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Deborah
Skeptic Friend
USA
113 Posts |
 Posted - 01/03/2003 : 17:21:05
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Announcement Courtesy of DiMossi
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A New Year's Message from Paul Kurtz
The year 2002 proved to be a year of unprecedented growth for CSICOP,
the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, the Council for Secular Humanism, FREE INQUIRY,
and the Center for Inquiry. The ten magazines that we publish at the
Center have hit an all-time high in circulation. Moreover, our
activities have accelerated, with the sheer number of speaking
engagements, meetings, seminars, media interviews of our staff, not only
in North America, but worldwide. Our aim is to provide a dissenting
voice in the present world of irrational claims. We are committed to
science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and the examination of affirmative
ethical alternatives. And we have attempted very hard to defend this
outlook with vigor and courage. Some of the high points of the year 2002
and some of the prospects for 2003 are as follows:
The Center for Inquiry has appointed Dr. William Cooke to Executive
Director of the Center for Inquiry's new Commission for Transnational
Cooperation. Dr. Cooke (and his wife Bobbie) come to us from New
Zealand, where he edited the New Zealand Rationalist (now renamed Open
Society). Born in Kenya, he has traveled worldwide and is familiar with
skepticism, freethought, rationalism, and secular humanism. Among our
international Centers are those in Germany, France, Russia, Nepal,
India, Peru, Mexico, and Africa. The Center for Inquiry and its
affiliated organizations have provided substantial funds to support
these Centers worldwide and will continue to do so in the future. We
look forward to vigorous growth and development of new Centers, whether
humanist or skeptical or both, in other countries of the world.
The Center for Inquiry Institute hosted its first expanded summer school
in July 2002. It provided, for the first time, college credit, in
cooperation with the State University of New York (Empire State
College). Students from Malaysia, Uganda, Australia, and Russia attended
the conference. A similar program will be held July 6-20, 2003. The
faculty will include noted skeptics Professor Richard Wiseman from the
United Kingdom and Professor Barry Beyerstein from Vancouver, Canada.
The course will be "The Psychology of Belief." The second course,
"Reason and Ethics," will be taught by Austin Dacey with other faculty.
An exchange program with Moscow State University will bring students
from Russia. Students and Research Fellows from Latin America, Asia,
Africa, and other parts of the world are expected to participate. Again,
course credit is offered for those wishing to avail themselves of it.
In August 2002 a popular course for skeptics was conducted at the
University of Oregon by Professor Ray Hyman and colleagues. This will
again be offered at University of Oregon August 14-17, 2003.
CSICOP hosted a World Skeptics Congress in June 2002 in Burbank,
California, attended by 500 participants from twenty-three countries,
including a large delegation from China (headed by Dr. Lin Zixin), India
(Sanal Edamaruku), and skeptics from Latin America (Mario Mendez Acosta
from México, Manuel Paz y Miño from Per), etc.
A special Congress in Washington, D.C., will be convened April 11-13,
2003, coordinated by Dr. Edward Buckner, on the topic "One Nation
Without God: Secularism, Society and Justice." Among the speakers will
be Christopher Hitchens, Michael Newdow, Peter Beinart (Editor of The
New Republic), Julia Sweeney (of Saturday Night Live), Ibn Warraq,
Eugenie Scott, Rob Tielman (Commissioner of Education of the
Netherlands), Eddie Tabash, and others.
The Campus Freethought Alliance hosted over 100 debates and seminars on
college campuses. The debates drew thousands and thousands of students.
There are now 137 groups on various campuses in North America and
throughout the world. and new ones are being added every month.
CSH also cosponsored a special program commemorating the hundredth
anniversary of the birth of Sidney Hook at the City University of New
York in October 2002, which received widespread press attention in The
New York Times and The New Yorker to The Chronicle of Higher Education,
and other media. Among those who participated were Nathan Glazer, Arthur
Schlessinger Jr., and Cornell West. The proceedings will be published in
2003 by Prometheus Books in a special collection to be edited by Matthew
Cotter, Robert Talisse, and Robert Tempio.
