Godless Leadership Summit in Connecticut a Success

The first annual Connecticut Secular Leadership Summit held on Saturday September 20, 2014 was an overwhelming success thanks in no small part to Mike Werner and Tanya Barrett, who organized the event.  Approximately 25 leaders and aspiring leaders from secular organizations across the state attended the event.  Mike Werner gave an excellent presentation in the morning with tips on leading secular groups.  This was followed by lunch and some networking time, during which several important connections were made between groups.  After lunch the CT Coalition of Reason held its monthly board meeting, which allowed each of the groups to hear what initiatives the CT Coalition of Reason was working on and more about each of the member groups.  Someone from each of the groups gave an overview of the group, what programming and ideas they had found successful, and some ideas for future initiatives/programming.  Mike Werner concluded the day with a brief (due to the timing) but thought-provoking talk on ethics. 

Feedback from folks that attended indicated that they found the event very helpful.  Attendees felt like they could immediately apply some of the tips suggested by Mike Werner and they appreciated the inter-group brainstorming.  Several individuals have plans to work together on programs, and others are planning to work together to launch a new group in the “quiet corner” of Connecticut (the northeastern corner of the state which currently does not have a secular group).  This event demonstrated the value of the coalition and will serve as an additional mechanism for fostering future group cooperation.

Connecticut Hosts Camp Quest New England 2014

Camp Quest New England launched in July of 2012 with a fun filled kickoff weekend at Connecticut College. Campers (age 8-17) and staff alike were captivated by mentally stimulating activities such as watching a genetically modified axolotl glow in the dark, viewed stars and nebula through a high powered telescope, launched bottle rockets, learned (and enjoyed!) healthy food recipes, had a private magic show, caught frogs in the arboretum, and so much more!  Camp Quest is a fast growing camp concept for kids of freethinking families that is spread over a dozen states and internationally in the UK and Canada.  Campers enjoy a week of sleepover camp where they are encouraged to think critically, use scientific inquiry, learn humanistic values, and have fun being a kid in a safe and supportive atmosphere.

Camp Quest New England will be hosting our first week long camp beginning July 27th and running through August 2nd!  If you think the list of activities for last year was fun, wait till the kids see what is in stored for this year.  Activities will include frog dissections, bridge engineering, robotics, as well as core Camp Quest activities like Socrates Cafe where campers are encouraged to participate in socratic style philosophical discussions.  We’ll be returning to Connecticut College again this year to take advantage of their vast campus resources.  Every camper will enjoy a balanced meal with vegetarian/vegan/gluten free options labelled… and ice-cream for those kids of all ages to indulge in should they feel like it.  Help us spread the word and let us know if you (or your organization) is interested in joining us, learning more, volunteering your time, or donating.  Please visit us at campquestnewengland.org.  We’d love to hear from you!

CT CoR Presents Award To Congressman Jim Himes — Himes Will Introduce Darwin Day Bill In Next Session

News Item from The Connecticut Coalition of Reason

Congressman Jim Himes was honored on May 15 for his intellectual integrity and political courage in co-sponsoring House Bill 467: Expressing support for the designation of February 12, 2014 as “Darwin Day” and recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity. Representatives of the Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County (HFFC) presented him with a plaque of the broader Connecticut Coalition of Reason’s (CTCoR) resolution recognizing and applauding his efforts.

Noting that over 12,000 American Christian clergy have signed “the Clergy Letter” stating “We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth,” HFFC notes that appreciation of science is not the restricted domain of any subgroup of Americans.

Believing that, as humans in community, we are responsible for helping others with all the knowledge and tools available, humanists feel it important to recognize and honor those who promote understanding of our world.

House Bill 467, had it passed, would have the United States House of Representatives support the designation of Darwin Day to acknowledge the momentous contribution of Charles Darwin to reason, science, and the advancement of human knowledge.

