"Oh, January!" sings Colin Meloy

(Reference from the subject line.)There is a lot of stuff coming up this month! 

January 18th's Movie Night - "Footloose"

January 24th's "The Craft" crafty night

January 25th's "Cleaning Skeptically" Adopt-a-Street

January 25th's Book Club - Oryx and Crake

January 26th's Secular Sunday - Special Guest Speaker - Dave Warnock!

The is an Indivisible meeting at 3 pm on January 26th as well!

Drinking Religiously in Asheboro!

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Today, we talked about what we might want from the group for 2020 - what events might interest people, how often said events might happen, etc. We've talked about a number of possible events:

We talked a lot about doing things that could be family oriented. There are a lot of more adult activities that get regular attendees, but more family oriented stuff has always been on the back burner. Today, we talked about doing picnics and trips to bowling alleys/laser tag arenas/arcades. Activities don't necessarily have to be non-alcoholic, but I don't think kids really get much out of going to bars...

The idea of family friendly events spurred a lot of conversation and the potential for a survey that will be created, vetted, and given to the Meetup group so that even people who don't USUALLY come to things can weigh in on what night make them want to.

We talked about doing a second weekly (perhaps staying monthly) discussion Meetup that could be centered around meals, possibly parodying the religious "AWANA" with, "AWANA Eat."

Another point is that SCOTT's final "T" is "Triad," not "Greensboro." We have a lot of members who love outside of Greensboro, and it might be nice if our repertoire of events reflected that.

Though it wasn't mentioned today, we have talked about doing something like an Unbeliever's Day Out with trips to museums, the Science Center, etc. There really are a lot of things in the area to do.

Anyway, there will be a survey soon. I'll send out a draft of it in the next few days to see if anyone has suggestions for questions/events.

Until then... https://me.me/market?s=pop

Much Love,

Sean

Lamb 2020

Per the Subject Line - New Year, New Ewe...?

SORRY NOT SORRY!

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Today, we talked about New Year's Resolutions... or lack thereof... but before saying anything about that, here are some updates:

- Molly mentioned the possibility of doing an IHOP fundraiser dinner for charity. We'll need to talk a bit more about dates and what cause deserves our cash.

- The Book Club is reading Oryx and Crake. The meeting will be on January 25th at 5 pm. RSVP and get more information here.

- Adopt-a-Street is meeting on January 11th at 9:30 am. RSVP and get more information here.

- Lyn is hosting a movie night on January 18th at 6 pm. RSVP and get more information here. FOOTLOOSE!!!

- David Warnock will be speaking with our Secular Sunday group on January 26th. RSVP and get more information here.

- Lisa will be hosting a potluck on February 1st. RSVP and get more information here.

- It would appear that we're going to have a crafting meetup within our group! I was thinking that it would be really fun to have a name that somehow related to witchcraft, but I couldn't think of any off the top of my head. (HELP!)

New Year's Resolutions - several of us shared individual resolutions, some of those were kind of personal, so I didn't want to say too much about them here, but I did feel like it was valuable to share some of the strategies that people were using to help meet the goals that they had set:

A few people talked about making resolutions that were concrete, incremental, and achievable, as opposed to nebulous, saltatory, and overly optimistic. We also pointed out that many of our resolutions revolve around cutting things out of our lives or forcing ourselves to do things that we don't want to do. Karen pointed out (and a lot of people liked the idea) that we can add things that make us feel good to our lives. Resolving, for instance, to do something that brings you joy every day, even if it's only for a little while, is a positive thing. Someone else (Tabitha or Jessica? SORRY, I THINK IT CAME FROM THAT DIRECTION!) mentioned that it can be really positive to add something to your life if you're going to take something out. If you're going to say that you shouldn't be on social media as much, force yourself to read a book that you're going to enjoy! I actually saw something where they were encouraging people to drink wine rather than beer - I mean... maybe? I dunno.

We talked about holding ourselves accountable by sharing resolutions with others: "Hey! Ask me how much water I've had when you see me!"  There's also a difference between accountability and beating yourself up - which can be exceptionally counterproductive. 

