Activities of Interest to Freethinkers
Sun., Oct. 1, 5pm to 7pm
Secular Singers at the Bradleys. All are welcome. We will focus on getting ready for our annual Human Light celebration coming in December to be held once again at the Bradleys.
Sat., Oct. 7, 7pm
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th St. Feature presentation: A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. This documentary includes more than a dozen songs performed by Bruce Springsteen, Arlo Guthrie, Bono, Little Richard, Sweet Honey in the Rock and others. 72 minutes.
Sun., Oct. 8, 2pm
Humanist Study Group at Hardesty Library, on 93rd near Memorial. Topic: “The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion” by Steven Pinker from The Humanist magazine, Sept./Oct. 2006. Article to be provided by e-mail.
Sun., Oct. 15, 1pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting at Hardesty Regional Library. Program: “Scientific Creationism” lecture (DVD) by Edward J. Larsen from “The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy,” produced by The Great Courses.
Wed., Oct. 18, 11:20am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan.
Sun., Oct. 22, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous/Tulsa Atheist Meetup Plans are to see a movie at about 2pm then eat afterwards and talk about the movie. Times and locations will be announced later. To be kept informed of what’s happening, go to http://atheists.meetup.com/477 or www.tulsaar.blogspot.com.
Sat., Oct. 28, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at Thai-Siam, 6380 E. 31st.
Sun., Oct. 29, 2pm
Geocaching adventures with Randy and Dan. Learn about geocaching at www.geocaching.com. We will start at Randy’s, go caching, and eat pizza afterwards.
Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
HAT Minutes, 9.17.06
There were 17 people at today's HAT meetingRandy read three poems by e.e.cummings, and I read three poems by three different poets, including the freethought poet Philip Appleman. I also read a letter HAT received from Millie Vance, who now lives near Spokane, Washington. I reported that we now have $1,139.47 in our treasury and our membership stands at 24.
We decided to change the venue for the Food & Fellowship on Saturday, September 23, to the Mexicali Border Cafe restaurant at 14 W. Brady. Following the F&F gathering many of us will go to the Grand Opening of the Tulsa Peace House just west of downtown Tulsa. Take 3rd Street and go west until it becomes Charles Page Blvd. The Peace House is at the intersection with Phoenix.
A discussion began about the 9-11-01 attack on the Pentagon. Some people are of the persuasion that the plane on which Barbara Olson was traveling did not crash into the Pentagon. The destruction according to this conjecture was caused by a cruise missle. After the meeting was over some in our group went to Randy's house to view a film, Loose Change, which is about this subject.
Brian gave an excellent presentation on the book The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad written by Fareed Zakaria. Following the presentation there was discussion concerning current politics and the war in Iraq.
We decided to change the venue for the Food & Fellowship on Saturday, September 23, to the Mexicali Border Cafe restaurant at 14 W. Brady. Following the F&F gathering many of us will go to the Grand Opening of the Tulsa Peace House just west of downtown Tulsa. Take 3rd Street and go west until it becomes Charles Page Blvd. The Peace House is at the intersection with Phoenix.
A discussion began about the 9-11-01 attack on the Pentagon. Some people are of the persuasion that the plane on which Barbara Olson was traveling did not crash into the Pentagon. The destruction according to this conjecture was caused by a cruise missle. After the meeting was over some in our group went to Randy's house to view a film, Loose Change, which is about this subject.
Brian gave an excellent presentation on the book The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad written by Fareed Zakaria. Following the presentation there was discussion concerning current politics and the war in Iraq.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Evolution Song: Suggested revisions from Dr. Hill
Dan,
I am really surprised at the tenacity with which Evolution is contrasted with ID in various writings, songs, etc. ID is a philosophical speculation. It is not a scientific theory. There is no conflict between the ID and Evolution, a scientific theory. For example: one can speculate that the evolutionary process, easily visible to scientists, may reasonably be considered the process an Intelligence has Designed to cause biological mutation.
If one has a problem with the scientific theory in Genesis (it meets all the criteria for classification as a scientific theory; the "Creator" is simply the First Cause of the "Creation"), one should forget it. That theory became untenable centuries ago and was discarded by scientists--including many who are believers in a god [theists] and most professional scholars associated with the study of the Bible.
