~Update: We had a great time! We had so many people come that we had to go find more chairs. The talk was quite interesting and the discussion was lively.

~

Morgantown Day of Reason 2010
Madeleines Restaurant, back room
Social 6-7
Dinner and Reason Lecture 7-8:30
Meals with drinks $15 (4 choices)
Beer,wine on your own

Lecture by Philosophy Professor Andy Pintus on Reason, Reasoning and the History of Reason. Discussion will follow.

A short presentation on Unreason will be given by a surprise speaker before the lecture.

There’s also an official site where you can endorse reason by adding your name to the list, post an event, read about why we want a National Day of Reason, and more.

Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.

FFRF celebrates National Day of Prayer Victory:

It’s not every day that the president of the United States gets enjoined — prohibited by judicial order from a certain action — but it happened on April 15, 2010.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb decided in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in a ruling that the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer and requiring a National Day of Prayer proclamation by the president violates the establishment clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment.

In her ruling, Judge Crabb wrote: “The same law that prohibits the government from declaring a National Day of Prayer also prohibits it from declaring a National Day of Blasphemy.”

Unfortunately, Obama is still going to declare a proclamation for the National Day of Prayer this year, I think.

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Our Secular Service Endeavor is now called “Good Without God” and has it’s own page: Good Without God.

Update: We chose our worthy charity at our Spring Equinox Celebration (see the pictures of our Nature Walk on the farm)! The overwhelming vote was for the West Virginia Botanic Garden.

Here is their 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.

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 joining us for this worthwhile ongoing project.

Update: Sunday April 11 from 2-4 pm at the WVBG is Volunteer Orientation. If possible, please come and learn about how the Morgantown CoR can best help the Botanic Garden. (map and directions)

We designed a shirt for all of us to wear. I ordered one for everyone that told me their size. If you didn’t write your name down you can order a shirt here.

I talked to Erin the Volunteer Coordinator and she seems excited to meet us and have our help. Here is the newsletter I received from her:

Happy Spring everyone!

I’m writing to invite you to the Volunteer Orientation to be held at
the West Virginia Botanic Garden on April 11, 2010 from 2-4 pm. At this
orientation, you will:

- Learn about the history of the WVBG, as well as what’s currently in the works

- Hear about new updates to the volunteer program, including new opportunities
- Receive your copy of the new Volunteer Handbook
- Enjoy a tour of the Botanic Garden
- Enjoy light refreshments
- Meet other like-minded people interested in lending a hand at the WVBG

Please RSVP by April 6th if you plan to attend. Erin@wvbg.org or 304-594-0153

So that we get an accurate number of Morgantown CoR representatives, please RSVP with Neece or in the comments below and I will let Erin know on April 6th how many of us to expect.

See below for brief descriptions of some of the volunteer positions
available.

I thank you for your interest in the West Virginia Botanic Garden, and
I look forward to seeing you soon!

Erin

Erin Himmel
Volunteer Coordinator & Education Director
West Virginia Botanic Garden
Erin@wvbg.org
www.wvbg.org

Come Grow With Us!

~ Position Descriptions:

Site Projects

Gardening-  on scheduled work days, assist with preparing, planting, or transplanting in new or existing gardens.

Site Maintenance-  on scheduled work days or in other times of need, assist with trail clearing, invasive plant removal, and other hands-on projects.

Garden Keeper-  a dedicated group of individuals that share the upkeep responsibility of one of the gardens or garden beds (training and time commitment required).

Educational Programs, Workshops, etc.

Educational Walk Leader-  lead a walk in your area of expertise related to natural or cultural history at the WVBG.  Scheduled for a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon during the warmer months.

Group Tour Leader-  lead a tour at the WVBG for a special group.  Topics covered and time (start time and duration) may be partially determined by the group (training required).

Workshop Leader-  Share your knowledge and teach a skill in your area of expertise to workshop participants.

Education/Interpretation Docent-  Learn the skills and techniques to develop an effective education or interpretation program, then design and deliver your program at the WVBG (training and time commitment required).

