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November 20: Satan and Christianity: Local writer James Brayshaw

8 Nov

Sunday, November 20, 2011, 11:30 AM

Venice House, 906 Central Avenue, Saskatoon, SK (map), “in the side room”

What is a satan? If you were one of the writers of the Bible or one of the earliest hearers, you would know what a satan is. Whenever this word is used in the Hebrew language of the Scriptures, it does not refer to a literal personal devil. The word is sawtawn and it is not meant to be a name.

Finding out what a satan is in the Old Testament is the only way to know what satan is in the New. Don’t be fooled by centuries of misinformed theologians. All we have to do is find out the meaning of the word that became a name for a mythical being of evil and destruction. There is no Satan and learning the true meaning of the word is just one more step in revealing the truth about religion’s devilish lie.

(From Brayshaw’s Vimeo site)

James R. Brayshaw spent years studying, teaching, and writing about the religion he was raised in. His research about the origin of Satan has brought him to become an authority on the subject. He lives in Western Canada with his wife and two sons. James has worked to extinguish the fire of hell and Satan with the tenacity needed to fight a three alarm blaze.

His passion for research and pursuit to understand why we believe what we believe, has led to this revealing and informed work on the non-existence of a cosmic Satan. Brayshaw finds answers that make sense to questions about religious beliefs. James R. Brayshaw has journeyed through Pentecostal Christianity where, after serving as a leader for 11 years, he was eventually asked to leave for questioning the status quo of traditional teaching. This once charismatic Christian has found freedom from Christianity’s most notorious demon by taking the traditional teachings of religion to the grindstone of sound research.

James presents the concept that Satan is not a creation of God but is a fabrication of man. His work shows how history and the Bible support this view. This engaging author and teacher will move you to find answers to the difficult questions of religion. Or at the very least, encourage you to begin asking questions of your own. Brayshaw’s belief is that everyone can find the truth about Satan and Hell if they honestly investigate their beliefs and search for answers. There are few authors who take the time to unravel the most convoluted teachings of religion with the clarity and commitment Brayshaw does. James can be heard on the “Imagine There’s No Satan” radio show at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jrbrayshaw.

(From Brayshaw’s Imagine No Satan site)

October 16: Know your Rights! Constitutional Lawyer Dhugal Whitbread

10 Oct

This Sunday meet up will headline a talk by Dhugal Whitbread, a constitutional lawyer, on topics pertaining to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He will be giving us a brief history of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as a discussion of the Canadian version of Church-State separation, which has its basis in an old court case from Quebec.

Dhugal is also prepared to answer your questions so bring them on!

Things to Look At:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

CBC’s Know Your Rights radio program

CBC TV The Constitution and Charter re-evaluated (audio only)

September 18: Leaving Mormonism

28 Aug

We will have a local student, Dustin Patzer, as our guest speaker.  Dustin will discuss his journey out of Mormonism and answer our questions.  For a preview, check out I am an ex Mormon.  Dustin served as a missionary before leaving the church.

The Mormon Church is formally called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church for short.

Brian Dalton of Mr. Deity fame, is also an ex-Mormon and he uses the term ”Formon” = former Mormon.

Note: Attendees start gathering and visiting at 11:30 am. We begin the formal meeting (announcements then the presentation/discussion) at about 12:00 pm (after meal orders have been taken). You are not required to order any food or drink. If you do order something, please remember to tip the waitress because they have a lot to keep track of with our group and they work around our table arrangements and presentation equipment.  Also, we use the large side room at Venice House for free and they have been quite accommodating. We bring a sample of our library to the regular meetings and you are welcome to borrow something. If you have any specific requests, please contact our Secretary, Selene. We also take donations at every meeting and sometimes have items for purchase.

July 17: Freethought Discussion

10 Jul

Location: Venice House, 906 Central Avenue Saskatoon, SK (side room)

Time: 11:30AM until whenever

In July, we will have another informal type of Meetup. This will allow people to socialize more in a casual atmosphere.  Attendees will be choosing the topics and discussing them in small groups.  We’ll use the Open Space Technology format.

We’ll check in at the end to see how members like this format and what interesting things everyone discussed.

Note: Attendees start gathering and visiting at 11:30 am.  We begin the formal meeting (announcements then the presentation/discussion) at about 12:00 pm (after meal orders have been taken).  You are not required to order any food or drink.  If you do order something, remember to tip the waitress because they have a lot to keep track of with our group.  Also, we use the large side room at Venice House for free and they have been quite accommodating.  We bring a sample of our library to the regular meetings and you are welcome to borrow something.  If you have any specific requests, please contact our Secretary, Selene.  We also take donations at every meeting and sometimes have items for purchase.

June 19: Confessions of a Christian Feminist: Women and the Church in the Post-Enlightenment

9 Jun

 

Sunday, June 19, 2011, 11:30 AM

Venice House, 906 Central Avenue Saskatoon, SK 

Women’s roles in organized religion have always evoked lively debate. As a feminist scholar within Christianity, Sandra Beardsall will note the diverse reactions to “Enlightenment,” which positioned women in diverse and conflicting ways in church life and leadership, and suggest avenues for conversation for secularists and religionists in post-modernity.

Sandra is the first religious speaker we have invited to one of our meetings.  Hopefully members will appreciate this opportunity to speak with someone of faith.

