What is CFI, and what do we do?

Transcription

1 CENTER FOR INQUIRY Portland MAY January 2012 The mission of the Center for Inquiry is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. What is CFI, and what do we do? CFI has established centers throughout the world which provide a means of delivering educational programs and services on a local level and provide a venue for like-minded individuals to meet and share experiences. In aiming to foster a secular society, we do not seek to abridge the rights of believers. We vigorously object to government support of religion and the use of religious dogma to justify public policy; we do not oppose the free exercise of religion. The secular society we are building is a community of reason and compassion in which the dignity and fundamental rights of all individuals are respected. Three goals represent the focus of our activities: an end to the influence that religion and pseudoscience have on public policy, an end to the privileged position that religion and pseudoscience continue to enjoy in many societies, and an end to the stigma attached to being a nonbeliever. by Sylvia Benner CFI PORTLAND has been around for over 4 years, so everyone knows how we are structured, what our mission is, and how we accomplish it, right? Well, not so much, we are finding. Many people join CFI because they are attracted to one of the things we do and are surprised to find how much else is going on. Many wonder how all our interests and program areas are related to one another. Often people, even long-time participants, ask questions about how we are structured, financed, and governed, how we relate to CFI Transnational, what exactly we do to achieve our goals, etc. Clearly, we are not doing a good job of tying it all together for people. For example, it is not unusual for us to hear Cont d on page 2

2 What is CFI?, cont d from page 1 these two pieces of feedback in the same week: Why do you people waste time on debunking New Age woo and homeopathy? We are about atheism! and Look, I m not here to talk about religion. I m interested in science and reason, and this atheism business has nothing to do with our mission. To combat confusion, I was asked to write a newsletter article that answers the most common questions and addresses the most common misconceptions. Trouble is, I found myself writing a novel, not a newsletter article. So I decided to divide and conquer by breaking this project into several parts and addressing a small number of issues in each newsletter. Later, we ll assemble them all into an FAQ document and post them on the website. Here is the first installment of our new series, which we ll call THE SCO OP: 1. What s it all about? What do gay rights have to do with critical thinking education? What does homeopathy have to do with separation of church and state? Are we just working on our own private collection of pet peeves, or is there some kind of theme to what we do? So what ties all our work together? We are, fundamentally, an organization of and for people who are committed to evidence-based and rational thinking and who believe that such evidence-based and rational thinking is a far better basis for public policy and private decision making than any other methodology, such as faith, instinct, gut feeling, authority, tradition, etc. We believe that evidence and reasonbased methodologies lead to better wellbeing outcomes. When applying reason and science to questions from the very personal, like whether to use homeopathy to treat your cold, to global ones, such as whether anthropogenic climate change is real, to moral policy decisions such as whether gay marriage should be legal, we arrive at certain conclusions, and we advocate for those positions. In case you didn t know, on the first question, we d say homeopathy has never been proven to be effective, on the second, that anthropogenic climate change is scientifically proven, and on the third, that there is no ethically defensible reason to deny gay people the same rights that other people have. You can find more about the positions held by CFI, and more important, the reasons for these positions, on our website at When it comes to private decision making, well, what other people do with their lives is really none of our business, and we firmly believe in freedom of conscience and the freedom to make decisions about oneself. At the same time, like everyone else, we get to participate in the public conversation, including in the area that I would call wisdom. To be clear: We have no problem with people proselytizing and promoting their faith-based views of the world, so long as they do not use the power and resources of government to do so. We just insist that we can promote our ideas, as well, and challenge the ideas of the cultural competition. May the better ideas win! This is one of the winning features of democracy. When it comes to public policy, what is done with taxpayer money and in the name of all Americans is most definitely our business, and we do more than engage in intellectual debate: We advocate for certain policies that we believe are the most reasonable and scientific, and oppose those we think are, well, not. As