| We all hope we are all staying healthy and away from CV-19. JULY is about: The Freedom to Assembly & Vote SATURDAY JULY 11th at 11:00 am. MONTHLY ASSEMBLY PRESENTATION: Online on our HWF Friends PG private group. While we don’t have the freedom to assemble in any size we want, but we still have the freedom of speech(for now) and the freedom to vote(we hope). We will stream a presentation from Prof, Lawrence Lessig of Harvard Law School as he explains about the historical Boss Tweed(pictured) and what todays’ “Tweedism” is all about and what we can do about it. We will try for some discussion after it’s over, we hope. For last month we give out a big thanks to those members who live streamed with on us on Google Meets and discussed Planning for the Future. It’s time to RENEW your MEMBERSHIP. Please renew your membership and continue to support the growth of HWF and humanism on the Gulf Coast. You will get a separate email from the Treasurer of HWF with instructions on how to renew or join. Any questions contact us by email here– membership@hwfl.org or do it here- www.hwfl.org The Mission of HWF- a chapter of the American Humanist Assn. The Mission of the Humanists of West Florida is to facilitate the advancement of humanist thought and action in Pensacola and surrounding areas by interconnecting groups of humanists, atheists, agnostics and non-religious. We will strive for equal participation in government and societal life through building strategic partnerships with other humanist and freethought organizations and with our religious neighbors to advance the greater good of humanity. * See the AHA mission below– Announcements: Continuing this day is the semi-annual Florida Secular Leadership Summit live streamed from Orlando and all leaders are invited to join in but you must have a Zoom account which is free. When you join it will ask you for your leadership role which is Director, Committee member, or Team member. If you are currently not a leader of HWF and would like to view this, let us know and we will decree you a Leader of the Day of something. email- membership@hwfl.org Register here- https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErf-GprzMtHNzNiI-FgI69AVhTLmoNYn1G?fbclid=IwAR24HqWz_SrQi7UtlKRFyuOgfX3kyAlzMyyI5lSUauCw6oXvjBnvLaMGPL0 Confirmed speakers: -Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith -Jennifer Hancock – Humanist Learning Systems -Dan Lampert – Orlando Stoics -Allison Gill – American Atheists -Emily Newman, American Humanist Association -Ryan Bell, Secular Student Alliance Topics to cover: -How to lobby for secular values -Group growth and organizing -Becoming a non-profit organization -AHA chapter and affiliate information -Project Blitz and what you can do about it -Talking Humanism with your group -Interfaith advocacy for the faithless The Summit is a joint effort of the Florida Humanist Assn. and the Central Florida Freethought Community with support from many leaders around the state. Then continuing on this day at 4pm CDT will be: Andrew L. Seidel a constitutional attorney and the Director of Strategic Response at the Freedom From Religion Foundation, joining FFRF in 2011. He will join us to talk about the fight to preserve Jefferson’s “Wall of Separation,” and what our part in it can be. Andrew’s book “The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American” hit the shelves in 2019. You can watch this event on YouTube at https://youtu.be/m2CjUGtjTqc Nothing else major coming, but we are hoping for a big party probably in the fall, hopefully late October for Halloween with of course mask wearing. PRESIDENTS LETTER: From The Desk of the President: Greetings all HWF members and friends, We are still practicing social distancing. Sadly, no welcome back party yet. Ever’mans has opened the Education Center at limited capacity and the BOD will hold its quarterly meeting there. Due to increased setup time, the assembly for July 11 will be live streamed from Ever’mans at 11am rather than our usual time of 1030am. July’s focus is the Right to Assemble and Voters Rights. The presentation promises to be informative and interesting. I hope you will join us. During late April and May, we made wellness calls to all supporting members. We identified one member in serious need and, through your generous donations, fulfilled the monetary need to cover medicines and a utility bill. Thank you good people. June’s online Ideas Workshop was a time where members shared thoughts on planning the upcoming year’s events. A proposed calendar is pending BOD approval and will be published to HWF PG page no later than August’s assembly. We need a handful of team and crew members for a number of projects. If you are willing and able, please consider offering 2-3 hours of your time each month in an area that interests you. If you have limited time, there are a couple of activities that only happen quarterly or once per year. Indeed, there is something for everyone who wishes to put our ideals into action. June was Membership Renewal month. 80% of distinguished donor members have already renewed, but supporting regular members have been slow to respond. While the donors provide the funds to maintain the fiscal operations of the chapter, the regular members small dues add up to allow us to do our community projects. Please take a few minutes to handle this. We want and need everyone of you. To all associate members and friends, I ask that you consider upgrading to supporting membership. Contact the BOD Secretary/Treasurer on how to do this if you need help, please. Cost is reasonable at less than $2 per month. treasurer@hwfl.org Looking to the future: August is the AHA national convention and September is TBA. The HWF Little Free Library team announces the prototype plans for future libraries is now complete. They intend to resume building in October. Exciting times are on the horizon for us. The national LFL project will register our libraries in their directory. Another living legacy for HWF. Woohoo. Thanks to the diligence of our Secretary, HWF is now listed in GuideStar. This is a resource for grant givers and others who wish to donate to nonprofits and a place where HWF can find financial help to advance our charitable giving. As the AHA states: ‘COVID cannot stop good’. We will proceed safely and steadily, spreading good without a