Judy shared with us the idea of a "Yes" year - (with restrictions of safety and legality.)

A lot of people had things to say about resolving to be more intentional in terms of interactions with family, friends, and "friends." Many of us have burning, burnt, and... inflammable bridges with people whom we love but are toxic to us as individuals. ...or people with whom we have history or shared genetics, but are toxic all the same. Anyway, we discussed different ways of interacting with them - writing rather than calling (thank you for the idea Tabitha!) because it gives you a chance to put your words together without being interrupted or put on the spot.

We also talked about the difference between fighting fire with fire and simply cutting people out or moderating our interactions to the point where they cannot hurt us. There is a lot to consider in most cases. And, familial interactions seldom ever take place in a proverbial vacuum. But, with some ingenuity and levelheadedness, we can (hopefully) find peace with ourselves and those with whom we interact.

At the end of the discussion, we decided that next time, we'll talk about what we want to try to accomplish within the group. Roger suggested something with feeding the homeless - something we've done in the past, but could definitely do more of and there are easy ways to do it if we don't marry ourselves to the IRC. We also talked about adopting local families. I am going to talk to the guidance at my school and see if there is any way that we can put something together for kids who are in need. I know we have some. Additionally, our group has a lot of contacts within political organizations. I doubt I need to tell anyone what kind of a year 2020 is in terms of that. (Also, one of the reasons we're not getting our tax exempt status as a church.)

Alright! I'll see you all soon, hopefully.

Remember, we've got a website, where you can find this and other information!

Much love,

Sean

Updates for December!

Hello everyone!

We had a pretty decent size crowd this past Sunday: Ann, Sean, Brian, John, Tabitha, Lisa, Tara, Adam, Molly, Lyn, Jessica, Suze, Joe, Sue, Judy, Charles, Derek, Pam, Adrienne, Antonio, and Scott!

Good to see you if you were there, if not, hope to see you again soon!

Apparently, Saving Christmas was a hit for the Christmas Movie night at Lyn's house - Kirk Cameron explained away the pagan roots of the Christmas tree by pointing out that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a tree... as was the cross. OH. EM. GEE. The next movie night will be Footloose.

Also, in local upcoming events that our members might find interesting, there will be this.

Book Club will be having a Holiday Party on the 28th from 5-730 pm at Earth Fare. Gently used books, wrapped, can be exchanged as part of the party's book swap! Huzzah!

We are updating the SCOTT directory. Adrienne is in charge of it - if you'd like a copy, just be sure to sign up yourself. Only people included get copied in on it.

Charles has completed treatments for his tumor! More good news!

There is talk of a Drinking Skeptically in Winston Salem at a bar/bookshop. I think it's this one? Let us know if you'd be interested, and we can set it up!

Apparently, IHOP does fundraising breakfasts where 15% of the bill comes back as a donation to the group's cause.

We're going to be setting up a walk through the neighborhood where they host the Running of the Balls, an event I didn't feel well enough to participate in this past weekend. We were thinking January 1st! It should be up on the Meetup site soon! Come, walk, enjoy the lights!

We finished the shelving project!

Working on shelves

Staining!

Remember these? Our first project at the IRC, in use!

One of the finished, stained shelves!!! ...and John!

We talked about polygamy. This was an almost oddly centered discussion - it ranged a bit, but mostly it came back to the main topic. It was pretty quickly pointed out (by Lyn, I believe) that polygamy is nearly always used to talk about polygyny - not polyandry. I found this yes, it's wikipedia, but it's cited: Of the 1,231 societies listed in the 1980 Ethnographic Atlas, 186 were found to be monogamous; 453 had occasional polygyny; 588 had more frequent polygyny; and 4 had polyandry.^[3] Polyandry is less rare than this figure suggests, as it considered only those examples found in the Himalayan mountains (28 societies). More recent studies have found more than 50 other societies practicing polyandry.^[4]

Charles talked about the Canaanite "El," his wife Asher. We talked about Eloh and the plural Elohim. Moonies, or Church of God, believe in a YHWH as a father god and Elohim as a mother god figure. We talked about gendering of language and how the spirit of god is often referred to as feminine. We got, a bit, into a discussion of pronouns and gender neutrality. We talked a bit about polyamory.

