Victoria Secular Humanist Association

Congratulations to longtime member Lavinia Rojas on the publication of her book, "Could This Happen to You?", as an e-book on Amazon.

"This book tells the nightmare experiences that I encountered while raising my profoundly mentally and physically challenged daughter as a single mother," Lavinia says.

"At 5 days old, Tania was severely brain damaged by negligence of the hospital staff in Toronto. Although I was advised to leave her at the hospital and 'go on with my life,' I decided against their advice. I quit my job and embarked on an extraordinary difficult journey.

Please note that the Humanist Cafe scheduled for tonight has been cancelled owing to the snow and icy driving conditions in Victoria.

Check out the website for the Imagine No Religion 2 Conference in Kamloops May 18 to 20, co-sponsored by the Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought and Atheist Alliance International. Speakers include the ubiquitous PZ Myers; Matt Dillahunty of "The Atheist Experience" in Austin, Texas; physicist Lawrence Krauss, author of the just-published "A Universe from Nothing"; pro-choice activist Joyce Arthur; and Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson of the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain. There's an "early bird" registration deal until February 1.

For details, see the website: http://www.imaginenoreligion2.com/imaginenoreligionkamloops/Home.html The site also has some good videos from the first Imagine No Religion conference.

Due to the unavailability of the speaker, the previously scheduled talk on J.S. Woodsworth and the Social Gospel has been cancelled. Instead we will complete the viewing and discussion, begun in the Fall, of this famous film regarding the abuse of children in a Catholic orphanage in Newfoundland, based on the Mount Cashel scandal. Free and open to the public, at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre

Join us Wednesday evening, Jan. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the James Joyce Bistro (corner of View & Douglas) for a lively discussion at our first Humanist Cafe of 2012. It's free, and open to the public.

Our topic: Patriotism: Last refuge of a scoundrel, or "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"? ("It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.")

Is patriotism compatible with Humanist values?
Dr. Paul Kamill, Presenter
John Pope, Moderator

“It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.” - Voltaire

We Humanists are more than just atheists because we aspire to live by a set of principles. When we take out a VSHA membership, we declare these principles as our own. Join us Wednesday to discuss our Humanist principles, with Jope Pope as moderator.

Principles are defined as "Fundamental norms, rules, or values that represent what is desirable and positive for a person, group, organization, or community, and help it in determining the rightfulness or wrongfulness of its actions. Principles are more basic than policy and objectives, and are meant to govern both."

The Executive Board is launching a process to create a plan to guide the evolution of VSHA over the next few years. Member input is crucial, and will begin with a mail-in survey in late January. Then, on March 11, members will work together to discuss options and recommend preferences for action, for the use of our funds, and for improvements to our program.

With strong input from members in the survey and the workshop, the Board will develop a plan, which will be presented to the membership for discussion and review at our Annual Meeting in June. Watch for a more detailed announcement in January.

Introducer: Barrie Webster
Moderator: John Pope
Organic farming is a style of agricultural practice that eschews the use of pesticides (synthetic pesticides in particular) and fertilizers (the pure chemicals rather than compost or manures that contain nutrients). For years, products of organic farming have constituted a specialty, often higher priced source of food. Over the last 40 years, organic agriculture has produced not only fruit and vegetables, but also meat and dairy products, grains, and aquaculture products. It has long been said that organic farming was less efficient, more labour intensive, and less practicable than conventional farming practices, depending as they do on the extensive use of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and manufactured fertilizers. New work at the Rodale Institute recently published states that this evaluation of organic farming is in error.

Such findings are based on carefully designed and performed scientific research. As Humanists, what should our conclusions be?

Resolved: "The teachings of Jesus are irrelevant as a guide to living in the twenty-first century"
Sunday, November 27, 10:30 a.m. to noon - Cedar Hill Recreation Centre

Don't worry about tomorrow because God will take care of you. If you are wealthy, your chance of getting into Heaven is slim. Obey the power structure and limit yourself to your own belief system. How useful are these precepts for our everyday existence in 2011?