| Past Events |
|---|
| When | Topic | Location |
| Sun. Sept. 26, 2004 |
Brainstorming luncheon with Sarah Oelberg at which a group of members of Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society decided to form a humanist discussion group. |
Restaurant |
| Mon. Oct. 25, 2004 6:30 pm |
Organizational meeting. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Nov. 21, 2004
noon |
A discussion of the history of humanism in America, particularly the humanist heritage of Unitarian Universalism as reviewed in a series of 3 sermons by Scott Prinster posted, at that time, on the First Unitarian Society web site. |
Prairie Meeting House |
| Sun. Jan. 16, 2005 noon - 1:30 pm |
Lunch and discussion of Humanism and Its Aspirations, Humanist Manifesto III, available online at http://www.americanhumanist.org/3/HumandItsAspirations.htm. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Wed. Feb. 23, 2005
7:30 - 8:30 pm |
The Conflict Between Darwinism and Religion - talk and discussion led by Galen Smith, following
Prairie's "Midweek Meal" potluck supper 6:30 - 7:30 pm. (Our February meeting, a bit belatedly, honors Darwin Day) |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sat. March 12, 2005
|
By email vote we settled on the name Humanist Union of Madison for our group. |
|
Sun. March 20, 2005
noon-1:30 pm |
Lunch and discussion of Dominionism in American Politics led by Doleta Chapru. See Theocracy Watch for information on this topic. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. April 3, 2005
noon-1:30 pm |
Lunch and discussion on Ethical Culture: An Overview led by Bridget and Thomas Doxtater, who were members of the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago before moving to Wisconsin. They have provided an outline of their presentation. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. May 8, 2005
noon-1:30 pm |
Lunch and discussion of skepticism led by Susan Hagstrom. Two magazines, Skeptic published on the west coast and Skeptical Inquirer published on the east coast, were referred to. Susan provided general
information on skepticism from the point of view of the West Coast skeptic methods, dealing with the 5 points of good skepticism brought up by Robert Todd Carroll, the author of the Skeptic's dictionary, handed out of a
list of her favorite fallacies in argumentative styles, and said a bit about the 6 or 7
national skeptics conventions she has attended.
We also voted to affiliate with the American Humanist Association. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. May 29, 2005
10:30 am |
HUM was invited to join the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago at their annual Memorial Day weekend at Lake Geneva. Six of us (5 adults and a 1½ year old) drove down on Sunday morning in time for their 10:30 am platform program and stayed for lunch and other activities until mid-afternoon. Read the invitation from Thomas Hoeppner. |
Conference Point Center, Williams Bay WI, on Lake Geneva |
Sun. July 17, 2005
noon |
Lunch with Rev. Sarah Oelberg (humanist UU minister who was instrumental in the founding of our group last fall) at a Madison restaurant. This followed the 10 am Sunday morning program at Prairie UU Society where she spoke on the topic "Spirituality Without God". |
Met at Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. July 31, 2005
during lunch |
We shared a picnic table [photo] on the grounds of Park Hall in Sauk City, home of the UU affiliated Free Congregation of Sauk County, during the potluck lunch following the 5-congregation annual summer gathering of area UU churches hosted by the Sauk City congregation. We had an open discussion and met some new humanists. |
Park Hall, 307 Polk St., Sauk City WI |
Sat. Sept. 17, 2005
4:30-5:30 pm |
What's up with the Unitarian Universalist Infidels? Bob Park lead this discussion which was attended by about a dozen Prairie people, including some who have not been involved in previous Humanist Union discussions. We talked about the Unitarian Universalist Infidels mission statement, their presentations at the last two UUA General Assemblies, and their effort to provide a voice for UU atheists, agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers and secular humanists who are feeling increasingly marginalized within UU congregations that have moved theologically to the right. |
Prairie UU Society annual retreat at Bethel Horizons |
Fri. Sept. 23, 2005
4 - 5 pm |
It was not a Humanist Union event, but several Humanist Union participants joined an overflow crowd of about 250 to hear a talk by Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Edward Larson on From Scopes to Intelligent Design,
A Brief History of the Evolution/Creation Teaching Controversy. [poster]†
|
Rm 325-326 at the UW Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St. |
Sun. Oct. 9, 2005
noon-1:30 pm |
Lunch and discussion - Reviewing Our First Year. We shared highlights from the Humanist Union's first year of monthly discussions (listed above) and collected ideas for future meetings. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Nov. 6, 2005