required by our Sylvia Benner Coordinator Renee Barnett Education Chair Jay Klein Development Barry Ruffin Minority Outreach Center For Inquiry Portland Leadership Team Julia Bertschinger Programs Ryan Marquez Campus Outreach Dani Tofte Communications 501c3 status (as well as the widely divergent political positions of our constituents) we never endorse candidates, parties, or campaigns. So what does New Age woo like energy and quantum healing have to do with belief in gods? Neither is rational or scientific. What does creation science have to do with attempts to limit free speech? They both stand in the way of arriving at sciencebased, rational beliefs. But besides all the intellectual debates and policy advocacy, we have yet another mission area: We function as a hospitable community for those who find themselves the odd ones out in a society that is in love with religion and unscientific beliefs. We strive to be a place where the scientifically minded can find common ground with those who share their basic approach to life, and that supports people who simply can no longer square their commitment to reason with their former religious beliefs. Next month: How do you pursue your mission? An overview of our program areas. Shannon McNair Coordinator Kurt Johansen Treasurer Jon Peters Member at Large Brock Wilson Community Programs

3 Parenting Beyond Belief Seminar On April 21st, CFI-Portland hosted author and educator Dale Mc- Gowan for a seminar about secular parenting. Since coediting and writing for the books Parenting Beyond Belief (2007) and Raising Freethinkers (2009), Dale has built an online network revolved around the idea of how best to raise children in a nonreligious family - within a religious world. The four-hour seminar covered "Our Stone Age inheritance," different parenting styles, being a secular family in a religious world, the religious extended family, raising powerfully ethical kids, evolution for kids, and death and life. As one participant remarked, "The seminar was great! I got so much useful information. Dale was down to earth and presented the information in an engaging way. I'm so glad to have programs like this available to atheist families." It was great to bring Dale back to Portland, as he was out here (from Atlanta) three years ago for the same seminar. The 17 participants who came to the recent seminar, myself included, were completely new attendees so it was a worthwhile event! Some folks even came all the way from Salem, Camas (WA), and Battleground (WA). If you are interested in learning more about Dale, visit his website: com, and his blog The Meming of Life: parentingbeyondbelief.com/blog. He also started a nonprofit, charitable organization, Foundation Beyond Belief: foundationbeyondbelief.org/. - Michael D. Barton Faith Fails You; Stop Using It: Thoughts from Dr. Peter Boghossian Enough is enough, says Peter Boghossian. The delusion of faith is making Boghossian, a Portland State University philosophy professor, sick and tired. This is Boghossian s message: Faith fails you. Stop using it. Faith won t reliably lead you to the truth and it won t make you a better person, either. People of faith are not morally superior than those who eschew faith, and we should not be afraid of saying so. The Portland Mercury, a weekly Oregon newspaper, recently interviewed Boghossian and published the conversation yesterday. Boghossian didn t mess around. He says this about faith: "Yes, you do have a right to challenge it. A colleague told me one of my talks offended him. I said, Your offense means nothing to me. Nor should it. If you want to provide reasons and evidence then you can sit at the adult table and we can talk about that. But just I m offended carries no legitimacy. And listen, it s not as if when somebody makes a faith claim, I m advocating that you jump on it. But, for starters, when someone makes a faith claim you don t buy into that doesn t mean the act itself is immune from criticism. Let s just not buy into that. As long as people remain silent, this juggernaut will continue. There has to come a point in the discourse when we just don t allow certain claims to be made. I think maybe part of the solution to making these cultural changes is to treat faith-based claims like racist claims. To stigmatize those claims. That s not cool, we don t let that into the discussion. It s not about a right to believe believe whatever you want. It s about the truth or falsity of a belief and about a process that will lead you to the truth or not. Clutch your Bible? Sit at the children s table." This is a blunt and refreshing approach. We need more of it. Boghossian presented this idea in a earlier controversial speech in January titled, Jesus, the Easter Bunny, and Other Delusions: Just Say No! During that talk he described how faith is an unreliable belief-producing process. Next month he will be giving a speech titled Rationality & Irrationality, and I will be DON'T MISS THIS! Alan Litchfield hosts a humanist secular blog/podcast. His latest interview/podcast is with Professor Boghossian. Discover this and much more by visiting the site: there tweetcasting the talk. No good demonstration of