Dr. David Barash, psychology professor at the University of Washington, will discuss the evolution of a drive for religion. He’s currently writing a book on mysteries of human behavior. The title of this talk is “Homo Religiosus: Can evolution help explain why so many people believe things that are so palpably untrue?” Prof. Barash was one of the early contributors to the field of sociobiology. He examines the underlying evolutionary factors influencing human behavior, called “evolutionary psychology,” and has been active in researching, promoting, and practicing the field of Peace Studies. He feels that the issues of animal behavior, evolutionary psychology and Peace Studies are fundamentally linked, because they involve questions of how biology affects behavior. He co-authored the book “Madame Bovary’s Ovaries: a Darwinian look at literature,” and was recently profiled in “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America” by conservative commentator David Horowitz.

After short break,  we will welcome Paul Constant, who recently wrote the letter, “Dear Catholic Church: Excommunicate Me” for the Stranger.  He will be speaking about his life and the letter. His talk will take place after David Barash’s, instead of the Town Hall normally held.

This event is sponsored by the Seattle Atheists. If you have concerns about transportation to/from any of our events, please contact Becky, Member Relations Committee Chair.
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We also encourage you to bring canned food items for our year-round Seattle Atheists SeasonLESS Food Drive. Food goes to the non-sectarian distribution network of Northwest Harvest.  Please consider donating healthful non-perishable items (suggestions here).

NOTE: If you have concerns about transportation to/from any of our events, please contact Becky, Member Relations committee chair, at secretary@seattletheists.org.

Seattle Atheists member Casey Doran will present a talk entitled “Epistemology: A Critical Approach to Apologetics” for our March membership meeting.

This presentation will be a basic overview of the philosophical notion of epistemology, more commonly known as the “theory of knowledge,” and how thinkers from Ancient Greece to the Enlightenment and through the Modern Era have approached the question of how it is that we come to “know” anything. Casey will focus specifically on belief as a component of knowledge, how all of us (atheists included) rely heavily on beliefs to understand the world around us, and how standards of evidence that we use to justify our beliefs can differ drastically. Lastly, he will address common theological arguments and help arm quick-witted atheists with some counter-apologetics when someone claims to *know* that “God exists.”

Following a Q&A session with Casey, we will have a short break and reconvene for our Membership Volunteer Fair. This is a great opportunity to learn about how you can participate in the wide range of activities, events, and projects Seattle Atheists is embarking on this year!

We encourage you to bring non-perishable food items for our year-round Seattle Atheists SeasonLESS Food Drive. We donate items we collect to Family Works, Northwest Harvest, and Volunteers of America food banks in the name of Seattle Atheists.

Seattle Atheists will be donating over $800 to The Childrens Hospital Fund thanks to the efforts of gift wrappers and the generosity of all the bookstore patrons who donated!  Also this month Seattle Atheists collected 57 lb. of food for Northwest Harvest.  Thank you, and remember to bring non-perishable goods to SA meetings and events!

From the Seattle Times:

About 450 people are expected Saturday at the Rainier Valley Food Bank to get food for Thanksgiving meals. But when staff arrived Wednesday at 6 a.m., they found the lock on the storage container had been cut and nearly everything inside had been stolen.

Burglars took several hundred pounds of potatoes and onions, as well as 30 crates of canned fruit, soup, chips, peanut butter and vegetables that volunteers collected last weekend. The loss totaled $1,500 to $2,000, said Sam Osborne, the food bank’s executive director.

An update from the Seattle PI: http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/archives/185870.asp

Thank you to everyone who donated to RVFB in the wake of the burglary. They received over $25k worth of food and financial help! Keep the donations coming during leaner giving months, especially after the winter holiday season. Bring non-perishables to our Jan. 10th Membership Meeting!

We’ve now donated a total of 105 pounds this year. Help us keep this going. Food banks everywhere are currently experiencing sharp decreases in the amount of food available to hungry families, at the very same time that more people are in need. It’s time to make sure that giving continues, even after the traditional holiday giving season.