Issue: February, 2008 Questions & Answers 1. What is Secular Humanism? Secular humanism is a comprehensive, non-religious life stance incorporating a naturalistic philosophy, a cosmic outlook rooted in science, and a consequentialist ethical system. 2. What is the Center for Inquiry? The purpose of the Center for Inquiry is to promote and defend reason, science, and freedom of inquiry in all areas of human endeavor. The Center for Inquiry is a transnational nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that encourages evidence-based inquiry into science, pseudoscience, medicine and health, religion, ethics, secularism, and society. The Center for Inquiry is not affiliated with, nor does it promote, any political party or political ideology. 3. What are CFI Communities? CFI Communities are groups of rationalists, skeptics, and humanists which sponsor local events, activism, lectures and educational programs. The Communities draw upon volunteers and Center for Inquiry Friends and supporters who are enthusiastic about our agenda and wish to take part in our movement. The Center for Inquiry for Southern Arizona Needs Your Support! We offer many opportunities to put your principles into practice by joining other rationalists to work for positive change in society. Please visit our community website at http://www.centerforinquiry.net/saz for more information. Our membership by the numbers: Lifetime Memberships 4 E-Mail Notifications 294 Family Memberships 30 Snail-Mail Notifications 31 Single Memberships 37 Total Memberships 71 Total Notifications 325 Our community urgently needs your financial as well as your moral support. Please consider becoming a Friend of The Center. For more information, please visit The Center for Inquiry's national website at http://www.centerforinquiry.net/. Table of Contents Questions & Answers... 1 The Center for Inquiry for Southern Arizona Needs Your Support!... 1 Upcoming Events... 2 Community Event Highlights... 4 Featured Article: Why We Are CFI... 5 Writings & Musings... 7 The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles... 8
Issue: February, 2008 Page 2 Upcoming Events Community Events Feb. 17 th : Does Religion Make Any Sense? by Richard Watts Feb. 23 rd, 11:00 AM 5:00 PM: 26th Annual Tucson Peace Fair and Music Festival The Demeester Outdoor Performance Center (Reid Park Bandshell). We are hosting a booth and need volunteers to answer questions and distribute information as needed. March 16 th @1:30 PM: Nothing Something to Believe In by Nica Lalli Berger Performing Arts Center 1200 West Speedway, west of I-10 April 3 rd @ 6:00 PM: Breaking Religion's Monopoly on Morality by Austin Dacey Holiday Inn 4550 S. Palo Verde Road April 27 th @ 1:30 PM: Why I am Not a Muslim by Ibn Warraq Holiday Inn 4550 S. Palo Verde Road Special Interest Group Events To join any of the Secular Inquiry Groups (except TSHT and Secular Families), email Sandra Bidwell at sbidwell@ieee.org, or speak to her after the Public Forum meeting. Specify the group you want to join, along with your name, email address and phone number. Prior to your meeting each month, you will receive a meeting confirmation email and detailed directions to your SIG. Arts and Humanism Arts and Humanism, led by George Wheeler-Brownlee, talks all things arts. This popular group meets on the northwest side in the Nanini Library conference room, 7300 N. Shannon Rd. Their next meeting will be on Sunday, March 2, from 1:30 PM 3:30 PM. Cochise County Group Cochise County Group will meet at 1:30pm on Sunday, March 2, 2008, at the Sierra Vista home of leader Paul Davis. The group will discuss Coping with Cults, Large and Small, Old and New. A 45-minute video will be shown. Paul says of this new SIG: Southern Arizona is a big place, and the rural areas are quite a bit different in character from Tucson. It s also harder for people in Cochise County, some well over 100 miles away, to afford the expense and time of regular trips to Tucson, so our mission is to offer a meeting opportunity closer to home. Besides being a bridge to the Tucson parent group for those who can t make the trip, our aim is to be a support group for each other as we espouse rationality in the rural desert where the influences of magical thinking are often suffocating by their ubiquity.