faith s ability to elucidate the truth has ever been offered. In all matters of religious importance, from the divinity of Jesus, to the existence of hell or the path to salvation, different faiths and the faith that drive them offer differ and contradictory answers. Choosing a religion and the utilization of faith is no better than entering a lottery. Maybe this is what Blaise Pascal meant by his wager? If there is such a thing as religious truth, it is that one s faith is most likely untrue. We can live a moral and happy life without faith. Self-delusion and fantasy are not required to find meaning and purpose in this life. We have much to draw meaning and inspiration from: family, friends, peers, science, medicine, art, nature, and much more. Why do we need to invent and believe fantastic and absurd stories? We don t. Love, beauty, peace, awe, oneness with the cosmos and a common humanity can all be experienced without magic and fairy tales. It can all be achieved without faith. I m sick and tired of faith, too. Enough is enough. Alan Litchfield

4 The Evolution of DARKTOLIGHT 2012 There is much to sing about in the progress of DARKTOLIGHT 2012, UNI- VERSE DE-LIGHT, the CFI-Portland organized all-original musical stage play set for December. First are the exciting new additions to the creative roster including a new Resident Director, and a Percussionist and Cellist/Bass Guitarist for the band. In addition we have scheduled a public audition for the cast on June 9 th and the website, thanks to our web wizard Roger Bates and CFI-Portland s Kurt Johansen, will soon be able to take online donations. NEW TALENT We are so pleased to have attracted the attention of Michelle Seaton who has graciously accepted the position of Resident Director. Award-winning Michelle has impressive credits from both the west and east coasts where she has directed, acted in and designed productions in Portland, New Jersey, New York City and other cities. Fortunately for us she has recently returned to hometown Portland after a successful 9-year stay in New York/New Jersey and is excited to be able to participate in a secular humanist production. Michelle is currently on the faculty of University of Portland and Linfield College and holds double BA s (Theater and Communications) from Linfield College, is a graduate of Portland Actors Conservatory and holds an MFA in Directing from Rutgers University. We have also added two very talented and versatile musicians to the show s band, Percussionist Clifford Koufman and Cellist/ Bass Guitarist Vytas Nagisetty. Clifford is a teacher and performer of many realms and styles of percussion including jazz, pop, standards and ethnic drumming including African and Middle Eastern. In 2008 he won a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council to study in Guinea, West Africa. He stays busy in Portland on the stage, in the classroom and in the recording studio and has shared his talents with hundreds of local child cancer patients working as a music therapist through the Children s Cancer Association. Clifford holds a BA in Art from Wake Forrest University and has completed studies in Music at Mount Hood Community College and is currently on the staff of Ethos Music. Vytas makes his way to Portland from his hometown of Toledo OH by way of years of study and performance in a trek that includes Berkeley & San Francisco CA, Austin TX and New York City. While his main instrument is Bass Guitar, Vytas has also mastered the String Bass and is proficient on Cello and has taught himself to play a number of additional instruments to help facilitate his other musical passion, composition (he has composed music for four feature films including the 1998 Kate Hudson film, Desert Blue). Currently Vytas plays with his sister in the local Portland band, Ramune Rocket 3 and teaches at the Sound Roots School of Music. FURTHER NEWS We invite everyone in the community to view Roger s great website and peruse further details concerning the event and all those involved. While visiting be sure to check out the DARKTOLIGHT PAST page where several photo highlights of the DTL 2010 event have been posted in both static and slide show formats. For those interested in performing and volunteering (in both technical and non-technical functions) - who have not done so already - please sign up on the VOLUNTEER or AUDITION pages. Also for all those eager to donate financially please keep checking as the DONATE page will, we are told, be up and running soon. Thanks to all who have expressed an interest already and keep checking the website for further updates: darktolight.org Thanks to all! The DARKTOLIGHT Staff

