December 20, 2009 Forum - Let Your True Light Shine

Whenever you try to be someone you’re not in order to gain approval, you block yourself from your own light. What makes you different makes you special, even if it seems weird or wacky. By embracing what makes you distinct from others—including your “flaws”—you automatically excel at work and enrich your relationships, especially the one [...]

November 15, 2009 Forum - How Public Campaign Financing Could Help Obama and California

Using examples from President Obama’s legislative agenda, Craig Dunkerley, South Bay Coordinator for the California Clean Money Campaign, (www.caclean.org) will discuss why so many progressive ideas and programs that genuinely serve the public interest never come to fruition. Perhaps even more important, he’ll explain specific, proven steps we can take to fix this pervasive problem. [...]

What was the most important religion story of 2009? by Herb Silverman

The important story for me was the omni-absence of a personal God in so many stories about religion. God may not exactly be dead, but perhaps he, she, or it should be denied health insurance because of a strongly suspected pre-existing condition of nonexistence.
To read more, click here.

An atheist holiday - by Patty Fisher, Mercury News

It’s the winter solstice, and Silicon Valley’s atheists, agnostics and humanists want to extend their sincere, secular season’s greetings. While they reject the religious teachings behind Hanukkah and Christmas, the avowed nonbelievers aren’t against throwing parties, eating rich food or giving gifts.
To read entire article, click here.

December 13, 2009 forum - What Our South Africa/Botswana Tour Can Teach People

Inspiring program on the people-rich South Africa and Botswana tour of world travelers Barby and Vic Ulmer. What we can learn! Come and be inspired! The people of South Africa and Botswana have many of the same human struggles we have and some of their solutions might work for us. Slides (on DVDs) and discussion. [...]

December 6, 2009 forum - Women for a Peaceful Christmas

Fed up with war? Frustrated by the commercial frenzy that gets worse every December? In 1971, sixteen midwestern homemakers began “Women for a Peaceful Christmas” (WPC) in response to the ongoing war in Vietnam and the spending and waste that increasingly characterized the holiday season. Under the slogan “No More Shopping Days ‘Til Peace,” WPC [...]

Atheists in office: Déjà vu all over again - by Herb Silverman

I’m reminded of my South Carolina experience when I hear that some folks in Asheville, North Carolina want to remove Cecil Bothwell from City Council. What he and I have in common is not just that we are atheists, but that we are open about it. The constitutions of both North and South Carolina bar [...]

FREEDOM FIGHTER SERIES: An interview with Austin Dacey about Music and Human Rights

The Freedom Fighter series highlight individuals who have been dedicated to the power of music as a liberating force. They interview Austin Dacey, organizer of “The Impossible Music Sessions”, a performance series intending to showcase musicians who have been subject to exile and censorship in their native country. To read this fascinating interview click here.
Austin [...]

One law for All a year old today - by Maryam Namazie

One Law for All Campaign was established a year ago on December 10, 2008 to mark International Human Rights Day.
A year on, it has mobilised considerable support in opposition to Sharia and religious laws and in defence of secularism and universal rights. With nearly 21,000 individuals and groups having signed up to our petition calling [...]

A Better Way to Deal with Crime -(by Arthur Jackson)

Current prison procedures have produced an unsustainable system where costs spiral out of control and ineffective structures make society worse rather than better.
However, new efforts at the Federal level are providing alternatives that not only drastically reduce costs, but are much more effective.
And, interestingly Texas is leading the way in prison reform and saving big [...]