nation in the hundred years before The Removal in the 1830s from the entire southeast to land in Oklahoma.

Hartford-area social dinner at Avon Indian Grill. .

Our speaker was Andrew Schneider, the executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut.

Andrew started with the early religious history of the state, its late disestablishment of the state church, and then went on to talk about some recent court cases that the ACLU of Connecticut was involved with, including the Manchester Post Office and the Enfield high school.

We will conclude our detailed examination of the origins of Christianity and the veracity of the diverse Christian narratives, including whatever evidence there may be concerning the existence of Jesus. We’ll review the cyclical history of challenges to the received narratives, considering a variety of questions that have been repeatedly raised about the historicity of the New Testament and of Jesus. We will compare competing narratives of Christian origins in the light of known specific events in the recorded history of the times. Detailed handouts will be distributed on all phases of the course to date, plus materials not previously presented. Alternating brief summaries of video materials shown, lectures on important new historical topics, and group discussion of all these subjects, we’ll bring together all the loose strands of our examination to date of the documented origins of Christianity. Finally we will compare and contrast the published analyses of a list of outstanding scholars regarding all these truth claims. Our aim will be to reach a provisional group consensus based on all available evidence concerning all the issues.

We held a showing of the recently released DVD of Julia Sweeney's monologue on her deconversion through inquiry from her family's Catholicism.

Book discussion on Pearl S. Buck’s 1934 Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Good Earth.

Our previously announced Humanist Conversations meeting was cancelled.

2nd Annual Ig Nobels Webcast

We hosted a live webcast of the 2010 Ig Nobels in the library at USNH.

"The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative -- and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.

In a gala ceremony in Harvard's Sanders Theatre, 1200 splendidly eccentric spectators watch the winners step forward to accept their Prizes. These are physically handed out by genuinely bemused genuine Nobel Laureates."

This event replaced our planned Hartford-area social dinner at Michel Angelo’s Pizzeria..

In preparation for our book discussion, we held a showing of the 1937 film based on the novel The Good Earth.

John Pawelek, PhD, joined us with a fascinating talk on the mechanisms by which we make melanin in our skins and the health and social issues surrounding skin pigmentation.

A long-time cancer researcher at the Yale School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology and the Yale Cancer Center, Dr. Pawelek is a world-renowned expert on both normal and abnormal conditions related to cells that produce melanins. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and has won numerous awards for his work.

Melanins are pigments in the skin that play many roles in biology including camouflage, species and gender recognition, heat exchange, and protection from ultraviolet light. The more melanin you have in your skin, the less sun damage. While there are many beneficial roles for melanin, unfortunately the amount and distribution of skin melanin can cause some people to be perceived as “different” from the rest of society, evoking negative discrimination against them.

Humanist Conversations: “Greg Mortenson”

Greg Mortenson had recently followed up his first best-seller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School At A Time, with another best-seller, Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His not-for-profit builds schools with the goal of educating girls. We watched the Charlie Rose July 27, 2010, interview to learn more about this man’s extraordinary mission.

For our August meeting, Michelle (Mickey) Koth and David Schafer discussed Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s latest autobiographical book, “Nomad.” Their review of her earlier book “Infidel,” “Absolute Infidel: The Evolution of Ayaan Hirsi Ali” appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of The Humanist.

Thus far we’ve laid out the known facts about events leading up to the founding of a new religion, Christianity. Using handouts, short video clips, and discussion of specific issues we will now start to put together the various facts we have learned up to this point, and will discuss how best to explain what must have happened in the first century of the Common Era in order to account for the explosion of Christianity in the succeeding centuries.

Humanist Conversations: “Belief & Survival”

We watched a short video of Michael Shermer explaining how the human tendency to believe strange things boils down to two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble. We also discussed how they keep us out of trouble.

Book discussion on Paul Robeson: A Biography, by Martin Bauml Duberman. It's available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

P.J Deak presented the story of a largely forgotten,19th century de-frocked Universalist-Minister-turned-“atheist”-lecturer named Abner Kneeland

In our last session we learned how the “Four Gospels” of the Christian New Testament were chosen from a large and highly diverse pool of candidate gospels, and how they related to each other, in time and in content. In this session we picked up at that point, compared passages from the Four Gospels, and saw what happened next.

Humanist Conversations: “Belief”

We said we would watch a short video of Michael Shermer explaining how the human tendency to believe strange things boils down to two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired survival skills; and discuss what this has to do with the Fourth of July. In reality we had a related conversation and didn't get to watch the video.

In our third session we examined psychological effects of the Roman destruction in 70 CE of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and then compared the first Gospel (“Good News”) of “Mark” that followed it with those of “Matthew” and “Luke” that came after it—always asking what evidence, if any, for Jesus as a historical person we can reliably derive from the available documentation.

