EDIT!

• Potluck Dinner
• BYO Beverages
• We’ll talk and vote on our Secular Service endeavor
• We’ll finish up The God Virus
• Merriment will ensue!

NOTE: This is INSTEAD OF meeting March 21. We are now meeting the day before. Any questions, email Neece.

I forgot to bring up the subject of our Secular Service in our regular meeting! So we’ll spend a few minutes when we get together for this meeting, gathering ideas and then getting a tally on which service we’re all most interested in. So bring your ideas or comment here with suggestions if you can’t make the meeting.

Directions Below.
~

We had so much discussion for The God Virus that we only go through chapter 5. So we’re going to finish the book next month, chapter 6 to the end.

The book we are reading  is The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture by Darrel W. Ray

We still need someone to take chapter 11, and chapter 10 is also available, if someone wants it.

• 6. The Myth of Unchanging Morality: Daniel
• 7. Jesus My Personal Savior: The Roots of American Evangelism: Gerald
• 8. Intelligence, Personality and the God Virus: Neece
• 9. Understanding and Living With The God Virus: Neece
• 10. The Journey: Living a Virus-Free Life: Brent
  
• 11. The God Virus and Science:  Gerald
• 12. The Future of an Illusion: Daniel
  

Directions to Wilks/Smith home from Morgantown via I-79:

North on I-79 from Morgantown, cross the border into PA and take the Mount Morris Exit, #1. Turn right at the bottom of the ramp. You will stay on this road for 3.6 miles (bearing right at church/cemetery) and it will dead end at a stop sign. Turn left on Taylortown Road and go 2.2 miles. There will be a sharp bend in the road but you will go straight ahead onto Big Foot Road (not marked). Go about a city block and take the first driveway on right (you will see a red barn as you turn in).

House phone number: 724-324-2712
cell phone: 724-998-2520

Address:
126 Bigfoot Rd.
Dilliner, PA 15327

Do not trust a GPS – sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t in this area.

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It would be nice to pick a charity that we can help in more than one way, such as time, money or goods. That way we can all contribute in whatever way suits us best.

Morgantown Atheists is hosting this endeavor, but we will donate our Service in the name of Morgantown Coalition of Reason. So if you are a Morgantown Bright, a UU member, or a member of any of the other Morgantown CoR groups, please consider throwing in your two cents and your help for this worthwhile ongoing project.

We will talk about this at the beginning of our next meeting so if you want to just participate but not stay for the book club, it will be easy. Also, if you can’t make the meeting, feel free to comment below with suggestions and your choice.

This is what is suggested so far:

• Bartlett House (note: it’s moving out of town) Mission Statement: Bartlett House addresses homeless issues by providing for emergency food, shelter and medical referrals first, then one-to-one comprehensive case management to break the cycle of homelessness. We are committed to providing shelter that meets a persons basic needs in an atmosphere where people are treated with dignity and respect.
• West Virginia Botanic Garden: Mission Statement: The West Virginia Botanic Garden (WVBG), in harmony with nature, seeks to enhance the quality of life through public enjoyment and education involving inspirational landscapes and displays of a rich variety of ornamental plants appropriate to the region.
• West Virginia Raptor Rehabilitation Center: To rehabilitate and release injured and orphaned birds of prey and to provide environmental education programs to the public for the benefit of all living things.
• Caritas House: North-Central West Virginia’s only AIDS service organization, is a United Way agency, and a member of the West Virginia Coalition for People with HIV/AIDS.
• The United Way: Mission Statement: The United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties enhances the quality of life in our community by helping those in need.

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By design, voucher programs aid struggling Christian schools. A July 2009 report by Rutgers University on the D.C. voucher program concluded that the way the voucher program is structured “essentially push[es] students into Christian Association and Catholic schools, pricing out independent (non-religious) schools and Hebrew schools.”

By continuing this program, those of us who do not wish to subsidize someone else’s church will continue to be forced to do so through our federal tax dollars.

The vote will occur sometime today. Please take five minutes and email your Senators below and tell them to vote against this amendment that would re-authorize this program.