Event Planning

Event Volunteer-  Help with event planning, lend a hand at the event, or do both.

Public Relations

Botanic Garden Host-  Greet visitors to the site on weekends, provide them with information and orientation.

Public Relations Volunteer – Publicize what’s planned and happening at the WVBG utilizing many types of media.

Fund-raising and Grant writing

Fund raising volunteer- Help obtain donations of products, services and money for WVBG needs and assist with fund-raising events.

Grant writer – Research grant opportunities and assist in drafting grant applications.

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The funny thing is, I’m not really a people person. Like a lot of atheists (supposedly), I’m quite an outsider, as much of a hermit as I can get away with, in fact. I have never liked going out in crowds or socializing with large groups of people.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I have realized something that I want to share with you. Even though I’m a curmudgeonly hermit-y atheist, I love going to the 3 atheist/freethinker meetings we have every month. That’s 3 Sundays a month where I happily leave the house and go socialize with a small group of people. And I look forward to it. The one or 2 Sundays where we don’t meet I miss it.

Even people like me benefit from social community and contact. The beauty of the atheist/freethinker community is that we are relatively like-minded. We have a foundation of common ground. But we are also quite different, of course, which is good because that makes things interesting. The added bonus of freethinkers, skeptics and atheists is that we seem relatively level-headed and we argue and discuss matters with interest and fairness. No drama llama is invited! So it’s actually fun and mentally stimulating.

I think we all need some type of community, which is one thing that religion has in its favor that being a lone atheist does not.

But this is easily remedied. I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to get involved with a secular group of like-minded people. If none exist in your area, you can start one up.

Tips For Finding A Local Atheist/Humanist/Freethinker/Skeptical Community

1. Do a local Google search on the type of group you’re interested in. They may have a Yahoo, Google or Facebook group, or other page set up, or a website devoted to their activities.

2. Go to your favorite organizations and see if they have local chapters, or a list of local groups associated with them. Examples would be CFI, American Atheists, AHA, UnitedCoR, SCA, etc.

3. Look in your local paper, either online or in print. We have our meetings listed in the Today section of the paper, as well as a general entry in the church section (which is really more for a laugh than anyone looking there for an atheist group, I think)

4. Visit the library or local coffee shops for possible fliers on the bulletin boards.

Once you’ve seen that no local groups exist, or you find that you aren’t interested in what’s available, it’s time to start your own.

Tips For Starting A Local Atheist/Humanist/Freethinker/Skeptical Community

1. Start a local yahoo group, Google group, and/0r Facebook group. If you are sure of the name you want your group to have, you can get a domain name and set up a blog or website for the group you are forming.

I recommend a WordPress blog that pings to many different listing sites. This gets you into Google and other search engines much faster than a plain old website, in the easiest way.

2. Go to your favorite organizations and see if they offer any tips on starting a local chapter. Examples would be CFI, American Atheists, AHA, UnitedCoR, SCA, Atheist Nexus, etc.

3. Set a date, time and place for the first meeting. Also have a topic or agenda to talk about. For the first meeting, your location can be the library or a comfortable coffee shop. Provide directions to the meeting clearly in whatever web presence you’ve chosen.

4. Set up a Gmail email so people can contact you with questions. Or set up an email address associated with your domain name.

5. Contact your local paper. Look for a contact for the Today section, or something similar. Be friendly and polite and see if they will list your local meeting.

6. Create fliers (they don’t have to be big or fancy) and put them in the local coffee shops, the library, and any other places you can think of. If you created a group somewhere online, make sure to share that on the flier so people can read more, as well as your new email address so they can ask questions.

Also post to any groups you’ve created on Facebook, Yahoo or Google groups. Spread the word!

7. Show up to the meeting about 10 or 15 minutes early. I carry a tote bag that identifies me as an atheist (one of my Sir Lee Tees designs, a positive atheism message) to help people I haven’t met yet find me in the location. You can do something else to identify yourself to make it easier and more comfortable to people who will need to approach you. Or if you meet at the library, put up a sign in the room you are in, etc.

