The Secular
Enlightenment Vision – And What it Means For Us
Today
by Stuart Jordan
The American
Humanist Association Annual Conference
Bahia Resort Hotel
998 West Mission
Bay Drive
San Diego, CA
92109
Thursday, May 30,
2013, 2:00PM
The
talk will feature the thesis of the book (The
Enlightenment Vision - Science, Reason, and the
Promise of a Better Future)
that the broadly defined Enlightenment views on the
evolution to a more humane secular society is still
the right approach for the world today. So far,
this has led to some spectacular successes, such as
the creation of the democratic United States, many
advances in human rights, and some highly beneficial
technologies and medical achievements. At the same
time, the talk will note, reactionary
tendencies everywhere continue to hold back other
needed advances that, the author argues, will not be
achieved without better universal education and more
effort than is being exerted today.
Notwithstanding, the final prognosis is optimistic,
and reasons for this are given.
Lancaster Nonbelievers Meeting
Lancaster Nonbelievers and Toni Van
Pelt will be holding a conversation about
the state of Russian Secular Humanism today.
Isaac's
Granite Run Square,
Lancaster, PA
May 22, 2013
6:00-8:30 p.m.
Protecting Our Secular Democracy:
How You Can Influence The Process
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 1, 2013
PHILADELPHIA -- The Freethought Society (FS) is
pleased to announce secular and human rights
activist Toni Van Pelt speaking on “Affecting Public
Policy and Protecting our Secular Democracy: How it
Works and How You Can Influence the Process” at its
May 21, 2013 gathering.
Van Pelt is Public Policy Director for the Institute
for Science and Human Values (ISHV). As former vice
president of the Center for Inquiry and as a
congressional lobbyist, she organized and directed
one of the first public policy offices of the
secular humanist movement in Washington, D.C.
focusing on the importance of science, separation of
church and state, and women’s and LGBT rights. She
also serves on the board of the National
Organization for Women as the Southeast Regional
Director.
“We had great success, to the point where several
[congressional] members accepted our Science and
Reason award,” Van Pelt said, noting that humanism
had significant accomplishments petitioning Congress
over the last several years.
Van Pelt went on to say, “Nonetheless, scientific
thinking is being challenged culturally in the
United States as never before. One of the major
strengths of any lobbying effort lies in its
grassroots participation. There are a variety of
tactics that are useful and each is employed at
strategic times.”
Van Pelt’s presentation will take place at 7:00 PM,
on May 21, 2013 at the Ludington Library (5 South
Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania). The
presentation is free and open to the public. A
question and answer session will follow.
ISHV is a nonprofit organization founded by Paul
Kurtz that promotes scientific inquiry and critical
thinking in evaluating claims. It works to develop
values that are naturalistic and humanistic in
character and appropriate to the 21st century.
Religion is often at the root of society’s ethical
values, and ISHV endeavors to reevaluate them on
rational grounds. It has begun to enlist the
brightest scientists and scholars, and not just in
the United States but everywhere there are
Humanists. Its members are committed to better
developing the common moral virtues that we share as
human beings.
For more information, contact:
Margaret Downey
Freethought Society President
Phone: 610-357-9432
Email: Margaret@FtSociety.org
We are happy to announce Toni Van Pelt will be
attending the United Nations
57th Conference on the Commission on the Status of
Women
from March 4-8, 2013 as a member of the
Millennia2015 Official Delegation
And The Destree Institute of Belgium-active
contributors at the Millennia2015 - UNESCO
conference
-
MarciaCOHEN,
Attorney, Marcia S. Cohen, PA, St Petersburg -
United States, Paris - France
-
Leena-MaijaLAURÉN,
Development Manager, Finland Futures Research
Centre, Turku - Finland
-
IreneSULLIVAN,
Circuit Court Judge, retired, State of Florida, USA,
Pinellas Park - United States
-
ToniVAN PELT,
Public Policy Director, Institute for Science and
Human Values, Seminole - United States
Millennia2015 Think Tank Members present in NY:
-
KristieHOLMES,
PhD,
Associate Professor of social work, Union University
teaching and research, Jackson - United States,
representing Millennia2015 WeHealth
-
Lois A.HERMAN
,
Coordinator WUNRN / WUNRN - Women's UN Report
Network - Founder/Coordinator, WUNRN-Women's UN
Report Network, Italy + Minneapolis - United States
-
MarthaLLANOS, Dr, Honorary Professor, Women
University, International Consultant, Lima, Peru.
-
Dr.ErnaSURJADI Regional Adviser Gender,
Women and Health World Health Organization, PhD,
Director of YGH, Jakarta, Indonesia
The purpose of attending it to inform ISHV’s work on
equality of women.