noon-1:30 pm |
Lunch and discussion on Building an Ethical Society (or Whatever Happened to the Enlightenment) led by JoAnn and Thomas Hoeppner, leaders of the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago. The free-ranging discussion was attended by 22 adults and 2 two-year olds. Several of those attending had been involved this year in monthly discussions in the Madison Ethical Discussion Group of the Eight Commitments of Ethical Culture. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Fri. Dec. 23, 2005
6-9:30 pm |
 HumanLight celebration, cosponsored with the Doubters Group of First Unitarian Soc., and including a potluck, singing, a mug exchange, and more. [Details] [Poster (PDF)] |
First Unitarian Society Lower Meeting House
900 University Bay Dr |
Sun. Jan. 29, 2006
noon - 1:30 pm |
Tom Paine's AGE OF REASON Today (on his birthday) led by Warren Hagstrom. (Age of Reason
is available online at http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/.) We shared a light lunch, with the presentation and discussion starting about 12:15 pm. |
Prairie Meeting House
|
Sun. Feb. 12, 2006
noon - 2 pm |
 Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design: A Historical Perspective, presented by UW Prof. Ronald Numbers, author of Darwinism Comes to America, Harvard University Press, 1998, starting with lunch at noon, presentation starting at 12:20 pm. Our Darwin Day (Darwin's birthday) program was attended by 23 of us. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. March 19, 2006
noon - 1:30 pm |
 Mark Twain on Religion was Marcia Johnson and Al Nettleton's topic. As usual we started with lunch at noon, with their presentation starting about 12:20 pm. They read selections from Letters From the Earth and other books. Marcia provided the dozen in attendance with printouts of Twain's quotes on religion from http://twainquotes.com/religion.html. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. April 16, 2006
7 - 9 pm |
 Benefit Concert & Painting Display -
Los Angeles artist and musician Joel Pelletier stopped in Madison to entertain us with his music and inform us with his mural-sized 8'x14' traveling painting titled American Fundamentalists (Christ's Entry into Washington in 2008) which can be seen at http://www.americanfundamentalists.com/. Joel says his work warns of the "dangers of loss of separation of church and state in American". Local musician Maggie "Catfish" Siegfried took the first set (guitar and vocals), Joel talked about his painting and "American Fundamentalism and the Threat to Democracy and Freedom of Faith", and Joel performed the closing set (guitar, vocals, piano). [press release] [poster] [more] |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. April 30, 2006
noon - 1:30 pm |
 Barbara Park reported on Rabbi Michael Lerner's new book, The Left Hand of God, and on his April 22nd Keynote Address in Madison on Taking Our Country Back From the Religious Right. |
Prairie Meeting House |
May 21, 2006
noon - 1:30 pm |
 A potluck picnic at noon was followed by Bob Park leading a discussion on the International Humanist and Ethical Union with a presentation titled IHEU, Voice for Humanist Values at the UN and Around the World for 50 Years. This followed a 10 am Sunday morning Free Forum at the Free Congregation of Sauk County on Ethical Culture, presented by Bridget and Thomas Doxtater, leaders of the Ethical Circle of Sauk County. Bob used the book International Humanist and Ethical Union 1952-2002 - Past, present and future, which had just been made available online. Excerpts from the book and the IHEU Web site are available as a 19 page Word document. [photo] |
FCSC's Park Hall
307 Polk St
Sauk City |
June 25, 2006
5 - 7 pm | Beth Wortzel and Midge Miller provided a first hand report on the Spiritual Activism Conference which took place May 17-20 at All Souls Church, Unitarian, in Washington DC. (See http://www.tikkun.org/community/spiritual_activism_conference/ for preconference details and Rabbi Lerner's report for his long May 22 email message about the conference.) The meeting was cosponsored by the Humanist Union, the Program Committee of Prairie UU Society, and the Madison Ethical Discussion Group (MEDG). The evening started with a Prairie UU Society/HUM/MEDG potluck with Midge and Beth at 5 pm, followed about 5:45 pm by Beth's conference report, Midge's broader comments, and open discussion. An audio tape recording* of this meeting is available, and it is also available here as a 66 MB MP3 file. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Fri. July 21, 2006
7 pm | A group of us went to see Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. |
Westgate Cinemas, Westgate Mall on Whitney Way |
Sun. July 23, 2006
noon - 1:30 pm | Doleta Chapru led a discussion on Kevin Phillips' book American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. (See http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00296.htm for Penguin Books press release on the book.) |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Aug 27, 2006
