Speaker – Page 15

Peaceful Death: Another Option?

Jim Van Buskirk

11 a.m., May 30, 2021

At this Sunday Forum, Jim Van Buskirk will discuss “Peaceful Death: Another Option?”.

California’s “End of Life Option Act” took effect in June 2016 allowing patients to request — and physicians to prescribe — life-ending medications. However only ten states currently have such laws, and some people desiring a death with dignity don’t meet states’ strict criteria. There exists another potential option: for over 25 years Final Exit Network, which grew out of the Hemlock Society founded by Derek Humphry, has been supporting those who wish to hasten their own deaths. Learn more about this important organization, what it does and how it addresses the needs of potential clients who are not necessarily terminally ill.

Also discussed will be the shortcomings of Advance Directives. Many communities are served only by religious-affiliated hospitals and nursing homes, which refuse to honor certain AD requests. In other cases, medical staff simply ignore the requests. Even for those not looking to hasten their death, FEN serves as a strong advocate for members who need help getting their legally enforceable wishes honored.

Presented by Jim Van Buskirk, Final Exit Network Regional Coordinator.

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Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/live

Note the new website above for streaming the Forum.

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting.

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

Peaceful Death: Another Option? – Jim Van Buskirk from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Christianity – 57 Varieties

Richard Hewetson

11 a.m., May 23, 2021

At this Sunday Forum, Richard Hewetson will discuss “Christianity – 57 Varieties”.

Most Christians are ordinary people with many different beliefs. It is important that we not generalize about them and stereotype them.

Our speaker, Richard Hewetson, has a Master of Divinity degree from Seabury-Western (Episcopal) Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He was an Episcopal priest from 1957 to 1972.

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/live

Note the new website above for streaming the Forum.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

Christianity – 57 Varieties – Richard Hewetson
from Humanist Community-SiliconValley
on Vimeo.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Atheism in America

Professor Elizabeth Drescher

11 a.m., May 16, 2021

At this Sunday Forum, Professor Elizabeth Drescher will discuss “Atheism in America”.

Nonreligion—whether in the form of religious indifference, extra-institutional spiritual exploration and innovation, or antireligious antagonism—has a long and varied history in the United States. At times in American history, being someone who refused religious labeling and participation was something respected and tolerated as a marker of the Constitutional values separating “church and state” in a uniquely democratic nation. At other times, rejection of religion in general, and Christianity in particular, was seen not only as immoral, but as profoundly and even dangerously un-American. In the 21st century, the religious landscape in the United States is far more diverse and complex than ever, with some 70% of the population claiming an institutional religious identity or affiliation in one of dozens of major and hundreds of smaller religions. However, an increasing proportion of Americans— especially young adults—do not have traditional religious identifications or affiliations, many self-identifying as atheists, agnostics, humanists or secularists.

For the past 5 years, Professor Elizabeth Drescher has been teaching a class on Atheism in America at Santa Clara University. She will discuss how the nonreligious have participated in the shaping of American culture and continue to do so today.

Elizabeth Drescher (Graduate Theological Union, 2008) is Adjunct Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University, where she also directs the Living Religion Collaborative. Her research, writing, and teaching focuses on the lived experience of religion, spirituality, and nonreligion among ordinary people in the contexts of everyday life. Her publications include Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America’s Nones (Oxford University Press, 2016), chapters on religion and media in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media (2015), and numerous articles on religion in everyday life in publications including the Atlantic, Washington Post, SF Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, America, and Religion Dispatches.

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Atheism in America – Professor Elizabeth Drescher
from Humanist Community-SiliconValley
on Vimeo.

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/live

Note the new website above for streaming the Forum.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Stuttering

John Ahlbach

11 a.m., April 18, 2021

This Sunday, John Ahlbach will give a talk on his work with support groups for people who stutter.

John Ahlbach has been involved in the stuttering community his whole life. He was the executive director of The National Stuttering Project from 1981 to 1995, and then founded Friends: The National Association of Young People Who Stutter. John was a high school teacher for 40 years until his retirement.

———-

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/live

Note the new website above for streaming the Forum.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

Stuttering – John Ahlbach
from Humanist Community-SiliconValley
on Vimeo.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Creating the Burke-Gilman Trail

Jim Todd

11 a.m., April 11, 2021

At this Sunday’s Humanist Forum, Jim Todd will discuss “Creating the Burke-Gilman Trail”.

Jim Todd was a resident of Seattle and lived only three doors from the railroad right-of-way at its midpoint in Seattle. He was also on the faculty of the Political Science Department of the University of Washington and his office on campus was immediately adjacent to the railroad right-of-way. He would get to and from the campus than bicycling down a trail on the abandoned railroad right-of-way! Jim says that he likes to think that he was fundamentally motivated by the larger public interest to convert the right-of-way into a public hiking and biking trail, but he feels a need to disclose his personal interest as well.

Jim Todd will discuss how the Burke-Gilman Trail came to be. In the fall of 1970 the Burlington Northern Railroad announced that it planned to abandon its right-of-way running through Seattle and into suburbs north and east of the city. The right-of-way closely follows the shorelines of two lakes and links a dazzling array of major attractions including several large city parks, a major shopping center, and the University of Washington campus. Its conversion to a public hiking and biking trail promised to offer a route to a variety of destinations, as well as recreational and commuting benefits.

Despite the obvious attractiveness of the idea of converting the about to be abandoned railroad right-of-way to a hiking and biking trail, it almost immediately became clear that the idea would not implement itself, that opposition to the idea would emerge, that the BN had its own plans, and that other ideas about how the right-of-way should be used would be proposed. The City of Seattle and King County each had jurisdiction over different portions of the right-of-way. They would inevitably have a major say on what would become of the right-of-way. They had planning and development capabilities as well as funding abilities and limitations to consider. They also had to take into consideration the politics of choosing whatever course of action they might decide to take.

Jim will describe how all of these factors played out and ultimately resulted in the creation of the Burke-Gilman Trail.

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Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/314247393?pwd=d285R2VxWWdNcmk4NHdPaVNpWjc4dz09

(Note: this is a different link than has been posted here previously.)

You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter:

314247393

as the meeting number, and

255787

as the passcode, to get to this Zoom meeting.

———-

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.