Stuart Jordan, President of ISHV will
present
Title: Current State of
the Science, the Ethical Issues, and the Politics of
Climate Change
Place: "The British School of
Washington, DC," located in Georgetown
Date: Wednesday, January 23
Time: 1:50
through 3:30 pm
Abstract:
The Earth is warming and the climate is changing.
The evidence is so overwhelming that even people
known as "the climate contrarians" seldom deny it
today. Further, an enormous body of
evidence suggests that the harmful effects will, and
are, greatly outweighing the possible benefits.
Yet, thanks to a well funded lobbying campaign that
has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to
influence Congress, and in spite of an American
president who supports mitigating action, the
American government has done little to address this
major global problem. Given contemporary climate
science, some of which will be reviewed in this
talk, a strong case can be made that continuing
denial of the science and the consequences of
inaction are now unethical positions, when they are
advanced by people who argue for them to promote an
ideological agenda, as has now been exposed in a
number of cases. These are exactly the points that
former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and
climate scientist James Hansen have been making all
along. This situation will be discussed, along with
the near-term political prospects.
Excluding Women from and adding
Religion to the Florida Constitution
Presentation by Toni Van Pelt, Public Policy Director of the
Institute for Science and Human Values and Southeast Regional
Director for the National Organization for Women
Article 1 section
23 of the Florida Constitution states that "Every
natural person has the right to be let alone and free
from governmental intrusion into the person's private
life." Why does the Florida legislature want to
remove women from this very critical right?
As HJR 1179
made
its way through the state Legislature this
session, the bill was presented as a way to
restrict public funding of abortion — which
is already illegal and has been for three decades. The
bill morphed into Amendment 6 on the 2012 ballot titled
"Florida
Abortion". But one of the underplayed consequences is
that it would also roll back a constitutional privacy
right in the Florida Constitution, which currently
provides more protection for women than the U.S.
Constitution does.
Just as important to know
about is the Florida legislative 2012 ballot initiative:
Florida Religious Freedom, Amendment 8. Find out what
you can do to help educate Floridians on the dangers of
this amendment to our civil society. Amendment 8 is not
about "freedom;" it is about taxpayer funding of
religion.
Date:
Tuesday,
Sep 18th, 2012, 7-9pm
Sponsor:
Lake County NOW
Location: Chamber
of Commerce 341 Alexander Street, Mount Dora, 32757
Panel:
Edd Doerr, Stuart Jordan, Margeret Downey and Nathan
Bupp
Topic: In
a long and extraordinary career, Paul Kurtz has
distinguished himself as a major contributor to
secular humanism, critical thinking, ethics,
skepticism and American philosophy. Kurtz’s noble
life, as well as, numerous, seminal writings about
these topics are worth reflecting on. A panel of
people who know him well will be on hand to discuss
this and his effects to build a constructive secular
alternative to religion.
Excluding Women from the Florida Constitution
Presentation by Toni Van Pelt, Public Policy Director of the
Institute for Science and Human Values and Southeast Regional
Director for the National Organization for Women
Article 1 section
23 of the Florida Constitution states that "Every
natural person has the right to be let alone and free
from governmental intrusion into the person's private
life." Why does the Florida legislature want to
remove women from this very critical right?
As HJR 1179
made
its way through the state Legislature this
session, the bill was presented as a way to
restrict public funding of abortion — which
is already illegal and has been for three decades. The
bill morphed into Amendment 6 on the 2012 ballot titled
"Florida
Abortion". But one of the underplayed consequences is
that it would also roll back a constitutional privacy
right in the Florida Constitution, which currently
provides more protection for women than the U.S.
Constitution does.
Just as important to know
about is the Florida legislative 2012 ballot initiative:
Florida Religious Freedom, Amendment 8. Find out what
you can do to help educate Floridians on the dangers of
this amendment to our civil society. The proposed
measure would prevent individuals from being barred from
participating in public programs if they choose to use
public funds at a religious provider.
Toni Van Pelt, Public Policy
Director of the Institute for Science
and Human Values,
Powerful Women Joining Forces
Unite Women Rally in Orlando
We Are Women March, Florida
Saturday, April 28th 12:00 p.m. to 3:00
p.m.
Speaking at 1215pm
Senator Beth Johnson Park
59 South Ivanhoe Blvd, Orlando, FL
“Women
are joining forces to halt
the tidal wave of male dominated
backlash in the halls of Congress and
State Legislatures. We are pushing back
and moving forward demanding our human
rights and freedom from unwanted
intrusions in our right to privacy and
happiness.”
