Today's meeting

Today seems like a Sunday. That is because we had a HAT meeting this afternoon. For the last several years HAT has held its monthly chapter meetings on Sundays. We have now moved the meetings to a new venue at a new day and time. Instead of meeting at the Hardesty Library on the south edge of Tulsa, we now meet in a more central location at 2901 S. Harvard in the Genealogy Center of the Library System. Plus the room we meet in is a bit larger than the room we used at Hardesty. The new location is about six miles south and three miles west of our former location. Actually, we used to meet at the new location back when the building was owned by the Harmon Foundation. It was used by the Tulsa Philharmonic at that time.

We had a good turnout for today's meeting. There were 16 in attendance, if I remember correctly. I circulated a sign-in sheet, but have mislaid it. Otherwise, I would refer to it for the exact count.

KOTV, Channel 6, interviewed Randy recently concerning the billboard currently in place in Tulsa. The billboard says "Good Without God? Millions Are." The billboard can be seen as you travel west on I-44 as you go across the Arkansas River. We do not know when, or if, the interview will be aired.

Randy is continuing with his project of having member letters posted on the HAT web site. If you send in a letter for publication, be sure to send Randy a copy so he can post it also.

Richard told us about a hilarious web site called "Mr. Deity." I look at it ever so often to see what is new there. Check it out at http://www.mrdeity.com/. I would recommend that you begin by watching episode 1 of season 1. In light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, this one is most apopropriate.

We spoke briefly about the unfairness of allowing churches to go tax free, while every other business operation is taxed.

We discussed the move to teach the Bible as literature in the public schools. While this idea may look innocuous on paper, in practice it can be a can of worms. Everything depends upon the individual teacher who has the responsibility of teaching the course. In the hands of the wrong teacher, it can be used to proselytize students. And what Christian teacher is willing to ignore Christ's command to go into all the world and spread the gospel? Teaching this course would be a golden opportunity to do just that.

Richard also mentioned a program on Nova called "Archaeology and the Bible." He said it would be good for all students to see this program.

Randy spoke about the great feeling of love we in HAT have for one another. We get together frequently and know a lot about each other's lives. He is right. I have never felt so loved by a group of people as I do by those in our chapter. We are not just a chapter of the AHA; we are a community of like-minded people who enjoy each other's company. We love being together.

Herb brought up the idea of having shirts with printing on them saying something like "Humanist Association of Tulsa." We could wear the shirts to various community events, thereby advertising our chapter.

Dawn mentioned an organization which prints shirts for something like $6.50 each. She will look into it and let us know.

We had a visitor today. Her name is Judy, and she is a retired teacher. We hope our group can fill a need in her life and that she will become a part of our group and help us grow.

Toward the end of the meeting, I read a poem by Phillip Appleman titled "Noah." I was gratified that the group applauded when I finished reading the seven-page poem.

These are the highlights of the meeting as I recall them. Feel free to add anything you remember in the "Comments" area below.