The Connecticut Coalition of Reason is a coalition of nontheist and secular organizations in Connecticut. Its members are the Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County, Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Fairfield County, Atheist Humanist Society of CT & RI, Camp Quest New England, Connecticut Valley Atheists, Hartford Area Humanists, the Humanist Association of Connecticut, the Secular Coalition for Connecticut, and the Yale Humanist Community.

The basic ideas of evolution are straightforward and understandable. As every parent knows, offspring are not identical to parents; that they also vary in the number of viable offspring that they in turn produce, and that consequently over many generations, the general characteristics of a population may change. This understanding has enabled us to use selective breeding to develop new plants and livestock, and to predict, and then fight, the generation of new viruses and bacteria.

We pointed out that Congressman Rush Holt is retiring from Congress, and we didn’t know who would re-introduce and present the bill in the next Congress.

Jim Himes immediately replied, without hesitation, “If you are asking ‘will I do it’ pending the results of the November election, the answer is ‘Yes. I will happily do that.'”

All of us sitting with him were exceedingly pleased, and felt that the sentiment of our resolution was confirmed.

Richard Dawkins Calls the CT Coalition of Reason, “The Good Guys” at the University of Connecticut

What could make the week at UConn where the men’s and women’s basketball teams both won their NCAA Division I national championships even better?  The 2500 people that attended Professor Richard Dawkins’ appearance at the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts on the Storrs’ Campus of the University of Connecticut on his latest US tour and as part of the UConn President’s Distinguished Lecture series on Wednesday April 9th do.

UConn President Susan Herbst introduced Professor Dawkins with a brief history of his life and his more notable accomplishments.  Following President Herbst’s introduction, Professor Dawkins took the stage alongside the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Jeremy Teitelbaum in a fireside chat format.  About half of the questions posed by Dean Teitelbaum were related to topics of evolutionary biology while the other half were on the subject of atheism.

In his usual composed and soft-spoken manner, Professor Dawkins eloquently described how simplistic, irrational, and harmful creationists and religious fundamentalists are to society.  When asked if he considered himself to be aggressive in his discussion on creationism, he disagreed.  “I’m not aggressive.  I’m passionate.  Although, I am angry,” Dawkins said smiling. When asked what it was that angered him, he said “it’s the children that are being deprived of a proper education in the beauty of the scientific world by their parents, or their schools, or their churches that bothers me.”

Near the end of the discussion on creationism, Professor Dawkins reached for a flyer; prepared by Connecticut Coalition of Reason member Cary Shaw, looked at it, held it up and said, “If you have one of these flyers from the Connecticut Coalition of Reason, these are the good guys. Seek them out.” Of course this elicited a thunderous applause from all the individuals of our member organizations and most of the audience.

Upon conclusion of the chat with Dean Teitelbaum, there was a brief question and answer session where Professor Dawkins fielded questions from the audience.  Following the session, Professor Dawkins met with audience members in the lobby, where he held a brief book signing.

Photo credit – Jaf Chiang

CT Coalition of Reason Honors Representative Jim Himes for Co-sponsoring Darwin Day Resolution

Members of the Connecticut Coalition of reason met with Congressman Jim Himes (representing Connecticut’s fourth district) on Thursday, May 15th to present him with the coalition’s resolution recognizing and applauding him for his intellectual integrity and political courage in co-sponsoring H. Res. 467: Expressing support for the designation of February 12, 2014, as “Darwin Day”; recognizing the importance of science in the betterment of humanity.  House resolution 467, had it passed, would have the United States House of Representatives support the designation of Darwin Day to acknowledge the momentous contribution of Charles Darwin to reason, science, and the advancement of human knowledge.

When asked whether next year he would be the one to introduce the bill for Darwin Day designation given that Representative Holt is retiring from Congress, Representative Himes replied, without hesitation, that assuming he is re-elected he would.

“The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Closed the Door on Atheist Equality” – David Niose

David Niose, legal director of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center and past president of both the American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America, visited with the Connecticut secular community yesterday attending the Hartford Area Humanists’ monthly meeting that was open to all our secular organizations as well as the public.  He discussed the recent decisions by the Supreme Court of the US and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. 

