Encounter Newsletter of the Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County

September 2014

By Brandon T. Bisceglia

I ndependence Day is a widely celebrated national holi-

day. Yet the declaration it commemorates merely sev-

ered the American colonists from their English rulers. It

did not establish a new nation.

If we really want to recognize the birth of the U.S., Sep-

tember is a more important month than July. For it was on

the seventeenth of that month 227 years ago that the dele-

gates to the secret Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

signed the world's longest-lasting foundational document.

Unlike the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Con-

stitution is bereft of any appeal to religion, Christian or other-

wise. It only touches on the matter once in Article Six: “no

religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any

Office or public Trust under the United States.”

Secularists are no doubt familiar with this clause, and its

partner, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Together, they form the core of an extensive body of law that

remains highly relevant today, as when a U.S. Federal Court

ruled in 2005 that teaching intelligent design in the Dover,

Penn., school district violated the Establishment Clause by

promoting religion in the classroom.

Anyone familiar with the American culture wars is

equally well aware that there exists a vehement coalition on

the other side that claims the U.S. is a “Christian nation”

founded explicitly on Christian principles.

So who's correct?

The “Christian nation” crowd cites such facts as the ear-

ly church's influence in New England, the references to reli-

gion in many state constitutions (some of which persist), and

the near-universal acceptance of Christianity by the popu-

lace. With regard to the early first Constitutional Convention,

they note that none other than Benjamin Franklin called for

prayers during the Constitutional Convention. Indeed, a sepa-

rate service was held outside convention proceedings, with

delegates in attendance, on July 4 of that year.

There is validity to arguments about the role religion

historically played in the formation of the American identity,

as well as its (sometimes overbearing) role in colonial gov-

ernment. Massachusetts and Connecticut, for example, both

had government-established churches.

Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, on the other hand, were

founded expressly on the premise of encouraging religious

diversity. New Amsterdam, which was originally established

as a Dutch trading post, had comparatively loose regulations

regarding religion. These less restrictive sections of the colo-

Blasphemy Blasts The Good , the Bad and the Insanely Unreasonable from

Around the World By Lisa Seidenberg

W hat is Blasphemy?

Merriam-Webster Online says it's “the act of showing

contempt or lack of reverence for God, the act of claim-

ing the attributes of a Deity, irreverence toward something consid-

ered sacred or holy.”

It sounds like a throwback to the Puritans, whom as we all

know were anything but pure. However, laws against blasphemy are

coming back into fashion, more or less like hula hoops, but requir-

ing less finesse. And, according to the above definition, both George

Burns (“Oh, God”) and Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty) would

be guilty.

•In Ireland, blasphemy is prohibited by the 1937 Constitution

and carries a fine of up to €25,000 ($41,450). Prior to 1978 no Eng-

lishman had been prosecuted for blasphemy in 57 years; the last

person to earn that distinction was John Gott, a 56 year old tailor

who compared Jesus to a clown. A new blasphemy law went into

effect in 2010 to “protect” other religions besides Christianity and is

currently under review. (The Humanist, May-June 2010)

•In terms of impact, the 2005 publishing by a Danish newspaper

of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed was monumental both

for the initial publication and for their brave professional stance in

refusing to apologize or do anything else to change their policy.

Danish exports to the Middle East were cut in half by the resulting

HFFC members share family stories at the Aug. 11 meeting.

A Godless Constitution for a

God-Fearing Nation

Continued on page 3 Continued on page 2

2

I t’s been our best year so far!! Not only

because it’s been our only year so far.

Last year the Humanists and

Freethinkers of Fairfield County was but a

gleam in the eye of a couple people. It has

really blossomed, and the blossom is still

unfolding.

We now have an active friendly group

of contributors and participants. We’ve had

outstanding monthly presentations by

Brandon T. Bisceglia on the history of

religious intolerance in Connecticut and by

John Levin on a guide to regional secular

organizations. I’ve presented on Baruch

Spinosa, “Jump Starting the Modern

World.”

We’ve had outside speakers: David

Niose, President of the Secular Coalition

for America, and past-President of the

American Humanist Association, gave us

the latest on developments for secular

Americans. Jon Engel gave us the

lowdown on Engel v. Vitale, the 1960s

Supreme Court case that ruled school-

sanctioned prayers unconstitutional across

the country.