Page 3 Issue: February, 2008 Great Religions (NEW) Great Religions is a proposed SIG whose scope is to study the major religions. This group will listen to and discuss the Teaching Company lecture series, The World s Great Religions, covering Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Leader Jerry Karches (jkarches@swhaz.com or 297-9919) wants to hear from anyone interested (please copy Sandra). Let him know your schedule preference, and he ll arrange a meeting place, time and format to fit the wishes of the group. Social Activities Social Activities leader Jerry Karches invites you to join the group following the February 17 talk (about 4:30pm) for happy hour and dinner at the Old Pueblo Grill Alvernon. Bring a friend and meet the speaker and other attendees like yourself: intelligent, witty and freethinking! The Old Pueblo Grill is at 60 N. Alvernon Way (east side of the street, just north of Broadway). Jazz starts at 7pm for anyone who wishes to stay for the music. No reservations required. For more information, contact Jerry Karches at jkarches@swhaz.com or 297-9919. The Discussion Group Bill Faris is travelling in Europe, and meetings of the Discussion Group have been temporarily suspended. Tucson Secular Families A private online SIG led by Melanie Mallon. This web-based group has informal discussions about anything related to secular family life. You can also post photos, upload files of interest to others, add to our links list, and more. To join, browse to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tucsonsecularfamilies/ and click on Join This Group! Potential members need to be approved to avoid people joining to proselytize, spam, or in other ways invade our cyberspace. Please mention CFI-SAZ to help speed approval. If you have trouble joining, contact Melanie Mallon at darrickandmelanie@gmail.com. Tucson Secular Home Theater Group (TSHT) Tucson Secular Home Theater (TSHT) Group, showcasing films of interest to free/skeptical inquirers, is hosted by Sue and Eric Lee on the southeast side of town (but watch for a new midtown location!). There is time for discussion between films, and an extended break from 5-6pm for a pot luck (or order out? Let them know your preference), games or just conversation. For date, film schedule and directions, go to the TSHT web site at www.alysion.org/tsht. Guests are welcome to come and go as they please to see only those films of interest, but please RSVP to Eric and Sue (not Sandra!) at eric@alysion.org or 777-6130 with the events you expect to attend.
Issue: February, 2008 Page 4 Community Event Highlights On January 20 th, 2008, the Southern Arizona community for the Center for Inquiry hosted a talk by Dr. Victor Stenger on the scientific case against God as an actor in and a causative agent for the universe. Thanks in no small part to our publicity committee and a well-timed article in the local papers, attendance for the first talk exceeded the planned capacity, as you can see from the photo below. Dr. Stenger graciously agreed to provide an ad-hoc second talk.
Page 5 Issue: February, 2008 Featured Article: Why We Are CFI Editor's Note: Featured Articles are submitted by members of this community, or, in lieu of voluntary submissions, are selected by the Editor for publication (with the writer's permission). We are eager, nay starving, for quality essays and letters. In lieu of any official guidelines, we simply ask that you keep in mind the affirmations of Humanism and direct your pen (virtual or otherwise) in that direction. Submissions may be e-mailed to CFISAZEditor@gmail.com. Note that submissions may be edited for grammar, available printing space, and tone. I was dismayed to learn at the December meeting that my understanding of CFI's raison d'être seems to differ from that of the leadership and the majority of members. The most parsimonious explanation is that my understanding is faulty, yet if so, perhaps other members are also missing something. If we agree on nothing else, we should at least agree on CFI's purpose in the world. If we are not all on the same page, then perhaps, for the price of an effort, we can be. So, can we talk? What if 95 percent of CFI members were tea totalers? Would we teaists look askance upon the non-teaists in our midst? Being human we probably would, but we would also readily admit that we shouldn't and would make a special effort to compensate for our limitations by welcoming our atheist members, for after all we belong to CFI, not CFTT (Center for Tea-Totaling). Similarly, while most of us are non-theists, we need to imagine the possibility that free inquiry could lead to some sort of theistic view. Consider that Martin Gardner, whose merest credentials as a skeptical inquirer I am not worthy to polish, is a deist. So we must expressly allow even theists into CFI, since, after all, we are not CFA (Center for Atheism). While most of us may tend toward the liberal side, let us acknowledge that some CFI members are of a conservative bent, and should therefore be especially valued. All of this should be fairly obvious, and is, up to a point it seems. After all, we do not start each meeting by requiring everyone to raise a cup of tea, nor profess atheism, yet each month our meetings begin with the evocation of Secular Humanism. The inappropriateness of doing so does not seem to be universally appreciated, but there is a reason we are CFI, and not CFSH (Center for Secular Humanism). Perhaps we need our own Establishment Clause prohibiting the establishment of any "-ism." CFI is an over-arching level of organization that includes those views and concerns commonly found in Free Inquiry and the Skeptical Inquirer (where mention of secular humanism is seldom found), but is not defined by either. CFI exists to preserve and promote free, curious, and critical inquiry in whatever form it takes. It is bigger than any one form of inquiry (such as science), or set of conclusions that an inquirer may be lead to (such as secular humanism). Yes, it is more than science or secularism, or any number of other possible points-of-view put together. Those whose inquiry leads them to consider how best to give expression to their inner visions (i.e. artists) may also belong. Some folks even conceive of