For our final meeting of the semester, we will be holding elections followed by board games and general fun. So far we have the following positions and people running:

President- Joe Hughto
Vice President- Kelly Knight and Orion Sam Day
Service Director- Miramony Rayburn
Activism Director- Andrew Murto, Robert Zhang, and Alex Fisher
Interaction Director- Logan Traylor
Understanding Director- Orion Sam Day, Robert Zhang, and Alex Fisher

If you would like to also run for one of the above positions, let me know and I’ll you to the list.

Following our exciting elections, we will be pulling out the board games and (hopefully) food that people bring and just having a grand ole time sending the semester off in style.

Please join us because it’s going to be an awesome time!

Come join us for tea and discussion in the Maple room in the IMU this week. Russell’s Tea Parties are SAIU’s periodic general-purpose casual meetups, named after Bertrand Russell’s ‘teapot’ thought experiment, his argument that the burden of proof in supernatural claims lies with the person making the claim.

Come, drink tea, tell us about your religious and non-religious experiences, start a friendly debate, discuss current events, find other members with common interests, start a group project, or even go totally off-topic for a while.

This week we will be discussing plans for the upcoming semester (and beyond). We will also be restructuring the leaders of SAIU and we need your help to decide exactly how that should be done. Please join us and tell us what you’d like the SAIU to become!

Star Trek

Come join us in Student Building 150 at 7:30pm for a showing of Star Trek. I hope that this movie needs no introduction or description. It seems that a lot of our members are fans of Star Trek, especially given that Gene Roddenberry tried his best to input a humanist worldview in as many ways as he could.

Come join us for tea and discussion in the Dogwood room in the IMU this week. Russell’s Tea Parties are SAIU’s periodic general-purpose casual meetups, named after Bertrand Russell’s ‘teapot’ thought experiment, his argument that the burden of proof in supernatural claims lies with the person making the claim.

Come, drink tea, tell us about your religious and non-religious experiences, start a friendly debate, discuss current events, find other members with common interests, start a group project, or even go totally off-topic for a while.

This week we will be trying to find our own definition of where ‘crazy’ begins in religion and whether or not it’s even useful to define such a point. Many of our members are OK with certain types of religion but not others and it will be interesting to investigate this more.

Religulous

Come join us in Student Building 150 at 7:30pm for a showing of Religulous. Religulous is a 2008 American comedy/documentary film written by and starring political comedian Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles. According to Maher, the title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words “religion” and “ridiculous”; the documentary examines and satirizes organized religion and religious belief.

We are also looking for movie suggestions for future movie nights. Please suggest some!

Come join us for tea and discussion in Ballantine 134. Russell’s Tea Parties are SAIU’s periodic general-purpose casual meetups, named after Bertrand Russell’s ‘teapot’ thought experiment, his argument that the burden of proof in supernatural claims lies with the person making the claim.

Come, drink tea, tell us about your religious and non-religious experiences, start a friendly debate, discuss current events, find other members with common interests, start a group project, or even go totally off-topic for a while.

This week we will be discussing alternative medicine. I would like us to talk through such issues as whether or not things like homeopathy (which has been shown not to work) should be promoted or if the supporters of it are just trying to screw honest, albeit gullible, people out of their money.

Brave Little Toaster

Come join us in Student Building 150 at 7:30pm for a showing of The Brave Little Toaster. Keeping with this week’s theme of relaxing during the stressful time of midterms and homework and things, we picked this wonderful film. It’s really a great time; you should join us.

We are also looking for movie suggestions for future movie nights. Please suggest some!

Tom Flynn

Join us this Saturday, in Woodburn Hall, room 100, at 4pm for a lecture by Tom Flynn, entitled ‘Robert Green Ingersoll: The Most Remarkable American Most People Never Heard Of.’

Tom Flynn is the Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism, and also editor of Free Inquiry magazine.

We will be meeting in the Dogwood Room in the IMU at 8pm, as usual.

This Sunday is the first Sunday Funday of the semester! On Sunday Funday, we bring in games and snacks and stuff and just have fun. I think we’ve had enough serious discussion for a while and everyone deserves a break from discussion/homework/studying.

Not only do we need to have some fun, we also have to celebrate the Earth’s birthday! In the 17th century, Bishop Ussher used the Bible to show that the Earth was created on October 23, 4004 BCE. So, we’re also celebrating that! I mean, the creation of the Earth is quite a momentous event and deserves some satirical celebration, right?

So, bring a friend; bring a game; bring a snack! It’s going to be awesome.

Our sister organization, the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign, had an immensely successful debate last night. Here is what they had to say. Please consider donating.

Last night more than 300 people came out to see Dan Waugh and Dan Barker debate the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign’s ad “You Can Be Good Without God”. Both respected men were in excellent form and exemplified civility. We at the Bus Campaign could not be more pleased with the debate.

One of our key goals in forming INABC was to promote discussion amongst people who normally do not talk to each other due to disagreement. We wanted to encourage critical thinking on the reasons behind faith or lack thereof. Both of these goals ultimately create more understanding between theists and nontheists in our community. Dan Waugh and Dan Barker not only fulfilled our goals but did so in a very respectful manner.

We want people to feel comfortable discussing sensitive, controversial topics like religion. Oftentimes people are fearful to express their opinions or do not want to offend someone else. However, as both Waugh and Barker showed us last night, we can break down these barriers in a way that is not inflammatory or disrespectful. We can discuss religion critically whether we believe or do not believe in God.

While audience members may not have agreed with the speakers, this debate gave people the opportunity to hear well thought out arguments that may have been contradictory to the ones they held when they walked in. Events like this should happen more often! With these debates we can enter an age where critical discussion of religion is met with no hesitation, no fear. With your help, we can make strides towards a world where any idea can enter into a fair and balanced discussion where neither side feels the need to hold back.

Our work is not done. There are so many cities that have not seen our message! So many more topics that have yet to be debated! Your gift is not just a donation; it is an investment into a society of free minds, good hearts, and loud voices. Make your online tax deductable gift today.