Humanist Group

The Humanist Group meets on the last Sunday of the month online at 7:30 pm. Humanism is a philosophy that encourages people to think for themselves, valuing science and reason. It is focussed on human means for comprehending reality and pursuing good. Humanist ethics are based on respect for all life and regard human values as having meaning in the context of human life rather than the promise of life after death.

Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Register once to attend any or all.

Sunday October 29th: Donna Web will introduce discussion begun by the book, I will Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity by IZZELDIN ABUELAISH, a Canadian-Palestinian medical doctor.  Not only is this book a well written page turner of his very difficult life, it is, of course, very timely.  It is a very worthwhile read as well as giving us much to discuss.

Sunday November 26th: Marilyn Meden will introduce further discussion of Will Storr’s, The Status Game, by way of Gabor Maté’s, The Myth of Normal. Status, says Storr, is our life, status meaning competition in very many ways, placing others on many hierarchies of value, labelling them as good at this and bad at that.  Gabor wakes us up to recognition that we are diverse, to be looked at as whole people, not one of us fitting some arbitrary definition of normal, status not defining the person.  Can we agree with and follow Maté’s ideas??

Past topics:

2023
Sunday April 30th: John Smith will introduce the ideas of the fourth principle group which began at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver. Here is part of a proposed wording:
The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its resources to and exercise its organizational powers for religious, educational, and humanitarian purposes. Its primary purposes are to equip congregations for vital ministry, to support and train leaders both lay and professional, to heal historic inequities, and to advance our Unitarian Universalist values in the world. We will transform the world by our liberating love.
Sunday May 28: Marilyn Medén will introduce Our Beliefs: What Do You Believe?  This will be a mini Building Your Own Theology session, introduced by Marilyn telling of her own beliefs.
June, July and August: No meetings. We look forward to meeting again September 24th.
Sunday Sept 24th: Luc Beaudoin will introduce the topic “How can we be, or resist being, transformed by experience, a minister’sservice, an advertisement, a book, a podcast and culture?” Are we mostly inert or mostly malleable? Let us compare and contrast L.A. Paul’s philosophical approach to transformation with Luc P. Beaudoin’s integrative cognitive science approach
and with your approach. Visit CoqZest for more information.