We’ve had great “Sound Off”

presentations by members Brandon T.

Bisceglia, Fred Cunningham, Jason Cutler,

Mark Drought, John Hooper, John Levin,

Michael Moore, Lisa Seidenberg, Jocelyn

Shaw, Joe Stamler, and Brenda Zamary.

And we enjoyed a Freedom Party as July 4

approached.

We have an active Steering

Committee planning our future, currently

Brandon T. Bisceglia, Carol Capsis, John

Levin, Leslie O’Toole, Lisa Seidenberg,

and myself.

We have just started a new Book

Group, chaired by Anita Peters. We have

arranged a public showing of a humanist-

oriented movie, currently chosen as

“Religulous” by Bill Maher. Thanks to

Gloria Ginter who obtained the location for

us: the 323 Main restaurant in Westport, on

the evening of Tuesday, September 30.

Our bywords are Reason and

Compassion. We look for evidence as the

basis of our beliefs about the world, and

we embody compassion in our approach to

others. Be who you can be, and make

yourself at home with us.

Cary

Shaw,

President

President’s Letter

nies were the places where religious mi-

norities flourished most. Jews. Catholics.

Quakers. Rogerenes. All these groups and

more got their first footholds in the more

tolerant colonies. At the same time Con-

necticut was jailing Congregationalist dis-

senters, Rhode Island was electing Quaker

governors.

Even the freer colonial governments

were almost entirely Christian, to be sure.

But it would be folly to believe there was

any kind of unified consensus about reli-

gion. Nor should we conflate a generic

cultural milieu with the deliberate con-

struction of an institutional framework. It

is here that the “Christian nation” apolo-

gists run off the tracks.

Though the framers were all largely

Christian (with a few deists sprinkled in),

there were numerous sects, each wary of

the others gaining too much control. In-

deed, many Baptists would have seen Ca-

tholicism as a false religion worthy of the

same suspicions as Islam or atheism

(“papist” and “popery” were common epi-

thets in New England, for instance).

It’s no wonder, then, that Franklin’s

call for prayers during the convention was

soundly defeated. Nor is it by mistake that

the one service held was kept separate

from the convention itself.

We know there was little expressly

debated about religion at the Constitutional

Convention, and that those discussions fly

directly in the face of the Christian founda-

tion hypothesis.

James Madison, in making a case for

the clause forbidding religious tests for

office, noted “Religion itself may become

a motive to persecution and oppression."

Madison also floated a failed motion to

allow Congress to establish a university,

on the condition that "no preferences or

distinctions should be allowed on account

of Religion." Finally, the Presidential Oath

of Office was drafted to allow people to

swear or affirm, as their religion (or lack

thereof) dictated.

The fact that religion was left out of

most Constitutional discussions tells us a

great deal about the architects’ desire to

keep government separate from religion.

Mark Weldon Whitten, a professor of phi-

losophy at Lone Star College-Montgomery

in The Woodlands, Texas, points out that

the Federalist Papers are devoid of reli-

gious arguments or rationales. These pa-

pers, written by James Madison, Alexan-

der Hamilton and John Jay, were the pri-

mary tool used to explain the reasoning

and philosophy of the Constitution for the

public.

“There is nothing like, ‘This is a

Christian, Bible-based, God-blessed Con-

stitution that all good Christian people

should happily endorse,’” Whitten writes.

“Instead, one finds secular, public reason

arguments and rationales for the goal of

achieving secular, political, public-good

purposes.”

The most damning case against the

modern idea that the U.S. government was

founded on Christianity comes from con-

temporary religious leaders themselves.

There was a great outcry against the Con-

stitution from a number of the entrenched

churches, who recognized the godless na-

ture of the document and opposed ratifica-

tion on precisely those grounds. Yale’s

own president, Timothy Dwight, excoriat-

ed the whole endeavor:

“The Nation has offended Providence.

We formed our Constitution without any

acknowledgment of God: without any

recognition of His mercies to us as a peo-

ple, of His government, or even of His

existence. The Convention, by which it

was formed, never asked, even once, His

direction, or His blessings, upon their la-

bors. Thus we commenced our national

existence under the present system, with-

out God.”

Dwight was right: the U.S. govern-

ment was not founded on the Christian

religion. Nor was he the only person to

recognize this fact. Various efforts were

made throughout the 19th century to inject

religious language into the Constitution.

