Jan 4: Your Turn
Claire Gordon, moderator, lays out possible current topics for discussion this morning and makes sure that all sides to an issue are heard. Come, participate.
Jan 11: The Intimate Enemy
Bill Jacobsen notes that three decades ago George Bach came up with a simple way of negotiating for couples that has never been surpassed in its effectiveness.
Jan 18: Are Humanists Marginalized?
As a Unitarian minister for several decades Bill Jacobsen is aware of what led to a convocation at which UU clergy couldn't agree that critical reason was as important as the presence of the holy.
Jan 25: Where in the World is this Country Going?
Burt Liebert introduces some controversial theories about the state of the nation and its citizens. (That's us!) Your response is invited. This Forum will be the subject of Feb's Wednesday night series.
Feb 5: Commitment Phobia
Bill Jacobsen describes people who are afraid of decisiveness in areas of employment, relationships, and organizational involvement.
Feb 8: Are We Really Atheists?
Peter Bishop speaks on a puzzle that never seems to go away. How shall we define ourselves? What kind of lines do we draw? Beginning with an affirmation of the real world and the importance of people, Peter goes on to separate myth and reality and discuss terms like "agnostic" and "humanist" and "naturalist."
Feb 15: Humanism in Islam
Mehlika Saval's tours throughout Turkey are booked more than a year in advance at melitour@unimedya.net.tr. With her comprehensive knowledge of the politics and culture of her native land and how it contrasts with American customs and mind-set, she is uniquely qualified to offer a poetic and philosophical approach to secularism in her divided nation.
Feb 22: The Art of Dialogue
Bill Jacobsen puzzles about the nature of genuine explorations that take place between disciplines, traditions, individuals, and even within one person who is torn in several directions. At the end of the process new understandings and insights emerge.
Mar 1: The Kaczynski Sentence
Attorney General Janet Reno refused a plea bargain which would have granted Ted Kaczynski a life sentence without parole. Should our government be the advocate of the death penalty? Ely Brandes holds forth on this controversial topic.
Mar 8: Drug Awareness: An Alternate View
Ned Buratovich raises questions about the mixed messages the culture sends out on the issue of using drugs to affect one's feelings. Is it wise to offer a price-support for criminals who trade in drugs?
Mar 15: Exploring Implications of Complexity Science
"Is this science the key to our natural home in the universe?" is the question posed by Jim Woolley. After graduating from Berkeley, Jim went on to earn his doctorate in engineering at Stanford, followed by four decades in the aerospace industry. He uses his science background to approach philosophical questions without resorting to mysticism. This introduces a Wednesday series at the Humanist Center on Mar 18, 25, Apr 1, 8.
Mar 22: Shall We have a "Splendid Little War?" Why Not?
Bill Jacobsen wonders whether the nation has thought through the consequences of unilateral action in Iraq.
Mar 30: Do Biology and Astronomy Require Intelligent Design?!
Bill Jacobsen says: Evangelicals continue to promote the tactics of William Paley's Evidences: "If a clock suggests a clockmaker, nature suggests a nature-maker." How do you respond?
Apr 5: Procrastination
"It's too late in the week to start." "If I wait I can do a first class job." "I'll call later, when the rates go down." If these voices are familiar, you are in good company. Why do people put actions off? Are there any conditions when this is justified? Life Planning counselor Bruce Lerro discusses the payoffs of procrastination, the realistic danger which comes from improving along with some tips for following through and doing what you say you'll do.
Apr 12: Reinventing Your Life: Developing Positive Life Patterns
George Lockwood, assistant clinical professor, UCSF, presents 11 positive patterns, with diagnostic tests for each, plus step-by-step suggestions on how to break free from emotional hurts and dangerous beliefs, negating the thoughts which interrupt the passionate, fulfilling life. He has been in private practice for 16 years.
Apr 19: Why is the Criminal Justice System So Ineffective?
Fortunate in inheriting good genes and good parents, and in growing up in a good enviroment, Hank Giarretto turned out really good. When he sees a criminal, he says: "There but for the grace of luck go I!" Those who break the law end up in a system that's based on a fundamental misunderstanding of human behavior. The system says: "Since the criminal had total free will in commiting a crime, the answer isn't effective education or reprogramming, but punishment for its own sake." And so the cycle continues.
Apr 26: In-Your-Face Religion
Bill Jacobsen says: Militant believers are encouraged to disrupt education at all levels in order to do battle with naturalism. Shall we prepare a defense strategy against these wily and clever folks?
May 3: Taming Moore's Law
Can design keep pace with ever smaller chips that continually increase output at less cost? Larry Rosenberg chairs an alliance that aims to build systems 100-fold more complex than what is currently available. Inevitably, this will impact the engineering culture, business practices, the legal structure, and the entire semiconductor industry.