CSH also sponsored a meeting of the Society of Humanist Philosophers at
the American Philosophical Association, December 29th, in Philadelphia.
The topic under discussion was the writings of Professor Richard Gale, a
naturalistic philosopher from Pittsburgh, with criticisms by four
theists. A similar meeting will be held in December 2003 at the American
Philosophical Association.
A new Center for Inquiry was launched in Tampa, Florida, at the end of
2002. Its first major conference will be held February, 7-9, 2003. A
distinguished list of speakers will participate.
The Center for Inquiry-MetroNY announced its decision to expand into new
offices in the city of Manhattan.
The media impact of the Center continues very strong, especially noted
are the interviews by Joe Nickell in the December New Yorker and Paul
Kurtz in The New York Times. TV. Several hundred radio shows and press
interviews featured members of the staff, including Ed Buckner, Tom
Flynn, Joe Nickell, Paul Kurtz, Katherine Bourdonnay, Jim Underdown,
Barry Seidman, Norm Allen, Ben Radford, Kevin Christopher, DJ Grothe.
CSH sponsored the TV series Humanist Perspective, moderated by Joe Beck.
This continues to play in cities coast to coast.
CSICOP participated in the TV series on Discovery in late 2002 called
Critical Eye, hosted by moderator William B. Davis of The X-Files. These
programs will continue in early 2003.
The National Media Center is expected to be completed in Hollywood,
California in early 2003 and will be a showcase not only for the media,
but also for people in Southern California.
The Religious Right continues its attack on science, reason, and
especially secular humanism. Skepticism is constantly engulfed by
paranormal programs in the mass media. Thus we strive mightily to respond.
The worsening economy has had a serious impact on nonprofit
organizations such as those affiliated with the Center for Inquiry. The
conflict with terrorism, an impending new war in the Middle East, and
the possible decline of civil liberties in the United States are indeed
worrisome. In spite of this, we have managed to survive, and we look
forward with great anticipation to continue our efforts as virtually the
lone voice in the cacophonic din. Our mission is to burn bright the
candle in the dark-and to keep alive the light of reason and freedom.
Paul Kurtz
Chairman, CSICOP, CSH, CFI
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dimossi
Skeptic Friend
USA
141 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2003 : 17:36:50 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Deborah
Announcement Courtesy of DiMossi
quote:
A special Congress in Washington, D.C., will be convened April 11-13,
2003, coordinated by Dr. Edward Buckner, on the topic "One Nation
Without God: Secularism, Society and Justice." Among the speakers will
be Christopher Hitchens, Michael Newdow, Peter Beinart (Editor of The
New Republic), Julia Sweeney (of Saturday Night Live), Ibn Warraq,
Eugenie Scott, Rob Tielman (Commissioner of Education of the
Netherlands), Eddie Tabash, and others.
This looks like quite an interesting event. If any of us can manage to get more details about this event, please post them here. This sounds like an event I would consider attending.
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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick, science-fiction author] |
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Deborah
Skeptic Friend
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2003 : 12:58:20 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by dimossi
A special Congress in Washington, D.C., will be convened April 11-13,
2003, coordinated by Dr. Edward Buckner, on the topic "One Nation
Without God: Secularism, Society and Justice." Among the speakers will
be Christopher Hitchens, Michael Newdow, Peter Beinart (Editor of The
New Republic), Julia Sweeney (of Saturday Night Live), Ibn Warraq,
Eugenie Scott, Rob Tielman (Commissioner of Education of the
Netherlands), Eddie Tabash, and others.
This looks like quite an interesting event. If any of us can manage to get more details about this event, please post them here. This sounds like an event I would consider attending.
Heard from a little birdie that the event cost $179 and that you can expect to pay about $80-$90 a night for a nice hotel in the area.
If we have a group of people who are interested in attending, I might sign on to coordinate the gathering for everyone.
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