The Secular Coalition for America opposes the use of government funds for religious purposes, including vouchers for religious schools. We agree with the founders of the United States that no individual taxpayer should be required to pay for someone else’s religion. We agree with James Madison. Senator Lieberman wants us to go in a different direction.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship, with your tax money, funds and enables proselytizing and religious discrimination. Recipients of the vouchers who attend religious schools are not even allowed to opt out of religious activities at their school—a direct affront to religious freedom.

It is critical that you write your Senators today and ask them to oppose Sen. Lieberman’s amendment that would re-authorize this program and spend your taxes to fund the religious education of children in D.C.

Go to Secular Coalition for America to send a letter today.

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Links on the full page >>

• State of the States: Importance of Religion – Gallup Poll, January 28, 2009
• Average IQ Score By State
• Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (2008, US Census Bureau)
• Law Enforcement, Courts and Prisons: Crimes and Crime Rates (US Census Bureau)
• Divorce Rates by State, 1990-2005
• Generosity in Canada and the US: The 2009 Generosity Index
• Political Ideology: “Conservative” Label Prevails in the South (August 2009)
• 2008 State Well-Being Composite Rankings

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West Virginia University is celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin with DarwinFest, a series of talks and presentations examining the naturalist’s work – from his travels to his influential theory on evolution.

“Darwin: Evolutionary Science and Its Impacts on Society”; an interdisciplinary celebration involving colleges and schools across the University – will be held from February through early April. The events, which are free and open to the public, will feature leading scholars and scientists from around the world.

Darwin, who was born Feb. 12, 1809, is known as the father of evolution for his theory that all life develops through a process he called natural selection. 2009 also marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of “On the Origin of Species,” Darwin’s seminal work on the subject.

“These speakers and presenters will explain Darwin’s complex work in terms the average person will understand,” interim Provost E. Jane Martin said. “They will also show Darwin’s influence on modern life, from science and medicine to human relationships and religion.”

The activities are supported by various academic and administrative units, including Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, the President’s Office and University Relations.

In addition to the lectures, the WVU Libraries will offer a display and recommended reading for the event. A Web site highlighting all DarwinFest activities and participants is in the works.

Events and dates follow. More information will be released at a later date.

“The Life and Travels of Charles Darwin,” Feb. 5, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Mountainlair ballrooms *
Greg Good, a WVU professor of history, and Evan Widders, coordinator of WVU’s multidisciplinary studies program, will present a biographical introduction to the life of Darwin and discuss his travels as a naturalist and his writings on the voyage of the Beagle.” This event is sponsored by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

“Two Errors About the Evolution Controversy or What I Learned from My Trip to the Creation Museum,” Feb. 9, 2009 – 3 p.m., College of Law, Luger Courtroom
Jay D. Wexler, professor of law at Boston University, will speak about the legal issues surrounding the teaching of intelligent design in the public school system. This event is sponsored by the College of Law.

“Bibles, Bigots, and Biology: American Religion After Darwin,” Feb. 10, 2009 – 7 p.m., Mountainlair ballrooms
Douglas Strong, dean of the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University, will present this year’s Manfred O. Meitzen Distinguished Lecture in Religious Studies. Prior to the 7:30 p.m. lecture, Jerry McGonigle, WVU professor of theater, will direct a re-enactment of a segment of the Tennessee “Scopes Monkey Trial.”

“Implications of Evolution as Seen by Charles Darwin and Modern Evolutionists,” Feb. 12, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Mountainlair ballrooms
William Provine, Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor at Cornell University, is well-known for engaging in debates about the existence of God, free will and the viability of intelligent design as a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution. His lecture will address those topics.

“Systems Biology and Medicine,” Feb. 19, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Ming Hsieh Hall, Room G21
World-renowned scientist Leroy Hood will present this year’s Nath Lecture on systems biology, which promises to transform the practice of medicine to be more predictive, personalized, preventive and participatory. Hood has played a role in founding more than 14 biotechnology companies and is the co-author of “The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project.” His talk is part of WVU’s Festival of Ideas.

“Local and Scandalous Darwin,” March 5, 7:30 p.m., Ming Hsieh Hall, Room 122
Leila Gómez, professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Colorado at Boulder, explores the ideological, political and social implications of the theory of evolution in South America and the intellectual debate it spurred between supporters and detractors in the formation of Latin American nations.