Earlier theories of evolutionary process have been discarded and the theory at present is constantly being modified. Look at Stephen Jay Gould's treatises on the subject and his own theory of evolution which accounts for more facts than earlier theories of evolution. He expected and hoped for future theories to cover yet-discovered facts. If one has a problem with the Bible as an authority, one should forget it. Very few well-educated clergy (admittedly a minority among clergy) gave up that idea long ago. But if one must attack, attack the authority of the Bible--not I. D. and Creationism; he/she should cut the tree off at its roots and avoid clinging to the illogical contrasting of ID and Evolution. And, by the way, please don't--if one does--think of atheists and agnostics as among the only enlightened "free thinkers" in human society. That's a step along the road of ignorance which leads to self-righteousness. Remember, too, that ridicule often boomerangs.
Below is my suggestion of changes to make the verse less naive and vulnerable to boomerangs:
I appreciate your mailings, Dan, and your service to our Humanist group. Sorry about your back problems. Hope you're soon relieved of them.
Cordially, H
-------------------------
Note from Dan:
For those who missed seeing the original lyrics, here they are:
To hear a group of (unidentified) faculty and students sing the song with gusto (if not a lot of harmony) go to www.youtube.com and type into the search box "incompetent design."
I am really surprised at the tenacity with which Evolution is contrasted with ID in various writings, songs, etc. ID is a philosophical speculation. It is not a scientific theory. There is no conflict between the ID and Evolution, a scientific theory. For example: one can speculate that the evolutionary process, easily visible to scientists, may reasonably be considered the process an Intelligence has Designed to cause biological mutation.
If one has a problem with the scientific theory in Genesis (it meets all the criteria for classification as a scientific theory; the "Creator" is simply the First Cause of the "Creation"), one should forget it. That theory became untenable centuries ago and was discarded by scientists--including many who are believers in a god [theists] and most professional scholars associated with the study of the Bible.
Earlier theories of evolutionary process have been discarded and the theory at present is constantly being modified. Look at Stephen Jay Gould's treatises on the subject and his own theory of evolution which accounts for more facts than earlier theories of evolution. He expected and hoped for future theories to cover yet-discovered facts. If one has a problem with the Bible as an authority, one should forget it. Very few well-educated clergy (admittedly a minority among clergy) gave up that idea long ago. But if one must attack, attack the authority of the Bible--not I. D. and Creationism; he/she should cut the tree off at its roots and avoid clinging to the illogical contrasting of ID and Evolution. And, by the way, please don't--if one does--think of atheists and agnostics as among the only enlightened "free thinkers" in human society. That's a step along the road of ignorance which leads to self-righteousness. Remember, too, that ridicule often boomerangs.
Below is my suggestion of changes to make the verse less naive and vulnerable to boomerangs:
Evolution Song
(sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic)
My bones proclaim a story of incomplete design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won't align.
If I had drawn the blueprint, I would certainly resign,
A creationist am I. [not a "Creationist"; the verse--talking about 'blueprints' suggests design hence leads to the label 'creationist']
Evo- evo- evo- lution,
The theory seeks solutions.
How come the changes in life forms?
The search will still go on.
I appreciate your mailings, Dan, and your service to our Humanist group. Sorry about your back problems. Hope you're soon relieved of them.
Cordially, H
-------------------------
Note from Dan:
For those who missed seeing the original lyrics, here they are:
My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs,
my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint,
I would certainly resign,
Incompetent design.
Evo- evo- evo- lution,
Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution.
Science shall prevail.
To hear a group of (unidentified) faculty and students sing the song with gusto (if not a lot of harmony) go to www.youtube.com and type into the search box "incompetent design."
Thursday, September 07, 2006
From the HAT Post Office box
I went by the HAT P.O. box today (first time in a week) and picked up the mail. We had a newsletter from the Rationalist Society of St. Louis and a newsletter from the Humanist Association of Salem, Oregon. We also had a letter from Millie Vance. Those of you who have been long-time members will remember Millie. Before moving to Washington state a few years ago, she had been for several years a member and loyal supporter of HAT. Her letter is addressed to "Fellow Humanists," and I will read it at our September general meeting (Sept. 17). She also sent a check and a photo of herself taken on her 69th birthday.
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