Manitoba Humanist

Published by and for the Humanists,

Atheists, and Agnostics of

Manitoba

www.mbhumanistsatheists.ca

Page 1 January 2014 ● Volume 10, Issue 1 ● mbhumanistsatheists.ca

Do personal conflicts over religion have you at the end

of your rope? Then don’t miss our January

meeting!

Happy Humanists Leslie Olsson and Jake van Raalte toasted the return of the SUN at our Winter Solstice party.

Don’t forget to renew your membership!

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,

CanadInn, Polo Park 4:00 pm: AGM. Our AGM is open to the public, but only members may vote in the elections. Please attend the AGM, and stay for the fabulous speaker! Those who attend the AGM (including non-members) will be eligible to enter a draw for door prizes. 5:30 pm: Meet and greet. 6:00 pm: Short business announcements. 6:15 pm: Dinner (optional). 7:00 pm: Speaker. Experienced conflict resolution mediator Sue Hemphill will talk to us about how to handle conflicts that arise at home and in the workplace when discussions of religion (or no religion) come up. It’s likely that most of us have had at least one difficult conversation on the subject. 7:45 pm: Q & A with the speaker. As always, the meeting is free to attend but you can choose to purchase dinner and/or drinks from Aalto's (most of us do). See you there!

SATURDAY, 11 JANUARY 2014 Plan to attend our

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING followed by our monthly meeting. Our topic for the evening will be

RELIGION, ATHEISM, AND INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT

COMING UP! All events are subject to change. Some details are TBA. Watch future newsletters, our website, Facebook page, or join us on Meetup for more information as it becomes available. Join us! Get involved! Make new friends! Memberships are available at the door at all our events. January 2014: Wednesday 8th: Book Club meeting, St Boniface Public Library, 6:30 PM. This will be our second attempt to discuss The God Argument by A C Grayling (the group got a little off-topic the first time). Newcomers welcome! (as long as you have read the book before the meeting). Members only. Wednesday 22nd: Multi-faith Open Forum Burton Cummings Theatre, 364 Smith St Panel discussion at 7 PM. Open mike Q & A to follow at 8:30 PM

(representing the Christian worldview) and Shahina Siddiqui (representing the Muslim worldview). They will tackle the question "As you look into the future, what worries you the most and what gives you the most hope?” This event is free and open to the public. Come early to get a good seat! Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd 9 AM to 5 PM: HAAM will have an Outreach Table set up on these two days at the U of M. Our volunteers will be at the University of Manitoba letting fellow nonbelievers know they're not alone and talking to people about what they believe and why they believe it. We will also add a little balance to a week-long event by Power to Change (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. So come by and say hello, or if you're a HAAM member, volunteer. Join us for what should be a

really great outreach. We’ll be on the first floor main concourse at University Centre. February: Saturday 8th: Free Public Lecture “Why a Secular Society Needs Religion” by Dr. Patrick Franklin, instructor at Providence College. McNally Robinson bookstore, Grant Park, in the travel alcove, 7:00 PM HAAM is not associated with this event, but it may be of interest to our members. More info at: http://tinyurl.com/l256n7k Saturday 15th: Monthly meeting and Darwin Day celebration. 5:30 PM Details TBA Wednesday 19th Round Table Discussion HAAM's next Round Table will focus on being "out" as an atheist. 6:30 PM Details in the February newsletter. Members only. March: Saturday 1st: Film Festival, 1:30 – 5:30 PM Monday 10th: Book Club meeting Cornish Library, 20 West Gate, 6:30 PM We will be discussing Pete Boghossian's new book A Manual for Creating Atheists.

Dr. Boghossian is a philosophy instructor at Portland State University. His primary areas of research are critical thinking and moral reasoning. If you are unfamiliar with his work, you may be interested in listening to him on YouTube. http://tinyurl.com/oblmxhl http://tinyurl.com/pkrryks http://tinyurl.com/cnoghvs This book is not in stock in local bookstores and must be ordered in, so allow extra time. Note that the meeting room is NOT wheelchair accessible. Members only. Saturday 15th: monthly meeting – details TBA

Page 2 January 2014 ● Volume 10, Issue 1 ● mbhumanistsatheists.ca

Come out and support our own Diana Goods as she takes to the stage with Andy Bannister

BOOK CLUB REPORT – THE GOD ARGUMENT (part 1)