None of those efforts succeeded. But

maybe that’s why the strategy of the reli-

gious right today has centered instead

around propagating myths about the histo-

ry of our government. After all, they don’t

have to make our Constitution a religious

document – they just have to make people

believe it is.

Continued from page 1

News & Policy

3 News & Policy

From “Religious, Spiritual and Secular: The emergence of three distinct worldviews among American college students” A Report based on the American Religious Identification Survey 2013 National College Student Survey.

By Barry Kosmin, et al., Trinity College, Hartford, CT, Sept. 2013

boycott, three Danish embassies were de-

stroyed by terrorists, and the Danish Prime

Minister described the controversy as Den-

mark’s worst since the Second World War.

The cartoonist was forced to hide: “In all,

they were forced to move nine times and

drive nine different cars as they migrated

from holiday cottage to holiday cottage on

the outskirts of Aarhus, spending no longer

than four weeks anywhere.” (The Guardi-

an, January 2010)

•A woman and two of her young

granddaughters were burned to death in

July in the eastern city of Gujranwala after

a member of their Ahmadi minority sect

was accused of posting a blasphemous

picture to Facebook, the police said.

A blasphemy accusation was brought

against Aqib Saleem, an 18-year-old Ah-

madi man who was alleged to have upload-

ed a picture of the Kaaba, the sacred shrine

in Mecca toward which Muslims turn

when they pray, with a seminude white

woman sitting on top. (New York Times,

July 28, 2014)

•Pakistan has jailed more people for

blasphemy than any other nation, but it is

not the only country which religious free

speech. An incredible 14 of 20 countries in

the Middle East and Northern Africa crimi-

nalize blasphemy. Nine of 50 in the Asia

Pacific, seven of 45 in Europe and three of

48 in Sub-Saharan Africa also do so. Elev-

en of 35 nations in the Americas have blas-

phemy laws. In the U.S. several states,

including Massachusetts and Michigan,

retain blasphemy laws, though they do not

enforce them. (Huffington Post, August

2014)

•Not surprisingly, Russia, under the

singular Vladimir Putin, has made one of

his missions to restore the hegemony of the

Russian Orthodox Church. In 2012, three

members of the punk band, Pussy Riot,

were charged and convicted of the peculiar

crime of “hooliganism motivated by reli-

gious hatred” and that they “undermined

the social order” by shooting a music video

in a Moscow church.

A charge of “hooliganism” was simi-

larly brought against American members

of the environmentalist group GreenPeace,

for their protest at a Russian oil rig in the

arctic. The meaning of the term seems dif-

ficult to define, but fits anyone “showing

clear disrespect for society” - be it against

the church, government or as seen at the

Sochi Olympics, for gay rights.

In addition, Russia is now has an “anti

-desecration” law: Under the revised bill,

Russians would face a year in jail for

"intentional" and "public" displays that

cause "offense to religious sensibilities,”

down from three in the previous draft; des-

ecrating religious sites and paraphernalia

would be punishable by up to three years

in jail, down from five. (RT.com May,

2013)

And here in the U.S., there is this al-

most comical story:

•In 2007, George Kalman received

notice that he had violated a law against

blasphemy. But Kalman wasn't in Pakistan,

Egypt, or any of the other Middle Eastern

countries that have burst into violence over

an anti- Muslim YouTube video. No, Kal-

man was...in Pennsylvania. After filling

out a form to register his new film compa-

ny as "I Choose Hell Productions L.L.C.,"

the Downingtown resident got a letter in-

forming him that his request was rejected

under a state law barring ‘blasphemy, pro-

fane cursing, or swearing’ in corporate

names.’ He was later allowed to keep the

name of his company. (NewsWorks.org,

October, 2012)

Mark your calendar: Sept. 30 is Blas-

phemy Rights Day International. It was

started in 2009 by the Center for Inquiry

on the anniversary of the Danish cartoon

brouhaha.

Celebrate free speech in your own

way!

Continued from page 1

Encounter Published Quarterly

Editors:

Brandon T. Bisceglia

Lisa Seidenberg

Thanks so much to the members of HFFC.

We couldn’t do it

without your consistent support!

4 Science

End of Persuasion Paul Offit on Vaccine Requirements (This article first appeared on the Science

2.0 website blog, “Advertising Science.”) By Brandon T. Bisceglia

Philadelphia was under attack through

the winter and spring of 1991.