Norm Allen shares how humanist
groups all around the world have joined hands to
make this world a better place, to promote goodness
without god. PATAS is also very grateful for the
generous donation of books from Prometheus,
publisher of popular books on humanism, secularism,
and atheism.
EVOLVING BEYONG GOD: WHY AFRICA MATTERS
Saturday, February 11, 2012, Darwin Day Event
4:00-6:00 PM
SYMPOSIUM CAFE AND LOUNGE
2180 Itabashi Way, Burlington (Ontario) Canada
Guest Speakers: Norm Allen Jr. and Christopher
diCarlo
Has Christianity really been a source of good for
African Americans and Canadians? Join us for a
lively talk and discussion on the impact of
religion--from the cradle of humanity in Africa to
modern-day North America--and dinner with the
speakers afterward.
Government Faith-Based Programs & Church/State
Realities
Obama's
Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
marked its first anniversary last week.
Unfortunately there has been little change from the
Bush created program, "Faith-based and Community
Initiatives". Join Toni Van Pelt, Policy Director
of the Institute for Science and Human Values, for
an update on the current state of the current
administration’s programs. Lack of accountability,
job discrimination, tax dollars flowing to religious
groups, proselytizing....it’s enough to make one
question if we truly do live in secular, democratic
society.
Just as important to this question is the Florida
legislative 2012 ballot initiative: Florida
Religious Freedom, Amendment 7. Find out what
you can do to help educate Floridians on the dangers
of this amendment to our civil society.
Date:
Saturday, February 18, 11.00am
Location:Jimmie B. Keel Library on Bearss Avenue, east
of Dale Mabry,
Sponsor:
Tampa
Humanist Association, Inc.
Monday & Tuesday,
January 23 & 24, 2012
21st CENTURY. TOWARDS
THE NEW HUMANISM
Mission Rossotrudničestvo in France –
Russian Centre for Science and Culture
(61, rue Boissiere, 75116, Paris,
France)
and
UNESCO Head-Quarters,
(7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris,
France)
Paul
Kurtz, ISHV Chairman, father of the modern day
Neohumanist movement, Toni Van Pelt, ISHV
Policy Director and Southeast Regional Director of
the National Organization for Women and
Norman Allen, ISHV Director
of International Outreach, founder
and former executive director of African Americans
for Humanism will be featured on the program and
will participate in meetings with the French
Humanist Philosophers in Sorbonne and Ecole normal
superieure.
Saturday,
December 10, 2011
Government Faith-Based
Programs & Church/State Realities
Toni Van Pelt to speak
at
8th Annual 'Freethought'
Party, Orlando Florida
Saturday, December
10, 2011, 6:00 PM
Obama's
Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
marked its first anniversary last week.
Unfortunately there has been little change from the
Bush created program, "Faith-based and Community
Initiatives". Join Toni Van Pelt, Policy Director
of the Institute for Science and Human Values, for
an update on the current state of the current
administration’s programs. Lack of accountability,
job discrimination, tax dollars flowing to religious
groups, proselytizing....it’s enough to make one
question if we truly do live in secular, democratic
society.
Thursday,
April 12, 2012
The Philippine Atheists and Agnostics
Society (PATAS), Inc. will hold what is being billed
as the first conference for non-believers in Asia.
This is especially
historic because the Philippines has long been the
only predominantly Catholic nation in Asia.
Norm Allen, Jr. the
editor of THE HUMAN PROSPECT, and his brother, Dave
Allen will speak at the conference. It will be held
at the Bayview Parks and Hotels, United Nations
Avenue, Manila, Philippines. For more information,
visit their Website at
http://patas.co, or for a registration form,
send an email to
levi@patas.co.
Satur
day,
November 19, 2011
Dr. Paul Kurtz is appearing at The
New Orleans Secular Humanist Association
Dr. Paul Kurtz is appearing at The New Orleans
Secular Humanist Association meeting on October 15
at 4 PM at Dominion Learning Center auditorium, at
Audubon Zoo, 6500 Magazine Street. The talk by Dr.
Kurtz is on the theme of his new book "Personal
Morality in a Turbulent Universe ." The talk will
be followed by Q & A period. The public is invited.
Monday, April 18, 2011
George Mason University, to an
assembly of humanists organized by associated
faculty member Shelly Mountjoy.
This presentation features a
discussion of the arguments both for atheism and why
these arguments, while compelling, are not airtight
in the light of modern physics and cosmology.
The speaker was
Dr. S. D. Jordan, president of the Institute for
Science and Human Values, a self-described
pragmatic atheist or secular humanist, but not a
dogmatic "new atheist."
