August 2010 Freethinker Meeting
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:52 pm
It's time for another information-packed meeting of the Fayetteville Freethinkers!
It's hot this time of year, so come into the cool of the Fayetteville Public Library and do
some freethinking with us.
Darrel Henschell will summarize and comment on our latest newspaper exchanges with
the U. of A.'s Steve Worden. Worden is a sociologist who said in a newspaper column that
we are MORE likely to believe in Bigfoot, UFO's, and other paranormal things than are religious
believers. Why would someone say something so foolish? You should have already gotten copies
of our responses to this, if not they are posted in our forum here:
viewforum.php?f=11&start=0
The newspaper asked us to do a final wrap up, which we sent them and they published last week
(along with Mr. Worden's response). See a copy of ours below. It's not over yet. There are more
lessons to be gleaned from the errors in Worden's articles.
We will also have a special presentation celebrating the work of a longtime leader in our
community, Lyell Thompson.
Doug Krueger will tell us about the Asian belief in ch'i (or "ki," or "qi") energy, a vital force
necessary for your everyday existence, but when harnessed, is said to be able to knock down people
at a distance, kill people with a single touch, and other amazing things. Would you like to learn this
in one simple lesson? We have an instructional video to show you. A ch'i master goes up against a
mixed martial arts fighter. Who will win? Can you bear to look?
We will also have our Moral Question of the Day, some really good news to announce bringing you up
to date on our freethinker news and projects. And we'll watch some of the very best funny bits from the Internet too.
***
Meeting Details:
When: Saturday, August 28, 2010.
Where: The Fayetteville Public Library. 401 W. Mountain
St. (two blocks west of the town square). Library phone: 571-2222.
Time: 2:00 pm
Room: The Walker Room. This is the main meeting room. Go in the front door, through the lobby and go to your
right. You can bring a snack or coffee from Arsaga's in the library lobby.
Map: http://tinyurl.com/b3sfgf
We'll go for dinner afterward at... a location we'll figure out after the meeting (maybe Thai Diner).
Questions? Drop us an email, fayfreethinkers@yahoo.com
***
Now, our wrap up response to Steve Worden:
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
Steve Worden misread our sign.
In April, local freethinker groups joined with the National Coalition of Reason and rented a billboard stating:
"Are you good without God? Millions Are." --NWACoR.org
Steve Worden misunderstood this as an attack on religion, so he attacked us. In his columns he claimed we are
gullible believers in Bigfoot (false), follow Free Inquiry magazine as a Bible (false), and we're an atheist group (false).
In another column he joked about us having Nazi plays, communist hymns and crayons for kids to draw pictures
celebrating genocide (false, insulting, disgusting).
We’ve refuted these claims, and if he would like to make some more, we'll knock those down too. We encourage
you to read and comment on our rebuttals here:
http://tinyurl.com/26z9rsg
Why did Worden so profoundly overreact in this way? Our billboard was not anti-religion, it was an appeal to our own
people. There are tens of thousands of people living, working and volunteering in Northwest Arkansas and they do it
without appeals to the supernatural. We wanted them to know that they're not alone and if they want to associate
with others who choose to form their beliefs about religion based upon reason, science and critical thinking, we’re here.
It would be better if writers used their privilege of having a newspaper column to bring people together rather than
alienate and divide them.
Here’s a note our friend Linda Farrell sent in:
"The Fayetteville Freethinker meetings are a breath of fresh air for unrepentant thinkers. Now, what do we get for our
zero-dues-per-year freethinker meetings?
Socially, we get to meet super-intelligent, passionate, articulate, reasonable, rational, curious, informed, engaging
people, all of whom have a sense of humor - no exceptions. We also get the bonus of dining afterward in restaurants I
didn't know existed in the area.
Intellectually, we get to learn about, question, debate and expose all sorts of paranormal and inherently silly things, e.g.
Bigfoot, Nessie, talking snakes, virgin births, heaven, hell and other assorted unprovables. The presentations are always
top-notch and well-prepared and thorough. The questions asked are really intuitive and differences in opinion and
perspective always thoughtful and respectful. Nobody calls anybody an "idiot", "a Commie", "a traitor" or any other insults
you hear regularly tossed about in church, at tea parties or in poorly-researched newspaper columns.
We don't claim moral superiority or exhibit any kind of humorless religious arrogance. We don't hate god, simply because
it's irrational to hate an entity whose existence has never been proven. And we don't consort with satan for the same reason.
We base our beliefs on hard science, observation, empirical evidence and peer-reviewed journals. And our moral code isn't
based on fear of punishment or the promise of reward. We hold ourselves accountable for our own behavior. To quote the
Christmas song, we believe in being "good for goodness sake."
Finally, we enjoy a shared respect for each other, our laws, our society, our planet and our species. For Worden,
apparently, this makes us "dangerous."
Fayfreethinkers.com
Washington County Observer, Thursday, August 19, 2010.