A few people shared anecdotes about polygyny from Mormon sects and from other countries. One of the newcomers did not appear to enjoy this, so we tactfully told her that this was a safe space for people to share opinions and experiences.

This particular discussion was a lot more focused than some of the others we've had, but I thought it was a good one and would like to applaud everyone who had anything to contribute. You guys are great, and I can't wait to see you all next week (though not the one after that - I'll be in PA.)

Next week, we'll be bringing up a topic from the list.

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Organizer Meeting

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We're going to be setting up a PayPal Account/Quickbooks - this was approved unanimously.

We're changing the bylaws to reflect the following election procedures:

• We will be asking for nominations AND acceptance from the nominees before anyone can be elected - thereby ensuring that people WANT the positions for which they are being nominated.
• We will be introducing consecutive term limits - officers may be elected twice in a row but not a third time sequentially. Someone else must run, be elected, and serve a term before an officer can be re-elected beyond their second term. Obviously, this is to make certain that no one fossilizes in leadership, and that we get good people in the rotation as often as possible.
• We will be holding elections every year on the 2nd Sunday in February. (Survey will be opened)

501c3 Status will be applied for in January of 2020.

Dave Warnock will be coming early next year, we will be contributing money for a hotel room for him, though he will be driving here on his own dime. We wanted to collect a small honorarium at $5 a head for those attending - or more if anyone wants to contribute more.

We have a line on t-shirts. More information will be forthcoming.

Street Cleanup will be the January 11th. Stay tuned for location and event.

Treasury reports that our current funds are $497.97

Until next time, love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!!!

Sorry for the late e-mail; I think I need to, maybe, just send out what notes I have on the day off - that is to say, the late e-mail is not the fault of our wonderful Secretary, Ann Brady. Here are some announcements and upcoming events:

- There are several Thanksgiving activities going on today - I see from the RSVP lists that they are going to be well-attended. Awesome!

- Book Club discussed Our Non-Christian Nation on the 23rd; there was some confusion and members are looking to create a better method of communication.

- Speaking of communication, we have had a group directory book for some time now, and it is badly in need of an update. The way that it works is IF you would like to be included, you submit your name, address, and/or phone number. It is shared only with the other people who have submitted theirs. Much like our meeting notes, I need to get better at either delegating the directory responsibilities or keeping track of them. Pre-New Year Resolution, perhaps.

- Several members of our group confronted the Westboro Baptist Church as they tried to harass people in the Piedmont Triad. Apparently, there was a huge turnout of counter protesters. 

- I dropped the ball on mentioning that the "Galaxy Quest" documentary, "Never Surrender" was playing at the Regal Grande in Friendly Center on the 26th. Sorry. :(

- Charles the Great returned from his international trip with stories of feeding hyenas and falcons, as well as eluding a robber in Addis Ababa. 

- The final Shelf Assembly will take place that IRC on Saturday, December 14th. All we should need to do is attach the dividers into the shelves and stain them! (Flying Spaghetti Monster willing!)

---

Our topic for this week was traditions (aka - peer pressure from dead people). Karen brought a bunch of cool secular/Pagan ritual books for us to look through. A lot of people shared what they do (and don't do) as far as Christmas. We talked about a lot of the Germanic origins of Christmas - Krampus, etc. We talked about secular and non-secular Christmas music. It seemed to be the prevailing attitude of the group that , "just because I don't believe in the subject of the song doesn't mean that I cannot find it beautiful/fun/nostalgic, etc."

It seemed that most of the people present still did some form of Santa belief with children. Speaking of children, a new member messaged me not long ago about putting together some kid centered or family oriented events for the group. We've talked about this before, but it hasn't really gotten beyond the idea swapping stage. Would anyone like to step up as a family event organizer? I would LOVE that. Alas, I digress... as evidenced by my next point:

I brought up Rant by Chuck Palahniuk because of this.