5 Inspiring Northwest Freethought Conference At May's Food for Thought, we will begin experimenting with a new program format. We have many ideas about what to include in the program, which will probably change from month-to-month. For example, we may have a speaker give a brief talk about a meaningful personal experience, followed by a short musical performance. Another month we may have a panel discussion, followed by a short video. The program may include a skit, an inspiring reading, a short talk, or a "travel report," of something else. We'll definitely try to include more audience participation in the program. Plus, as the weather improves we'll also have the opportunity to do some activities outside. About 350 people attended the last Northwest Freethought Conference in Seattle, bringing together more than 50 groups. The 2013 conference will be in Portland, sure to be even bigger! Richard Dawkins dropped his prepared speech at the last minute, deciding that instead of preaching to the choir he d interview a couple preachers from the Clergy Project. Preachers have a knack for entertaining an audience so it was indeed very entertaining. The Clergy Project is a program administered by the Richard Dawkins Foundation to help clergy come out as atheists. For clergy, coming out as an atheist means not only losing friends and family, but a career and income. It was bittersweet listening to these two relay their stories. They were thankful that they are now able to live with integrity and for the support they now receive from us nontheists, but were saddened that the people they had spent so many years selflessly giving of themselves to, turned against them and abandoned them. Sean Faircloth recently published Attack of the Theocrats: how the Religious Right Harms Us All and What We Can Do About It. He is currently the Director of Strategy & Policy for the Richard Dawkins Foundation and was an elected official for ten years. Politicians are also good speakers. I think he would win most popular speaker at the conference. He laid out his Secular Decade Plan to take back our government from the Religious Right and their millions of dollars for lobbying. He explained how the Religious Right has become so successful. At no time has there been a number of elected theocrats as we have today. They ran for school board, for city council, for state legislature, for Congress and, although the Moral Majority has never been moral and has never been the majority, currently has veto power in the Republican party. Current law favors religion far beyond what is required by the Constitution. In all the years Faircloth held office, he saw the theocrats lobby his office many times. Not one time did he get a visit from someone standing up for secular values, even though there are far more people who want separation of church and state. Secularists are not on the fringes of society; we are the mainstream. We are the values of Jefferson and Madison. In fact, the U.S. instituted the concept of Separation of Church and State! We should be proud of this fact. Also part of our history is the fact that Christians didn t identify themselves as Christian ; they called themselves Baptists, Southern Baptists, Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc., etc., etc. But they all came together under a single name to unite as a powerful force. In the same way, Faircloth argued, we need to unite under a single umbrella. He proposed embracing the label secular. Even the religious can want a secular government. We secularists are known to take issue with In God We Trust on our currency, the inclusion of Under God in our pledge of allegiance, our opposition to nativity scenes on public property, and our opposition to the National Day of Prayer. Faircloth insisted that we must also be known for protecting children from parents who rely on faith healing, stopping fundamentalists from denying contraception to poverty-stricken people in the most desperate parts of the world, exposing the con job of multi-millionaires who live in palaces subsidized by our tax dollars through loopholes for clergy, demanding that religious schools not get more leeway to punish children physically, and fighting against textbooks that lie to our children with our tax dollars. Many nontheists don t see the point in standing up for secularism. They need to know how their apathy harms people affected by the religious bias in our laws. They need to start by coming out themselves. If more people come out, then more politicians will be able to. Faircloth claims that there are at least 25, at a minimum, nontheist elected officials in Congress that just don t feel comfortable coming out. We in the Northwest have a particular obligation to come out because it s easier for us to than for those in the rest of the country, particularly in the Bible Belt. The secular movement is new. My last workshop was for leaders of the different organizations to network. When I walked into the room there was a group of people standing around waiting for whoever was going to lead the group. I informed them that even though we re all pretty new to this, that there is no other leader to lead us, it s us. It is in this spirit that CFI-Portland, together with the Humanists of Greater Portland, have planned our first Secular Summer Picnic. We will encourage every local organization to join forces for the secular movement to fulfill CFI s mission to foster a secular society based on humanist values. I encourage everyone to listen to Faircloth s speech at RichardDawkins.net Dani Tofte A Food for Thought Experiment Since experiments are designed to test what works, we don't know exactly how this will turn out, and this is part of the fun! (The one "constant" will be a delicious dinner and great companionship.) The only way to experience this interesting new format, and see how our experiments turn out, is to attend Food for Thought, which is held the third Friday of each month in SE Portland at the Brentwood- Darlington Community Center at 7211 SE 62nd Ave. We hope to see you there on May 18th. Please RSVP on the CFI Meetup site so that we know how many to expect and can plan for the food. Brock Wilson