How Genetics Impact the Evolution of Human Relationships, March 11, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Ming Hsieh Hall, Room G20
J. Phillipe Rushton, evolutionary psychologist at the University of Western Ontario, will present a lecture exploring how genetics impact the evolution of human relationships. This event is sponsored by the Department of Psychology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

“The Impact of Human Activity on Evolution,” March 12, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Mountainlair ballrooms
Kevin A. Jarrell, president and chief scientific officer of Modular Genetics in Cambridge, Mass., is a recognized expert in RNA splicing and gene assembly. His lecture will discuss how humans influence the evolutionary process – both intentionally and unintentionally. His talk is sponsored by the Department of Chemical Engineering and the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

“Singing His Praises: Darwin and His Theory in Song and Musical Production,” March 26, 2009 -7:30 p.m., South Agricultural Sciences Auditorium, Room 1021*
Betty Smocovitis, professor of zoology and history at the University of Florida, will explore a number of substantive issues in the history of evolution pertaining to controversies over Darwin and his theory in a lighthearted and engaging manner. Music will be played and discussed. Parking is available.

“A Look at Evolution from the Basis of Fossil Evidence in Africa,” April 6, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Mountainlair ballrooms *
Meave Leakey is a paleoanthropologist and zoologist who was part of a research team that in 1999 unearthed the “flat-faced man of Kenya,” a 3.5 million-year-old skull representing an entirely new branch of the early human family tree. Leakey’s research also includes the evolution of monkeys, apes, carnivores and mammals. A masterful storyteller, she combines scientific observations with tales of her fieldwork in Africa. This event is sponsored by WVU’s Festival of Ideas.

“How Time Flies: The Molecular Architecture of Memory,” April 8, 2009 – 7:30 p.m., Mountainlair ballrooms *
Tom Carew, chair and professor of neurobiology and behavior at the University of California at Irvine, will present the Eberly Distinguished Lecture on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory.

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Thanks, Gerald!

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Our topic was:

Who We Admire in Science, Philosophy or Atheism and Why.

Update:

Ivy: Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search For Meaning. His Logotherapy was about searching for a new and increased awareness in the present and enabling a new freedom and responsibility to act. The patient can then accept they they are not special and that their existence is simply coincidental, without destiny or fate. By accepting this, they can overcome their anxieties, and instead view life as moments, in which they are fundamentally free.

Daniel: Thomas Jefferson, the third president and a founding father. A freethinker and a great leader, he worked very hard to give America the separation of church and state. He was also opposed to a central bank, he was very insightful, and wanted to keep the power of the federal government in check.

Tim: John Shelby Spong is a retired bishop of the Episcopal church. He wrote Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love, and Equality and followed the principle of the Episcopal seminary’s adage, “Seek the truth, come whence it may, cost what it will.” He revolutionized the Episcopal church.

Brent: August Weismann, Leonard Hayflick and Aubrey de Grey are three men in different biology fields who worked or work in life extension.

David: Richard and Mary Leaky who were doing great things in 1968, a book called African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man which helped David to seek a scientific basis to life, and Paul Monette who wrote Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story.

Neece: Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins. Both great men who taught and teach critical thinking, skepticism, and make science attainable for anyone willing to look at how awesome the universe really is naturally. Sagan wrote quite a few books and so has Dawkins.

Butch: Frank Zappa and George Carlin, both men who were proponents of free speech and not letting yourself get crushed under the boot heel of religion or the government. Zappa was a part of the PMRC trials in the 80’s and Carlin was an outspoken critic of the church back in the 60’s before it was fashionable.

Gerald: Martin Gardner and James Randi. Gardner started the ball rolling in the 50’s with speaking out against creationism. He was a secular humanist. He wrote Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Discourses on Reflexology, Numerology, Urine Therapy, and Other Dubious Subjects and Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. James Randi is a big part of the skeptical movement, a part of CFI and the founder of the JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation). He has written many books.

Chad: Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist who brings passion to science and scientific literacy. This video of a talk by Tyson from 2006 is about 38 minutes long. He talks about the god of the gaps throughout scientific history, intelligent design and then about Stupid Design. Highly recommended watching. Tyson has written several books.