“Taking a punch,” is how Mr. Niose described what happened to the secular community last week regarding both high court decisions.  On Monday May 5th, in a 5-4 split decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the town of Greece, NY allowing religious prayers to be offered at the start of local governmental meetings and thus chipping away at the separation of state and church.   Later that same week on Friday May 9th, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a unanimous decision ruled in favor of Acton-Boxborough Regional School District & others declaring that the daily recitation of the phrase “under god” in the US Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights under the Massachusetts Constitution.

As the lead counsel in the Massachusetts case, Mr. Niose was particularly unsettled.  He described the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court as particularly liberal leaning with very strong equality language in their state constitution (i.e., the first state to allow gay marriage in Goodridge v Department of Public Health).  Our unique approach was arguing that “under god” violated the state’s equal protection measure and not the US Constitution’s guarantee of the separation of church and state.  He described the surprising unanimous ruling in favor of Acton-Boxborough as, “closing the door on Atheist equality.”   But as the door closes in Massachusetts it may be opening in New Jersey where Mr. Niose said there is a potential plaintiff willing to contest the “under god” phrase there.  “We are looking for our Goodridge,” Mr. Niose said referring to the case in Massachusetts that allowed gay marriage and resulted in now 17 states with gay marriage and challenges in almost every other state.  States like Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut with strong equality language in their state constitutions are ideal for the “under god” challenge.

Mr. Niose stressed the secular movement’s identify oriented approach in the fight for equality.  Along those lines, The American Humanist Association and the Humanist Institute are asking for secular individuals to sign up to give secular invocations in response to the Greece v Galloway decision (link).  After his discussion Mr. Niose stayed to mingle with the audience answering questions and striking up conversation.  He also had copies of his book “Nonbeliever Nation” available for signing.

Richard Dawkins calls the CT Coalition of Reason, “The Good Guys”

What could make the week at UConn where the men’s and women’s basketball teams both won their NCAA Division I national championships even better?  The 2500 people that attended Professor Richard Dawkins’ appearance at the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts on the Storrs’ Campus of the University of Connecticut on his latest US tour and as part of the UConn President’s Distinguished Lecture series on Wednesday April 9th do.

UConn President Susan Herbst introduced Professor Dawkins with a brief history of his life and his more notable accomplishments.  Following President Herbst’s introduction, Professor Dawkins took the stage alongside the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Jeremy Teitelbaum in a fireside chat format.  About half of the questions posed by Dean Teitelbaum were related to topics of evolutionary biology while the other half were on the subject of atheism.

In his usual composed and soft-spoken manner, Professor Dawkins eloquently described how simplistic, irrational, and harmful creationists and religious fundamentalists are to society.  When asked if he considered himself to be aggressive in his discussion on creationism, he disagreed.  “I’m not aggressive.  I’m passionate.  Although, I am angry,” Dawkins said smiling. When asked what it was that angered him, he said “it’s the children that are being deprived of a proper education in the beauty of the scientific world by their parents, or their schools, or their churches that bothers me.”

Near the end of the discussion on creationism, Professor Dawkins reached for a flyer; prepared by Connecticut Coalition of Reason member Cary Shaw, looked at it, held it up and said, “If you have one of these flyers from the Connecticut Coalition of Reason, these are the good guys. Seek them out.” Of course this elicited a thunderous applause from all the individuals of our member organizations and most of the audience.

Upon conclusion of the chat with Dean Teitelbaum, there was a brief question and answer session where Professor Dawkins fielded questions from the audience.  Following the session, Professor Dawkins met with audience members in the lobby, where he held a brief book signing.

Photo credit – Jaf Chiang

CT Coalition of Reason Elects New Officers

At the Connecticut Coalition of Reason’s annual meeting on January 29th Dan Blinn, President of the Hartford Area Humanists and resident of Glastonbury was relected as co-chair; Tanya Barrett, member of the Connecticut Valley Athesists and resident of Enfield was elected co-chair; and Patrick McCann, Vice President of the Hartford Area Humanists and resident of Durham was elected secretary.

