At the Connecticut Coalition of Reason’s (CT CoR) annual meeting on January 27th Carol Siddall, President of the Humanist Association of Connecticut (HAC) and resident of Southbury was re-elected co-chair; Ken Spencer, President of the Atheist Humanist Society of Connecticut and Rhode Island (AHSCTRI) and resident of Baltic was elected co-chair, and Chris Kullstroem, member of the Hartford Area Humanists (HAH) and resident of Lyme, was elected secretary.
CT CoR is off to another great start in 2019. Beginning this weeken Connecticut becomes the center of the Darwin Day Universe again! For starters CT Congressman Himes and CT Senator Blumenthal have agreed to once again issue national resolutions in their respective chambers of Congress. We’ve asked Governor Lamont to issue a state-wide proclamation. So members of the CT CoR are gearing up the celebrations. The 11th Annual Southern Connecticut Darwin Day dinner will again be an amazing gala and we expect Senator Blumenthal and Representative Himes to make appearances like last year.
The second big celebration, Darwin Day North, will be held at the Roaring Brook Nature Center with family friendly activities that will include touring the Roaring Brook Nature Center, a talk by Charles Darwin, who will also have a “bag of stories”, scavenger hunts, coloring handouts, and a birthday cake to celebrate Darwin Day.
The DiMenna-Nyselius Library at Fairfield University, in conjunction with the Department of History and R.A.F.T., the Rational Association of Free Thinkers (Fairfield’s group for the secular point of view) will host a display in recognition of Darwin’s 210th birthday in the library from February 1 — February 15. There will be birthday cake (and fun cake cutting ceremony) showing Charles Darwin’s journey on Darwin’s actual birthday, Tuesday, February 12, from 5-6 p.m. in the lobby of the library.
Dr. Abby Hafer will join the The Humanist Association of Connecticut on February 17th to discuss “Darwin’s Apostles. Dr. Hafer is the author of “The Not-So-Intelligent Designer—Why Evolution Explains the Human Body and Intelligent Design Does Not.” She has a doctorate in zoology from Oxford University and teaches human anatomy and physiology at Curry College.
You won’t be able to swing a finch in Connecticut without hitting a Darwin Day Celebration. Shoutout to our friends at the American Humanist Association for helping to get the national resolutions as well as providing some financial support for our partnership with the Connecticut Science Center.
The Connecticut Coalition of Reason is a group of eight atheist, free-thought, and humanist groups based in CT with a goal of fostering a sense of community. Additionally the group aims to “raise public awareness that people who don’t believe in a god or gods can be decent citizens who contribute to the larger society.”
CT COR board members pictured from left to right: Front Row Seated – Dennis Paul Himes, Carol Siddall, Chris Kullstroem, and Ken Spencer. Standing – Luther Weeks, Anita Peters, Cary Shaw, Dan Blinn, Richard Siddall, Pat McCann, Richard Lutz, Tom Krattenmaker, Klaus Kingstorf, and George Unser.