"Goodness Without Godness", with Professor Phil Zuckerman
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Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBhumanists.org JANUARY 2020 Join us for our January Meeting… Self Driving Cars? Is designing a self-driving car a challenge worth solving? How hard would it be? What would such a car mean for us and for future generations? Our Speaker: Currently a senior software engineer at one of the leading self-driving car companies, Horus Wu is focused on building infrastructure for machine Horus Muchen Wu, Sr. Software Engineer, learning, which is the lifeblood of self- autonomous vehicles. driving technology today. Previously a software engineer at Google, Horus worked on multiple products including Android and Google Fi. She is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology. When: Saturday, January 18, 2019 Where: Valle Verde Theater. 900 Calle De Los Amigos, Santa Barbara, CA. Parking: Please park at Veronica Springs Church, 949 Veronica Springs Road. Free shuttle to and from meeting. No parking at Valle Verde (except for bicycles & handicapped parking). Shuttle driver has a dedicated cellphone: 805-679-3660 Time: Doors open at 2:30 pm. Program begins promptly at 3:00 pm Meeting Donation: $2 members, $5 non-members. Students with ID are free. ========================================================================== Optional After Meeting Dinner Buffet: Join us for dinner at Valle Verde, $25 per person. We are required to provide a firm count for dinner, therefore please RSVP to Nan Cisney at [email protected] by noon Wednesday January 15. Parking lot shuttle also available after dinner. For More Info: Call 805-769-4772 The President’s Column (https://www.secularjihadists.com/), has often Distinguishing People From Their Beliefs remarked that the best way to oppose Islam is to & Opinions befriend a Muslim. Welcome Muslims. Share with them. Get to know each other. Get to care By Judy Flattery about each other. Don’t criticize the person— Have you heard the term “the regressive left”? that’s an undignified ad hominem attack… but it Wikipedia defines it as follows: "’Regressive is fair game to criticize beliefs, opinions, and left’" is a neologism and political epithet, used as practices and to have our own beliefs, opinions, a pejorative to describe a section of left-wing and practices challenged. Better and more politics who are accused of holding views, such accurate to say “Your ideology is ridiculous!” as tolerating Islamism or opposition to free than to say “You are ridiculous!” speech, that conflict with liberal principles.” Consider the analogy to the ideology of white In other words, “regressive left” would apply to supremacy. Can we value the person who holds statements made or actions taken in the name of white supremacist views while vigorously inclusion or not offending a group of people opposing the ideology? Can we befriend them which actually undermine enlightenment and have them see another point of view? Can values, and are therefore contrary to what “the we step into their shoes and see how they came liberal left” is purported to be about. A common to hold the beliefs they do? Perhaps you have area of issue with “regressive left” actions arises relatives who hold “wacky” views. Can you love from confusion between “anti-Muslim” and the person and despise their views? “anti-Islamic” sentiments which serves to More importantly, can they separate their illustrate the distinction: identity from their views so as not to interpret Muslims are people; Islam is an ideology. “Anti- healthy debate as a personal attack and react Muslim” is not the same as “anti-Islam”. defensively rather than be open to an exchange of ideas? In a society that values open debate and free exchange of ideas, challenging ideas and For that matter, can we? We often describe ideologies is fair and healthy, therefore it is ourselves in terms of “being” our history, our acceptable for progressive liberals to be anti- views, our biology, our professions instead of Islam and criticize that ideology for the 7th “having” these experience-based characteristics. century unenlightened values and practices it I could make the following statements: entails. “I am an American Atheist Humanist ex-Catholic I consider myself to be anti-Islam and pro- woman engineer interior designer dog-lover” or Muslim. I view Muslims, particularly those in I could say Muslim-majority countries, as victims of Islamic “I am a human who possesses female physiology indoctrination supported by repressive who was born in America, descended from a line governmental regimes. I have great compassion of humans who previously lived in Eastern for these people. I am rooting for them and Europe, who was raised in the Roman Catholic supporting organizations which support them in faith tradition, who held those