May 10: Social Security
The real debate about Social Security isn't about a balance sheet for the year 2020 or about establishing a better retirement program for yourself. The debate is about the nation's commitment to preserve a program that provides for the disabled, children in need, and the poor who need a safety-net in their old age. As a civilized nation, can we "afford" to abandon this commitment? Economist Ely Brandes speaks.
May 17: Religion is Aesthetics
If religion offers no reliable information about the universe, why does it continue to exist? By evoking feeling, identity, action through imaginative constructs, religion survives as one of the arts. Evaluate it in these terms. Bill Jacobsen begins a four-part series.
May 24: Tell an Adult Story with your Life!
Humanists don't think in terms of sin, but they have a useful equivalent: immaturity. Show me someone stuck in unimaginative stereotypes or in a tiresome series of narcissistic disappointments, and I will show you someone who has mastered the art of the banal soap opera. It's easy to indulge in childish emotions and juvenile thinking; producing a grown-up life of significance is a real challenge.
May 31: Everything is Transitory
No sooner do you master one aspect of life, than the ground-rules change and you must turn your values upside down. Since all stories come to an end, you have to detach from worrying unduly about this and joyfully accept the inevitable fact of the transitory. "All stories eventually end."
Jun 7: Science Explains; Arts Evoke
In searching for reliable knowledge, scientists create a seamless web of explanation, yet they never uncover a moral imperative. For this people often look to poetry, literature, and drama. Why? Because the arts evoke a personal response from us as they offer insight into the human dilemma. We are inspired as we identify with the varied voices created by the artist.
Jun 14: Darwinism, Darwinisn't
David Gallivan has dived in the Alaska oil spill and sneezed at an Andres Segovia concert. He is also a biologist, writer, and teacher, offering us a jargon-free two-part series on the life sciences. For 80% of life's history on Earth, it operated with mechanisms that Darwin didn't (and couldn't) know. As you contemplate how widespread symbiotic relationships are in the biosphere -- including 100 or so creatures within your body -- you'll wonder about updating the 160 year-old Darwinian model, especially after seeing how the same set of phenomena in physics can be adequately described by more than one model. Audience participation.
Jun 21: Blood & Guts & Cloning: the O.J. Case and You
Did you know that you have undergone genetic engineering several times in your life? After four minutes you will understand the DNA evidence at the O.J. Simpson trial and what the O.J. defense team has in common with creationists. Finally, what might automated DNA sequencers, supercomputers, and complexity theory bode for future developments in ethics, philosophy, and just plain survival? David Gallivan offers many real life examples.
Jun 28: Philosopher Practitioners
Harriet Chamberlain, with a doctorate in literature and philosophy, was written up in West magazine as the first philosopher in the Bay area offering counseling.
Jul 5: The Service Experience
Many volunteers will agree with our speaker when he says, "I'm sure that I'm getting more out of it than I am putting into it." John Hill speaks about his involvment in Elderhostel service trips to work on the Monk Seal project at Midway and to serve youngsters at the Navaho Reservation in Arizona.
Jul 12: Unfinished Peace
Carol McLemore originally went to Bosnia as a volunteer, then was employed by several governmental agencies to work on shelter reconstruction and repatriation. In addition to recounting her personal experiences, she will give an overview of the complicated tensions between the varied ethnic groups that doesn't often get into our newspapers.
Jul 19: Human Rights vs Rights of Nations
How appropriate is it for volunteers to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations, regardless of their sincerity and the nobility of their cause? Is there a danger that we will become so enamored of feeling moral, that we disregard the actual consequences of our behavior? Ely Brandes speaks.
Jul 26: A Place for Spirituality in Humanism?
Suppose a person takes for granted that religious symbols and myths don't communicate hard knowledge. Would naturalists still have reason to explore the realm that they point to? And what would that be? Robert Ruether speaks.
Aug 2: Pius XI's Hidden Encyclical
Bill Jacobsen discusses the Vatican's lost opportunity to oppose Nazi racial policies that led to the Holocaust. When Pius XI died, his sucessor deep-sixed a letter that could have changed world history.
Aug 9: Anti-Science & the Rise of Alternative Medicines
Wallace Sampson, oncologist and Stanford clinical professor, is the founder of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and the Bay Area Council Against Health Fraud. He recently spoke at the World Skeptics Congress sponsored by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, of which he is a fellow. Beginning with an open-mind, he has become increasingly critical of non-traditional medicines.
Aug 16: Inside the Vatican
Bill Jacobsen uses research by a Jesuit to understand the inner workings of an amazing institution.
Aug 23: Religion/Science: Is it "and" or "versus"?