6 Reason Rally Reflections by Barry Ruffin From the moment I read about the event called the "Reason Rally", of which would be billed as the largest gathering of agnostics, freethinkers, atheists or any other secular-based organization, I knew I had to attend. Since I'd planned on visiting my family in Philadelphia, PA anyway sometime in 2012, this gave me the opportunity to do both. Washington DC is a mere two-hour drive south, down I-95 from Philly. So there I was, the day before the event, driving down to Washington with this feeling of great expectations of the Reason Rally. After checking into my hotel, I found a great Thai food restaurant not far from my hotel. There were several secular organizations hosting a Friday pre-rally get togethers. Unfortunately, for me, most were sold out. But I thought I'd just go hang around one of the events anyway. There was a dinner and speeches at the Phoenix Park Hotel on North Capital Street. With the aid of my Android smart phone's navigation feature, I was there in 15 minutes. This city would've been a logistical nightmare without a device application like this. As I walked towards the hotel, I passed a dozen people or so with posters, stickers and picket signs reading things like, "I'm an atheist and I vote" or "out of the closet atheist". I didn't know any of these people but it sure felt like we had a brotherhood of reasoning. Upon entering the hotel lobby, to my immediate left, were tables manned by volunteers giving away all sorts of free, secular-based materials. I gleefully grabbed and took anything that the volunteers gave me. At that moment, it was like I was getting a Reason Rally rush of collectiveness. Armed with my handful of materials, I called it a night and went back to my hotel. The next morning I awoke at 8:00 am to an overcast sky that looked like impending rain. I caught the subway to the national mall exit. Upon coming up the escalator to the mall grounds, pickets and other signage were the first things that I saw. I brought my camera with me and immediately began taking snapshots. As I walked around the steadily-gathering crowd, I just started making conversation with random people. The mood of everyone I spoke to was amazingly positive and you could see that they were glad to be there. What really was apparent to me was how cordial and friendly everyone was. They were so happy to be among so many people who shared their values of a reasoned-based life. As I walked around the fringes of the crowd I noticed pickets and people amassed at a clearly-defined distance away from the rally attendees. They were screaming all kinds of scriptural certitudes at rally attendees, who were in turn, trying to tell the picketers how their position was based on falsehoods. As I walked down the perimeter of the protest area, rally attendees were engaged in numerous spirited debates as to why each other held the positions they did. Most of these conversations were, for the most part, cordial and respectful. That was until I saw members of the current kings of the loony bin title holders, Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church. They were hollering and hurling all kinds of nasty remarks about how we were going to Hell and God hates fags, just to name a few of the choice epithets they spewed. After walking away from these disturbed people a childhood euphemism came to mind; it goes: Ignorance is fixable with knowledge but stupid is stuck in stone. These people, in my opinion, are prime candidates for psychotropic drugs. As I walked through the crowd I stopped a few times, for three or four minutes at a time. At which time I would casually, nonchalantly, listen to the numerous conversations going on around me. The under-forty age bracket was, by far I believe, the largest demographic present at the rally. It was so encouraging listening to these intelligent, friendly, socially and politically-conscious young people. To think that anyone would bash, condemn, and try to relegate these bright stars of our future to social irrelevance. It may not have been a crime against humanity but it would definitely be a crime against sanity. I then maneuvered my way really close to the stage to gain a good photo-taking vantage point. There was a big white tent on-site, the type you would see when a circus does an outdoor venue. Inside the tent there were representatives from all of the major secular organizations such as Freedom From Continued on page 7 LOOKING AHEAD Secular Summer Picnic Saturday, July 14th 11am - 4pm Laurelhurst Park SW corner of park 4th Annual FREETHINKER'S CAMPOUT August 3-5 Jesse Honeyman Memorial State Park Florence, OR