Here are links to a few things written by Sandra or quoting her:

Article in Canadian Women Studies “I Love to Tell the Story”

The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan entry for the “United Church of Canada”

National Post Article “United they fall”

Biography

Sandra Beardsall is Professor of Church History and Ecumenics at St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon. Originally from Ontario, she served as an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada with congregations in Labrador and eastern Ontario , before moving to Saskatoon to teach. She participates in research and writing related to Christian history and to interchurch/interfaith dialogue.

May 15: Moderate Believers / Militant Atheists: Accommodation vs. Confrontation

4 May

Sunday, May 15, 2011, 11:30 AM, Venice House

906 Central Avenue Saskatoon, SK

“Vocal atheists are accused of driving away moderate believers. But what exactly is a militant atheist? What is a moderate believer and what could be gained by not ‘driving them away’? The debate over accommodation vs. confrontation rages on.”

Here are some links to thought-provoking discussions of this theme (and related):

April 17th: Religion, Politics & the Election

10 Apr

Should atheists vote strategically in their own interests?  How would we do that?  Are there common issues for which atheists should seek out politicians’ stances?

The federal election is coming and we’re going to discuss what freethinker-related issues are important to us.  We’ll try to come up with a list of questions for candidates and decide whether we want to submit them for responses.

Here are a few resources to stir up your thinking:

Interview Your Political Candidates

Is Your Politician a Bigot?

Godless Atheists & Godless Politics

Atheists Should Vote Strategically and With Specific Goals

Atheism and Politics: an Atheist Ideology?

Politics and Atheist Organizations

“Religious beliefs affect policy—so the leaders should talk about them“.

Demographics of atheism

The first several of these are from an American site, but the last few are from Canadian site — generally the issues are philosophical anyway.

Feel free to post links to other opinion pieces.FYI: There is a diveristy of political preferences in our group and this is not intended to be a partisan discussion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism

Jan 30: Annual General Meeting

22 Dec
Location: Venice House, 906 Central Avenue Saskatoon, SK
The Saskatoon Freethinkers second Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on January 30, 2011. We will review our progress so far and get feedback from members on future plans.

We’ll also be welcoming the new council members who will be elected by poll prior to the meeting. See Dale’s message board post for more details.

We still have a few T-shirts (small and medium for $25 each or $20 for CFI Friends of the Centre) and black, smoke, and navy fleece jackets (variety of sizes for $40 each).

Note that we are at Venice House over lunch, so you are welcome to eat, but you are not obliged to buy anything. If you do, we encourage to be very patient with the servers and to remember to tip them – Venice House has been very accommodating and we are using the room for free.

November 7th Special Meetup: Justin Trottier speaking about CFI

24 Oct

Justin Trottier of Centre for Inquiry Canada will be in Saskatoon for the weekend. We will hold a public event (lecture) on Friday night and then Justin will address our members on Sunday, November 7. This is our regular meetup time and place, but it is an additional meetup to our schedule. Two weeks later, we will have our regularly scheduled meetup, which will be a General Meeting.

This event will give our members a chance to find out what’s involved in becoming a CFI Community Group and to ask Justin about any concerns or curiosities we may have related to CFI and community status. We will also learn more about what is happening with freethought in Canada and future plans.

Additional information will be provided prior to this event.

Donations to the Centre for Inquiry are appreciated and we encourage everyone to become a Friend of the Centre (or renew your previous membership). Charitable donations can be made directly to the Centre for Inquiry to receive a tax receipt. Please make a note that your donation should be directed to the costs of Justin’s trip to Sasaktoon.

Justin Trottier is the Executive Director of the Centre for Inquiry Canada, host of Think Again TV! as well as a contributor to the National Post and the Michael Coren Show on CTS TV. As an outspoken advocate of freedom of expression and inquiry, science education, church-state separation, and equality rights for non-believers, he’s appeared on TVO, CBC, CTV, Global, CityTV, OMNI and the Space Channel, among other networks. He was the chief spokesperson for the Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign.

Saskatoon Freethinkers members can RSVP for this event on our Meetup site or on our Facebook page.

October 17: “Deliver Us from Evil” Documentary

3 Oct

Announcing a new Meetup for Saskatoon Freethinkers!

What: “Deliver us from Evil” documentary
When: Sunday, October 17, 2010 11:30 AM
Where: Venice House, 906 Central Avenue , Saskatoon, SK S7N 2G8, 306-373-6666

“Deliver us from Evil“, a documentary everyone should see. This idea was posted by Claude some time ago. For our next regular meetup, we will watch the film and Claude will lead the discussion.

Director Amy Berg helms this shocking documentary [2006], which looks at the activities of a priest named Oliver O’Grady. Identified by the Catholic church as a pedophile, they allowed him to continue to work and molest children throughout the 1970s. Berg draws on interview footage of O’Grady and his victims to tell the unsettling tale.

Online Review
Deliver Us From Evil is a superb documentary and a searing look at an institution protecting its leaders at the expense of its followers. A profoundly disturbing chronicle of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the film builds a clear-eyed case against pedophile priest Oliver O’Grady, and the Catholic bureaucracy that protected him. The recollections of O’Grady’s victims are nothing short of shocking and heartbreaking.

RSVP to this Meetup:
http://www.meetup.com/Saskatoon-Freethinkers/calendar/14879700/

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