Darwin Day 2013 in the DC Region

By Gary Berg-Cross

Darwin Day 2013 is rapidly approaching, February 12 – A Tuesday this year. In 2012 there were a few DC region events and I am happy to say that quite a few more Darwinish day events have evolved and emerged and will be available at a variety of locations.

Perhaps we have yet to arrange a BIG, day-long celebration for Darwin Day, but there is progress with things kicking off early.  So Mon, February 4, 2013  2:15 PM Dr. David Oliver  will speak in Lynchburg, VA (Alumni Building Lounge, Alumni Building Lounge) on “ The Free Spirit in the Machine: Constraint and Freedom in the Biology of Human Action," This is about the hierarchical and evolutionary character of the natural world generally.

They are following that up with:

02/08/2013 6:30 PM

"Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial," Documentary, Introduction, Don Manning

First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg Lynchburg, Virginia

BSH (WASH) and BaltimoreCOR is very active and has a “Darwin Month” that kicks off  the first of 4 events at the Baltimore Ethical Society  Feb. 3 at 10:30 am with: “Common Misconceptions About Evolution,” by Roger D. Sloboda,  Ira Allen Eastman Professor of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College
The 3 later events are:

Sunday, Feb. 10 at 10:30 am:  “People, Animals and Beasts:  Ethical Evolution,”
by Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader, Baltimore Ethical Society
Location:  Baltimore Ethical Society

Monday, February 11, 7:00 pm (pizza starting 6:30 pm) Film “No Dinosaurs in Heaven.”
Location: Towson University, Psychology Building (PY 304)
This event is hosted by the Towson Secular Student Alliance and co-sponsored by
the Maryland Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Harford County Area Special Interest Group Movie Night
Time:  Thursday, February 21 at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Member’s house.  Email for information to info@bsh.wash.org

UUCF Celebrates Darwin, Part 1, The More Things Change: Ongoing Conflict Over Creationism, Evolution and Public Education, Oakton, Virginia

Some events are on the weekend before the Tuesday.  So the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax  is celebrating a Darwin Day Evolution of Evolution at UUCF

Sunday, February 10, 2013 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM (2709 Hunter Mill Road, Oakton, VA)
Dr. Jerry Poje will speak on “Evolution’s evolution: Darwinians, Eugenicists and new Neo-Lamarkians”

WASH’s Frederick chapter (FRESH) is celebrating the 12th Darwin Day with a movie night, (5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. -Movie to start at 5:45 p.m. at the Frederick City Public Library) and will include a birthday cake for Charles Darwin! Please note the day and time of our meeting is different for this month to coincide with Darwin Day. RSVPs requested to make sure we have enough supplies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Washington University will host what promises to be a festive afternoon and evening of events at the Marvin Center. (When a flyer is available with final list of events I will link to it here..)

 

 The first , sponsored by the GW Secular Society, WASH and others (see Flyer at beginning of this article) is a 1-hour lecture by Briana Pobiner, the Science Outreach and Education Program Specialist at the Smithsonian NMNH, from 4:00 to 5:00 + ( February 12^th   in GWU's  Marvin Center, Room 311).  Briana's topic is "The Smithsonian's Approach to Human Evolution Education and Outreach. "  This includes work at NMNH, framed within the context of the public acceptance of evolution.

The GW Secular Society is also working on other parts of the evening and directly following this event, GW Secular Society will be tabling in the Marvin Center Lobby, directly across from the elevators, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. This will be a Darwin/Evolution Fast Facts event. Handouts will include an evolution pamphlet created by Serena Bianchi  and Kes  Schroer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Images (WASH sites and)

Darwin Day Down Under: http://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Atheists/events/57712852/

Briana Pobiner: http://www.eaapp.or.ke/profile.htm

 

Building Humanist Communities in Baltimore

by Emil Volcheck, BES President, BaltimoreCOR coordinator

Three years ago this month, the Baltimore Coalition of Reason (Baltimore CoR) formed. What started with three groups has since grown to a coalition of nine humanist and atheist organizations. The CoR got off to a strong start – with a lecture by Greg Epstein speaking about his book Good Without God – that drew an audience of nearly 200 at First Unitarian thanks to the electronic billboard advertisement at Ravens Stadium funded by the United Coalition of Reason.

Looking back over the past year, Baltimore CoR has kept a pace of events that has exceeded my expectations. The highlight of the year for many of us was attending the Reason Rally, which brought to the National Mall an estimated 20,000 humanists and atheists and employed several of us as volunteer VIP ushers. Since September 2011, the CoR has organized or co-sponsored a diverse range of events, including:

• a “Parenting Beyond Belief” workshop by Dale McGowan;
• a lecture on religious fundamentalism by Professor Bjorn Krondorfer;
• a lecture by Sean Faircloth on his book Attack of the Theocrats;
• the second annual celebration of HumanLight in Baltimore;
• a lecture on LGBT rights in Uganda by Reverend Kiyimba;
• two lectures marking Darwin Day;
• a concert by singer and political satirist Roy Zimmerman;
• a celebration of World Humanist Day that featured a documentary about the impact of religious millennialism on U.S. foreign policy, followed by a counterpoint Humanist view of the future provided by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; and
• Skepticamp DC 2012.

Catherine Blackwell, past president of the UMBC Secular Student Alliance, represented Baltimore CoR on the TV debate show “Square Off with Richard Sher.” Baltimore CoR also helped launch the LGBTQ Humanist Council of Baltimore, the newest chapter of the American Humanist Association in the city. The events of the CoR serve to build and strengthen a greater humanist community in Baltimore. For a young and loosely knit coalition, this is an impressive record of activity.