7 Continued from page 6 Religion, United Coalition of Reason, Center For Inquiry, Stiefel Freethought Foundation, The National Atheist Party, Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and several other notable organizations. Each group had a table or two in which they handed out materials about their respective organization's mission statement. There was even a daycare station set up that had at least 20 children engaged in various games and play tasks. What became evident to me was the diversity of constituencies present at the reason rally. The rally speakers presented different talking points but they all had a clear foundation of espousing rationality, respect of individual freedoms, and proudly declaring that we will be silent no more. Twenty thousand people makes for an impressive visual statement. The marquee list of speakers was a who's who of the most visibly active, literarily prolific, musically and artistically secular luminaries of our day, from David Silverman, James Randi, Shelley Segal, Christina Rad, Tim Minchin, CFI Executive Director Ron Lindsey, Richard Dawkins, Jemila Bey, Michael Shermer, Hemant Mehta, Jessica Ahlquist, Greta Christina and a whole host of other prominent truth-seekers. In addition, there were two jumbo-tron screens that broadcast videos of notable celebrities that couldn't physically attend the event. We were treated to five-minute-or-so videos of the likes of Bill Maher, Penn Jillette and the only openly atheist member of Congress, San Francisco Representatiive Pete Stark. It started to rain rather heavily halfway through the rally but the rally attendees were so galvanized with the purpose of this event that the rain became a minor distraction. The musical genres covered a wide spectrum of musical taste, from Shelley Sagal's folksy, original renditions, to rapper Tombstone's unapologetic, hardbiting lyrics, to Tim Minchin's funny, lyrical, musical invectives, and finally ending with the raucous rock-and-roll sounds of the band Bad Religion. The rally ended around 6:15 pm Left: Tim Minchin, well-known atheist musician and comedian Right: Atheist rapper Greydon Square. He and Barry Ruffin discussed how excited he would be to visit Portland in the not-too-distant future. I've been an enthusiast of the atheist rapper Greydon Square for at least four years, and in my opinion, he should have been a featured artist at the Reason Rally. Earlier in the week I read online that Black Non- Believers of America were sponsoring a concert featuring Greydon Square. I had an option to pre-purchase tickets online, which I did. So as hurriedly as I could I fled the Reason Rally, grabbed a burrito from Chipotle, took a quick shower at my hotel, changed clothes and was on my way in less than an hour and a half to the Greydon Square concert which was suppose to start at 8:00 pm. The venue for the Greydon Square concert was an area of intimate brown stones (row houses) known as Studio 52. This was a smaller venue than I'd anticipated but the design of the studio lent itself to a charm and intimacy that would be hard to duplicate in a larger venue. You were up close and personal to everything in this place. They had several tables of food and a nohost bar on site, on a help yourself basis. Greydon was set to go on in about twenty minutes when I noticed him in the rear of the studio. I went over and introduced myself and we immediately struck up an involved conversation. He elaborated on as to what his motivations were that led him to this method of expressing his nonbelief through rap music. Greydon Square (Eddie Collins) waxed emphatically about the work and creative energy that he's put into his new, soon to be released, double CD titled Type II, The Mandelbrot Set. It's currently slated for an August 2012 release date. We also talked about how his music has matured since his first CD release The Compton Effect. Well, show time came and Greydon had to prep for his set, cutting our conversation short. He was really feeling the crowd vibe and love being directed toward him. There were professional cameramen filming, I would assume, for future promotional purposes. He was really on-point with his lyrics, calisthenically making an argument for the rejection of illogical thought. The crowd, which numbered around fifty or so, were so into singing along with Greydon that he at one point stopped rapping. He humbly expressed to the crowd how touched he was that they were singing word for word with him as he performed his routine. There were other atheist rappers present that chimed in and did lyrical segments with Greydon Square. Greydon and I had a chance to talk after he finished his music set. I mentioned to him that we've (CFI- Portland) spoken about trying to arrange a gig in Portland sometime in the not-toodistant future. He said gleefully how he's heard so many good things about Portland and how much he's wanted to do a show there. I exchanged contact information with his financial manager and then we all proceeded to have a few beers before the night came to an end. Hopefully, the Reason Rally will be one of those transformative events that may usher in a new "Age of Reason". Wishful thinking you may say, maybe so, but humankind has already tried the alternative.

