We often hear testimony of individuals who have left Evangelical Christianity or Roman Catholicism to become atheists. But rarely do we get to hear the story of those who have retained a share of their faith, yet moved it to a more "progressive" view. Dr. Young, who describes himself as a Christian agnostic, brings us one such story. His journey involves an evolving view of scripture and a general distrust of human language as an effective communication tool, especially when the language is centuries old, and/or is considered only in a logocentric approach (ignoring phonocentric considerations). 

Dr. Shawn Young is Director of Music Management Studies at Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia. 

Schedule:

11 am social hour
12 noon potluck lunch
1 pm program

The praise (and applause) following Ms. Brooks's talk at the 2011 AFA Annual 4th of July Freethought Advance seemed unending. We are very pleased that she is willing to come back to Lake Hypatia and speak at our May 2013 meeting.  

Schedule:

11 am social hour
12 noon potluck lunch
1 pm program

Jon Paolone is the advisor for the Secular Student Alliance at UAB. 

The organization's website describes it as follows:

"The Secular Student Alliance at UAB is a sanctuary for people who, while they may not have religion or currently believe in any religion, consider themselves lucky enough to be living, breathing human beings with consciences and a personal state of mind."

Mr. Paolone hopes to have some students from the Alliance available to speak and answer questions. 

Schedule:

11 am social hour
12 noon potluck lunch
1 pm program

Portrait now hanging in Jackson Middle School challenged today

A display of Jesus is just as unconstitutional in a high school as it is in a middle school. That's the message of the amended complaint filed today by the ACLU of Ohio and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

A month after the two groups sued the Jackson City School District over the portrait in a middle school on behalf of students and families, the district moved the contested portrait to a high school. Local plaintiffs in the original case were all students or parents coming into contact with the Jesus portrait in the middle school.

"This was such a transparent effort to shake off a lawsuit," noted FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Now FFRF and the ACLU of Ohio have assured that the federal case will continue, by adding as local plaintiffs "Sam Doe 4," a parent who has a minor child attending the high school, and "Sam Doe 5," a student who attends the high school. The plaintiffs today also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order asking for immediate removal of the devotional portrait.

"It doesn't matter which public building the portrait is in," said Nick Worner, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Ohio. "It's an unconstitutional endorsement of religion on the part of a public school."

FFRF first complained about the portrait hanging above the entrance of the Jackson middle school in early January. Superintendent Phil Howard refused to remove the portrait, saying "it would take a court order to remove the picture."

FFRF and the Ohio ACLU sued on Feb. 3. The case is in the Southern District of Ohio in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley. School district employees removed the painting from the middle school on March 13 to a hallway at the high school, where it will be viewed by 700 students, faculty, staff and community members. The school board meets at Jackson High, and it hosts a variety of public events.

The district for the first time is claiming that the portrait doesn't belong to the district, but is "student speech." The superintendent stated publicly that it would be unconstitutional to turn "the portrait into government speech." He has told media that the portrait was moved at the request of the Hi-Y Club, a Christian service club at the high school (which until 2004 shared the middle school building), which reportedly donated the painting to the school in 1947.

The devotional portrait, called "Head of Christ," painted by Warner Sallman, is the most recognized depiction of Jesus and hangs in many churches and Sunday schools.

Read amended complaint
Read motion for Temporary Restraining order
Read original complaint, press release, etc.

An affiliate of the Freedom From Religion Foundation

Our goals: To educate the public on non-theism and protect the First Amendment - Separation of Religion from Government.

The Greater Sacramento Chapter of FFRF is a local chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. We are a non-religious community of local people committed to living our lives free from religion, superstition, dogma and mysticism. We are freethinkers - people who form opinions about religion and spirituality independent of tradition, authority or established belief, in favor of rational inquiry.  

Our members are composed of Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists, Skeptics, Deists, and secular-minded people still searching for answers who come from all walks of life. The common thread we all share is that we uphold the US and California Constitutional principles of separation between government & religion.

Living in the current "Christian Frenzy" era, that has been gaining popularity by leaps and bounds since the mid-1950s, accelerated by 9/11, we must be ever more vigilant about especially Christian Fundamentalism working hard to dominate the political arena at all levels. Thus we educate the public with letters to the editors, news releases, legally savvy communication with our local government agencies, and one-on-one encounters, as appropriate, by our members, legally taking appropriate action to preserve our rights when necessary.

Sacramento is wonderfully supplied with many freethinking organizations which all provide many social opportunities for the local freethinkers, such as potlucks, game nights, book clubs, skeptic gatherings, movies, historical discussions, notable speakers, activist opportunities, and other events.  So, this Chapter of FFRF does not feel the need to organize more of these events.  Members are, instead, asked to join other local groups doing those things.  Many of our members belong to multiple local groups.  For a comprehensive local events calendar, please see http://sacramentocor.org.

Instead, and the reason we formed, is to support eyes and ears on the ground, at the small, local level, to simply monitor separation issues.  We began as a response to one atheist in a small outlying town standing up by herself against seeing religious infiltration of their official town holiday celebration.  Before this Chapter was even officially announced, another infraction was caught and stopped by another local city wanting to support an evangelical fund-raiser.  It's all around us.  Our members are called Monitors, all of them, whether they monitor weekly city council agenda and minutes and school board agenda and minutes, or if they simply want to support other local friends, neighbors and members who are more actively pursuing this cause.

If you are a freethinker who is supportive of the separation of church and state, please feel free to email us with any questions you have.  To join our local Chapter, first join the national FFRF organization at http://ffrf.org, then send us an email letting us know you've done that.  The Greater Sacramento Chapter does not charge any fees - we just need your email address.  We will call you a Monitor.  You will receive regular supportive updates telling you everything happening at our local level, plus tips on how to watch for problems.  All reported potential violations are of course always pursued anonymously.  Or, you can help this wonderful cause from the background.  Thanks for your important support.  For more information, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

(To the tune of “My Favorite Things”)

Muslims kill Jews and the Jews murder Muslims,

Sunnis kill Shiites, then die by the dozens,

Christian explosions make Irish ears ring:

These are a few of my sickening things . . .

“On, Christian Soldiers!” defies “Allah Akbar!”

Pork rinds are banned from a Syrian snack bar.

Our sirens shrieking while their rockets zing:

These are a few of my sickening things . . .

Hindu kills Buddhist, and Buddhist kills Hindu,

Neither will reconcile, for it’s a sin to.

Infidels tortured and sent to the grave:

Faith all that sickening’s simply depraved . . .

When they’re praying

And they’re saying

That the heretics must die,

Then I remember I’m not one of them,

And I know I’m a lucky guy.

© Philip Appleman

Freethought Today is honored to publish this new poem.