Secular Colorado April 2015 Newsletter

Issue #3
April 16, 2015
SECULAR COLORADO
Hub | HOC | BA | FFRF | SA | SVC
Another Newsletter
Addition
The 6th group to join this
collaboration, the Secular
Volunteer Corps (SVC), started
as the Hub’s Community
Service Committee. Read
about SVC elsewhere in this
issue, and consider joining in at
one of their many events.
If you would like your secular
group to join this newsletter,
contact a leader from one of the
groups described in these pages.
Inside
2 - Humanists of Colorado
3 - Boulder Atheists
4 - Secular Hub
5 - Freedom From Religion
Foundation, Denver Chapter
6 - Sunday Assembly
7 - Secular Volunteer Corps
Features
AHA Convention in Denver
Before the next issue of this newsletter arrives, the biggest
event of the year will land in downtown Denver. The 74th
annual conference of the American Humanist Association will
take place May 7 - 10 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown
Denver. This is a once-in-a decade opportunity to get excited
about the secular and humanist movements.
Physicist Lawrence Krauss (above left) will receive an award as
the 2015 Humanist of the Year. Author and radio host Kelly
Carlin (above right) will deliver the keynote speech. No doubt
she will mention her father George once or twice.
The event is also listed as the 4th annual Colorado Secular
Conference, although the AHA has done the vast majority of
the organization for this one. Special promotions are in place
for Colorado residents, including one-day tickets at reduced
prices. See details at http://www.cosecularconference.org.
Register online at conference.americanhumanist.org, or call
1-800-837-3792.
8 -9 - Upcoming Events
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Issue #3
April 16, 2015
HUMANISTS OF COLORADO
Yuri’s Night Out of
This World
Sorry, we couldn’t think up a
better headline on short notice.
At Yuri’s Night this year, the old
Futurama episode starting the
evening was ignored in favor of
good conversation. Our warmup
speaker, Randy Bancroft, snuck
in a talk about the size of the
universe under the guise of
“Metrics and Astronomy”
Our featured speaker, Michael
Endl, a planet hunter from
Vienna, Austria by way of Austin,
Texas, captivated the audience
for an hour, then took questions
for another hour at the bar
across the street. He explained
the two main techniques used
for finding planets (radial
velocity and transits), said that
our solar system is unusual in not
having planets sized between
Earth and Neptune, and said
that planets are ubiquitous. It
might even be that all stars have
planets - who knew!
AHA Conference
The May 2015 monthly meeting of the Humanists of
Colorado will coincide with the national conference of the
American Humanist Association. They have been doing this
for 74 years, and know their way around a conference.
Register online at conference.americanhumanist.org, or call
1-800-837-3792.
Yes, it seems like we have a conference every year in
Colorado - and we do, the Colorado Secular Conference.
(Actually, the AHA conference is listed as a joint conference,
although the AHA has done the bulk of the planning.) But
this is a national-level conference, four days of nationallyand-internationally-known speakers, new faces in the
audience from out of town, everything spiffed up a bit from
our statewide conferences.
An option at the conference is to attend a “Secular Tour” of
Colorado, which finishes at the Secular Hub in the late
afternoon. This takes place on the second Sunday of the
month, our usual HOC meeting day. We are planning to
persuade one of the speakers from the conference to attend
the tour, and give a talk at the Hub on behalf of the HOC
that evening. Unfortunately, we do not have have somebody
lined up at the time of writing. (There are weeks left, we’ll
line up somebody.) This will probably mean no potluck, but
instead pizza slices or similar. Watch the HOC meetup for
more info!
One special note: any conference attendee from Colorado
will receive a year’s membership in the HOC, free!
Humanist Discussion Group
Not much to say, besides that last month was our largest
discussion group ever, at 19 people, for the topic “Secular
Morality”. Thanks to everyone, especially our organizer,
Greg.
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Issue #3
April 16, 2015
BOULDER ATHEISTS
Who We Are
The Boulder Atheists is a allvolunteer organization that
relies on its members to plan,
organize, and realize activities
for our community members.
Please forward suggestions to
info at boulderatheists.org or
post them to the Ideas section
or Message Board on our
Meetup group. Boulder Atheists
is a non-profit organization
registered with the State of
Colorado.
Membership
Membership in the Boulder
Atheists is open to anyone who
identifies with a non-theist,
naturalistic world view. Dues are
$30 per year.
You can now contribute through
PayPal.
Alternately, you can forward a
check to our mailing address at:
Boulder Atheists
P.O. Box 21365
Boulder, CO 80308
Contact our treasurer, or come
to our next meeting to pay dues
or to donate to the
Boulder Atheists.