Next time, our subject is CATHARSIS (or, how we deal with difficult family members/venting.)

MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL ON THIS THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!!!

Another Two in One!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to write you earlier, but, per Chris Garland's question - I wanted to see what we might be facing if the very probable outcome of Friday night being a white flag night - so I've emailed our contact at the IRC. Kerry Nance said that it won't be an issue because the center will be open Saturday morning.

November 3rd

Updates/News:

There was a fantastic Halloween ritual, courtesy of Lyn.

Book Club will be meeting Nov. 23rd in the community room of Earth Fare at 5-630 pm - They'll be reading Our Non-Christan Nation.

Lyn told us about this amazing museum exhibit.

We will be doing shelving assembly at the IRC on November 9th.

On the 10th, we will be doing Deconversion Stories. Members, who want to, will be sharing stories of how their faith disappeared or changed.

Here are the summary and the updates from last week: we talked about (many other things but circled back around to) comedy and all of its various facets:

Derek kicked things off telling us about Pete Holmes. It was interesting. Molly went on to talk about the hypocrisy of people who are offended by slights against their ideals, but when they make similar comments, they are "just kidding." This segued to the outrage at Happy Holidays and the war on Christmas.Apparently, Hallmark has begun its 24 hour movie marathons of formulaic Christmas movies. Someone mentioned, either a documentary a book, called The Lie Everyone Loves - I can't remember which it was - anyone?

Eventually, we got to satire and Poe's Law, which brought out a lot fake news, bots retweeting, and the shouting down of anyone dissident. We talked about the line between fascism and mob rule. This brought us back to laughter - particularly as a coping mechanism. We brought up Nihilist Memes and what it says/means about the society that has spawned it. When is something satire? When is it something higher or lower? We talked about identities and the use of humor as a cultural shibboleth. When is something satire and when something is just making fun, rather than making a point. Was it all right to make fun of Sarah Palin - the general consensus was that making fun of her absurd political positions was fine, but attacking her ad hominem was off the charts.

This segued into a discussion of what is admissible for humor and what is mean or bullying. Lyn brought up William F. Buckley - the guy who pulled this. ...and this.

Chris Garland brought up Ricky Gervais' Humanity and, again, the nuance with regard to what is off the table (or not off the table) as far as comedy goes.

Not long after this, Scott brought up a few points: chem trails, black helicopters, George Soros' being a supposed Nazi, and other things of the ilk - that, I think, may have given some people (myself included) *ahem* pause. I cannot speak for the group in its entirety, but I think we handled it as well as we could: people tried to find a common ground, appealed to rationale, and used direct communication. Scott has dropped his membership without saying anything else to me.

Eventually, humor won out, as Karen brought us back to our discussion about profanity and connected it with the scatology, religion, and in group vs. out group. We continued on to talk about the out group jokes target Polish people (with a brief stop mentioning the renaissance fair) and the proclivity of recently discriminated against groups going after new groups. No one could think of, for instance, an Italian American Presidential hopeful who has become a front runner for either of the major parties. (From what I could see, the closest was Mario Cuomo with vice presidential contenders: John Pastore, Peter Rodino, Joseph Alioto, Geraldine Ferraro - my sources on these the Wayback Machine.)

We closed out with how a discussion of how we may have been meant to perceive Archie Bunker. Were we supposed to laugh at his relative ignorance and harmlessness? Or, were we supposed to feel animus toward him?

Next time: We will be doing deconversion stories! I HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!

Here are notes from the lovely Ann Brady - regrettably, I dropped the ball on sending these out. We love you Ann! Thank you!

Secular Sunday

November 5, 2019

Attendees:

·         Ann Brady	·         Bob	·         Sean Bienert
·         Karen	·         Judy	·         Ronnie
·         Chris	·         Tabitha	·         Hunter
·         Ryan	·         Adrienne	·         Deanna

Announcements:

Dave Warnock speaking thing will not be until Feb or March 2020. He wrote a book called Dying Out Loud. He has ALS and is a member of the Clergy Project.

