Humanists of MN

Presentation by Lynn Fellman

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417

Lynn Fellman, local artist, student of the life sciences and interviewer extraordinaire, will discuss her work and insights at our March chapter meeting. Ms. Fellman has been an independent digital illustrator and designer for many years but is best known for her integration of her art with Hap Maps of individuals’ ancestry resulting in what she has trademarked as DNA™ Portraits. (Hap Maps make use of genetic markers in our chromosomes to trace the patterns of human migration from our common origin in Africa.) She has recently received a commission from the University of Minnesota Medical School for a work to be titled “The HapMap Project” which will show the multicultural diversity of the student population. She has also been named creative associate with the new Center for Art and Science at the University of Minnesota's Center for Bioethics.

A DVD Presentation and Discussion Featuring Prof. Robert M. Hazen

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417

In Honor of Charles Darwin

February marks the 200th anniversary of British naturalist Charles Darwin’s birth as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of his revolutionary work, On the Origins of Species. Darwin (1809-1882) observed the surprising similarities among different species of tortoises and birds while serving aboard the HMS Beagle on its five-year expedition to South America and the Pacific Islands. Shortly after his return in 1836, he formulated his theory of evolution by natural selection, but did not publish his findings until 1859. Our understanding of the evolutionary process is largely the result of Darwin’s work.

Corine Wegener

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417 

Corine Wegener is founder and president of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of cultural property during armed conflict.  Because of her civilian expertise as a curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Wegener, an Army Reservist, was deployed to Iraq in 2003-2004 to assist the Iraq National Museum and other Iraqi cultural institutions. 

The looting of the Iraq Museum increased international awareness about the plight of cultural property during armed conflict. Upon her return in 2004, Wegener immediately began to take advantage of this situation, bringing together cultural-heritage professionals, military organizations and government leaders in an effort to prevent such tragedies in the future. Since then, the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield has provided cultural-property awareness training for more than 600 deploying U.S. soldiers and helped lead a coalition of organizations that influenced the U.S. Senate to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.  Wegener will provide a slide presentation about her experiences in Iraq and her ongoing work with the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield.  

DVD and Discussion

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417

In this DVD presentation, Prof. Charles B. Jones discusses Karl Marx’s (1818-83) hostility toward religion. Marx's great breakthrough was to realize that material reality comes before any other kind, whether mental or spiritual. This means that human beings must eat, drink, have clothing and find shelter before they engage in any of the higher pursuits such as art, politics or religion. His view was that history is a struggle between workers and owners, a struggle that the worker must one day win. Marx analyzed religion as a tool in the hands of owners to keep workers docile and compliant, and he called for an assault, not on religion itself, but on a political economy that made religion necessary in the first place.

Doubletree Hotel
1500 Park Place Blvd
St Louis Park, MN 55
I-394 & Park Place, Just West of Hwy 100: Map & Directions

Please note that this month’s meeting is the third Saturday of the month

Lois Schadewald

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417

Lois Schadewald will discuss Worlds of Their Own, a book written by her late brother, Robert J. Schadewald (1943-2000) that she edited. The book compares genuine science and bogus science discussing alternative beliefs such as flat-earthism, ‘scientific’ creationism, energy scams etc, many of which are based on a literal reading of the Bible. A discussion period will follow the presentation.

She and Robert grew up on a farm near Rogers, MN, along with their sisters Carole, Elaine and Diane. Lois earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from St. Cloud State University and a Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry from Iowa State University at Ames. She currently teaches chemistry at Normandale Community College. Her previous work experience includes Environmental Health Specialist at the University of Minnesota, analytical chemist at the Minnesota Department of Health and at H. B. Fuller.

She spent her 2003-4 sabbatical preparing Worlds of Their Own as a fitting tribute to her late brother.

Please note that this month’s meeting is the third Saturday of the month and starts an hour later than normal.

A video featuring Paul Kurtz

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417

The topic of this month's meeting is "Defending Secular Humanism," featuring a video recording of an address that Paul Kurtz gave to students at the University of Minnesota. He expounds on four key points of Secular Humanism:

1. Free inquiry methodology,
2. Science as the best attempt of getting at reality,
3. Secular Humanism as an ethical doctrine open to change in response to human needs, and
4. Secular Humanism as a social policy that promotes world cohesiveness.

The half-hour video will be followed by small-group discussions (divided up into approximately equal numbers of participants). After the small-group discussions, the larger group will review the various group findings.

Scott Lohman, president of Humanists of Minnesota, will be interviewed on Atheists Talk on Air America Minnesota, AM 950 KTNF.

We meet at the gas station located in the southeast corner at the intersection of Interstate 35W and Highway 23
(right turn from 35W northbound). This is the last exit on 35W going
north before it joins 35E, and is about nine miles north of 35W and
I-694. I will bring the trash bags and orange vests, so all you need is
appropriate clothing and shoes and possibly sunscreen and insect
repellent. We are usually finished by noon and most of us get together
for lunch and good conversation at a nearby restaurant.

Doug Knapp, Philosophy Instructor, Inver Hills Community College

Lake Nokomis Community Center
2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis, MN 55417

The September Chapter Meeting will feature a presentation by Humanists of Minnesota member Doug Knapp, philosophy instructor at Inver Hills Community College.

Knapp cites some relevant historical facts about a terrorist campaign in or around Iraq in the early and mid-1980s. He argues that the subsequent (post-9/11) portrayal of this earlier data has been distorted in various subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In general, past terrorist acts by current enemies get inflated, and similar past acts by current allies get deflated.

But distortion like this, he claims, isn’t a new problem; it stretches back several decades, even into the Vietnam War period, when relevant data was simply left off the record. During the Bush administration, the distortion problem has been exacerbated, Knapp contends. Finally, he proceeds to draw out some of the possible harmful consequences of such a practice.