The rational
argument for atheism is based on the correct idea
that if modern quantum mechanics can be applied to
all phenomena in the Universe, then there is no need
for a supreme being to bring a Universe into
existence. To this can be added the almost
vanishing probability that such a deity exists in
light of passionate attempts to uncover some tiny
fragment of evidence for a coupling between the
natural order of science and the postulated
supernatural order of "God." In spite of this
earnest and often desperate quest, no such evidence
has ever emerged.
The argument that
demonstrates that dogmatic atheism is not justified
by current scientific knowledge is based on our
current lack of what theoretical physicists and
cosmologists call "a theory of everything." This
is a theory that encompasses all of the rest of
physics and in principle, all natural science. The
argument proceeds by first noting that such a theory
does not exist today, and that many Nobel Prize
winning physicists and cosmologists are becoming
pessimistic that we are close to achieving it.
(Example, Steven Weinberg, in his latest book).
Natural scientists once thought that Newton had
provided the basis for "the theory of everything,"
and that the job of science was mainly to fill in
the details and apply it. Then along came Einstein
and relativity, and Newtonian mechanics was revealed
to be only a special case, conceptually, of a much
grander picture. But there was more to come!
Quantum mechanics, to which Einstein could never
reconcile himself, but which has passed thousands of
critical tests to date and has failed none of them.
But it cannot be said that modern quantum theory
applies everywhere to all phenomena in the
Universe unless it can be shown to be compatible
with a still not available "theory of everything."
Since modern quantum mechanics is the basis for
arguments for the "triviality of God" (nothing left
for a god to do) and it cannot meet that test,
strictly speaking the epistemological question
remains open.
May 14 Annual
weekend "Advance," or strategic planning meeting of
the Washington Area Secular Humanists (WASH)
held at the ISHV president's cabin in the West
Virginia hills: A presentation on the Institute for
Science and Human Values was given by S. D. Jordan,
who is also a Board member of the WASH
organization . Founded by Professor Paul Kurtz, a
noted international humanist leader, it was
emphasized that ISHV organizes all of its planned
activities around the central importance of human
values, and the application of science and
reason to the assessment of all issues that arise.
The ISHV workshop on the moral education of children
that occurred one week following this WASH meeting
was described, as were plans for further workshops
on neuroethics and the science and politics of
climate change. The first copy of the journal, The
Human Prospect, was also described, and
the international aspect of ISHV emphasized. The
WASH Board endorsed this approach and elected to
consider future autonomous affiliation with ISHV in
the light of its planned programs.
June 12 Talk on
ISHV to the Northern Virginia Chapter of WASH in
Falls Church, Va:
The presentation
featured a discussion of the arguments both for
atheism and why these arguments, while
compelling, are not airtight in the light of modern
physics and cosmology. The speaker was Dr. S. D.
Jordan, president of the Institute for Science and
Human Values, a self-described pragmatic atheist or
secular humanist, but not a dogmatic "new atheist."
Friday - Sunday, April 1-3, 2011Polytechnic Institute
of NYC, 5 Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY.
11201
The
President's Bioethics
Council and the Ethics of Synthetic Biology
According to the President’s Bioethics Council’s
website the first public body formed to make
recommendations to the Congress and the Executive
Office on bioethics policy was the 1974 National
Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of
Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission
explored and investigated practices involving
research of fetuses, children, prisoners and those
“institutionalized as mentally infirmed. Since then
six more committees have been constituted over the
decades examining topics as diverse as defining
death, whistle blowing in biomedical research, the
use of humans as subjects of research using ionizing
radiation to biotechnology and the pursuit of
happiness. Under Presidents Clinton and Bush, the
advisory commissions studied, wrote reports and made
recommendations on cloning human beings, ethical
issues in human stem cell research, religious
perspectives and for the first time a look at
international research.
This brings us to President Obama’s newly
constituted 2010 Presidential Commission for the
Study of Bioethical Issues. Their task? To examine
the benefits, risks and ethics of synthetic
biology. The first question is what exactly is
synthetic biology? Is there a definition we all can
agree upon? According to Drew Endy, Ph.D.Stanford
University the capacity to synthesize genomes and to
install them in replicating cells is a big technical
deal. Do we embrace the research and deal with the
risks or do we ban it so federal scientists are
unable to participate. Do we leave this work to
private industry, public/private partnerships here
in the U S or to those overseas. Is this in fact, a
big deal? Some disagree citing Arthur Kornberger’s
work of 1976 with the virus genome in E.coli. Presented by Toni Van
Pelt