noon - 1:30 pm | Following a potluck lunch Warren Hagstrom led a discussion on Public Attitudes Toward Atheists and Effective Responses, using research done at the University of Minnesota as published in the April 2006 issue of American Sociologial Review in an article entitled Atheists As "Other":
Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American Society. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sat. Sept 16, 2006
4:30 - 6 pm |  We viewed and discussed the 1 hour DVD The God Who Wasn't There at Prairie UU Society's annual retreat. See http://thegodmovie.com for more on the movie. |
Prairie UU Society annual retreat at Bethel Horizons |
Sun. Oct. 22, 2006
5 - 7 pm |  Prof. Denis Collins spoke to an evening potluck supper gathering on his new book, "Behaving Badly: Ethical Lessons from Enron." Prof. Collins is an award-winning author and teacher. He is Professor of
Business at Edgewood College in Madison, where he is responsible for Social Responsibility and Business Ethics--components in the school's Business Programs. The meeting was jointly sponsored by the Humanist Union and the Madison Ethical Discussion Group. |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Nov. 19, 2006
noon-1:30 pm |  The Thought and Writing of Sam Harris, presented by Barbara Park and Randy Converse. Barbara talked about The End of Faith. We started off by listening to Holly Near's song I Ain't Afraid (which she sang at her Oct. 29 concert in Madison). Randy talked about Harris' contribution to Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place. Reference was also made to Harris' new book, Letter to A Christian Nation. Twenty people attended, and we had a lively discussion. An audio tape recording* of this meeting is available, and side 1 and side 2 of the tape are available here as MP3 files. [By and about Sam Harris - read or listen] |
Prairie Meeting House |
Dec. 4, 2006
7 - 8 pm | Discussion of Values and the Golden Rule on WORT's community radio Access Hour by a panel including Bob Park of the Humanist Union, Rev. Charles Wolfe of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ,
Amir & Imam Salih Erschen of the Madison Muslim Dawa Circle, and (via phone hookup) Rabbi Shais Taub of Lubavitch of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Rev. Prakash Shakti of the Integral Yoga Institute, Buckingham VA. An audio tape recording* of this program is available, or you can listen to it online here (52 MB MP3).†
|
WORT, 89.9 FM
Madison |
Sun. Dec. 17, 2006
12:30 - 2:30 pm | HumanLight celebration. We had a potluck luncheon, group singing of humanist-friendly songs, a poem reading and conversation for humanists in the greater Madison area and their families and friends. 21 attended. Here is the song book we used (PDF).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Jan. 28, 2007
noon-1:30 pm
| The Faith Healers, presented by Susan Hagstrom. As usual, we started with a potluck lunch at noon. Then starting about 12:20 pm, Susan described a number of the techniques used by faith healers, and how James Randi and his colleagues uncovered their frauds. [resources]
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sat. Feb 10, 2007
9 am - noon |
UW-Madison's Second Annual Darwin Day - talks by Janette Boughman (Zoology), Elliott Sober
(Philosophy), Bret Payseur (Genetics), and Michael Muehlenbein (Anthropology, UW Milwaukee). [details] [poster]†
|
UW Humanities Building, room 3650 |
Sun. Feb. 18, 2007
noon-1:30 pm
| We discussed Darwin and evolution with UU minister Ralph Tyksinski and wildlife biologist Kathy Converse. This followed the 10 am Sunday morning program at the Prairie Meeting House at which Rev. Ralph's topic was Honoring Darwin. Besides followup discussion on the morning presentation we heard a preview of the 3 Sunday programs on evolution Kathy is planning for Sunday mornings at Prairie in March to May.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Wed., March 14, 2007
7 - 8:15 pm
|  The Making of the Fittest : What the DNA Record Reveals About Evolution
by Genetics Professor Sean Carroll. Very recently, an important new aspect of DNA has been revealed: it contains a detailed record of evolution. That is, DNA is a chronicle of how the creatures that inhabit our planet have adapted to its many environments. Four of us from HUM attended this fascinating illustrated presentation and heard Prof. Carroll discuss this new DNA record and how it enables us to see how the fittest are made.† |
Rm 1360 Biotechnology Center,
425 Henry Mall,
UW-Madison |
Thurs., March 15, 2007
7 pm
|  The Humanist Union sponsored a viewing and discussion of the film Jesus Camp, using Prairie's projector and movie screen in the main meeting room. The event was free and open to the public, and attracted 8 students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a dozen previous HUM participants. We had a lively discussion following the film. (See http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/ for information on the movie.)