beliefs, then later having true freedom to choose their own, one discarded those beliefs in favor of science, best life. atheism, and humanist values, and who was Armin Navabi, (likely our May HSSB speaker) educated in and worked in both the engineering who leads and co-leads respectively, Atheist and interior design professions and who values Republic (https://www.atheistrepublic.com/) and the companionship of well-behaved canines.” Secular Jihadists for Muslim Enlightenment The HSSB Secular Circular – January 2020 3 The first statement is used as efficient shorthand past 6 weeks, several so that they could attend for the second statement but runs the risk, upon this special “members-only” event. frequent repetition, of having the speaker conflate what they have, what they do, what they The Voices of Reason choir was profiled on LA’s think, and what they value with who they are… KPCC 89.3 NPR radio on December 20, the day and may obscure the freedom we have to before our party. The Take 2 program interview explore, discover, think, and do other things starts at 32:35 and ends at 38:58 at the following (setting aside the arguments around free-will… link: KPCC Voices of Reason Interview. we are not going there this month!!!). HSSB Winter Solstice Party! Voices of Reason Choir – 12-21-19 By Judy Flattery Approximately 75 people attended the HSSB Winter Solstice Party held at Mulligan’s Café. Strong demand had the party planners, Anne H Rojas & Nan Cisney, scrambling to fit more diners into the reserved room. It was a tight fit (with space for the restaurant’s large Christmas tree and performance area for the choir), but worth it to allow more HSSB members to attend. This year’s attendance was about double last year’s party and at least triple the typical Josette & Lou enjoying the party. Photo by Russell Orrell. attendance of our monthly after-meeting dinners. The interviewer actually reported on air that VoR was to perform at the Humanist Society of A big draw for this year’s party was our Santa Barbara the following night. How great to entertainment, L.A.’s Voices of Reason (VoR) an get a favorable mention on the #3 public radio a capella atheist choir. They are the ONLY news station in the United States! atheist choir in the U.S. and one of only three in the world. Eighteen people joined HSSB over the Discovering the VoR choir was quite serendipitous. My husband, Dave, and I were visiting relatives in Orange County last June. I was listening to secular Youtube videos and ran across a talk by Dan Barker, ex-evangelical preacher, author of Godless, and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The video led me to do an on-line search which landed me on a page announcing that Dan Barker (also a composer and pianist) would be performing at the Heretic House in Los Angeles the next day accompanied by the Voices of Reason choir… HERETIC HOUSE?? VOICES OF Voices of Reason Choir performed at HSSB Winter REASON CHOIR?? TOMORROW IN L.A. JUST OFF Solstice Party. Back row: Don, Al, Kate, Amanda, Jennifer, 101 ON OUR WAY HOME?? We have to go! kt, Yari. Front Row: Samwise, Jenny, Erin, Christine. Not pictured: Kelly. Photo by Russell Orrell. The HSSB Secular Circular – January 2020 4 We found Heretic House, attended the concert, and were thoroughly charmed. We decided to bring the VoR to Santa Barbara to share with our society. Choir Members head down the cliff to check out the cottage converted from a look-out bunker formerly used to watch for WWII Japanese submarines, arguably the most historically interesting accommodation offered up by our generous members. Photo by Heather Brodhead. Heretic House in Angelino Heights, Los Angeles.. Voices of Reason Song Lyrics HSSB typically has a single speaker so At our Solstice Party, the choir sang two sets of economically hosting a group of 12 singers with 4 songs each: one set before dinner and the 4 partners was quite a challenge. Several HSSB second at the end of the evening. members generously offered up lodging in their homes to host choir members and a few of their Several HSSB members asked for a copy of the guests. choir’s song lyrics. The lyrics are reprinted below along with links to the original songs so readers can hear the melodies. Evolution (Sung to the tune of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”) Hallelujah Chorus Video Evolution, evolution, evolution, evolution... Nature brings gradual readjustments Adaptations and adjustments Only the strong survive—the weak die out and those that last are known as the fittest Choir practice at board member Clover’s home. Photo by Heather Brodhead. Natural selection These member-hosts were treated to Survival of the fittest impromptu in-home concerts, great Earth is old: it’s billions and billions conversation, and the company of several new As Darwin told: survival of the fittest and interesting friends.