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March April 2012 FS Newsletter

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March April 2012 FS Newsletter March/April 2012 Volume 3, Number 2 Last Call for the 2012 Reason Rally The Freethought News by Margaret Downey is delivered as an ezine The 2012 Reason Rally is taking place on Saturday , March 24 , 2012 from 10:00 AM newsletter only and is until dusk . This will be the last Freethought Society (FS) newsletter to highlight the complimentary to supporters, event. There are exciting last minute details to convey and there are many additions to donors and like-minded the program. More speakers and entertainers were recently added to the roster. The individuals. additional celebrities are Adam Savage , Tim Minchin , Eddie Izzard , Paul Provenza and Shelley Segal . You can still view the promotional video I filmed in October 2011 at: To subscribe email to: [email protected] www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrBbFZVUOLo A limited number of hard copies The Reason Rally Board (of which I am a member representing FS) has worked very are produced for meetings hard to bring together entertainers and speakers for a spectacular event, scheduled to take and special events. place on the Mall in Washington, DC. The Washington Mall is a big place, but you will th th The newsletter is published by the not miss the stage and Reason Rally tents located between 11 and 14 Streets, between Madison Drive North West and Jefferson Drive South West. If using the Metro, take the Freethought Society (FS) and th offers information written Smithsonian stop and exit towards the Washington Mall (12 Street at Jefferson Drive). specifically for the To prepare for the festivities, attendees are encouraged to visit the Reason Rally nontheist community. website to pre-order special event clothing (hat, T-shirt and hoodie). The merchandise Articles in this newsletter, will be either mailed directly to you or you can pick up at the site. There are other offers however, do not necessarily available at the site to make your Reason Rally experience more enjoyable. VIP seating represent the opinions is being offered at various levels. Pricing for reserved seating varies from $500 to of the FS Board of Directors. $5,000. Visit this link to make a reservation: www.reasonrallystore.org/ There are still hotel rooms available in the area, and many national groups (American Attention writers! Humanist Association, American Atheists, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Center Interesting articles about For Inquiry, etc.) have arranged to host pre-event parties, banquets and social get- freethought issues are welcomed. togethers. A “Lobby Day for Reason” has been planned for Friday , March 23 , 2012 and will be sponsored by the Secular Coalition for America. Description of the planned Submissions will be reviewed and complementary events can be found at: http://reasonrally.org/complementary-events/ approved for publication This is the last call for bus reservations to and from the Reason Rally. If you have not by the FS Editorial Board. made a reservation for this inexpensive and fun way to participate in the Reason Rally, Article word count maximum is please visit the following link as soon as possible: http://reasonrally.org/travel/ 5,000. If a Reason Rally bus stop on the list does not include at least 40 reservations, buses Please submit articles with a bio will be combined and the stop locations will change. Please ask your friends to join you and photo, a suggested title, and on this fun-filled bus trip to Washington, DC. Some Reason Rally bus captains are relevant photos/clip art to: hosting games and will show movies during the trip. Please plan to stop by the FS table located in the Reason Rally sponsors’ tent. A [email protected] jumbo screen will be located in the sponsors’ tent and FS will be hosting Mike Newdow Donation and financial support as a special guest. Newdow will chat with supporters throughout the day. I will be information is located on the last staffing the FS table along with board members Glen Loev , Greg White , Javier Pazos . page of this newsletter. Thanks to a generous donation from comedian/filmmaker Troy Conrad , FS will be able to give a DVD, The Comedy Jesus Show , to the first 100 people who sign up as FS is an educational supporters during the Reason Rally. Follow Conrad on Twitter @troyconrad. To order a nonprofit organization. Comedy Jesus DVD visit: (EIN Number 23-2738574) www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7969702 ity to sit up straight and act as though I was paying attention How I Became an Atheist to the sermon even as my thoughts were a million miles by Bob HuDock away. I have found this to be an extremely useful skill in adult life. Although I chafed under this nonsense, my parents, and My parents were both lifelong devoted Catholics. They had my mother in particular, made it quite clear that until I was four children and raised all of us to be devout little Catholics old enough to leave home and live on my own, I would have from infancy. I was the eldest. Although we were not sent to to go to church every Sunday and go to CCD every week. Catholic school, my siblings and I were all required to attend Naturally, when it came time to choose a college I made sure religious instruction known as CCD (Confraternity of to pick a campus located in a distant state, far from parental Christian Doctrine) for an hour a week from 1 st grade all the guidance. That was well over 30 years ago, and I can count way through 12 th grade. This is what all good Catholic on one hand the number of times I have attended mass of my children were expected to do. I eagerly complied with the own volition since then. requirement to partake in the sacraments I was offered by the Eventually, I stopped going to communion when my Catholic Church. mother dragged me to church during my visits home for the In spite of the indoctrination I received as a child, there holidays, and later on I told her I was not interested in was always a part of me that didn’t quite buy it. A lot of the attending at all. Mom wasn’t very happy about this, but I was dogma didn’t make sense, or it was contradictory. I could see an adult by then and I saw no point in upholding the pretense this even as an elementary school child. any longer. For example, I was an avid reader, and on one library visit Even so, I hadn’t yet made a positive commitment to I brought home a children’s illustrated Bible. I read the Old atheism. What if I was wrong? What if all that scary stuff Testament stories of the prophets with great excitement — about burning in hellfire for all eternity was really true? this character called God, who was all powerful, actually Wouldn’t it be better to keep one foot in the “belief” camp, spoke to people and performed miracles! I was told that if just to be on the safe side? Where would I find an anchor in you believed in him, God would talk to you, too! Well, he this vast, uncaring universe if I let go of my last tenuous never talked to me, no matter how much I believed, so I belief in God? quickly realized it wasn’t true. I just drifted along year after year, like so many people do, When I was in sixth grade, the Vietnam War was in full with no interest in church, but with no compelling reason for swing. One day, a priest came to our catechism class to summoning the effort, or the courage, to cut the umbilical explain to us that, in spite of the biblical commandment cord that kept me tethered to the religious superstitions I had “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” it was OK to go to Vietnam to kill been force-fed throughout my childhood. communists. Why? Because “those people wanted to destroy Finally, a pair of crises arose in my life that forced me to our democratic way of life,” he explained. examine my conscience and decide once and for all which I didn’t find the priest’s explanation consistent, let alone side of the fence to come down on. One was extremely public reassuring. I realized that the church's absolute prohibition on and the other was very private. killing could be lifted anytime a priest gave the okay. Even at As New York City residents, my wife and I witnessed and a young age I felt a strong sense of disquiet that I was lived through the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. By the time expected to outsource my most the smoke had cleared and the smell profound moral decisions to a of burnt flesh dissipated, it was clear complete stranger. I wanted to think that the attacks were carried out for no for myself. other reason than religious hatred by There was also the dawning people who fervently believed they realization that no matter how hard or were doing God’s will. how often I prayed, no matter what I The other crisis was when my wife prayed for, no matter how many and I, in our 40’s at the time, were times my instructors insisted that God ready to have a baby. Of course my answers even the most trivial prayer, mother was thrilled at the prospect. my prayers never seemed to warrant Unfortunately, we were not successful an answer of any kind. I never got — try as we did.
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