I had never been to a book club before but I've always wanted to have a group of people with which to discuss the ideas that I was reading about. Since challenging religion (and even the topics of philosophy, history, science, and such) isn't exactly a topic that you can bring up lightly at most family gatherings or neighborhood BBQs, I decided to use my member-at-large role at HAAM to start up our first ever book club. I suppose my motives were a little selfish but I was hoping that others would like the same opportunity. I accepted that attendance might be low for the first meeting (events can take time to take hold) so I offered up my home rather than booking a public venue. My wife Crystal was very welcoming to the idea and helped arrange some snacks. There were a couple of people who had a hard time with my Charleswood location as they travel by bus (this will be fixed. Ultimately, we had 9 people RSVP and 6 people show up at my home on a VERY cold evening. Participants represented a wide range of demographics and backgrounds with one very striking similarity: the willingness to share and discuss their insights, ideas, observations, and personal backgrounds. We had long time members and well as brand new members who joined on the spot. We had a wide range of ages as well as degrees of knowledge and experience with religion. Everyone participated and we were all conscious of allowing everyone to participate equally. I advertised that the book club would last for 2 hours but the conversation was still moving along with great interest for 3 hours. We talked about our different experiences and backgrounds with religion, the meaning of "faith", what it mean to be a "militant atheist", the specific language/vocabulary of the religious that some of us have a hard time understanding, and so many other such topics that I would have to survey the others to get a list that does the summary justice. It really was a wonderful experience! The great discussion did have one big drawback: we didn't talk specifically about the book to any great degree even if the topics were

spot-on and we did refer to it on occasion. I'm a first time book club host (as well as a first time book club attendee) so I struggled with this (not staying perfectly on topic) but the real-time feedback from attendees was that this was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other as the first meeting. Thus, the decision by attendees was to meet again to dig into the book more specifically now that we know each other better. Most book clubs will be 2 months apart but, in this case, we only gave 1 month since we have already read the book. We will be meeting again January 8th. -Scott Burton HAAMers celebrated the Winter Solstice at our annual party and potluck December 14th.

L to R: Pat Morrow, Dorothy Stephens, Diana Goods, Donna Harris

We were happy to welcome some new faces, as well as familiar ones. We had more than enough delicious food and dropped off some extras at the food bank later. After stuffing ourselves, we had fun singing Christmas carol tunes with secular parody lyrics (including the infamous “Jingle Bells, Infidels”, lampooning Brian Pallister and graciously shared with us by Bartley Kives from the Free Press), and then enjoyed the opportunity to relax and socialize informally.

********** Congratulations to Scott Burton on making Ace Burpee’s list of the 100 most fascinating Manitobans of 2013. In May, Scott ran for 24 HOURS STRAIGHT, covering 151.5 kilometers in what he called his “24 Hour Marathon to Fight Hunger” in support of the Lunches With Love program. (More info in the July 2013 newsletter, archived on our website.)

Page 3 January 2014 ● Volume 10, Issue 1 ● mbhumanistsatheists.ca

prepared with any questions or concerns you may have. You will see from the preamble that there is no requirement that all HAAM members are in agreement on every issue; we recognize that there is diversity within the humanist/atheist community just as in any other social group. These statements are intended to serve as guidelines when members are called upon to publicly state a position on behalf of HAAM.

JINGLE BELLS, INFIDELS!

Early in December, HAAM received some unexpected media attention when politician Brian Pallister was videotaped giving an awkwardly phrased holiday greeting to “all you infidel atheists.” This was picked up by the internet and soon began to spread. We noticed it when was posted to our Facebook group, and a few members commented. Some were mildly offended, some were amused and some thought that perhaps it was an off-the-cuff greeting following a bit too much “holiday cheer”. And that was pretty much the extent of our outrage. Well it must have been a slow news day, because soon the media picked up on this story and our president, Donna Harris, was kept busy for a few days, being interviewed by mainstream media outlets for our opinion on the alleged offensive words. During the interviews, on the radio and in print, Donna gave her opinions, in a sensible and measured way, on why some might be offended. She also explained that many of us celebrate this season as a cultural event, and that the holiday is a mix of history, customs, tradition and culture from a variety of different times and religions. Of course there was the usual push back from religious people, who were upset that we infidels were daring to speak up about this. This is par for the course - the War on Christmas theme reappears almost as cyclically as the solar event that precipitated the whole thing. We're used to

CHECK OUT OUR WEB PAGE!

We can only publish news and short articles in this newsletter. Much more is available on our website at http://mbhumanistsatheists.ca/. Some of our members are accomplished writers. This month, Pat Morrow discusses the topic that the interfaith panel will debate on Jan 22 – What gives you hope for the future? And Diana Goods has an interesting take on charity in Gifts, Giving, and Goodness. Check out these and other articles! Also on the web page – info about our group, past articles and newsletters, updated event details, Meet the Humanist (personal stories from some of our members), links to other sites of interest, and more!

GOT EMAIL?

If you have received this newsletter via Canada Post, but are able to receive it by email, please let us know at mbhumanistsatheists@gmail.com Email distribution saves us printing and mailing costs.

From time to time, either as a result of media attention, or inspired by local or world events, HAAM has become involved in a number of societal issues. Within the last year, we notably supported the new anti-bullying legislation (Bill 18), by creating a Facebook page and holding a public panel discussion on the topic. Members have also been called upon to represent HAAM to the public at outreach events such as the Morden Corn and Apple festival, and at the U of M this coming month. In September we endorsed a public information event hosted by Dying With Dignity. This has led our executive team to propose a set of position statements for the group regarding relevant social issues. A copy of these position statements is attached to this newsletter. We will be discussing and voting to approve them at our AGM on January 11th. Please read them and come to the AGM

Page 4 January 2014 ● Volume 10, Issue 1 ● mbhumanistsatheists.ca

IMPORTANT NOTICE Re: POSITION STATEMENTS

Page 5 January 2014 ● Volume 10, Issue 1 ● mbhumanistsatheists.ca

strength, and encouragement in friendly, honest, anonymous, and supportive group meetings.