Joe: Pearl S. Buck and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). Pearl S. Buck took Joe out of his Ozzie and Harriet life and showed him other ways of life and different ways of thinking. Buck wrote many books. Here’s a quote from her about religion: “I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. Like Confucius of old, I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels.” The FFRF is a group that fights for the separation of church and state.

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We are spending the first 15 minutes or so on a Vietnamese religion called the Cao Dai. Jim will be sharing that with us as he spent a bit of time there recently.

After that, we’ll talk about Irish Folklore. So bring along some information on that.

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You may have noticed the tab under the banner that says Library. That lists all the books and media we each recommend. Feel free to contribute to it. In that list you’ll find that Tim recommended a book called  Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle by Daniel L. Everett. Brent found an interview on Groks Science Radio Show with the author.

Daniel has three stories to share:

The first is from RadioLab. Here’s the description from the page:

Parasites: What’s gotten into you? In this hour we explore nature’s moochers – the good, the bad, and the hideous. We have stories of lethargic farmers, zombie cockroaches, and even mind-controlled humans (kinda, maybe). Could parasites be the shadowy hands that pull the strings of life?
Carl Zimmer plays defense lawyer, trying to exonerate parasites for their wrongs, while Jad and Robert argue in defense of the victims. Our producer Lulu Miller comes in to moderate a lightning round of: “Parasites: are they evil, or are they awesome?” The parasites in question are the zombie wasp, the nematode, and the lovey-dovey blood fluke.

From NPR he sends a story about throwing out the Primordial Soup theory:

Is the “primordial soup” theory — the idea that life emerged from a prebiotic broth — past its expiration date?
Biochemist Nick Lane thinks so. The University College London writer and his colleagues argue that the 81-year-old notion just doesn’t hold water.
Lane tells NPR’s Guy Raz there’s another possible explanation for the emergence of life. But before we get to that, why toss out the soup theory?
Lane says the idea of a primordial soup goes back to 1929, and great biologists like J.B.S. Haldane.

And he shares another story from NPR about “mystical” baboons:

I’m not saying something magical happened. I can’t. Because I’m not a baboon.
And neither is Barbara Smuts, though she spent years in the field in East Africa studying baboons.
What Smuts saw one day in Africa while watching a troop of some 30 baboons is one of the more mysterious baboon tales ever. Her account was published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies a few years ago, and when I told the story to my co-host Jad Abumrad, on NPR and WNYC’s Radiolab, he was leery. He couldn’t explain what the baboons did, but when I proposed an explanation, he found it ridiculous.

The next two are from me (Neece):

How about an iron-plated snail? This little hydrothermal-vent-living creature was discovered in 1999. Scientists at MIT have been studying it. Here is the paper that they published. They write, “the shell is “unlike any other known natural or synthetic engineered armor.” It’s amazing

Life isn’t easy for the “scaly-foot gastropod”. This humble snail lives in hydrothermal vent fields two miles deep in the Indian ocean, and is surrounded by vicious predators. For example, there’s the “cone snail”, which stabs at its victims with a harpoon-style tooth as a precursor to injecting them with paralyzing venom. Then there’s the Brachyuran crab, which has been known to squeeze its prey for three days in an attempt to kill it. Yowsa.

Ah, but the scaly-foot gastropod has its own tricks. To fight back, it long ago evolved a particularly cool defense structure: It takes the grains of iron sulfide floating in the water around it and incorporates it into the outer layer of its shell. It it thus an “iron-plated snail”.

The other day Brent and I shared podcasts and radio shows with you. Well, I just found a new one! From Skepchick.org comes a new podcast called Curiosity Aroused. There’s one episode up now which is about calorie restriction for long life. It’s very interesting.

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~Update: We had so much discussion, both about the book and off-topic, that we only got through chapter 5. So we’ll finish the book at our next meeting.