The Boulder Atheists is a community of atheists, secular
humanists, agnostics, scientific naturalists, rationalists,
freethinkers, Brights, and other non-theists in Northern
Colorado. Members of the group live in Boulder, Longmont,
Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield, Superior and surrounding
communities in the greater Denver-Boulder metropolitan area.
The group is a diverse mix of conscientious individuals including
business professionals, parents, teachers and students,
entrepreneurs, and retired individuals who seek to live ethical
and moral lives using evidence-based reasoning and science.
As a group, the Boulder Atheists wish to promote the
understanding and acceptance of atheism with public education,
good deeds and public activities. Although we welcome members
who wish to discuss the subject of non-theism, our main goal is
activism and community..
People often ask: "Why does one join a group like the Boulder
Atheists? In other words, why take the last step in the journey of
understanding the material Universe and our place in it and
publicly admit you are an atheist?" Our answer is that you will
understand why we are involved when your child comes home
from a public school with a religious article or idea they received
from their teacher. You will also understand when you are a
member of a "State" organization such as the military or a
federal, state, or local government department and are forced to
participate in denominational prayers. When you observe the
human rights violations and discrimination that take place
around the world when there is no separation of religion and
government, then you will know why this group is here.
Another question that people ask is, "Why use the word,
'Atheist'? Why not something less provocative such as secular
humanist, materialist, Brights, or rationalist." No matter what
name we use, fundamentalist religious groups and others will
denigrate us for our world view. Atheists describes us: people who
do not believe in gods or supernatural forces. One of our goals is
to remove the stigma from the word "atheist" and to make it
acceptable within a society full of religious prejudices.
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Issue #3
April 16, 2015
SECULAR HUB
AHA Convention
Volunteering at the Hub
It is a little-known fact that the
Secular Hub, like the HOC, is a
chapter of the American
Humanist Association. Keep in
mind that the AHA convention
this year will be in Denver, May
7-10!
From the earliest days of the Hub (already more than two years
ago, wow!) it was recognized that a large number of volunteers
would be needed to maintain the Hub’s active lifestyle without
burning anybody out. To that end, we held an organizational
meeting for volunteers in our second month, collecting dozens of
names, who were to be either Hub openers or Hub helpers.
Hub Volunteering
Please note that the word
“volunteer” has two meanings at
the Hub.
Secular Volunteer Corps
This is a suburbanization within
the Hub that organizes
volunteering opportunities for
Hub members and, increasingly,
members of other secular
groups. These volunteering
opportunities take place outside
the Hub, typically at an existing
charitable organization or on a
special-event day.
Before the volunteer effort got cranked up though, the initiative
dissipated. Groups at the Hub were given permission to open for
themselves, and other reasons for volunteers deemphasized.
Two years later, the need for more Hub volunteers is obvious to
everybody, especially the Board members who do everything
from arranging chairs to shopping at CostCo, from running the
vacuum to answering emails.
This time, we have a secret weapon: a new Volunteer
Coordinator, Ashley N, a real goodsend. (There, another word
coined on behalf of the secular movement) Ashley will be
holding two Volunteer Callouts at the Hub, on April 23 and April
26. See the last pages of this newsletter for more information.
If you have always wanted to help out at the Hub, but you don’t
feel you are ready to become a Board member or start up a
regular event or anything so dramatic, stop by at one of these
Volunteer Callouts. There are opportunities large and small to
be useful.
Hub Volunteers
These are Hub members who
volunteer at the Hub itself,
helping with Hub activities. A
new organizational initiative for
Hub volunteers is being led by
Ashley N. Look for more info
elsewhere in this issue.
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Issue #3
I’m sure you have encountered a
conversation with family, friends, or
someone else who has religious
leanings and they may state that
“America is a Christian Nation”. On
this page we continue the reprinting
of some excerpts from the FFRF
national website that can help you
dispel that myth.
-Claudette StPierre
Isn’t American law
based on the Ten
Commandments?
Not at all! The first four
Commandments are religious
edicts having nothing to do with
law or ethical behavior. Only
three (homicide, theft, and
perjury) are relevant to
American law, and have existed
in cultures long before Moses. If
Americans honored the
commandment against
“coveting,” free enterprise would
collapse! The Supreme Court has
ruled that posting the Ten
Commandments in public
schools is unconstitutional.
Our secular laws, based on the
human principle of “justice for
all,” provide protection against
crimes, and our civil government
enforces them through a secular
criminal justice system.
April 16, 2015
FFRF - Denver Chapter
The First Amendment deals with
“Congress.” Can’t states make their
own religious policies?
Under the “due process” clause of the 14th Amendment
(ratified in 1868), the entire Bill of Rights applies to the
states. No governor, mayor, sheriff, public school
employee, or other public official may violate the human
rights embodied in the Constitution. The government at
all levels must respect the separation of church and state.