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., April 1, 2007
noon-1:30 pm
|  Galen Smith led a discussion on Naturalism, a Science-based Alternative to Faith-based Religions. See the Tenets of Naturalism, especially paragraph 2. The program is available as a 77 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., May 6, 2007
noon-1:30 pm
| Randy Converse led a discussion on ideas from a monograph by his brother Steven titled Free Enough: Doing What Comes Naturally. (There is a link to the full 90 page document on the middle of the page at http://naturalism.org/.) Potluck lunch at noon, presentation about 12:20 pm.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., June 3, 2007
noon-1:30 pm
|  Andy Somers followed up on his series of Sunday morning programs on propaganda at Prairie UU Society by leading a discussion on RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA: How to recognize and deal with it. Potluck lunch at noon, presentation 12:20 - 1:30 pm. The program is available as a 78 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., July 29, 2007
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch and discussion of Marilyn Westfall's June 9, 2007 presentation to the American Humanist Association's annual conference titled Humanism and UUism: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, led by Barbara Park, who attended two humanist events at the UUA General Assembly in Portland in June that had to turn people away because the rooms were filled to capacity. The presentation to the AHA is available online.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., Aug. 19, 2007
11:45 am - 2 pm
|  Potluck lunch at 11:45, 12:30 viewing and discussion of first hour of BBC TV series "A Brief History of Disbelief", written and narrated by English author, director and commentator Jonathan Miller. An extended version of an interview of Miller in the current issue of The Humanist magazine is avialable online.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., Sept. 2, 2007
3 pm
| Informal discussion of church/state issues.
|
Home of Ruth Calden, 4606 Waukesha St, Madison |
Sun., Sept. 9, 2007
noon - 1:30 pm | Potluck lunch at noon, 12:20 pm report on the Aug. 9-12 Skeptic's Toolbox 2007 workshop in Eugene, OR on Changing Minds, led by Susan Hagstrom.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Fri., Sept. 14, 2007
9 - 10:30 pm | Viewing and discussion of second hour of BBC TV series "A Brief History of Disbelief", written and narrated by English author, director and commentator Jonathan Miller.
|
Bethel Horizons Nature Center near Dodgeville |
Fri. Oct. 12, 2007
5 - 6:50 pm |  Dinner with Matthew LaClair, 17 year old speaker at the Freedom From Religion Foundation 2007 - 30th Annual Convention and recipient of their "Thomas Jefferson Student Activist" award. Matthew made New York Times headlines by exposing classroom proselytizing in his public school. (The New York Times article is available online.) The event was organized by the Humanist Union and Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics at UW-Madison. Seven of us joined Matthew and his father Paul for a very stimulating discussion over pizza. You can listen to this remarkable young man on a Free Thought Radio archive and hear one of his recordings of his teacher in class. [Event photos]
|
Ian's Pizza
115 State St |
Sun., Oct. 14, 2007
noon - 1:30 pm
|  Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm presentation by Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the Secular Coalition for America - A Place at the Table: How the Nation's First Lobbyist for Non-theists is Enjoying the Feast. A September interview of Lori is available online. 28 of us attended the program. [more] The program was broadcast on WIDE-LP, 99.1, low power FM radio in Madison, at 10 am the following day, and is available as a 57 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended). [Event photos]
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Mon., Oct. 15, 2007
10 am | Humanism Today, a series of programs from either the Humanist Union of Madison or Humanist Network News. This was our first broadcast of a Humanist Union program, our program with Lori Lipman Brown which had taken place the afternoon before. The program can be heard by listening to the MP3 file linked to from the Oct. 14, 2007 program listing above.
(WIDE-LP ended two weeks of test broadcasting on Oct. 20. Broadcasting will resume when needed hardware is obtained. Programs planned for the Wider Horizons hour, which will include Humanism Today, are posted at http://madisonwi.us/WIDE-LP/MP3s/.)
|
WIDE-LP 99.1 FM |
Sun., Nov. 4, 2007
noon - 1:30 pm
|  
Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm presentation by Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation on Losing Faith in Faith. The program is available as a 53 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., Nov. 18, 2007
7 pm
| Viewing and discussion of third and final hour of BBC TV series "A Brief History of Disbelief", written and narrated by English author, director and commentator Jonathan Miller.
|
Home of Kathy and Randy Converse, 630 Pickford St. |
Sun., Dec. 9, 2007
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon, 12:20 pm presentation on Humanism's Contemporary Challengers: Who controls our public image?