~

The book we are reading (in its entirety) is The God Virus: How religion infects our lives and culture by Darrel W. Ray

We’ll each take a chapter or two to share with everyone. There are 12 in all. Leave a comment below or email Neece with which chapters you’d like to cover:

• 1. Religion is a Virus:     Joe
• 2. How Religions Survive and Dominate:     Joe
• 3. American Civil Religion:    Gerald
• 4. God Loves You – The Guilt that Binds:     David
• 5. Sex and the God Virus:     Brent
• 6. The Myth of Unchanging Morality:          Daniel
• 7. Jesus My Personal Savior: The Roots of American Evangelism:    Gerald
• 8. Intelligence, Personality and the God Virus:     Neece
• 9. Understanding and Living With The God Virus:      Neece
• 10. The Journey: Living a Virus-Free Life:       Neece
• 11. The God Virus and Science
• 12. The Future of an Illusion:    Daniel

Here are some reviews:

Darrel Ray has made a marvelous contribution to our understanding of ourselves. The description of religion as a cultural virus is not new, Darrel is the first to put the virus on a slide and pull out the microscope. The God Virus goes beyond analogy, offering a fascinating and detailed look at the wiggling, maddening virus itself how it moves, how it survives, and how and why it continues to thrive. –Dale McGowan, Author/editor, Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, Harvard Humanist of the Year (2008)

For those hungering for more after reading the books written by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and Dennett, Dr. Darrel Ray’s The God Virus is a logical and thought-provoking follow-up. By extending the metaphor of religion as a virus, the reader gets a better understanding of the incredible power religion can have on anyone’s way of thinking (Dr. Ray shows that even your IQ is negatively affected!). Lest anyone think this is just a putdown of religion, it also gives excellent advice on how to live life without a God, from marriage to raising children. It’s a book that non-believers will enjoy and religious readers can only dare to read. –Hemant Mehta author of I Sold My Soul On Ebay (Waterbrook Press, 2007)

Your book is a convenient handbook on how real life Atheists can stay sane while others are freaking out with religious madness and blaming it on those that challenge the true believer’s faith based system. You are most welcome to publicize my endorsement. –Edwin Kagin, National Legal Director American Atheists, Inc.

Darrel Ray has made a marvelous contribution to our understanding of ourselves. The description of religion as a cultural virus is not new, Darrel is the first to put the virus on a slide and pull out the microscope. The God Virus goes beyond analogy, offering a fascinating and detailed look at the wiggling, maddening virus itself how it moves, how it survives, and how and why it continues to thrive. Dale McGowan, Author/editor, Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, Harvard Humanist of the Year (2008) –Dale McGowan, Author/editor, Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, Harvard Humanist of the Year (2008)

And a description:

What makes religion so powerful? How does it weave its way into our political system? Why do people believe and follow obvious religious charlatans? What makes people profess deep faith even as they act in ways that betray that faith? What makes people blind to the irrationalities of their religion yet clearly see those of others? If these questions interest you, this book will give you the tools to understand religion and its power in you, your family and your culture. For thousands of years, religion has woven its way through societies and people as if it were part and parcel to that society or person. In large measure it was left unexplained and unchallenged, it simply existed. Those who attempted to challenge and expose religion were often persecuted, excommunicated, shunned, or even executed. It could be fatal to explain that which the church, priest or imam said was unexplainable. Before the germ, viral and parasite theory of disease, physicians had no tools to understand disease and its propagation. Priests told people disease was a result of sin, Satan, evil spirits, etc. With the discovery of microbial actors, scientists gained new tools to study how it spreads. They could study infection strategies, immunity, epidemiology and much more. Suddenly the terrible diseases of the past were understandable. The plagues of Europe, yellow fever, small pox, pneumonia, tuberculosis, syphilis, etc. were now removed from the divine and placed squarely in the natural world. This book owes a great deal to Richard Dawkins concept of viruses of the mind, but it seeks to go a step further to personalize the concept of religion as a virus and show how these revolutionary ideas work in everyday life. The paradigm can explain the fundamentalism of your Uncle Ned, the sexual behavior of a fallen mega church minister, the child rearing practices of a Pentecostal neighbor, why 19 men flew planes into the World Trade Center or what motivates a woman to blow herself up in the crowded markets of Baghdad. Learn how religion influences sexuality for its own purposes, how and why it protects pedofile priests and wayward ministers and how it uses survivor guilt to propagate and influence and how it might influence a person’s IQ.

The next 2 books after this one will be:

• March: God Hates You, Hate Him Back: Making Sense of The Bible by CJ Werleman
• April: Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg Epstein

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