Humanist Conversations: “Populism”

We watched and discussed the interview with Jim Hightower from the Friday, April 30, 2010, Bill Moyers Journal.

Some in the media have labeled the Tea Party, “populism.” Jim Hightower explained why it's not.

Book discussion on Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, by Michael J. Sandel. (Note: This is not the paperback "Justice: A Reader" by the same author.) It's available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

This event was held at Marsha Zellner's house in Woodbridge.

This, the second session of of “The Historicity of Jesus and Early Christianity: A Historical, Scientific, Scholarly, and Critical Examination,” fleshed out the state of Judaism under the Greeks and Romans during what is known to Christians as the “intertestamental period.” This period, which for centuries has been widely ignored by popular Western (especially Christian) culture, has in recent years become steadily and increasingly well documented and interpreted. Research and scholarship in this field, not surprisingly, have had profound implications for our understanding of Jesus and his followers, with successive waves of discovery leading to an almost cyclical revival of the “search for the historical Jesus.”

Tom Flynn, Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism and Editor of Free Inquiry magazine, was the speaker for our 21st anniversary potluck celebration. (To accommodate the schedule of our speaker, the meeting was held on the second Monday of May.)

You’ve seen the various religion polls and the reported percentages of unbelievers — and the polls vary widely. How do you know which polls are more reliable? Join Tom Flynn as he explores how sociologists and pollsters measure religious belief and unbelief. He will also cover the controversies and scandals in the polling field, and what the polling data on religion really mean (for example, how many of those “no religious preference” people are really atheists?). Our anniversary potluck dinner (with anniversary cake) was followed by Tom Flynn’s presentation.

Tom Flynn is Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism and the Editor of Free Inquiry magazine. A journalist, novelist, entertainer, and folklorist, Flynn is the author of numerous articles for Free Inquiry, many addressing church-state issues, as well as the best-selling “The Trouble With Christmas,” about which he has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances in his role as the curmudgeonly “anti-Claus.” He is also the author of the critically acclaimed anti-religious black comedy science fiction novels, Galactic Rapture and Nothing Sacred. His latest work, “The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief,” is a comprehensive reference work on the history, beliefs, and thinking of America’s fastest growing minority: those who live without religion.

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Humanist Conversations: "Net Neutrality"

We watched and discussed an article from the Friday, April 23, 2010, Bill Moyers Journal. “The Internet has transformed business, politics, and culture — but will a corporate agenda kill freedom of the Web? With radio and television dominated by mega-corporations, more and more Americans have turned to the Internet for news — but a recent court ruling gives Big Telecom more control over broadband. Bill Moyers talks with FCC commissioner Michael Copps to discuss the future of ‘net neutrality’, the fight for more democratic media and the future of journalism.”

Pot-luck lunch followed by a showing of the movie A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, based on the novel by Mark Twain. (The consensus was that the film omits much of the novel's darker humor, and is rather dated.)

December 21, 2012 marks the end of the current cycle of time according to the Maya calendar. But does that mean that the Maya predicted the end of the world on that date? Will time stop, the Earth stop rotating on its axis, the sun become a supernova, and will our entire solar system get sucked into a giant black hole at the center of our galaxy? Should we all be exchanging Christmas gifts early in December 2012, because none of us are going to make it to the 25th of that month? Inquiring minds want to know. Our very popular Connecticut State University archaeology professor Dr. Ken Feder will attempt to ease your concerns about 2012 because he knows the Maya didn t predict anything particularly momentous on that date. Then again, maybe he s part of a government cover-up to prevent widespread panic before it s lights out for good. You decide at 7:30 p.m. on April 19 at 700 Hartford Turnpike in Hamden.

A poster for this meeting is available here.

Our series of monthly discussions on “The Bible from the Standpoint of Scientific and Historical Analysis” has morphed into a new series of discussions entitled “The Historicity of Jesus and Early Christianity: A Historical, Scientific, Scholarly and Critical Examination.” The aim of this series is to provide reliable evidence-based information on this complex subject, which will be best understood as a kind of puzzle, parts of which are well understood while many others are less so, and some remain a complete mystery. Those who participate may be surprised to learn precisely how much of the puzzle falls into each category. This first session summarized the relevant and well-documented geographical, historical, archaeological, linguistic, and literary background, during the period from around 100 BCE to 100 CE, of Jewish, Roman, Greek, and neighboring cultures that serve as the minimum setting for a clear understanding of the known and probable origins of what we will call “Early Christianity.”

Humanist Conversations: "Humanism & Human Nature"

We resumed the conversation on what Humanism is that we started at the February Conversations meeting.

This was the fourth in our series of monthly discussions on “The Bible from the Standpoint of Scientific and Historical Analysis.”

At the end of our third discussion, mention was made of interest in the section of Genesis where the “sons of God looked on the daughters of men and saw that they were fair.” This is but one of many apparent contradictions in Genesis that David Schafer guided us through during this session.