The name of the enemy? Measles.

The Philadelphia outbreak – the city’s

first since 1954 - began in October 1990,

and quickly spread throughout the unvac-

cinated population. Within six months, 938

cases of the highly contagious disease had

been reported to the city's health depart-

ment.

What brought the most controversy,

however, were 486 cases identified among

the parishioners of two churches that op-

posed medical treatment. More than half of

the 892 mostly unvaccinated church mem-

bers contracted the virus. Six children who

died during the outbreak were part of these

church families.

Even as city officials pleaded with the

families to get their children medical atten-

tion and went door-to-door in February in

a frantic monitoring effort, some in the

Faith Tabernacle Congregation and the

First Century Gospel Church were defiant.

The Rev. Charles Reinert of Faith

Tabernacle told the Philadelphia Inquirer

in February, after four children from his

church had already died, "We do not be-

lieve that our children are neglected or

abused whatsoever by our trusting God.

We believe the healing power of our Al-

mighty God is far superior to any care a

man could offer."

The previous week, the city obtained

court orders to hospitalize two extremely

ill kids after their parents refused to get

them medical care.

Paul Offit saw some of these kids at

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where

he still works. The veteran pediatrician and

co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine has

since dedicated himself to fighting antivac-

cine campaigns as they’ve arisen.

It became apparent that spring that the

parents from the church wouldn’t listen to

health officials, so

the city sought an

order from a judge

to immunize six

children from the

church deemed at

risk. The request

was granted in ear-

ly March, but only

five got the shots.

The sixth died be-

fore he could be

inoculated.

This war over med-

ical science oc-

curred long before

Andrew Wakefield,

Jenny McCarthy,

or the rest of to-

day’s antivaccina-

tion movement got

off the ground.

Opposition to vac-

cines has existed

since they were

first invented, even

if the reasoning

constantly shifts.

“It’s like playing

whack-a-mole,”

Offit said in an

interview. “First it

was the MMR vac-

cine, then thimero-

sal, then ‘too many,

too soon,’ then

HPV, then chronic fatigue syndrome…”

Still, he thinks things have gotten bet-

ter in the last decade-and-a-half. “I think

we’re winning,” he said.

The government’s got his back. The

compulsory vaccinations in 1991 may have

been unprecedented, but more recent out-

breaks of preventable diseases like pertus-

sis have convinced some states to tighten

restrictions on vaccine exemptions. Cali-

fornia, Washington and Oregon have all

made it more onerous to opt out of vac-

cination, especially on the basis of

“personal belief”; Colorado and Utah have

considered similar changes. Some people –

including Offit – are challenging religious

exemptions in other states.

Is requiring vaccination overly coer-

cive? Offit doesn’t think so; he pointed out

that there are many examples where public

safety trumps personal freedom.

“We coerce people to put seatbelts on.

We coerce people to stop at stop signs. I

think it’s no different. It’s important not

just for you, but for your family, friends,

and all those around you,” he said.

Coercion in matters of public health

have a long history in the U.S. Quarantine

was used extensively prior to the develop-

ment of modern treatments. During a mas-

sive epidemic of yellow fever in the South

during 1878, for example, numerous towns

and counties established quarantines, even

if it meant halting business with the out-

side world altogether. Jackson, Tenn., was

one of the few cities to escape the ravages

of the fever, thanks to its strict quarantine

measures.

Offit said that although coercion is a

legitimate tool, he prefers persuasion. And

he uses it all the time.

“There’s a prism through which we

(health experts) communicate; we talk to

the media.” However, he cautioned, “It can

be an opaque prism.”

Offit said that trying to communicate

through journalists can be difficult because

they have standards that differ from those

of the medical community. They may tell

two sides of the story when only one has

the science to support it – especially if it

creates the impression of controversy. In

addition, some of the people identified as

“experts” know nothing about their subject

– they’ve never published a paper, never

had training, never filed anything for ap-

proval. “They might as well have been

plucked off the street,” he said.

It’s not that Offit minds answering

questions, from the media or from patients.

XKCD: Beliefs By Randall Munroe

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License .

Visit http://xkcd.com/ for more.

Continued on page 5

5

Believe It Or Not,

Atheists, TV for You (Excerpted from the New York Times, Aug.