Doleta Chapru reviewed contemporary groups and individuals who specifically define humanists as enemies to be loathed and feared, giving us a number of direct quotations. She also provided examples of writers whose recent books are supportive of humanism. The program is available here as a 60 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., Jan. 6, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon followed by presentation on Protecting Freedom of Speech in an Electronic Age. Some 24 of us heard Al Nettleton describe some of the threats and identify the major organizations working to protect the free exchange of ideas.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., Feb. 3, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
|  Potluck lunch at noon, 12:20 pm presentation on The Dalits' Struggle for Human Rights by John Eligandi, who worked for People's Action for Rural Awakening in Andhra Pradesh, India, from 2003 to 2005. The program is available here as a 57 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended). [background article]
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sat., Feb. 9, 2008
9 am - 4 pm
|  Several Humanist Union participants attended Darwin Day 2008 at the UW-Madison, with Neil Shubin and others. Two of the talks are available to listen to online: Neil Shubin: Discovering how Fish Evolved to Walk: The Story of Tiktaalik (54 MB MP3) and Don Waller: Reshaping the Tree of Life: Human impacts on the future of evolution (53 MB MP3). [press release]†
|
UW campus |
Sun., March 2, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon, discussion starting 12:30 pm led by Prof. Tom Givnish - More about evolution of life on islands, an informal discussion with Tom Givnish. The program is available here as a 54 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., April 6, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm discussion on Richard Dawkins, the Man and his Message, following his March 11 talk on campus, led by Alfred Christiansen and Christina Klock. [Read about Dawkins]
|
Prairie Meeting House |
| April 17 - 18, 2008 | 7th Annual International Bioethics Forum: Evolution in the 21st Century, cost $75.†
|
BioPharmaceutical Technology Center |
Fri., April 18, 2008
6 pm
|  Eugenie Scott joined an informal panel of Humanist Union folks for a Q&A session which was recorded for broadcast on WIDE-LP. Dr. Scott was in Madison for the 7th Annual International Bioethics Forum. She is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). After a potluck supper we spent a fascinating hour and a half plus hearing about her role in organizing fellow faculty members at the University of Kentucky to testify (successfully) against a proposal before the Lexington school board to start teaching creationism in the public schools in 1980, about the subsequent formation of the NCSE and its role in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case in Pennsylvania in 2005, about the Peabody Award winning PBS NOVA documentary on that case, about the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and the deceptive description of the project given by the movie makers when they asked her, Richard Dawkins and others to be interviewed for it, about Science Debate 2008, and about Project Steve. Hear a brief audio clip of Dr. Scott on the NOVA web site. The first 1-1/2 hr. of the Q&A session is available here as an 83 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Barb & Bob Park's house |
Sun., May 11, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm Evolution in the 21st Century: Forum Report by Kathy Converse and Christina Klock, reporting on the 7th Annual International Bioethics Forum which they attended April 17-18. The program is available here as a 58 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., June 1, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
|  We had a potluck lunch at noon and a 12:30 pm presentation by Skip Evans on Americans United for Separation of Church and State, followed by discussion. Skip is the former president of the Atlanta Chapter of Americans United and interim president of the reactivated Wisconsin chapter. Humanist Union participants were joined by members of the AU-Wis. Chapter, bringing attendance to about 30.
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., July 13, 2008
10 am
| Religious Convictions: Reflections on Faith Healing, Children, and the Law was the Sunday morning program topic at Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society, presented by Shawn F. Peters. His talk is available here as a 24 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online.†
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., July 13, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
|  Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm discussion led by Shawn F. Peters of UW-Madison on Faith Healing, Children, and the Law. The program is available here as a 57 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended). [See his recent book] [Religion News Service interview]
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun., Aug. 3, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm discussion led by humanist UU minister Sarah Oelberg, who reported on the decline of the HUUmanists within the UUA, the New Humanism Conference hosted by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard in April 2007, and the World Humanist Congress 2008 in Washington DC in June sponsored by the IHEU. The program is available here as a 51 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Sept. 14, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30 pm panel on What it means to be a humanist. Bob Park, Doleta Chapru and Galen Smith gave their personal perspectives, followed by open discussion. 16 of us attended. The program is available here as a 59 MB MP3 file which you can download or listen to online (high speed connection recommended).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Oct. 5, 2008
noon - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at noon. After 12:30 pm we heard from Ron Solomon, a vice president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, about Humanist Thought and Action in the U.S. and abroad. We talked about what we might address in a study group on ethical humanism and ethical culture. Hear the program here (57 MB MP3 file, 61 min. long).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Nov. 2, 2008
11:45 am - 1:30 pm
| Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion on Politics and Religion: In Reason We Trust led by Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and co-host of Freethought Radio on Air America. Hear the program here (67 MB MP3 file, 73 min. long).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sat. Dec. 13, 2008
6 to 9 pm
|  For our December meeting, the Humanist Union hosted a HumanLight celebration again this year, with candles, music and food (potluck). Also, this year, participants brought favorite quotations from the books or speeches of Barack Obama to share.
