HAT Minutes 6.18.06

The June HAT meeting was held at Randy and Dawn Bradley’s house. Charcoal hamburgers were served to the ten people in attendance: Brian, Harold, Bea, Phil, Gail, Marilyn, Polly, Dawn, Randy, and myself. Phil was a first-time guest at our meeting. Phil mentioned, among other things, the excellent freethought programming available at www.pointofinquiry.org.

We ate in the backyard underneath the shade trees. The Bradleys’ son, Patrick, assisted in serving the food. Following the hamburgers, we ate watermelon and brownies.

A lot of the conversation dealt with this question: Are we too focused upon our atheism? Are we turning people off because we talk about atheism? Most present expressed this idea: the role HAT serves is to bring together like-minded people, which gives us the opportunity to give and receive love from each other. No one objected to this idea. I read newsletters and web sites from other freethought groups. You can pick up from these sources what other groups find important to them. For some it is combating the Religious Right; others focus upon philosophy. The focus of our group seems to be on loving and supporting one another.

Gail mentioned that she likes the oral reading of freethought writings. I concur; the oral reading of freethought writings is probably the best way of keeping them alive.

Harold mentioned that he would be moving to Baton Rouge, although I don’t recall if he said when this would happen.

I informed the group that Susan Singh of the Tulsa Peace Fellowship has offered to loan us the Nonviolent Communication Training Course. I am hoping we can work in conjunction with the Tulsa Peace Fellowship and offer the course (one day per week for nine weeks) to HAT and TPF members. I will cooperate with Susan to see if we can set up the course at the new Tulsa Peace House.

I forgot to mention at the meeting, although I may have mentioned it in an e-mail, that supporter Larry Forrest (presently in Norman) has given us a DVD which we will view at an upcoming Movie Night. The DVD is “A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly.” It runs 72 minutes – about the ideal time for a Movie Night presentation. Larry intends to move back to Tulsa soon. Larry, an excellent wordsmith, was an integral part of HAT when he lived in Tulsa in the 1990s. He moved to Norman to become caregiver for HAT member Patti Reames who was stricken with MS. Patti died last December.

As always, if I failed to mention something I should have, feel free to add your own comment in the comment section.