Olympian Commemorates Holocaust Victims

 INCREDIBLE & HEROIC:

 French swimmer at Olympic shocks world with tattoo in HEBREW commemorating Holocaust victims (his grandma is Auschwitz survivor)

The ultimate silent protest - LIKE and SHARE this....translation of tattoo: "I Am Nothing Without Them"

SHJ Condemns Bigotry toward American Muslims

The Society for Humanistic Judaism joined the Interfaith Alliance in a broad coalition of 42 secular and religious organizations that sent a letter to Reps. Michele Bachmann, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney, and Lynn Westmoreland protesting the representatives' recent letters regarding prominent American Muslim individuals and organizations.

The organizations told the representatives that their "letters question the loyalty of faithful Americans based on nothing more than their religious affiliations and what is at best tenuous evidence of their associations. As such, your actions have serious implications for religious freedom and the health of our democracy." Among the organizations co-signing the letter along with the SHJ are National Council of Jewish Women, the Secular Coalition for America, NAACP, Rabbis for Human Rights - North America, People for the American Way, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and the ACLU. The letter and list of organizations signing may be found here.

"Our Humanistic Jewish values teach us to stand up for the dignity of all people," said Society for Humanistic Judaism executive director Bonnie Cousens. "An attack on any individual simply because of their religious beliefs or associations threatens the religious freedom guaranteed to all Americans by the First Amendment."

Nazi's Son Converts to Judaism

Bernd Wollschlaeger, MD, FAAFP was born, raised, and educated in Germany, emigrated to Israel, served in the Israel Defense Forces, and now lives in Miami, Florida and is a practicing family physician and author.

His book describes his lives journey, were he started as the son of a Nazi:
http://www.amazon.com/German-Life-Against-possible-Biography/dp/0979183103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344650282&sr=8-1&keywords=a+german+life

You can watch a YouTube video about this book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ6ECvyYHyQ.

Center for Inquiry Mourns Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal, a prolific and provocative author and longtime laureate of the International Academy of Humanism, has died at the age of eighty-six. Over his long career, Vidal produced twenty-five novels, two memoirs, several volumes of essays, plays, screenplays, and television dramas. He also acted and ran for Congress twice. He expressed hostility to religion, especially Christianity, almost from the beginning; some of his most noteworthy works in this regard were published in 1992—the essay “Monotheism and Its Discontents” and the novel Live From Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal, a spoof of the New Testament. 

“Gore Vidal has been an inspirational figure to a great many people, myself included. Of course he will be remembered for being urbane, fiendishly talented, and terrifyingly witty. But, more than this, he was principled, honest, and courageous,” said Stephen Law, secretary of the Academy, which was established by the Council for Secular Humanism in 1980 to honor distinguished humanists.

Open Mind Open Mic

Starts

Wednesday, August 1^st 2012 at 7:00 pm

Ends

Wednesday, August 1^st 2012 at 9:00 pm

Location

National Underground, 159 E Houston St, Manhattan

The Open Mind Open Mic is an open mic for people to share performance art inspired by science, the natural world, and the power of secular humanism. Bring a song, poem, comedy act, or story, whether original work or a cover of an existing piece that inspires you. Experienced and beginner artists encouraged to perform. All encouraged to listen.

The Open Mind Open Mic takes place at the The National Underground, 159 E Houston street. Please contact nyc@centerforinquiry.net with any questions.

Atheist Study

Atheist Alliance of America has been asked to help pubicize an academic study now being launched by Prof. Jerome Baggett and to give our members and friends an opportunity to participate.  We are not otherwise involved in the study, beyond alerting you to this invitation.  You can learn more about Dr. Baggett here.

 

Nick Lee
President
 

Invitation to Participate:

 

My name is Jerome Baggett.  I’m a sociologist and professor at Santa Clara University (working in the graduate school in Theology and Religious Studies) who is in the early stages of a study of atheists (and other non-religious people) in the United States.  Essentially, I’m investigating how atheists think about the world around them and go about the business of living their everyday lives. 

 

As you likely know, there are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about atheists, whereas I want to get beyond those and listen to what atheists themselves say about their lives.  That’s why I’m looking for people to interview about this. 

 

These interviews only take about an hour; they can be done by phone or in person (even online in some cases); and people tend to enjoy the experience of being interviewed very much.  I also ask people to take about five minutes to fill out a survey (comprised of questions also appearing in national surveys), and both the interview and survey are strictly confidential. 

 

Ultimately, I’m planning to write what I hope (and expect) will be a thoughtful, unbiased book on how people live their lives as atheists in the U.S. that will be published by a reputable press.  My hope is this will find a broad readership and begin a more nuanced national conversation about people who identify in more secular terms within contemporary society. 

 

If you’re interested in being interviewed for this project or simply want to find out more about it, please feel free to contact me by e-mail (jbaggett@jstb.edu).  Thanks for your consideration. 

 

Jerome P. Baggett

Professor of Religion and Society

Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University

1735 LeRoy Avenue

Berkeley, CA  94709

(510) 549-5060

jbaggett@jstb.edu

Reasonable New York Picnic

Reasonable New York Picnic.
At the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, Sunday, July 29, noon - 4PM.