The Connecticut Coalition of Reason is a group of nine atheist, free-thought, and humanist groups 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”

Tanya Barrett named 2013 American Atheists CT Activist of the Year

Tanya Barrett was named 2013 American Atheists CT Activist of the Year for her hard work and dedication as secretary for the Connecticut Coalition of Reason and her amazing efforts in delivering the successful inaugural Secular Assembly for the North East (SANE) conference as project manager this past Saturday.  The one day conference held at the University of New Haven had an amazing lineup of nationally renowned speakers including American Atheists president, David Silverman.  Greater than 90% of attendees gave the conference excellent scores on the post conference survey.  For more information on the conference visit http://saneonline.org/.

 

 


Dennis Paul Himes awards Tanya

Godless Billboards in Connecticut Herald Secular Convention

(New Haven, Connecticut, October 15, 2013) “Are you good without God? You aren’t alone.”

These words, superimposed over an image of a blue sky with clouds, now appear on two prominent 14 x 48’ digital billboards on Interstate 91 South. One is in Hartford south of exit 34, facing north. The other is in New Haven just before exit 7, facing northeast. The two will remain up through November 10, heralding the first ever statewide secular conference, the Secular Assembly for the North East (SANE).

This conference is being held October 19, 2013, in Bartels Hall at the University of New Haven, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven, CT 06516. Four of the featured speakers are Jessica Ahlquist, the Rhode Island high school student who successfully challenged a prayer banner at her school; David Silverman, president of American Atheists; David Niose, the attorney who litigated the recent Pledge of Allegiance suit in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; and Sikivu Hutchinson, a prolific African American atheist writer. More information is available at www.SANEonline.org .

The ads have been placed by the new Connecticut Coalition of Reason (Connecticut CoR) with $10,000 in funding from the United Coalition of Reason (UnitedCoR). Its appearance marks the public launch of Connecticut CoR, which is an alliance of eight atheist, humanist, secularist and skeptic groups working together across the state. They are each listed and described at https://unitedcor.org/connecticut/page/groups.

This campaign is the latest in a nationwide effort. Previous billboard and bus ad campaigns have been launched in 34 states and the District of Columbia. The states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

“The point of our ongoing nationwide awareness campaign is to reach out to the millions of atheists and agnostics living in the United States,” explained Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. “Such non-theists sometimes don’t realize there’s a community for them because they’re inundated with religious messages at every turn. We hope our effort will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren’t alone.”

Reaching out to the like-minded isn’t the only goal of the coalition: “We hope people across Connecticut will discover we are a regular part of the community,” said Dan Blinn, coordinator of Connecticut CoR. “We live all over the state and are your friends and neighbors, family members and coworkers. You might even find some of us sitting next to you in church!”

“Being visible is important to us,” Edwords concluded, “because, in our society, atheists and agnostics don’t often know many people like themselves. Moreover, if traditionally religious people can be open about their views, why can’t we be open about ours?”

For high-res images of the billboards, free for media use, go to www.ConnecticutCoR.org .

# # #

The Connecticut Coalition of Reason is made up of eight area atheist, freethought and humanist groups working together to foster a sense of community among the like-minded and raise public awareness that people who don’t believe in a god or gods can be decent citizens who contribute to the larger society.

The United Coalition of Reason is made up of over 70 local coalitions nationwide and works to raise the visibility and sense of unity among non-theistic groups.

For more information contact:

Dan Blinn
Coordinator
Connecticut Coalition of Reason
860 324-3533
[email protected]
www.ConnecticutCoR.org

Tanya Barrett
Organizer, SANE Conference
978 808-7708
[email protected]
www.SANEonline.org

Dennis Paul Himes
Organizer, SANE Conference
860 454-8301
[email protected]
www.SANEonline.org

All three of the above are available for interviews near the billboards or at 35 Cold Spring Rd, Suite 512, Rocky Hill, CT

Fred Edwords
National Director
United Coalition of Reason (Washington DC)
202-550-9964
[email protected]
www.UnitedCoR.org