****
Feel free to comment about this in our forum here:
viewtopic.php?p=22110#p22110
It's hot this time of year, so come into the cool of the Fayetteville Public Library and do
some freethinking with us.
Darrel Henschell will summarize and comment on our latest newspaper exchanges with
the U. of A.'s Steve Worden. Worden is a sociologist who said in a newspaper column that
we are MORE likely to believe in Bigfoot, UFO's, and other paranormal things than are religious
believers. Why would someone say something so foolish? You should have already gotten copies
of our responses to this, if not they are posted in our forum here:
viewforum.php?f=11&start=0
The newspaper asked us to do a final wrap up, which we sent them and they published last week
(along with Mr. Worden's response). See a copy of ours below. It's not over yet. There are more
lessons to be gleaned from the errors in Worden's articles.
We will also have a special presentation celebrating the work of a longtime leader in our
community, Lyell Thompson.
Doug Krueger will tell us about the Asian belief in ch'i (or "ki," or "qi") energy, a vital force
necessary for your everyday existence, but when harnessed, is said to be able to knock down people
at a distance, kill people with a single touch, and other amazing things. Would you like to learn this
in one simple lesson? We have an instructional video to show you. A ch'i master goes up against a
mixed martial arts fighter. Who will win? Can you bear to look?
We will also have our Moral Question of the Day, some really good news to announce bringing you up
to date on our freethinker news and projects. And we'll watch some of the very best funny bits from the Internet too.
***
Meeting Details:
When: Saturday, August 28, 2010.
Where: The Fayetteville Public Library. 401 W. Mountain
St. (two blocks west of the town square). Library phone: 571-2222.
Time: 2:00 pm
Room: The Walker Room. This is the main meeting room. Go in the front door, through the lobby and go to your
right. You can bring a snack or coffee from Arsaga's in the library lobby.
Map: http://tinyurl.com/b3sfgf
We'll go for dinner afterward at... a location we'll figure out after the meeting (maybe Thai Diner).
Questions? Drop us an email, fayfreethinkers@yahoo.com
***
Now, our wrap up response to Steve Worden:
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
Steve Worden misread our sign.
In April, local freethinker groups joined with the National Coalition of Reason and rented a billboard stating:
"Are you good without God? Millions Are." --NWACoR.org
Steve Worden misunderstood this as an attack on religion, so he attacked us. In his columns he claimed we are
gullible believers in Bigfoot (false), follow Free Inquiry magazine as a Bible (false), and we're an atheist group (false).
In another column he joked about us having Nazi plays, communist hymns and crayons for kids to draw pictures
celebrating genocide (false, insulting, disgusting).
We’ve refuted these claims, and if he would like to make some more, we'll knock those down too. We encourage
you to read and comment on our rebuttals here:
http://tinyurl.com/26z9rsg
Why did Worden so profoundly overreact in this way? Our billboard was not anti-religion, it was an appeal to our own
people. There are tens of thousands of people living, working and volunteering in Northwest Arkansas and they do it
without appeals to the supernatural. We wanted them to know that they're not alone and if they want to associate
with others who choose to form their beliefs about religion based upon reason, science and critical thinking, we’re here.
It would be better if writers used their privilege of having a newspaper column to bring people together rather than
alienate and divide them.
Here’s a note our friend Linda Farrell sent in:
"The Fayetteville Freethinker meetings are a breath of fresh air for unrepentant thinkers. Now, what do we get for our
zero-dues-per-year freethinker meetings?
Socially, we get to meet super-intelligent, passionate, articulate, reasonable, rational, curious, informed, engaging
people, all of whom have a sense of humor - no exceptions. We also get the bonus of dining afterward in restaurants I
didn't know existed in the area.
Intellectually, we get to learn about, question, debate and expose all sorts of paranormal and inherently silly things, e.g.
Bigfoot, Nessie, talking snakes, virgin births, heaven, hell and other assorted unprovables. The presentations are always
top-notch and well-prepared and thorough. The questions asked are really intuitive and differences in opinion and
perspective always thoughtful and respectful. Nobody calls anybody an "idiot", "a Commie", "a traitor" or any other insults
you hear regularly tossed about in church, at tea parties or in poorly-researched newspaper columns.
We don't claim moral superiority or exhibit any kind of humorless religious arrogance. We don't hate god, simply because
it's irrational to hate an entity whose existence has never been proven. And we don't consort with satan for the same reason.
We base our beliefs on hard science, observation, empirical evidence and peer-reviewed journals. And our moral code isn't
based on fear of punishment or the promise of reward. We hold ourselves accountable for our own behavior. To quote the
Christmas song, we believe in being "good for goodness sake."
Finally, we enjoy a shared respect for each other, our laws, our society, our planet and our species. For Worden,
apparently, this makes us "dangerous."
Fayfreethinkers.com
Washington County Observer, Thursday, August 19, 2010.
****
Feel free to comment about this in our forum here:
viewtopic.php?p=22110#p22110