2, 2014)

By Neil Genzlinger

T his week the organization Ameri-

can Atheists announced the premi-

ere of Atheist TV, available

through the streaming service Roku and

over the Internet.

At a party on Tuesday night celebrat-

ing the premiere, David Silverman, presi-

dent of American Atheists, described a

channel that won’t be any of the sordid

things that certain religious types might

envision, but that will be a challenge to a

lot of things those people hold dear. The

channel, he said, will “provide a breadth

of content, from science to politics to

comedy, all centered around our common

freedom from religion.”

The channel, Mr. Silverman said in

the first streamed broadcast, will have no

psychics, no ghost hunters, no “science

fiction presented as science fact,” and will

be “a place we can call our own, where we

can speak the truth as frankly as we want.”

It intends, he said, “to promote the idea

that religion can and should be criticized.”

That will make it a lonely outpost.

Religion isn’t hard to find on television,

including some negative images of it —

see the debate over the Muslim characters

on the new FX drama “Tyrant” — but not

many outlets that rely on advertising dol-

lars are willing to ask probing questions

about religion as big business, religion as

an instigator of wars, religion as a sup-

pressor of intellectual inquiry.

At first, Atheist TV will be limited,

offering interviews with leading atheists,

film from atheist conventions and other

content from the Richard Dawkins Foun-

dation and like-minded organizations. But

it has plans to introduce original program-

ming.

Among the people helping to bring

that about, the channel has announced,

will be the producer Liz Bronstein, whose

credits include reality shows like “Whale

Wars,” on Animal Planet, part of Discov-

ery Communications — a company that

Mr. Silverman slammed hard on Tuesday

night.

“The TV networks kowtow to the

liars who make money off of misinfor-

mation,” he said, singling out for special

contempt outlets that mix silly supernatu-

ral gunk with more serious science and

nature shows.

Becoming a Faith

Healer (Excerpted from Skeptic Magazine, Vol-

ume 19, Issue 1) By Dustin White

F aith healing began for me not long

after I became a member of this

Pentecostal church where

“healings” were almost a weekly occur-

rence. Being young and easily influenced,

I was amazed by such feats. There was no

way I could have questioned them because

my church encouraged blind faith. When I

eventually got the chance to become a

faith healer myself, I was ecstatic.

Becoming a faith healer was like be-

coming a superhero. It was not just that it

meant that one would have “power” over

the natural world, and especially over

sickness and disease, but that one was

actually chosen by God. The sense of

power was overwhelming, at least at first.

Power over others can be intoxicating, but

stronger still was the belief— the “fact” in

my mind—that what I was doing was

God’s work.

Initially, the act of faith healing began

as a group experience. The children in the

church would be brought up to the front at

the end of the service so that they could

lay their hands on the “sick.” These peo-

ple, however, were never the severely ill.

We never attempted to “heal” anyone who

had a serious disorder or problem. We

were told that our faith was not yet strong

enough to heal the truly sick, so instead

we were instructed to lay our hands on

individuals who would have gotten better

anyway, such as people who had a com-

mon cold, or who were grieving. Yet, we

believed—as did the people we laid hands

on—that it was through faith that they

were “miraculously” healed.

Shortly after these group healings

began, the minister approached my father

and step-mother. I recall my parents tell-

ing me that the minister had been im-

pressed with me, and that he thought that

the spirit was working through me espe-

cially strongly. This confused me because

the things that the minister had allegedly

said he witnessed (such as me prophesy-

ing) were things I did not remember do-

ing. Being unable to recall the actual inci-

dents that were mentioned, I was sure that

what the minister described did not hap-

pen. However, who was I to disagree with

him? At that age, who disagrees with

adults? There was no reason I could think

of why the minister would lie about some-

thing like this, so I questioned myself in-

stead.

It was after this that the minister took

me under his wing and began teaching me

more about faith healing. My initial im-

pression that this was a gift given by God

soon began to erode. I was told that some-

times we had “to help God.” It was some-

times necessary to fake miracles in order

to help inspire faith in others. This decep-

tion, I was told, should “not be seen as

lying” because it was bringing people to

the faith. It went further than this though. I

was encouraged not to see using infor-

mation given to me freely as being unethi-

cal. Instead, I was told to see it as the in-

formation being delivered to me by God.