About 200 of his speeches, from 2002 to 2008, are available online at http://www.barackobama.com/speeches/index.php. Of particular interest to humanists, at http://www.barackobama.com/issues/faith/ there is a link to a June 2006 speech by Obama which the Washington Post says "may be the most important pronouncement by a Democrat on faith and politics since John F. Kennedy's Houston speech in 1960 declaring his independence from the Vatican". |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Jan. 18, 2009
2 pm | 
Outing to Bartell's Drury Theatre to see a matinée performance of Blasphemy: An Unholy Trinity of Musicals by Catherine Capellaro. (See www.walmartopia.com/blasphemy). They were wonderful performances. |
Bartell's Drury Theatre
113 E. Mifflin Street |
Sun. Feb. 1, 2009
10 am
| In honor of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, a presentation by Dr. Jane Shoup on Darwin and His Dangerous Idea. (You can hear the talk here (40 MB MP3 file, 44 min. long), and a transcript is also available.)†
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Feb. 1, 2009
noon - 1:30 pm
|  Potluck lunch at noon, 12:30-1:30 pm Darwin Day Discussion led by Dr. Jane Shoup, who briefly traced the more noteworthy court cases surrounding evolution and creationism (Scopes Trial through Kitzmiller v. Dover). The 23 of us present had a lively discussion on population growth and our planet's limited resources. Hear the program here (63 MB MP3 file, 69 min. long).
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sat. Feb. 7, 2009
9 am - 4:30 pm | Darwin Day 2009, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, featured talks by Sean Carroll, Patricia McConnell and Jeremy Jackson; a panel presentation by James Crow, Jeremy Jackson and Molly Jahn; and other events on the UW campus as listed on the schedule. Recordings of several of the talks are available online.†
|
UW Microbial Sciences Building [directions] |
Sun. Feb. 8, 2009
12:45 pm | First monthly meeting of study group on Ethical Humanism as a Religious Approach, led by Ron Solomon, had 15 participants. See the outline of proposed topics. The discussion started at 12:45, but most of us started with a potluck lunch at noon.†
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Feb. 8, 2009
3 - 5 pm
| Madison Skeptics heard about and discussed the Kitzmiller v. Dover case. (See http://skeptics.madisonwi.us/ and http://www.meetup.com/madisonskeptics/.)†
|
Claddagh Irish Pub, Middleton
|
Sun. March 1, 2009
12:45 pm | Second monthly meeting of study group on Ethical Humanism as a Religious Approach, led by Ron Solomon. See the outline of proposed topics. At our first meeting Ron handed out these 3 pages on Deed Before Creed: P1, P2, P3; and these 4 pages on Religion the Humanist Way: P4, P5, P6, P7 (small PDF files). Discussion starts at 12:45, potluck lunch at noon. (No Humanist Union meeting this month. Many of us are participating in this study group.)†
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. April 5, 2009
12:45 pm | Third monthly meeting of study group on Ethical Humanism as a Religious Approach, led by Ron Solomon. See the study materials online. The discussion started at 12:45, with a noon potluck lunch. (No Humanist Union meeting this month. Many of participated in this study group meeting.)†
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. May 3, 2009
3 pm |  Madison Skeptics and the Humanist Union had a joint meeting to hear a presentation by Prof. Ronald Numbers on Anti-Evolutionism in America: From Creation Science to Intelligent Design. About 35 attended. Hear the program here (83 MB MP3 file, 1 hr. 31 min. long). |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. May 17, 2009
12:45 pm | Fourth monthly meeting of study group on Ethical Humanism as a Religious Approach, led by Ron Solomon. See the study materials online. Discussion at 12:45, potluck lunch at noon. (The study group will not meet in June.)†
|
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. May 24, 2009
depart Prairie 9 am | Humanist Union trip to Sauk City to hear Speaker Andrew Kerr of the Free Congregation of Sauk County address Exploring Secular Humanism: Is It A Religion?. Rides to and from Sauk City were provided. |
Park Hall, 307 Polk Street, Sauk City |
Sun. May 31, 2009
fair weather start time: noon |  "Nonbelievers of Greater Madison Spring Family Picnic" sponsored by the Humanist Union, the Madison Brights and Madison Skeptics at Marlborough Park. See http://nonbelievers.madisonwi.us/ for event photos.
