Freethinkers having an office, library and meeting place?

[Leonard]

It's been a few years ago now since the topic of whether or not the freethinkers might not consider getting our own space was brought up but I remember being surprised at the number of people who were supportive of the idea. I think that this is an idea that is still worth continuing to explore. I know that, as Darrel has said, it is much, much cheaper to continue simply using the library.
But here are my reasons for thinking that we should talk about the idea. The Christians, and other faiths, have erected hundreds of buildings in NW Arkansas. If there are enough Christians who can support that many buildings then I suggest it would be worth discovering whether or not there are not a sufficient number of free thinkers in the area to support at least ONE building. I think that if there were, Christians and others would be suitably impressed; it would be another sign that we are serious about what we are doing. A building would allow us to be much more visible; it would be a place where we could be regularly available to interested persons, where we could have an office, library, meeting rooms, and class rooms. I think that a number of people would be willing to support a building with educational opportunities even though they either do not like to attend meetings or do not have sufficient time to do so. We could call it something like Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville?) Center for Free Inquiry. What I envision (if we did decide to do this) is looking for an abandoned church building (that doesn't look too churchy) that is both visible and accessible.
I think further that if we were more highly visible in the area, it might well be an encouragement for those "in the closet" to come out; they would have a place where they could test the waters, so to speak.
I invite opinions both supportive and critical of this idea.
Leonard Schulte

[David Franks]

The Christians, and other faiths, have erected hundreds of buildings in NW Arkansas. If there are enough Christians who can support that many buildings then I suggest it would be worth discovering whether or not there are not a sufficient number of free thinkers in the area to support at least ONE building.

I think the illogic and hypocrisy of building competing, redundant and wasteful facilities is better left to religions.

I think that if there were, Christians and others would be suitably impressed; it would be another sign that we are serious about what we are doing.

I think it's better to impress others by doing things that are actually impressive. Any idiot can build a building; look at Donald Trump.

A building would allow us to be much more visible; it would be a place where we could be regularly available to interested persons, where we could have an office, library, meeting rooms, and class rooms.

Assuming the Fayetteville Freethinkers have a sizable physical collection of educational materials, and a demonstrated need for organized access to it, then a library might be in order. However, if our materials are adequately available online and at the library, then we don't really need our own library.

I think that a number of people would be willing to support a building with educational opportunities even though they either do not like to attend meetings or do not have sufficient time to do so. We could call it something like Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville?) Center for Free Inquiry.

Unless the Fayetteville Freethinkers becomes a private club, thee are a lot of responsibilities to the public incumbent in owning and operating a building that is a place of public accommodation. A private residence that is suitable for, and open for, group meetings is generally a different matter, however.

What I envision (if we did decide to do this) is looking for an abandoned church building (that doesn't look too churchy) that is both visible and accessible.

Adaptive reuse is certainly a wise approach to maintaining the viability of our obsolete buildings.

I think further that if we were more highly visible in the area, it might well be an encouragement for those "in the closet" to come out; they would have a place where they could test the waters, so to speak.

The Fayetteville Public Library is nationally and internationally known. Further, it is "neutral" civic space. I'm not sure that acquiring a building is the best way to raise our profile or to encourage the timid.

I invite opinions both supportive and critical of this idea.
Leonard Schulte

It is an interesting proposal. Thank you.

Many years ago, I considered the possibility of developing a small apartment complex for graduate students, rent for which could be worked into the U of A grant and scholarship system, and which would feature, rather than a swimming pool, a refectory-- a fairly large multipurpose room for meeting and dining, with a nice attached kitchen. Part of the obligation of staying there would be a presentation by each tenant each semester-- research related to their degree paper, or other topics of interest. Given the fairly high number of foreign graduate students, it was my expectation that the refectory would also serve as a forum for cultural exchange through shared cooking duties. I suppose a similar approach could be used for the accommodation of freethinkers.

Assuming such a thing is viable for minimizing crowd-based code requirements, I would be interested in looking at adapting an existing church (or similar) property to include a few apartments (enough to generate income adequate to sustain the entire property), meeting and administrative space. The potential legal entanglements of combining a residential, public assembly, non-profit and charitable interests would be particularly intriguing.

This church building was on the market a while back:



http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/221-S ... 4114_zpid/

[Dardedar]

Let's bring this up at the meeting. We'll have a mini debate and knock some ideas around.