We have two dates for the shelving – November 9^th, and December 7^th or 14^th . The 9^th is definite, Dec. is going to be “if needed”. You can rsvp on Meetup.

Book club met yesterday. Small group, 5 people. Karen’s daughter is writing a mashup of Good Omens and the Scarlet Pimpernel. She went and said the meeting was good.

Halloween party was great.

Discussion Notes:

Coming out as atheist – fear of rejection. Ronnie says he is pretty open about it now, but it does put people off sometimes. Karen recently had her secular and political coming out. She ran a state-wide homeschool group. She was outed by a friend on Facebook.

Chris wanted to know if anyone has every been denigrated as an atheist by any religion other than Christians. Ronnie has experiences with Hindus, but they weren’t really bad about it.

Deanna has experienced that many times over the years. It’s more acceptable to be gay than atheist.

Scathing Atheist says we should be glad that Christians don’t follow the Bible closely (not sure I got this right.)

Grace vs. works.

Christian pop music – KLOVE. Take a pop song, change out the word “Baby” and replace it with Jesus and you have a Christian pop song.

Where are the good bad guys? Rise of the anti-hero. What is the back story for the really bad guy?

History of the group: GAO, Science Sunday, then Sean took over the Sunday meetings and we started having Secular Sunday. We became FAACT because some people had issues with the word atheist. Then we became SCOTT. 

Two in One

Hi everyone!

Obviously, we aren't going to do the shelving construction this morning - unless anyone has a time machine and a really messed up sense of priorities. So, that question on the survey is off - I'm going to set up two dates for shelving construction - November 9th and December 14th. If the job doesn't get finished on the first one (I will not be able to be present for that), we'll knock it out for sure in December (I will be able to be present for that).

Next, I realize that the first question on the survey is worded a bit funny - so I'm going to revise it. Right now, it's split 4/3, but I'm not sure that the question made sense. Please, please, please, respond to that question - I don't want to use (or not use) any of our moldy old money without a lot of responses. I'm sending out a link to the revised survey with the notes from tomorrow's meeting.

Here are the results for the (now closed) survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-BZBLTRQQ7/  

For shirts, I have looked at a couple of sites that could help us put that together. There are some good ones - it seems like a popular idea, so just watch for updates on that.

Hope to see you soon!

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Hi everyone,

As usual, sorry about getting this out so late, but I wanted to make sure that I had a few things down as far as dates go.

Anyway, here's is the survey with a few amendments. 

And, here are the notes from last week's meeting!

Kia and I are hosting a Halloween Bash on the 26th!

Secular Sunday

October 13, 2019

Attendees:

·         Ann Brady	·         Brian	·         Sean Bienert
·         Gina	·         Joe	·         Molly
·         Gene	·         Tara	·         Adam
·         James	·         Stephanie	·         Tabatha
·         Derek	·         Lisa	·         Pam
·         Bob	·         John	·         Hunter

Announcements:

First shelf assembly at the IRC was yesterday. We managed to get one set assembled but not stained. All the cutting is done. We can either do the others in October (there is at least one more Saturday when they will be open in the morning), or in November or even in early December. To stain or to paint? The stain is free. May have paint donated. In November, the date is November 9^th. In December, the date is either the  7^th or the 14^th. Sean will not be available on Nov. 9^th.

Book Club is October 26^th, the book is Good Omens by Terry Pratchett.

We have an Adopt-A-Street. Date for cleanup will be announced soon.

Lisa – still pushing for Oct. 27th for David Warnock to come and speak.  Difficulty in finding a room in a local hotel because of Furniture Market. We may need to have a donation for him. He is a former pastor. Through the Clergy Project, he met another pastor (Cas Midgely) who does a podcast, Everyone is Agnostic. Dave just found out that he has ALS and is doing a “Dying Out Loud” speaking tour.

Molly – Weaver House, once a month or once every two months provide a meal for about 75 people. We would have to cover the cost of the food.