God supposedly worked through the pro-

cess of having me purposely learn all I

could about the congregants so that I

could feed it back to them later. I was

learning how to do the “hot” version of

cold readings!

This manipulation, however, did not

stop at just learning about the congregants.

It was also important to know how to cre-

ate an environment that lent itself to creat-

ing emotional ecstasy. An effective tool to

this end was music, which we used to cre-

ate the “right state of mind.” Through the

use of music, we were able to create the

impression that God had entered into fel-

lowship with the congregation. Combining

this with the “heartfelt” words of a charis-

matic minister, the potential to create an

ecstatic uproar in the church was almost

guaranteed. I later discovered that it was

also a surefire way to get the congregants

to open up their wallets.

Culture

Indeed, he thinks the evidence is usually

compelling once people have heard it.

He acknowledged, though, that a

small segment of the population may never

be swayed, no matter how well the infor-

mation is communicated. They should be

prevented from sickening or killing others.

But that’s not the vast majority of the

population, for whom persuasion is

enough. Vaccine uptake remains high

overall, and people generally trust their

doctors.

“When people get sick, they go to a

doctor, not to Jenny McCarthy,” he said.

Continued from page 4

We want to hear from our members! Tell us what you think!

Send your reactions, letters, and submissions to brandontbisceglia@yahoo.com.

Join the HFFC and help us advance our dual causes of reason and compassion!

We offer several levels of membership:

- Basic Individual Membership ($20)

- Family (includes all immediate family members, list) ($30)

- Mark Twain ($50)*

- Super Mark Twain ($100)**

- Pantheon ($500)** *Entitles you to T-shirt, **Plus “World In Motion” CD of humanist songs.

Also consider an additional donation to support our educational activities.

(Cash or check made to Treasurer and President Cary Shaw until we get our banking ID set up. We can provide a receipt.)

Our membership form is available at meetup.com/HFFCCT/pages/HFFC_Membership_Form/

6

For event details or to RSVP, visit our Meetup Page at

www.meetup.com/HFFCCT

September 20 - Secular Leadership Summit: The CT Coalition

of Reason is hosting a Secular Leadership Summit which will be

open to anyone interested in leadership, future leadership, or just

helping the secular movement forward. There will be a workshop

led by former American Humanist Association President Michael

Werner in the morning, we will order pizza, and then there will

be brainstorming and networking in the afternoon.

(Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Ham-

den)

September 21 - People's Climate March: Sponsored by the

American Ethical Union, the March is designed to coincide with

the arrival of world leaders to a UN summit on climate change

and to show them that citizens demand they act swiftly. HFFC

President Cary Shaw will gather with other members before the

march.

(Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y.)

September 30 – Movie Night: “Religulous”: The film features

television personality Bill Maher investigating – and sometimes

ridiculing – modern world religions. 323 has generously offered

HFFC members free non-alcoholic drinks and desserts for this

event!

(323 Restaurant, 323 Main Street, Westport)

October 13 – Ancient America's Hidden History: Ken Feder, a

professor of anthropology at Central Connecticut State Universi-

ty, will give a talk in honor of Columbus Day about pre-European

American civilizations. Feder has written numerous books on

anthropology, and has taken a visible role in debunking such

modern misuses of anthropology as the “ancient astronaut” hy-

pothesis and Mayan predictions for the end of the world.

(Silver Star Diner, 210 Connecticut Ave, Norwalk)

October 29: HFFC Book Club Meeting: The group will be

meeting to discuss Sam Harris' new book, Waking Up: A Guide

to Spirituality Without Religion. The book is available through

Amazon and other retailers in mid-September, and the irst chap-

ter can be read for free at www.samharris.org.

(Contact Anita Peters at Peters65@sbcglobal.net for location

details)

November 10 – Why America is Not a Christian Nation: Pre-

sented by John Rafferty, President of the Secular Humanists So-

ciety of New York.

(Silver Star Diner, 210 Connecticut Ave, Norwalk)

December 8 – Religious Leaders Panel: How do various reli-

gious communities view nonbelievers? Are there places where

we agree, or ways in which the religious and non-religious can

better coexist? HFFC will host a panel of religious leaders from

Fairfield County to discuss these and other issues in the spirit of

reaching out to our fellow human beings. Panelists will include

the Rev. Dr. Lindsay E. Curtis, Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in

Norwalk, and Rabbi Joseph Ron Fish of Congregational Beth El

in Norwalk. A third panelist is forthcoming.