Last March, it was my privilege to address an audience of over seven hundred at Ignite Baltimore #10 on the theme of this essay. Baltimore CoR is a publicity coalition whose purpose is to raise public awareness that people can be good without believing in God. For those of us who are fortunate enough to have found a home in Ethical Culture (or any member of Baltimore CoR), this message might seem obvious, or a distraction from our primary focus. But we must not forget there are those less fortunate who suffer hardship as a result of their beliefs. Army Reserve Captain Ryan Jean was rated “spiritually deficient” by an Army psychological fitness test and berated by an Army chaplain who told him he should resign his commission if he did not believe in God. (Listen to the podcast of his platform address at bmorethical.org/for-country-sans-god-humanism-and-religious-hegemony-in-the-military.) Jessica Ahlquist, a high-school student in Cranston, Rhode Island, faced threats of bodily harm that required police to protect her at school. Ahlquist received a 2012 Humanist Pioneer Award from the American Humanist Association. Also receiving the Pioneer Award was Damon Fowler, a high school student in Louisiana who was disowned by his family and shunned by his classmates after he objected to a unconstitutional graduation prayer. Misunderstanding and discrimination can indirectly impact atheists and humanists causing them to self-censor their views. A member of our society revealed to me that when they recently began a search for a new job, they deleted a profile on a popular social networking website that listed them as atheist so that this fact would not be seen by potential employers.

I am proud that the Baltimore Ethical Society has played a vital role in supporting the Baltimore Coalition of Reason through the volunteer work of our members and the use of our facilities. The message of Ethical Culture – “Deed Before Creed” – means that we believe it is what we do that matters, not what religious beliefs we hold. We have an ethical duty to stand up against discrimination based on religious beliefs or nonbeliefs because this diminishes the dignity of our friends and family. Whether this discrimination affects employment opportunities – or marriage rights – it’s unethical, and the Baltimore Ethical Society stands against it.

I hope that you will help build the greater humanist community in Baltimore by supporting the message of Baltimore CoR and participating in some of the upcoming events of the coalition, including lecture and lunch with Herb Silverman on November 11th and HumanLight on December 23rd at BES. Please watch for the announcements of Darwin Day in February and World Humanist Day on June 21st.

(Baltimore Secular Humanists, the Baltimore chapter of WASH, was a founding member of the BaltimoreCOR, and cosponsored these events.  More past BSH events are listed here.)

Darwin Day 2012

by Gary Berg-Cross

Darwin Day 2012 is coming up this Sunday, February 12.
Alas, we haven’t been able to arrange a BIG, day long celebration for Darwin Day this year, but there are 2 local events on Sunday that I know of.

One is a Joint Meeting of BSH (WASH) and Baltimore Ethical Society: Foundations of Evolution by WASH president Mike Reid at10:30 AM, Baltimore Ethical Society , 306 W. Franklin Street, Baltimore, MD (map)

The other is Robert L. Park will speak on “The Language of Science”. It’s at the City of Fairfax Regional Library, Meeting Room B in Fairfax, Virginia

People near GWU may see some student generated flyers posted on evolution inspired by Darwin Day.

But all in all, NYC (or North Dakota!) has done a much better job of hosting some big events for DD this year . I hope that the DC area can evolve and do better next year…

Happy Times at the 2011 Maryland-DC HumanLight Celebration

By Gary Berg-Cross

This Dec. 23^rd the Kalmansons of Laurel MD hosted the annual Maryland-DC Humanlight Celebration. It was wonderful chance to spend time with friends seeking to “illuminate Humanism's positive secular vision” and “affirm the positive values of humanism during the time period of the 'traditional' winter holidays.”

This year was again a special time to cultivate an attitude of clarity, tolerance and openness. It was also a family affair with an Ingresoll of bright, happy children, the next generation of secular humanists, in playful attendance. Phil Kalmanson’s 3 aquariums, including the corals in salt water, were a hit with everyone and you had only ask and he would was ready with a friendly tutorial on the fish filled ecology. Jenny provided explanations on the latest puzzles secured from Marbles: The Brain Store in the Columbia mall.

WASH members were in attendance and the adult conversation was as diverse as humanism allows with plenty of time to meet new folks, each of whom is invited to post their memories of the event. A C Grayling wasn't there, but one felt his ideas on Humanism in play:

Humanism in the modern sense of the term is the view that whatever your ethical system, it derives from your best understanding of human nature and the human condition in the real world. This means that it does not, in its thinking about the good and about our responsibilities to ourselves and one another, premise putative data from astrology, fairy tales, supernaturalistic beliefs, animism, polytheism, or any other inheritances from the ages of humankind's remote and more ignorant past.

A C Grayling, Against All Gods: Six Polemics on Religion and an Essay on Kindness

Maggie Ardiente from AHA was there sprinkling interesting comments on every topic from plans from Darwin Day 2012 (including legislation) to national politics, to the varieties of atheism, to a discussion of atheist posters – the last-supper-flying-spaghetti-monster poster sits among the Kalmanson’s art collection. Comments on the cuisine flowed as easily as the potables. This year the pot luck items were anchored by the venison Phil’s stew and Jenny’s the vegetarian chili. Many were so good, I asked for the recipe including of course the theme appropriate Sun Cookies, which included a dash of cardamon for spice.

I’m already looking forward to next year. Thanks to all for driving away gloom and darkness with an enlightening time.