Teresa MacBain's new job at the Harvard Humanist Community Project

From the NY Times -- what former Methodist minister Teresa MacBain is doing now


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/us/after-a-crisis-of-faith-finding-a-new-secular-mission.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fnational%2Findex.jsonp

The Sunday Assembly

From the Guardian on-line:.  Sounds like the Sunday Assembly folks are taking a page from the HSGP playbook....although I'm not aware that we have any stand-up comics in our group, at least not on purpose.  Interesting to see how other groups are addressing the needs of the "un-churched."




http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/02/atheists-sunday-assembly-coming-to-america

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/14/atheist-sunday-assembly-branches-out

What kind of atheist are you? From the Guardian newspaper.

I missed this article when it first appeared a couple of months ago, but it's still timely.  A study of US atheists has identified six types of atheists.  What kind are you?



http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2013/jul/15/six-types-of-atheist

Invitation for non-religious adults to participate in a study

The following email was sent to the HSGP website contact.  If you are interested, follow the link.

We are conducting a study at the Child Cognition Lab at Boston University that compares how religious vs.
non-religious adults think about nature. We have collected data from religious participants and now need
non-religious participants to make the comparison.
We are seeking to recruit non-religious participants via nonreligious societies’ email lists. The study is
ethically reviewed and approved by the Boston University’s Institutional Review Board.

Below, I have attached the invitation to the study. The actual study is conducted online and the link to
the study website can be found in the end of the invitation.
I hope that this invitation would be forwarded to the members of your society.
If you have any questions concerning the study, I am happy to answer them!

Sincerely,
Elisa Jarnefelt/ Child Cognition Lab at Boston University
**************************************************************************

Dear non-religious community member:

We are conducting a study at the Child Cognition Lab at Boston University that compares how religious vs

 non-religious adults think about nature. We have collected data from religious participants and now need

non-religious participants to make the comparison. Would you be interested in helping us with our

research?

Your participation in this research is voluntary. If you decide to participate, the participation only requires

you to visit our study webpage to look at a series of pictures and make judgments about them, and then

complete questionnaires about your background, scientific understanding, attitudes and personal beliefs.

Participation should only take about 40 minutes. 

This study webpage is designed to work on laptop or desktop computers and will not work on portable

devices such as iPads. Also, if you decide to participate, make sure that you are in a quiet place free from

disturbances (e.g. TV) and able to concentrate through every task.

Participants will not receive any benefits from this study, other than knowing that they helped science

understand better how religious vs. non-religious people think. We hope this will be a good incentive for

you, and that you will help us!

And for the sake of the scientific integrity of the study, please participate only ONCE!

Here is the link to the consent form and the study: http://128.197.168.178/ccltask-nr/

  

THANK YOU so much for your interest!

--
Child Cognition Lab
Boston University
(617) 358-1738
www.bu.edu/childcognition

Should Creationism Be Controversial - NY Times Room for Debate column

(Mostly) thoughtful comments on the topic of "Why are some people drawn to origin narratives like in Genesis, and others to the scientific story?" from the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/08/15/should-creationism-be-controversial

This debate refers to an article in The New Republic titled "Science Is Not Your Enemy" by Stephen Pinker that you can read here

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114127/science-not-enemy-humanities#

It is also a follow-on to an article in Yahoo titled "Why I'm a Creationist" by  Virginia Heffernan that you can read here


http://news.yahoo.com/why-im-a-creationist-141907217.html

Minnesota minor league baseball team goes atheist for one night - from NPR

Enjoy this broadcast segment from the 8/8/13 All Things Considered program on NPR.  The Minnesota Atheists sponsored a night of minor league baseball which involved changing the name of the team from a semi-religious reference to a decidedly irreverent one.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=210253935&m=210253947

NY Times article related to Inquiring Minds discussion on assisted suicide.

On Saturday, August 3, the Inquiring Minds discussion group took up the topic of issues surrounding assisted suicide.  While the majority of those present seemed to feel that the option should at least theoretically be available, opinions on the conditions under which it should be made actually available varied widely.

The New York Times ran an article today about a woman in the state of Washington who availed herself of that state's legal assisted suicide program.  It is a thoughtful article about a woman I would have liked to have known and how she asserted her right to make decisions to the very end, including writing her own obituary.  Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/booming/dying-with-dignity-and-the-final-word-on-her-life.html