Did the recent conference in Berkeley shed light on the issue, or did it shed darkness on our understanding? Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Aug 30: The Scientific Study of UFO Phenomena
Von R. Eshleman, Stanford professor of Electrical Engineering emeritus, chaired a recent review of research into unexlained phenomena like UFO reports. He brings a common-sense realism to a field that too often lends itself to strange speculations.
Sep 6: Earth Charter
Graig Ellis, member of the Earth Day Charter Committee, discusses the current process of framing and revising an environmental statement for the United Nations that would supplement the U.N. human rights charter that already exists. Peter Bishop co-leads the presentation, based on his contacts with Soka Gakkai which is sponsoring a conference in San Francisco on the topic.
Sep 13: Truth and Reconciliation or War Crimes Trials?
The new South Africa, under Nelson Mandela, defied the prevailing Western view that to end civil wars, individuals guilty of war crimes must be punished; only then can peace prevail. Mandela simply asked that the guilty confess their crimes openly, before a commission, and then go free. Strange as it may seem, there has not been a public debate in this country on the merits of these opposing philosophies. Perhaps there will be today. Ely Brandes leads the discussion.
Sep 20: Reinventing Your Life
George Lockwood reviews the eleven negative life patterns which interfere with a fulfilled and joyful life. Back by popular demand, this therapist demonstrates how patterns develop, how to recognize them, and -- step by step -- how to break free.
Sep 27: Alphabet vs Goddess: Conflict between Word and Image
Leonard Shlain explains why goddesses and priestesses disappeared from Western religion, drawing on the myth, history, and split-brain research found in his new book.
Oct 4: The Scientific Naturalism of E. O. Wilson
Pete Warburton reviews E. O. Wilson's Consilience, noting the difference between the big picture offered by researchers who work with scientific naturalism and the smaller puzzles they try to solve.
Oct 11: Religious Naturalism
In 1911 the Rev. John H. Dietrich was condemned as a heretic while serving a Reformed Church in Pittsburgh. The Classis (comparable to a Presbytery) gathered evidence for a heresy trial (comparable to a Special Prosecutor investigating a possible impeachment). Seeing no point in defending himself, he quit his denomination and joined the Unitarians. Even here, he was on the cutting edge of liberal thought, insisting that a naturalist religion must respect reason and scientific discovery above all. Avoiding both a dogmatic atheism and a futilitarian attitude, he set the tone for an inclusive humanism. Bill Jacobsen leads the discussion.
Oct 18: Markets & Property Rights: Policy Tools of the Future
John Curtis explains the principles and how they apply to the management of fisheries, social services, transportation, and managed care. The emphasis will be on discussion of real world issues.
Oct 25: A Secular Naturalist Looks at the Moral Point of View
Bill Jacobsen sets forth the ideas of Kurt Baier's approach to the meaning of life and how to "grade" the goodness of life. Even though Dietrich and Baier start from different places, they end up at the same place.
Nov 1: The Global Economy: Blessing or Curse?
It's actually both; but to understand why requires more knowledge of economics than we can learn from our media. Ely Brandes, former economist for the Panama Canal, speaks.
Nov 8: Elitism -- Pro and Con
Some areas demand such a level of expertise that the unqualified need to know their place as recipients of the knowledge of the practitioner, e.g. brain surgery. Some areas are wide open: no one's opinion has any more validity than another's, e.g. taste in clothing. Some areas are in between, e.g. religion. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Nov 15: Celebrating José Saramago
His magic realism style is often compared to that of Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Vatican attacks him for his antireligious vision, while the establishment is unhappy with his atheism & his blunt opinions about needless poverty and suffering. His bestselling books have been published in more than 20 languages. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Nov 22: Memoirs and Your Life Story
Every day you write a new page in your Life Story. If you reflect on the episodes you've already authored, you may elect to explore some "paths not taken". Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Nov 29: Guided Enchantment
While not everyone is attracted to this non-cerebral format, enough people seem interested to justify this weekly program which precedes the Forum. A panel of participants offer a report and a demonstration.
Dec 6: Redefining Progress: Tax Reform for the Sake of the Environment
A socially useful tax system taxes what we want less of and reduces taxes on what we want more of. What if government reduced taxes on income and savings and increased taxes on resources used and pollution generated? Ansji Miller of Redefining Progress, a SF-based think tank, speaks.
Dec 13: Ownership Day
You aren't a passive stockholder; you are part of the management. What do you want from the Humanist Community? Paul Abramson facilitates.
Dec 20: My Sun Never Sets
Regardless of doom scenarios in astronomy, we keep our spirits high by going within. Bill Jacobsen speaks.
Dec 27: Sunrise in Your Heart
A new year dawns and with it boundless hope. Bill Jacobsen speaks.