religion, not as a creed but as a personal quest, as existential inquiry, and they too must be admitted. No conclusions, however compelling, no matter how many of us are lead to them ( e.g. scientific naturalism, secularism) can define us. We are more than any possible conclusion since it is the overarching value of inquiry itself that forms the common ground that unites us. That is why we are CFI. That is why we should begin our meetings, like candles in the dark, by evoking the spirit of inquiry, the nature and necessity of it, and why we value it. CFI exists to encourage people to think, not tell them what to think. Our capacity for inquiry is learned and inquiry is what we want to promote, so fundamentally CFI is an educational organization, not a political one; yet the majority of members seem to want more political action. If CFI becomes another political action group it will have lost its focus and, for me, its appeal. There are already innumerable groups to promote every imaginable cause (and members, informed by the educational influence of CFI, should, of coarse, feel free to become as polit-
Issue: February, 2008 Page 6 ically active within these other groups as they wish). But let us bear in mind that in its conception CFI is bigger than politics. Our political and legal battles should be confined to those issues that relate to freedom of inquiry. The ultimate goal of CFI (and why it's bigger than science, politics, or religion) is, if I may suggest, to give rise to nothing less than a new culture: a culture of inquiry. At present, there are everywhere only cultures of belief, cultures where the common ground is some belief, some ideology (religious or political), some conclusion that attempts to unite people. But as we can see all about us, beliefs unite a few, for a while, but they ultimately divide humanity and engender irreconcilable conflicts. To have beliefs, it seems, is to be had by them, to be possessed by them, and those possessed soon lose their capacity for doubt. They lose their ability to even consider the possibility that they might be wrong, and so sink into a dark pit of humorless certitude. In the believing mind conclusions determine what one's reasoning shall be, and such reasoning is sham. The inquiring mind offers an alternative: evidence and reason determine what one's conclusions shall be, and one's conclusions are always acknowledged to be uncertain. With every assertion there is an implied, "but I could be wrong," and my "could be wrong" is exactly the same as your "could be wrong," and that becomes our common ground. We are united by our capacity for doubt, and doubt is a precondition for inquiry. If I could be wrong, then you could be right, and my inclination is to listen, maybe learn something from you. Real dialog becomes possible instead of the usual yelling that passes for discourse among true believers. It is only the culture of inquiry that can embrace uncertainty, nurture doubt, value Socratic ignorance, and fully acknowledge the innumerable errors that human gray matter is heir to. Elements of a culture of inquiry exist as fragments within the various cultures of belief, in some more so than others. We are those fragments. Our values, however, are incommensurate with those of the various cultures of certitude; our continued existence, even as fragments, is uncertain. A mere candle, flickering in the darkness, can all too easily be snuffed out. The "race between education and catastrophe" is the one CFI is committed to winning through an educational process that may then inform the actions we take. CFI is at the very crux of the greatest challenge facing our species: whether we evolve into an open, functional, enlightened society--a society of inquiry, or whether some believer's boot or another will stomp in the human face forever. As CFI, we must keep our focus on the bigger issues involving the role of doubt and inquiry in society, and not be distracted by lesser issues. Eric Lee
Page 7 Issue: February, 2008 Writings & Musings Editor's Note: For those of us who feel more expressive than expository, our newsletter also offers a corner for writers to submit their poetry or other brief writings of a fictional or creative nature. In lieu of any official guidelines, we simply ask that you keep in mind the affirmations of Humanism and direct your pen (virtual or otherwise) in that direction. Submissions may be e- mailed to CFISAZEditor@gmail.com. Note that submissions may be edited for grammar, available printing space, and tone. The Devil vs. The Divine My destination is murky there is no go-to card for the undisclosed location of my final journey No Virgil to hold my hand and lead me through rings and layers of Dante s Inferno Am I doomed to remain in limbo and join the unbaptized pagans shut out of Paradise During my days as a mortal I choose not to live my life as a saintly saint I refuse to travel on Tim LaHaye s quick get-away Rapture I opt to join the sinners the lustful and passionate the seducers and gluttons all of those who sought heaven here on earth They preach that hellish purgatory awaits me with my limbs being torn in violent storms of fire, ice and excrement But before I surrender my sinful ways I await new data from other worlds Esther Schnur-Berlot
Issue: February, 2008 Page 8 The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems. We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation. We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life. We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding. We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance. We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves. We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species. We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest. We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence. We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity. We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences. We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion. We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking. We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others. We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality. We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.