Expect the first meetings to be small. Maybe get a friend to sit with you for a half hour to see if anyone shows up. For Morgantown Atheists, there were quite a few meetings that were just the original founders and no one else. But with lots of messages on Atheist Nexus and other areas, it has grown to quite a dynamic little group that meets 3 times a month and now will have an ongoing Secular Service project.

8. Have some flexible goals in mind for the direction you want your group to go in. My experience is that these small communities sort of take on a life of their own, but having some ideas to start off with can at least give you confidence, as well as help others to decide if they want to come to a meeting.

~ So that should get you started. If you are interested in finding our starting a group, or if you do start one and want some more ideas, let me know! We can brainstorm, as I’m always looking for new ideas for my groups.

Cross-posted by Neece from Heaving Dead Cats

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We were thinking for that and future volunteering events, it would be great if we had t-shirts we could all wear.

~Update:

At our RMC Meeting we brainstormed and came up with a neat idea for our shirt. You can see it on the right.

We settled on Good Without God as our shirt slogan and our slogan for our campaign to help a worthy organization.

You can order a shirt here. If you like the design and want it on other stuff like coffee mugs, etc, let me know. I can do that easily.

Here are some other quotes that we didn’t choose:

• To see by faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.  Benjamin Franklin
• “Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum. (I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am)” Rene Descartes
• All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.” Immanuel Kant
• Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear. Thomas Jefferson
• The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression. Thomas Jefferson
• Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense. Voltaire
• Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it. Thomas Paine
• Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. Lord Byron
• The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct. Marcus Tullius Cicero
• The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. Thomas Paine
• Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid. Marcus Aurelius
• I have no need for religion, I have a conscience. Anonymous
• If god doesn’t like the way I live, Let him tell me, not you. Anonymous
• You do not need the Bible to justify love, but no better tool has been invented to justify hate. Richard A. Weatherwax
• The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. Frank Zappa
• He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave. William Drummond

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Fred Edwords is a public speaker well known to humanists, freethinkers, and religious liberals, and a specialist in media and PR areas. He is the head of UnitedCoR.

The seminar  was 4 hours and was both informative and extremely helpful to our organization as we grow and move forward. It will also be helpful to us as individuals in our chosen fields.

Brent and I took a lot of notes, and Fred gave us several useful handouts. We then went to dinner at Mi Pueblos which was delicious, as always. Fred and his lovely wife Mary are great company.

Thank you, Fred, for the excellent seminar and the great conversation over dinner!

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The billboard is up and making the news! You can see all the press we’ve gotten so far here: http://morgantown.unitedcor.org/press . Some of the comments at the different articles are fun and interesting. The Charleston Gazette has 100 comments, the most popular story at the moment. It appears that there are about 3 or 4 positive to each negative comment! Here is the link: http://wvgazette.com/News/200909290601

Rachel has done a great job as our spokesperson. She even got on TV: http://wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=67641 Watch the video too!

So, MorgantownCoR comprises the Morgantown Atheists, the Morgantown Brights, the Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club and the Morgantown Thomas Paine Society. One thing we all want to do is make a positive difference in our community. Through our actions, we can show the traditionally religious people in our area that we are good, moral people too. Together we can make even more of a difference.

As Rachel said earlier today, “Right now, we have the attention of not just our neighbors, but our state. Let’s show them that we are a valuable force in the community. Let’s have a strong showing for our Habitat for Humanity Build this Saturday.”

You can get all the information you need at the Morgantown Brights page: http://www.morgantownbrights.com/2009/09/27/habitatoct3/

Another project we’re looking into is Adopt A Road. Rachel has already started this process rolling. Please let us know if you will be willing to help clean a road with us. We need to show the Brights that the Atheists, Freethinkers and Thomas Paine lovers are also interested in this great endeavor.

We’ll send out more details of what is involved in the Adopt a Road project, but give us an idea if you are interested in helping by commenting below.

So let’s keep the momentum from the billboard going! Please consider showing up for the Habitat for Humanity Build, and let us know we can count on you for the Adopt a Road project.