Our featured speaker was our own Dr. Robert Rafford.

William Lloyd Garrison was probably the most effective reformer of the 19th century, having more to do with ending slavery and achieving equal rights for women than anyone else of that century. Did he eventually become a humanist? Can we count him among our humanist fore-bearers?

A founding member of our organization, Rev. Dr. Robert Rafford is a semi-retired Unitarian Universalist minister, officiating at weddings, funerals and other events. He is a professional genealogist and the president of the Middlebury Historical Society and is Municipal Historian for the town of Middlebury. He was converted to humanism at the 1979 Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly.

A poster for this meeting is available here.

Book discussion on Letters from the Earth, by Mark Twain. It's available at many public libraries as well as at bookstores and online.

Humanist Conversations: "Evo-Devo Continued"

We watched and discussed the final third of the December 29 installment of NOVA on PBS, entitled “What Darwin Never Knew,” on “Evo-Devo,” (the emerging science of the Evolution of Development, a blend of evolution and embryonic development), having watched the first two thirds at the February 15 monthly meeting.

The third in our series of monthly discussions on “The Bible from the Standpoint of Scientific and Historical Analysis” will be held on Saturday, February 20 from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m., in the library at 700 Hartford Turnpike in Hamden. Handouts will be available to accompany our studies of: The origins of the science of archeology; the timeline of the Stone, Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages in Mesopotamia; the timeline of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian Empires; an introduction to isotopic dating techniques, beginning with carbon-14 dating; the oldest known cities in the Middle East; and finally, a comparison of early Mesopotamian creation myths with the first and second Biblical creation myths.

Our featured speaker will be our own Dr. David Schafer. Since February is Darwin Month, we will once again celebrate the incalculable change wrought by one man in humanity’s understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe. Explaining some of the basic concepts and methods of “Evo-Devo,” (the emerging science of the Evolution of Development, a blend of evolution and embryonic development) illustrated by segments from the December 29 installment of NOVA on PBS, entitled “What Darwin Never Knew,” David will attempt to give an appreciation of the fabulous promise of this research for our future understanding of the detailed panorama of the molecular machinery underlying evolution, something “Darwin Never Knew.”

We'll start with a half an hour of coffee and conversation at 7:30 PM. The talk will start after brief announcements at 8:00 PM.

The Congregation for Humanistic Judaism will be holding their second annual Darwin Day Dinner on Friday, February 12, at 7:00 p.m. at Quattro Pazzi Restaurant, 65 Fillow Street, Norwalk.

The program includes a lecture, “Evolution of the Universe,” presented by Charles David Bailyn, the Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of Astronomy & Physics at Yale University. Tickets cost $60 ($55 before January 31) and seating is limited.

Reserve your place by mailing your check payable to Darwin Day Committee to: 249 Chestnut Hill Road, Norwalk CT 06851. For more information, contact the Southern Connecticut Darwin Day Committee by calling John Levin at (646) 371-9280 or emailing him at jlevin@tfm-llc.com, or Craig Tomarkin at ctomarkin@aol.com. You can also visit http://www.humanisticjews.org/darwin/.

Humanist Conversations: "Humanism: What For?"

Science marches on. Are the effects always, without reservation, blessings? The possibilities that the development of a cheap, easy, and wide net test for genes linked to some truly dreadful diseases or syndromes are wonderful or maybe dreadful. We will look at a brief news report and a somewhat more detailed written news story. Then the conversation will follow the inclinations of our participants. Join us Saturday, February 6 at 2:30 p.m. in the library at 700 Hartford Turnpike in Hamden. Refreshments will be served.

Book discussion on Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character), by Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton.

Rescheduled from December 19, 2009

The second in our series of monthly discussions on "The Bible from the Standpoint of Scientific and Historical Analysis," was concerned with comparing the Creation Story in the book of Genesis with the much older Sumerian myth known as "Enuma Elish." We took a look at the history of comparative studies of the texts, together with the role of major archeological discoveries in the 19th and 20th centuries. We also watched the first program of the Michael Wood documentary Legacy.

Our featured speaker this month was Richard Duffee. He studied philosophical psychology at the University of Chicago, earned an MA in English, then taught in high school, prison, and college. After earning a J.D. (with a certificate in International Law) at Pace Law School, Duffee went to Southeast Asia, lived there nine years, taught at two Indian law schools and married into an Ex-Untouchable family. Duffee began teaching the international dimensions of poverty in “Law and Poverty” courses in 1999 in India, first published his analysis in 2003, and has presented it at the World Social Forum.

Humanist Conversations: Foreclosure

Steve Meacham, a community organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana, is doing something about the foreclosure crisis, one foreclosure at a time.

We watched and discussed an inspiring segment from the December 18, 2009 edition of Bill Moyers Journal.