(Silver Star Diner, 210 Connecticut Ave, Norwalk)

Steering Committee Meetings: Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 23, Dec.

28

HFFC Schedule

Atheist Humanist Society of CT/RI: a

group of like-minded friends and neigh-

bors mainly consists of residents from the

Southeastern Connecticut and Southwest-

ern Rhode Island area with honorary mem-

bers from across CT.

http://www.atheisthumanist.org/

http://www.meetup.com/Atheist-Humanist

-Society-of-CT-and-RI/

Camp Quest New England: provides

children of freethinking parents with a

residential summer camp dedicated to im-

proving the human condition through ra-

tional inquiry, critical and creative think-

ing, the scientific method, self-respect,

ethics, competency, self development, and

personal growth. Campers also enjoy tradi-

tional summer camp games, crafts, and

challenges.

http://campquestnewengland.org/

Connecticut Valley Atheists: The mission

of the Connecticut Valley Atheists is to

promote a positive perception of atheists

and atheism through community activities,

charitable works, and sponsorship of edu-

cational events.

http://cvatheists.org/

The Congregation for Humanistic Juda-

ism of Fairfield County: a welcoming,

supportive community founded in 1967 for

secular Jews and their families to affirm,

celebrate, and enrich Jewish identity and

values.

CHJ has a full program for children includ-

ing a Sunday school leading to Bar/Bat

Mitzvah, a full program for adults with

cultural and intellectual activities, and en-

gages in Jewish holiday observances. In-

terfaith families are welcome.

www.humanisticjews.org.

Hartford Area Humanists: a society of

Humanists, most of who live in the Greater

Hartford area. We organize social events,

discussion groups, dinner meetings with

guest speakers, outdoor activities, and phil-

anthropic endeavors.

http://www.hartfordhumanists.org

The Humanist Association of CT: an

organization for Humanists in the South

and Central Connecticut areas, and is

based in the Hamden/New Haven area.

Members come as far afield as Hartford,

Litchfield, and lower Fairfield counties.

http://www.cthumanist.org/

The Secular Coalition for Connecticut: the state chapter of the Secular Coalition

for America. We bring together secular

Connecticut residents to influence govern-

ment officials, legislation, and regulations.

We are unlike any other nontheistic state

organization—we bring together interested

organizations and individuals for the ex-

clusive purpose of lobbying government

officials.

Other Area Groups

Continued on page 8

7

The Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County (HFFC), Connecticut, seeks to promote Humanism and

free thought in our community.

Humanism is a progressive lifestance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to

lead meaningful, ethical lives capable of adding to the greater good of humanity. Freethought is a philosophi-

cal viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism, rather

than authority, tradition, or dogma.

Our bywords are Reason and Compassion. We look for evidence as the basis of our beliefs about the world,

and we embody compassion as our approach to others. We seek:

1. To provide a forum for mutual and public education,

2. To establish a mechanism to counter religious fundamentalism, and

3. To form a warm, supportive community of like-minded people.

We welcome all who wish to participate.

About HFFC

HFFC Steering Committee:

- Cary Shaw, President/Treasurer

- John Levin, Programming/Outreach

- Leslie O'Toole, Membership

- Carol Capsis, Membership

- Lisa Seidenberg, Programming/Newsletter

- Brandon T. Bisceglia, Secretary/Communications

- Anita Peters, HFFC Book Club

- Matt Thomas, Member-at-Large

http://www.meetup.com/HFFCCT

https://www.facebook.com/groups/humanistsandfreethinkersoffairfieldcounty/

Contact Leslie at imhereinct@optonline.net or Brandon at brandontbisceglia@yahoo.com

http://states.secular.org/states/connecticut

http://secular.org/calendar

The University of Connecticut Free-

thinkers: a campus group for atheists,

agnostics, humanists, skeptics, and like-

minded individuals.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/

uconnfreethinkers/

The Yale Humanist Community: dedi-

cated to developing, supporting, and grow-

ing a diverse community of Humanists,

atheists, agnostics, and the nonreligious at

Yale and beyond. YHC serves undergrad-

uate and graduate student communities; in

addition, Yale faculty, staff, alumni, and

the general public are welcome and en-

couraged to participate.

yalehumanists.com

facebook.com/yalehumanists

Continued from page 7