8 CFI May Events For more information about any of these events, late additions, or to RSVP, go to the CFI calendar at and click on that event Wednesday, May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 11am Skeptics of Eugene Coffee Klatch Theo's Coffee House 199 W 8th Ave, Eugene, OR Casual conversation about whatever we feel like. Drop in or out as your schedule allows. Wednesday, May 2, 7pm Book Group Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, 67 Community Room, SW Farmington Rd, Beaverton, OR The book currently being studied is "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" by Mearsheimer and Walt. For May 2nd, we will read chapters 6-10, with chapter 11 optional. Thursday, May 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31, 10am Preschool Playdate Beaverton, OR For preschool children aged 3 & 4 (and other ages). Please RSVP at CFI-SFN website. Thursday, May 3 & 17, 11am South Coast Skeptics Meetup Denny's, 98 E. 1st St, Coquille, OR Organizer: Greg Collver Pizza and skeptical discussion at Denny's! Saturday, May 5, 2pm Skeptics in the Pub Evergreen Pieway 3020 Evergreen Way, Washougal, WA Meet local skeptics, atheists, secular humanists, scientific naturalists and other friends of reason for conversation and friendship! Saturday, May 5, 10am Salem Humanists Monthly Meeting Salem Public Library (Plaza Room) 585 Liberty St SE, Salem Check CFI website calendar for this month's speaker/subject. Sunday, May 6 & 20, 11am Eastside Sunday Brunch Old Wives Tales, 1300 E Burnside St, Portland, OR Organizer: Sylvia Benner Please RSVP so we can reserve the correct number of seats. A chance to meet and get to know others in the community over good food in a relaxed atmosphere! The restaurant has a children's menu and a separate play room for the little ones. Vegetarian dishes available. Sunday, May 6, 10am Peter Boghossian: "Reason & Unreason" Hosted by Humanists of Greater Portland Friendly House Center 1737 NW 26th Ave, Portland In "Rationality and Irrationality," Dr. Peter Boghossian will provide a template for creating a quintessentially irrational society. He will discuss reason and unreason and situate the discussion in the larger cultural and political context. Detractors are especially welcomed. Dr. Boghossian is a faculty member in the Portland State University Department of Philosophy and an affiliate research assistant professor at Oregon Health Sciences University. His primary research areas are critical thinking and reasoning. Sunday, May 6 & 20, 3:00pm Rogue Valley Humanists (Ashland) Rogue Valley U U Center, 87 4th Street, Ashland, OR The Humanism Group studies current topics of interest to Humanists, often from a recent book or article. We meet every first and third Sunday under the balcony of the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Center Ashland from 3:00 to 5:00 PM. We usually have an optional short reading related to the discussion topic available in the UU Center library a week before each meeting. Sunday, May 6 & 20, 12:30pm Rogue Valley Freethinkers (Grants Pass) Union Drop-In Center, 225 NW Hillcrest Dr, Grants Pass, OR We will meet to discuss a topic of interest to freethinkers and humanists, presented by one of our members. The April 1 meeting will feature ex-mormon Courtney and continued discussion of controversial Mormon topics. Monday, May 7, 14, & 28, 6:30pm Save Our Selves (SOS) Secular Support Group in Rogue Valley 1505 NW Washington Blvd, Grants Pass, OR Our SOS Group offers secular alternative support to individuals struggling to overcome a personal addiction, such as alcoholism. This approach differs from typical 12-step programs.

9 Wednesday, May 9, 6:30pm Willamette U Think Brown's Towne Lounge 189 Liberty St NE #112, Salem, OR Willamette University hosts this popular pub series featuring talks and discussions with university professors. The series features topics from the sciences and humanities. No background knowledge is necessary, and a question and answer session follows each presentation. Wednesday, May 9, 6:30pm SHEP Movie Night Location TBA in East Portand The Tillman Story, a new documentary about the Army's attempt to cover up the circumstances of his death and his family's search for the truth, is a riveting testimonial to the power of personal integrity. Tillman was not a religious man: At his funeral, his younger brother Richard emphatically stated that Pat did not believe in God. But he did believe in honor, commitment and collegiality all traits that help explain why he enlisted and then remained in the Army even after he began questioning the war in Iraq. Thursday, May 10, 7pm Salem Progressive Film Series Historic Grand Theatre 191 High St NE, Salem What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animalbased and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (Cost $4) CFI May Events CONT'D More details and RSVP: Friday, May 11, 12noon (This is a not a CFI event.) PSU Prof. Boghossian at Intel: "Critical Thinking" Intel, JFCC Auditorium 2111 NE 25th Ave, Hillsboro "Critical