Category: Forums

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The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism

Brad Onishi

Brad Onishi

11 a.m., November 5, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum at the Mountain View Senior Center, where Brad Onishi will present to us, OR join us on Zoom.

This Sunday Brad Onishi will join us in person to discuss and answer questions about white Christian nationalism. This is a joint event with the Atheist Community of San Jose.

Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, writer, teacher, coach, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. Brad seeks to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange by providing insight into life’s most fundamental questions. His show, SWAJ, ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple’s podcast charts – ahead of programs from NPR, the NYT, and other national outlets.

After growing up in a non-religious home in Southern California, Brad converted to evangelicalism at a local megachurch at age fourteen. By twenty, he was in charge of a two-hundred-student youth group. After seven years in ministry, he decided to pursue a master’s in theology at Oxford. Soon after arriving in Oxford, he deconstructed his faith and began to study religion historically and philosophically.

In 2018 he started the Straight White American Jesus podcast with his former Oxford colleague Dan Miller. SWAJ is a religion and politics podcast that focuses on Christian nationalism in the United States. Both Dan and Brad are former insiders within the movement. As scholars of religion, they have the training and tools to add layers to these experiences and to interview scholars and journalists who provide a critical lens to some of the most pressing issues of our day.

Brad’s most recent book is Preparing for War: the Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next (Broadleaf Books 2023).

Brad is an adjunct professor in the University of San Francisco College of Arts and Sciences. He is co-chair of the Secularism and Secularity Group of the American Academy of Religion, a faculty research associate of UC Berkeley Committee on the Study of Religion, and on the editorial board of Oxford Religion Encyclopedia.

11/5/23 Brad Onishi from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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You can attend our forums in person with fellow humanists at the Mountain View Senior Center at 266 Escuela Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation for lunch.

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

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The slides Brad shared with us are here.
RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Share to your Linkedin account here.
Check out the Humanist Community web site here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
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“Humanism and Critical Thinking” – The Time is Now

Ben Wade

Ben Wade

11 a.m., October 29, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum at the Mountain View Senior Center, where Ben Wade will present to us, OR join us on Zoom.

Ben will briefly overview the definition of critical thinking and some of its skills, attitudes, and dispositions. He will examine, in some detail, the disposition of flexibility, especially concerning older persons. Finally, Ben will suggest actions that Humanists can take to support and encourage critical thinking in the general populace.

Ben Wade has been a student and practitioner of critical thinking for many years. He holds a Masters Degree in Critical Thinking from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

10/29/2023 Ben Wade from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

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RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Share to your Linkedin account here.
Check out the Humanist Community web site here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

What’s So Funny?

Chris Kramer

A video of a talk by Prof. Chris Kramer

11 a.m., October 22, 2023

You can join the Humanist Forum in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we’re going to look into the science of comedy by watching The Philosophy of Humor: What makes Something Funny, a short video in which Chris A. Kramer, chair of the Santa Barbara City College Philosophy Department, presents some of the theories about why we find things funny. Second, we’ll watch a sample of three different examples of humor in the 10-minute Examples of Types of Humor. Finally, President Barack Obama and his anger translator, Arthur (Keegan-Michael Key) in President Obama’s Anger Translator at White House Correspondents Dinner.

Bring your favorite joke(s) or a short video to put in the chat window.

You can watch the videos above at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW9ntFy9Ilk, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqtFTOUBdv0, and at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6NfRMv-4OY

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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

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RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

The Israel-Hamas War

Ian Bremmer

A video of a talk by Ian Bremmer

11 a.m., October 15, 2023

You can join the Humanist Forum on Zoom, but come to our in-person location at the Mountain View Senior Center to discuss this topic further with fellow humanists.

This past week Hamas launched a stunning and brutal attack on Israel. Helen Walters interviews Ian Bremmer, who shares his in-depth knowledge about this war, its causes, events leading up to it, and the uncertain future for the middle east and the world.

This is an in-depth TED talk that bears watching more than once. You can preview it at https://www.ted.com/talks/ian_bremmer_the_israel_hamas_war_and_what_it_means_for_the_world.

Early in her career, Helen Walters has written about everything from high technology to low culture. She has worked with TED since 2008 and joined full-time in 2013. She is presently head of curation, bringing the sharpest minds and ideas to TED.

Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of the political risk research and consulting firm, Eurasia Group, and GZERO Media which provides coverage of international affairs. He teaches at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is the author of eleven books.

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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar

The American Humanist Association Looks at the Supreme Court

Monica Miller

A video of a talk by Monica Miller

11 a.m., October 8, 2023

Join the Humanist Forum, in person OR on Zoom.

This Sunday we’ll watch and discuss a video from the American Humanist Association’s 2020 national conference covering the work the AHA has been doing to preserve Humanist values and the separation of church and state.

The speaker, Monica Miller, is the Legal Director and Senior Counsel of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. She’ll review some of the separation-of-church-and-state cases before the US Supreme Court in 2022, covering reproductive healthcare, abortion rights, and religion in public schools. She’ll also provide a look at her arguments in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals defending against a government-sponsored prayer vigil.

You can preview this 34-minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVDaI1tuYpA&list=PL5Gb8MNhOZ4myuyHAA7uDjyPRnnAUtOse&index=13.

———-

Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

You can also call any of the following phone numbers and then enter the above Meeting ID and the Passcode in order to join the meeting by phone.
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
You can find international phone numbers to call here.

———-

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
Add this event to your Google Calendar