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Marlborough Park
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Fri. June 19, 2009
5:30 - 7:30 pm |  Potluck supper at 5:30, speaker and discussion 6:15 - 7:30 pm on The Atheist Alliance International (AAI). Our speaker was August Berkshire, VP of AAI, making his final stop on the multi-state tour outlined here. This was a joint meeting with the Madison Brights. Listen to the program here (63 MB MP3 file, 69 min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. July 5, 2009
11:45 am - 1:30 pm |  Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion led by humanist UU minister Jane Esbensen, who is also a graduate of the Humanist Leadership Studies Program of The Humanist Institute in New York. Listen to the program here (54 MB MP3 file, 59 min. long). |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Aug. 2, 2009
11:30 am - 1:30 pm | Our program, on Growth strategies for free thinking groups: what works and doesn't work?, started a little after 12:30 pm. A panel of representatives from the local Madison Brights, Madison Skeptics and Firist Unitarian Society Doubters Group and the national American Ethical Union and International Humanist and Ethical Union shared their experiences to start things off. An open discussion followed which ran beyond 1:30 pm. (Our potluck lunch from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm was incorporated into a larger all-Prairie UU Society potluck.) Listen to the program here (70 MB MP3 file, 77 min. long). |
Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Sept. 6, 2009
noon - 4 pm |  Potluck late summer family picnic in Marlborough Park. The Humanist Union, the Madison Skeptics, and the Madison Brights cosponsored a picnic for all greater Madison area free thinkers, humanists, skeptics, nonbelievers, agnostics, atheists, and their friends and families. Some newcomers came after seeing a short article in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal with the headline "No God? No problem!" The article concluded "If an all-knowing, all-seeing, nonexistent deity rends the skies in anger and causes Biblical - in the historical and cultural sense only - amounts of rain to fall, the picnic will take place at the Prairie Meeting House, 2120 Whenona Drive." The weather was lovely. |
Marlborough Park |
Sat. Sept. 12, 2009
6 pm | 
The Humanist Union, Madison Skeptics, and Madison Brights met to socialize over wine, cheese, cookies and other snacks with Sean Faircloth, the new
Executive Director of the
Secular Coalition for America. The evening's schedule was:
| 6:00 pm | Reception |
| 6:30 pm | Presentation |
| 7:15 pm | Questions and Answers |
| 7:45 pm | More socializing |
Sean's presentation was on One Nation Under the Constitution. Listen to the program here (69 MB MP3 file, 76 min. long) and see photos here. For more about Sean see http://www.secular.org/bios/Sean_Faircloth.html.
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Sept. 20, 2009
2 - 3:30 pm |
The Madison Skeptics hosted Dr. James Conway, Assoc. Prof. - Pediatric Infectious Disease, School of Medicine and Public Health at the UW-Madison. Dr. Conway talked about vaccination issues. Listen to the program here (96 MB MP3 file, 1 hr 45 min. long). Following the meeting, the Skeptics adjourned to the Hubbard Avenue Diner (just across the parking lot) for continued conversation and refreshment.
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Middleton Public Library
7425 Hubbard Ave |
Sun. Oct. 4, 2009
11:45 am - 1:30 pm |
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm presentation by Ron Solomon on the American Ethical Union's decision to join the Secular Coalition for American and how he came to be named treasurer of the latter organization.
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Prairie Meeting House
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Sat. Oct. 24, 2009
1 pm | 
Discussion led by Ron Solomon on the Secular Coalition for American and issues they are engaged with this year in their lobbying in Washington DC, at the Prairie UU Society fall retreat. Listen to the program here (45 MB MP3 file, 49 min. long).
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Pine Lake United Methodist Camp, Westfield WI |
Sun. Nov. 1, 2009
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, discussion 12:30 - 1:30 pm on issues raised by the insertion of religion into the health care debate in Washington, led by Julie Merrill-Quinn.
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Prairie Meeting House |
Wed. Nov. 4, 2009
7 pm | 
The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and the DNA Record of Evolution by Sean Carroll. This is lecture 3 in the 150th anniversary "On the Origin of Species" lecture series organized by the Darwin 150 Project. A number of Humanist Union participants attended. [flyer]
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UW Microbial Sciences Bldg 1220 |
Sun. Dec. 6, 2009
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm presentation and discussion on How We Decide: from Logic to Faith led by Richard Russell. Richard provided copies of the following four handouts: blue, orange, pink, and green. Listen to the program here (63 MB MP3 file, 69 min. long), and read Richard's related Capital Times opinion piece here.
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Dec. 6, 2009
1:30 - 2 pm | Humanist Union of Madison open house for Interfaith Awareness Week. Anyone planning to come just for the open house was encouraged to call the Meeting House between 11:30 and 12:30 Sunday at 271-8218.