Thinking Crash Course: 3 Techniques, 20 Minutes, Lifetime Reward". The purpose of this talk is to provide audience members with three simple and effective techniques that will improve their ability to think critically. After providing a brief explanation of what s involved in critical thinking (a skill set and an attitude), he'll discuss the following specific techniques/skills. (20-minute presentation with the remaining hour for Q&A) This lecture is sponsored by the Intel AAI (Agnostics & Atheists at Intel) diversity group. Seating capacity is 450. Food is allowed in the auditorium. Sunday, May 13, 10:30am Secular Sun. School (grades K-3) Location and other details available upon RSVP at the CFI website Secular Sunday School is a program geared toward kids who are between 6 and 9 years old. Children have time to play and make friends, as well as participate in fun, engaging lessons focused on three areas: science/ critical thinking, comparative religion/ culture, and humanism/ethics. Monday, May 14, 7pm Discussion: Secular Meaning of Life Java Vivace 2287 NW Pettygrove St Portland What do we live for? What drives our actions? Do we need a reason? Share with others your opinion on how we live in the world today. Thursday, May 17, 7pm (This is not a CFI event) Linus Pauling Lecture: "Human Nature's Social Brain" Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR Dr. John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago. Cacioppo's research is focused on understanding neural, hormonal, cellular, and genetic mechanisms and their effect on the mind, behavior, and health - an approach he and Gary Berntson termed social neuroscience. Friday, May 18, 6:30pm "Food For Thought" Brentwood-Darlington Community Center, 7211 SE 62nd Ave, Portland Topic and speaker to be announced. 6:00pm Doors Open. 6:30pm Announcements and Guest Lecture 7:45pm Dinner. There is a designated space for cooperative parent child care. Admission paid at door. General Public: Lecture $5 or Lecture including Dinner $10 FOCs: Lecture FREE, Dinner $7 and $4 for children under 12 (Please RSVP at least 2 days before)

10 Saturday, May 19, 9:30am Salem Humanists Monthly Brunch McGrath's Fish House, 350 Chemeketa St NE, Salem CFI May Events CONT'D More details and RSVP: Please RSVP via the CFI Salem Humanists Meetup site. Rides available if requested. Dedicated to the pursuit of Reason, Peace, Justice, and Democracy. Tuesday, May 22, 6:30pm Rogue Valley Freethinkers' Social (Grants Pass) Wild River Brewing & Pizza Co, 595 Northeast E Street, Grants Pass, OR Open agenda socializing and fun with freethinking friends Wednesday, May 23, 6:30pm SHEP Movie Night Location TBA in East Portand We will show the film, "8: The Mormon Proposition", the story of how the Mormon Church funneled 30 million dollars to purchase the passage of California' anti-gay marriage Proposition 8. Thursday, May 24, 7pm Salem Humanists Book Discussion Location (at a private home) and other details ed to all who RSVP If you're a non-fiction book enthusiast and are short on people to share your books with, then come join us! If you are craving intellectual conversations on topics such as religion, atheism, science, reason, politics, history, etc. then this is the place for you! Friday, May 25, 7pm Skeptics of Eugene Monthly Meetup Seavey Loop Rd, Eugene, OR Host: Lowell Thomas This is Open Topic so everyone is welcome to bring up a specific subject of interest, and if there are copies of news items or articles you can share, please do. We are all interested in learning about our world with open minds and healthy skepticism. Please contact Dani Tofte at danijtofte@gmail.com for newsletter suggestions Saturday, May 26, 6pm Skeptics of Eugene Game Night Growers Market, 454 Willamette, Eugene, OR We'll play board games, munch snacks and socialize. If you have a game you'd like to share, please bring it. We'll decide at the beginning of the evening which game(s) we'll play. I have 3 card tables; each can seat up to 6 people. Sunday, May 27, 10:30am Monthly Westside Sunday Brunch Goodness Coffee House 4925 SW Angel St, Beaverton, OR Organizer: Sylvia Benner Join us for a chance to meet and get to know others in the community over good food! Please RSVP so we can anticipate the correct number of people, as they open just for us. Wednesday, May 30, 7pm Beaverton Atheists Meetup Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe - Beaverton Town Sq., SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy, Beaverton Organizer: Alan Litchfield Engaging, relaxing and interesting conversation at our monthly meeting info is a nonprofit that provides information about community services for eleven counties in Oregon and two counties in SW Washington. Similar to 911, 211 is available from most phones for free. You may go online at 211info.org to access a searchable database which contains 4,500 programs across 1,200 areas info The services available range from food assistance to programs many people might not know even exist, like holiday assistance. JOIN US!