The groups’ Suggested Guidelines for Sobriety emphasize rational decision-making and are not religious or spiritual in nature. SOS represents an alternative to all 12-step spiritually based addiction recovery programs, and deals with alcohol and other drugs, as well as behavioral addictions like gambling, pornography, computer, etc. SOS members may also attend AA or similar group meetings, but SOS does not view spirituality or surrender to a Higher Power as being necessary to maintain abstinence. To avoid unnecessary entanglements, each group is self-supporting through contributions from its members and refuses outside support. SOS credits the individual for achieving and maintaining his or her own sobriety. SOS encourages the scientific study of addiction in all its aspects, but does not limit its outlook to one area of knowledge or theory of addiction. In addition to monetary support, SOS welcomes books related to addiction recovery as long as they are not 12-step literature. They also need books about nutrition and addiction recovery, or taking control and responsibility of one’s life. As well, the founder of SOS has written a number of books that the group would like to purchase with our donations.

Christians being mad at us during their season of love and goodwill. If I had to psycho-analyze them, I would say it's almost like they're angry with us having all the fun without having to pay the admission price of being bored silly in church the rest of the year. But this is not about the angry religious people this time. What really puzzles me is the complaints we receive from some of our fellow non-believers. The ones who begin their e-mails to us with the line, “I'm an atheist too, but…”, followed by something along the lines of “Why do you have to make a big deal out of this?”, or “it reflects badly on atheists when we complain about things”, or my favourite this year, the person who thought we were not practising good humanism by speaking up. I simply do not understand this mind set. If someone is an atheist and doesn't want to get involved in the atheist movement, then fine, they can do as they please, it's not their issue. Carry on. Maybe they're ‘apatheists’; maybe they're unaware of the atheist movement. Maybe they really don't see the harm of faith-based belief. The part that confounds me though, is that if they truly don't care, why do they bother to waste time telling me I shouldn't care? I understand that living in Canada, most of us infidel atheists can live our lives free of persecution; we're not in danger of losing our jobs, our homes, or our families when we identify as atheists. In Canada, we can be called infidel atheists, have a laugh, shrug our shoulders and get on with our day. But as an atheist activist, I am more than aware that this is not the case for all my atheist brothers and sisters around the world. It may have escaped the notice of the “I'm an atheist but” folks, that for some non-believers, being labelled an infidel has just a few more consequences than mild social disapproval. They can't speak up, but we can.

-Diana Goods

CHARITY OF THE MONTH Our January charity will be the Winnipeg chapter of Secular Organizations For Sobriety. SOS, sometimes known as Save Our Selves, is a non-profit network of addiction recovery groups. The program uses mutual support to assist members in achieving sobriety. Members share experiences, insights, information,

Yes, I would like to BECOME A MEMBER of the Humanists, Atheists & Agnostics of Manitoba o New Member o Renewal Membership Category: o Individual Membership $30.00 o Individual Limited Income $10.00 o Household Membership* $50.00 o Household Limited Income $15.00 * After July 1st, just pay ½ the yearly fee for the rest of the year. After October 31st, pay full fee and get the entire next year. Name: ________________________________

Address: ______________________________

City: _________________ Province: ________

Postal Code ___________________________

Phone #: ___________ Cell #:__________

Email address: ________________________ *Household Memberships: Please give the names of all additional Humanists in your household 18 years or over: 1. _________________________________ 2. _________________________________ 3. _________________________________

DONATION (Tax receipts issued for all donations of $10 or more) I would like to make a donation to HA2M of: o $10 o $20 o $30 o $50 o $100 o Other: ____________________ PAYMENT: o Cheque o Visa

o Mastercard Please complete the following if paying by credit card: Account No. __________________________

Expiry Date: _____/ _____

Name on Card: _______________________

Signature: ___________________________

Please make cheque payable to: Humanist Association of Manitoba and mail to: Humanist Association of Manitoba, 7 Pinehurst Lane, Mitchell, MB, R5G 2J3. Or bring your form and the fees to any HA2M meeting and give it to Helen Friesen, or any member of the executive.

2013/2014

Executive: Donna Harris, President Heather McDonell, Vice President Helen Friesen, Treasurer Allison Nelson, Secretary Members at Large: Scott Burton Cheri Frazer Diana Goods – Librarian Pat Morrow - Outreach Jeff Olsson Jake Peters Grant Rogerson Newsletter: Dorothy Stephens

Contact us at:

mbhumanistsatheists@gmail.com

or Phone 204-612-0601

Humanists, Atheists, and Agnostics of Manitoba

Humanists, Atheists, and

Agnostics of Manitoba

@MBHumanists