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Dec. 13, 2009
2 pm | The Why Files: Science Magazine meets Mad Magazine. Madison writer David Tenenbaum spoke to the Madison Skeptics about his involvement with the WhyFiles and science writing. Listen to the program here (71 min.).†
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Middleton Public Library, 7425 Hubbard Ave |
Wed. Dec. 23, 2009
5:30 - 9 pm | 
Annual HumanLight celebration. See local event website for details. [flyer]
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Jan. 3, 2010
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm group discussion on Humanist review of 2009 news stories/program ideas for 2010. Listen to the program here (60 MB MP3 file, 66 min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
Mon. Jan. 25, 2010
5 pm | 
Charles Darwin Versus Himself: The Secret Life of a Reluctant Revolutionary by David Quammen. [flyer] (See "Darwin's First Clues" by Quammen in the Feb. 2009 National Geographic.)†
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UW Microbial Sci., Ebling Symposium Center |
Tue. Feb. 2, 2010
7:30 pm |  Ayaan Hirsi Ali: An Evening Lecture by the outspoken author of "Infidel". Due to security screening of those entering the theater, the lecture did not actually start until 8:30 pm. The line of those with tickets waiting to enter stretched the length of the Memorial Union and down the stairs adjacent to the parking lot. [photos]
[Event page on Facebook] Listen here to the lecture (49 MB MP3 file, 53 min. long) and most of the Q&A period (33 MB MP3 file, 36½ min. long) (back of the balcony recordings).†
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Wis. Union Theater |
Sun. Feb. 7, 2010
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm illustrated presentation for Darwin Day on Ardipithecus and human origins by Prof. John Hawks. (Click here for a National Geographic article on this 4.4 million year old human ancestor. For much more, see the series of articles available from Science magazine.) Listen to the program here (61 MB MP3 file, 67 min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
Mon. March 1, 2010
7:30 pm | 
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer - part of the UW Distinguished Lecture Series. [more] You can watch the lecture here.†
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UW Memorial Union Theater |
Sun. March 7, 2010
11:45 am - 1:30 pm |
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm presentation on Gay-Affirming Religious Groups: Good News for Human Rights by Doleta Chapru. Listen to the program here (44 MB MP3 file, 48 ½ min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. April 18, 2010
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch 11:45 am, discussion on The Human Heart of Humanism 12:30-1:30 pm led by Jane Esbensen, who shared the way she thinks about humanism and how it plays into her UU ministry. We also talked about how Sweden's experience in eliminating poverty might provide lessons that would be useful here. Listen to the program here (119 MB MP3 file, 87 min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House downstairs |
Sun. May 2, 2010
noon - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at noon, presentation at 12:30 pm on Secular Humanism: Is It a Religion? by Andrew Kerr, Speaker of the Free Congregation of Sauk County, followed by discussion until 1:30 pm. Listen to the program here (84 MB MP3 file, 61 min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. June 6, 2010
11:30 am - 1:30 pm | 
An all-Prairie potluck lunch at 11:30 am was followed about 12:40 pm by a photography slide show on The Capitol and the Moon, a Modern Stonehenge by John Rummel. We were impressed with the planning and photographic efforts over a period of more than 5 years that led to the photo of the moon and the capitol building, taken from 4 miles away across the lake, that is featured on the cover of the state's current Blue Book.
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Prairie Meeting House* |
Sun. June 20, 2010
noon - 3 pm |
Atheists and Agnostics of Wisconsin Summer Solstice Picnic potluck to which all Madison area freethinkers were invited. [more]† |
Henry Vilas Park, 702 S Randall Ave |
Mon. June 21, 2010
6 pm | 
Potluck supper and video for World Humanist Day. This was an informal gathering for our first celebration of this annual event. After supper we watched a film considered controversial by some on the religious right, Heart of the Beholder.
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. July 11, 2010
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 pm discussion of Good without God: Greg Epstein and the new humanism. Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University. Our discussion was led by Barbara Park, Doleta Chapru, and Bob Park, based on Epstein's 6/24/10 talk at the UUA General Assembly in Minneapolis and on his book Good without God. Listen to the program here (94 MB MP3 file, 68½ min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
Sun. Aug. 1, 2010
11:45 am - 1:30 pm | 
Potluck lunch at 11:45 am, 12:30 - 1:30 pm presentation: Documenting The Amaz!ng Meeting 2010: A photographic report by Ingrid Laas, who took photos at "The Amazing Meeting 8", held in Las Vegas July 8-11, 2010, with James Randi, Richard Dawkins, Paul Kurtz, Michael Shermer, D.J. Grothe, Sean Faircloth, and many others. These meetings are "a celebration of critical thinking and skepticism" sponsored by the James Randi Educational Foundation, with thinking people gathering annually "to share learning, laughs and life with fellow skeptics and distinguished guest speakers."
Listen to the program here (89 MB MP3 file, 65 min. long).
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Prairie Meeting House |
| † Events with a gray background were not sponsored by the Humanist Union of Madison but some of us attended.
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