Most state constitutions, in fact, contain language that is
even stricter than the First Amendment, prohibiting the
state from setting up a ministry, using tax dollars to
promote religion, or interfering with freedom of
conscience.
What about “One nation under God”
and “In God We Trust?”
The words, “under God,” did not appear in the Pledge of
Allegiance until 1954, when Congress, under
McCarthyism, inserted them. Likewise, “In God We Trust”
was absent from paper currency before 1956. It appeared
on some coins earlier, as did other sundry phrases, such as
“Mind Your Business.” The official U.S. motto, chosen by
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, is
E Pluribus Unum (“Of Many, One”), celebrating plurality,
not theocracy.
—————————————————————————America has never been a Christian nation. We are a free
nation. Anne Gaylor, president of the Freedom From
Religion Foundation, points out: “There can be no
religious freedom without the freedom to dissent.”
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Issue #3
April 16, 2015
SUNDAY ASSEMBLY
Sunday Assembly Denver is a
community of people who meet
for a church-like service without
religion. It's a place to go to
listen to great music, learn from
intelligent speakers (like TED
talks), and meet other people in
your community.
PLEASE NOTE:
NEW LOCATION
We are happy and excited to
invite you to join us this month
at our new (and bigger) home at
Swallow Hill Music's "Daniels
Hall" on 71 East Yale Avenue,
Denver, CO 80210 (Corner of
Broadway and Yale Ave).
Laughter: It enhances your
intake of oxygen-rich air,
stimulates your heart, lungs and
muscles, and increases the
endorphins that are released by
your brain which are all good
things. Our guest speaker is
comedian Jeff Free who will help
us explore the things that make
us laugh. We will also celebrate
with songs to sing along to (or
not) with live music from Pale
Blue, plus songs from the Sunday
Assembly Choir, inspirational
readings, and other fun bits.
Sunday, April 19th,
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Our Story
The Sunday Assembly started on a car journey to Bath,
England when two comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa
Evans, realized that they wanted to do something that had
all the best bits of church, but without the religion, and
awesome pop songs.
The first version of this was on January 6th 2013, and
though they weren’t expecting many people, the entire
place was full. At the next Assembly there were 300. Then
they had to go to two services a day. And then it went
viral.
Now there are dozens of Assemblies across the world. It is
the most exciting thing in the world.
People across the world were drawn to our simple values,
clear message and excellent mission.
• We are a godless congregation that celebrates life.
• We have an awesome motto: Live Better, Help
Often, and Wonder More.
• A super mission: to try to help everyone find and
fulfill their full potential.
• An awesome vision: a godless congregation in
every town city, or village that wants one.
We are dedicated to helping the people who attend, and
the folks in the wider community, to make the most of this
one life that we know we have. We harness fun and joy and
wonder to build communities and to help others
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Issue #3
Edited by Richard Berg
April 16, 2015
SECULAR VOLUNTEER CORPS
Hub Volunteering
Please note that the word
“volunteer” has two meanings at
the Hub.
Secular Volunteer Corps
This is a suburbanization within
the Hub that organizes
volunteering opportunities for
Hub members and, increasingly,
members of other secular
groups. These volunteering
opportunities take place outside
the Hub, typically at an existing
charitable organization or on a
special-event day.
Hub Volunteers
These are Hub members who
volunteer at the Hub itself,
helping with Hub activities. A
new organizational initiative for
Hub volunteers is being led by
Ashley N. Look for more info
elsewhere in this issue.
Upcoming Events
See the back pages for more
information on:
Arbor Day, April 18th (looking
pretty full right now)
Spring Riversweep, April 25th
(looking pretty full right now)
The Secular Volunteer Corps is an outgrowth of the Secular
Hub. It began life as the Hub’s Community Service
Committee, the brainchild of Chauncey W., as a realization
of part of the Hub’s motto, “Community, Reason, Altruism”.
In existence for over two years, now, but only recently
rebranded as the Secular Volunteer Corps (whose
abbreviation SVC is also a common abbreviation for the
word “Service’ - nice, huh?), the SVC is currently led by Scot
S. Besides organizing about two volunteer events in the
Denver area per month, the group sponsors a pancake
breakfast every three months, and holds collections at the
Hub of donatable goods like school supplies and coats.
The SVC has also “adopted” Downing Street in front of the
Hub, holding a cleanup event every two months. In fact, the
one-year anniversary of the Downing Street Cleanup will be
held in May. If you have not yet joined in, please consider
doing so this time. It would be great to take a huge group
photo afterwards.