Oct 24^th College Park Baptist Church, Emmanuelmovie screening 6:30 pm. Free popcorn.

Discussion Notes:

Taming your tongue. Ellen Degeneres/Bush kerfluffel.  Is it a good idea to be nice to people who hate you?  Bush was in power and was opposed to LBGT+ rights. 

The Hidden Brain Episode about the acceptance of "non-traditional marriage" and the LGBTQ community by the broader public.

Cursing – when you are in need, you need to conform (James/Adam). Hierarchy of needs at least a little, must be met before you can afford to be non-conformist (Tabatha). We value individualism, but in a very conformist way (Molly).

So much of youth rebellion is born in corporate America (Sean).

Math Rock – very technical, very crafted, like a wall of noise. Do you like it because its good, or because you just like it?

How do you convince homeless people that they need to conform? What is their goal? Do they want to get off the street? Are they happy where and how they are? Aren’t these the same people who would be the explorers and opening up new territories in past times?

Aren’t homeless people deserving of housing, basic care?

It isn’t our job to determine what is success for others. We can only speak for ourselves.

Mental illness is a causal factor in becoming homeless. If you become a danger to others, then intervention may be necessary, but are differing ways of looking at the world a reason to medicate people? (James)

The wealthy have more in common with each other, no matter what their politics, than they do with any of us.

All social experiments to get rid of classes and castes has failed in the end. (James)

Somehow we ended up on the subject of whether animals have souls. EDITOR'S NOTE: THEY DO. MORESO THAN WE DO. HAVE YOU MET PEOPLE?

&%$# It All (Secular Sunday about Profanity!)

Updates:

I shan't be at the Secular Sunday tomorrow. I'll miss you all. I shall return next week 

Book Club is

Shelving Cutting and Staining will be this coming Saturday. We need saw horses, a chop saw, and a table saw. Please, RSVP and comment what you can bring on the event site.

We talked this past Sunday (sorry for how late this is) about a few things. Here they are:

Lisa told us about Dave Warnock, a former Nashville preacher who has deconverted, been diagnosed with ALS, and runs a Clergy Project. We could, for the low, low price of about 85 twice - (hotel room for two nights) have him come and speak to our group. Look him up, I think you'll find him fascinating. As fro money, we'll have to have 1) a survey on whether or not we want to afford that 2) an accounting of how much cash we've got after shelving at the IRC. Speaking of which, I am going to need to call an Organizer Meeting in late October or early November. Organizers? What do we think?

Karen told us about Shane Mauss and his recent performances at the Idiot Box. He apparently incorporates the teaching of science into comedy, stylishly.

The subject was profanity, and there was a lot about which to cuss. We started off with the absurdity of what we call profane - Cornelius Evazan losing his arm (yes, he had a name) in Mos Eisely in Star Wars Episode IV vs any kind of a butt being shown in just about anything. Additionally, we talked about just how much boob can be shown before it becomes "pornographic," and how ridiculous that is. Is society saying that murder is more natural than a naked body?

We talked about the prudishness of the American profanity and the comparative relaxation of English humor. Specifically, this. We went on to talk about Winning Through Enlightenment. And this darling of the idea that one should - correct me if I am wrong about the quote, "Never raise your opinion to the level of relevance." I like it anyway.

Karen brought up the fascinating What the F and the categories of swearing: profane vs sacred - HOLY, sexual (taboo) F***ING, scatological S***, and in/out group N***** - we talked about natural disinclinations toward subjects, such as swearing based on fecalphobia, coming from an instinct of the amygdala. Karen also introduced us to the colorful world Quebecois Swearing. 

We talked for a while - to be extremely - I'll be diplomatic and say - succinct, about different nonverbal profanities, the possible biblical roots of verbal profanity, Mark Twain, "The Awful German Language," "The Life of Brian," and phonaesthetics which I misnomered as metonomy. For instance, the hard "c" of the c word for the female anatomy vs. the soft "f" of the f word.

I won't be there next time, but next time the subject is supposed to be the changing zeitgeist with acceptability in gender roles.