Also, we will be happy to meet new faces at our upcoming meetings! We’ll keep you posted in the following locations on what events are coming up with our different groups:

Morgantown CoR (includes all events)
Morgantown Atheists (includes the Freethinkers Morgantown Schedule and will also include any Thomas Paine Society Meetings)
Morgantown Brights

We hope to see you soon. You can follow the events by getting our email updates from the Atheists and Brights sites.

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Four groups of freethinkers and humanists have pooled their efforts to launch the new Morgantown Coalition of Reason, sponsor of the billboard. Their aim is to educate the public about their worldview and what their groups do. The billboard invites like-minded people to visit the coalition’s website at www.MorgantownCoR.org. Motorists traveling west on Mileground Road into Morgantown will see it.

Under the co-sponsorship of the United Coalition of Reason, a national coordinating body, this billboard is part of a larger nationwide campaign aimed at raising the public profile of nontheists and organizing nontheistic groups in major cities. The United Coalition of Reason plans to fund billboards in a dozen additional states before year’s end.

“The primary goal of a billboard like this is to act as a beacon for nontheistic people–such as atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and humanists–letting them know they aren’t alone,” explained Fred Edwords, communications director for the United Coalition of Reason. “This message is particularly important in a part of the country that, for many, has been identified with traditional religion. Nonreligious people in the area may be unaware there is a thriving community for them.”

The Morgantown billboard joins others around the country that appeared earlier, including in Denver, Dallas, Fort Worth, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. The United Coalition of Reason also cosponsored the recent controversial bus ads in Des Moines, Iowa. Unique about the Morgantown effort is that it marks the first time an electronic billboard has been used in the nationwide campaign.

Local organizers say that, although religious believers aren’t a target of the campaign, they too can learn something. “We want the public to see that atheists and agnostics are part of the community, just as the faithful are,” said Rachel Cather, spokesperson for the Morgantown Coalition of Reason. “We have the same compassionate values and, in most other ways, are just like them. We are hard-working, tax-paying, moral citizens who care deeply about family, community, state and nation.”

The local groups that have launched the Morgantown coalition are the Morgantown Atheists, Morgantown Brights, Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club and Morgantown Thomas Paine Society. “We encourage other like-minded groups in Morgantown and elsewhere in West Virginia to affiliate,” Cather added.

The billboard will remain in place for one month. An image of the billboard design can be found online at www.MorgantownCoR.org.

#   #   #

The United Coalition of Reason exists to raise the visibility of nontheists and change the way they are perceived by average Americans. The organization carries out its mission by bringing local nontheistic groups together for the purpose of creating a stronger community voice. United CoR is a nonprofit educational and charitable organization, online at www.UnitedCoR.org.

The Morgantown Coalition of Reason is a community of nontheistic groups in the Morgantown area. Morgantown CoR works to raise the public profile of and cooperation among all such local organizations.

# # #

For more information contact:

Fred Edwords, communications director, United CoR:
(202) 550-9964, fredwords@unitedcor.org

Rachel Cather, spokesperson, Morgantown CoR:
(304) 906-6724, morgantowncor@gmail.com

Neece, Coordinator and Webmaster, Morgantown CoR:
morgantowncor@gmail.com

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Monday afternoon we need to all meet under our shiny new billboard on the Mileground to get a great group picture!  Which means we need YOU!

The time will probably be around 5:30 pm or a bit after, so that people can meet after work.

Email Neece or leave a comment letting us know you’ll be there. This is very important that we get this picture, hopefully with lots of people, so please try to come.

The billboard location is near Melvin’s Transmission on Mileground Road, westbound into town.

Here’s the map for the billboard on Google. The street view really shows you the situation.

Brent scouted the area for us. He recommends coming in from 68, not through Morgantown as the traffic at that time of day is pretty bad.

Drive most of the way down the Mileground, past the car dealerships, and the billboard is the most prominent thing you’ll see. There’s a parking lot right next to the billboard. It’s for a pool and garden center. So pull in on the right after Melvin’s Transmission and that’s where we’ll meet.

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