god. Sincerely, Betty Myers, President BOARD of DIRECTORS: Next regular meeting is July 11th, 9:30 am at Ever’mans Educ. Ctr. *** The American Humanist Association has stood as the voice of humanism in the United States for over 75 years.We strive to bring about a progressive society where being good without a god is an accepted and respected way to live life. We are accomplishing this through our defense of civil liberties and secular governance, by our outreach to the growing number of people without traditional religious faith, and through a continued refinement and advancement of the humanist worldview.Humanism is a nontheistic worldview with ethical values informed by scientific knowledge and driven by a desire to meet the needs of people in the here and now. At the foundation of those values is an affirmation of the dignity of every human being.We count humanists and other nontheists as the core of our movement but are always willing to work with friends and allies on issues of common concern. The positions we hold and the actions we take are not simply for our own benefit, but for the betterment of all of society and the world in which we live. AHA Monthly THEME: Freedom and Liberty. June is normally the month for AHA’s national convention and was to held in Miami. It has been moved to August 8 and will be online live streamed. We will try to show it on our Facebook PG group as that is our August Assembly. The HUMANIST MAGAZINE: This issue has some exceptional articles during this pandemic. This one is “Can good governance secure Liberty?” https://thehumanist.com/magazine/july-august-2020/ From the AHA’s Upcoming Activities! Our national convention will be online this year. Distant but Together: A Virtual Celebration of Humanism AHA’s Annual Conference August 8, 2020 Livestreaming online AHA announces the Humanist Action Headquarters for Grassroots Advocacy. https://americanhumanist.org/actionhq/ AHA Center for Education to learn more about us– https://americanhumanistcenterforeducation.org/ Do you have a legal question you would like answered? Watch the most recent Legal Tuesdays video with our Legal Director and Senior Counsel Monica Miller. Be sure to tune in or send an email if you have a question! DONATE TO THE WORLD:Want to help people suffering from national or global catastrophes? Do it here as a Humanist to the Foundation Beyond Belief-FBB. This is the AHAs’ disaster relief partner organization. https://foundationbeyondbelief.org HUMANIST CORNER June- July 2020 by HWF member Bill White “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe“Necessity is blind until it become conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity” Karl Marx“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.” Diogenes It’s Father’s Day as this is being written. I’ve always been very proud of that title. Hope all’s going well for all you fathers out there. Another title I’m proud to wear is that of humanist. It’s International Humanist Day (June 21st ) also. Among other things we humanists celebrate is Humanist Manifesto III, successor to the original Humanist Manifesto of 1933. Both make refreshing reading in these troubled times. http://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/manifesto3/ It falls appropriately close to “Juneteenth.” A day apparently glossed over in most history books. Certainly, something an émigré from Canada never heard much about. Now it’s become commonly known that, two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery was still in full swing in Texas. At least until Union General Garden Granger with a two thousand man entourage debarked in Galveston to enforce the law in slavery’s final stronghold. Obviously what followed clearly wasn’t exactly “freedom,” but at least this momentous day for black citizens seems likely to become a national holiday of recognition. So now, more than ever, we struggle with the concept of “freedom.” Though like our Humanist Manifesto’s revisions, changing times must dictate how the human tribe may go on living with itself. Even if we’ve not yet managed to pin down what freedom actually means, we know with some certainty what it doesn’t. Freedom is not the belief we have similar choices during the 24/7 we all share. More clear than ever, choices have a great deal to do with the zip code in which one resides! Nonetheless streets of many zip codes teem with crowds calling out for change to a freedom where injustice has been allowed to fester! Freedom absolutely does not include “irresponsibility.” Contradicting proven facts with sheer impulse or emotion. Such stirring and spinning has always been the grist of dictators and doctrinal fanatics of every ilk. Speak lies quickly, loudly and long enough from the podiums of power – they become truth! Our present White House occupant holds the ultimate bully pulpit, while in the eyes of many abusing it. COVID deaths in the U.S. now exceed all battlefield deaths,116,516, of WWI (The Great War). Rising as I write. Speaking of wars and in light of current events, black Americans were segregated in all U.S. military units during WWII (another great war). Harry Truman finally ordered integration of the military on July 26th 1948 – well after the war had ended! Of course, the issue of “freedom” is more critical than ever. Choices taken by the powerful flying that banner, more injurious to a stricken planet and its people than ever! Although one thing seems apparent as we combat this “Perfect Storm” of challenges from illness, ignorance, financial chaos, social injustice to planetary devastation. Freedom is even more threatened-It’s not freedom if it delays our striving for a world and society in balance. What has been said of “art” surely applies to freedom as well. We may not know exactly how to define it – but we know it when we see it! IMPORTANT DATES: in the secular world. July 1: Barre Day July 4: American Independence Day July 5: X-DayJuly 14: Bastille Day ***The American Humanist Association is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable educational organization, as well is the Humanists of West Florida. Donations to the Humanists of West Florida , a chapter of the American Humanist Association, are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. FLORIDA REGISTRATION #: CH54590 “A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.” |