The SVC is an outlet for people who like to help with their
hands on, rather than donating money, geared towards nonchurch-goers, but with an emphasis on companionship
among volunteers. We needed this; let’s make it something
special, together.
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Issue #3
Edited by Richard Berg
April 16, 2015
SECULAR COLORADO
Events
More Events
Details in Online Calendar
Details in Online Calendar
Thursday, April 16
Friday, April 24
12:30 PM - BA: Lunch at 3 Margaritas, Boulder
7:00 PM - BA: Dinner in Lafayette
4:00 PM - BA, Coffee at Vic’s Coffee, Boulder
Saturday, April 25
6:30 PM - Hub, Movie: “Caddyshack” at 7
8:30 AM - SVC: Spring RiverSweep Volunteer
Event.
Saturday, April 18
8:00 AM - SVC: Arbor Day Tree Planting
6:00 PM - Secular Singles: Happy Hour at
Finley’s Pub, Pearl Street, Denver
Sunday, April 19
10:00 AM - Hub: Coffee and Community
12:00 PM - SA - April Sunday Assembly
Service, Swallow Hill Music, 71 East Yale
Street, Denver
Monday, April 20
6:30 PM - Freethinkers in AA, at the Hub
Tuesday, April 21
9:00 AM - Hub: Work/Study at the Hub
Wednesday, April 23
Sunday, April 26
10:00 AM - Hub: Coffee and Community,
12:15 PM - BA: Monthly membership meeting
at Boulder Public Library
1:00 PM - Hub: Calling All Volunteers! Learn
how you can help the Hub.
2:15 PM - BA: Lunch at the Med on Walnut
Monday, April 27
5:30 PM - HUB: Social Hour Southeast at
Darcy’s Bistro and Pub
6:30 PM - Freethinkers in AA, at the Hub
Tuesday, April 28
9:00 AM - Hub: Work/Study at the Hub
7:00 PM - Hub: Calling All Volunteers! Learn
how you can help the Hub.
Thursday, April 30
Thursday, April 23
4:00 PM - BA, Coffee at Vic’s Coffee, Boulder
12:30 PM - BA: Lunch at 3 Margaritas, Boulder
6:30 PM - Hub, Movie Night, TBD
4:00 PM - BA, Coffee at Vic’s Coffee, Boulder
6:30 PM - Hub, Movie: “Trance” at 7
12:30 PM - BA: Lunch at 3 Margaritas, Boulder
Saturday, May 2
11:45 - Secular Singles, Botanic Gardens
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Issue #3
Edited by Richard Berg
April 16, 2015
SECULAR COLORADO
Yet More Events
Yet More Events
Details in Online Calendar
Details in Online Calendar
Sunday, May 3
Saturday, May 9
10:00 AM - Hub: Coffee and Community,
Pancake Breakfast Edition: We HEART Logan
(Benefit for a member’s medical costs).
All Day: American Humanists Association
National Conference, Hyatt-Grand Hotel,
1750 Welton Street, Denver
6:30 PM - HOC: Discussion Group, “The
Believing Brain” by Michael Shermer
4:30 PM - Secular Singles, Rooftop Patio at
Amato’s
Monday, May 4
Sunday, May 10
6:30 PM - Freethinkers in AA, at the Hub
All Day: American Humanists Association
National Conference, Hyatt-Grand Hotel,
1750 Welton Street, Denver
Tuesday, May 5
9:00 AM - Hub: Work/Study at the Hub
6:00 PM - Hub: Open Board Meeting
Thursday, May 7
All Day: American Humanists Association
National Conference, Hyatt-Grand Hotel,
1750 Welton Street, Denver
12:30 PM - BA: Lunch at 3 Margaritas, Boulder
10:00 AM - Hub: Coffee and Community,
1:00 PM - Hub: Party Games at the Hub
6:00 PM - HOC: May monthly meeting, TBD
Monday, May 11
6:30 PM - Freethinkers in AA, at the Hub
Tuesday, May 12
4:00 PM - BA, Coffee at Vic’s Coffee, Boulder
9:00 AM - Hub: Work/Study at the Hub
6:30 PM - Hub, Movie Night, TBD
Thursday, May 14
Friday, May 8
12:30 PM - BA: Lunch at 3 Margaritas, Boulder
All Day: American Humanists Association
National Conference, Hyatt-Grand Hotel,
1750 Welton Street, Denver
4:00 PM - BA, Coffee at Vic’s Coffee, Boulder
7:30 PM -Hub: Hub Jam! Collaborative music
at the Secular Hub
Sunday, May 17
6:30 PM - Hub, Movie Night, TBD
10:00 AM - Hub: Coffee and Community,
Monday, May 18
6:30 PM - Freethinkers in AA, at the Hub
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