The COWTOWN HUMANIST

The Newsletter of the Humanists of Fort Worth April 2001

Volume 3, No. 1 www.aha-fw.freeyellow.com

A chapter of the American Humanist Association and The Alliance of Secular Humanist Societies

Our next meeting

7 pm Wednesday, April 11, Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, 6901 McCart Ave. Our topic will be a discussion of The Humanist Manifesto 2000. See below for more details.

The officers, they are a-changin'

We held our annual business meeting, and it was a busy one. For one thing, we elected new officers: They are: Jeff Rodriguez, Chairperson; Mike Haney, Vice Chair; and Bruce Berggren, Secretary-Treasurer. Congratulations to all the new officers. Our thanks to outgoing Chair Russell Elleven, who founded our organization and did so much to get it running. Although he will no longer be an officer, Russell will continue to offer his services as a Humanist minister.

Everybody's talkin'

We also discussed several other matters. They include:

n Where will we meet? The new Executive Board has discussed our options, and we will have some ideas to offer at the April meeting.

n Should we update the by-laws? A proposed revision to the by-laws was prepared by Wallace Harrison and reviewed by the Execs. The proposed revisions will be reviewed at the meeting, and voted on in May. Thanks for your input, Wallace!

n How can we have more fun? An interest was expressed in having more social activities and/or working with other like-minded groups.

The Exec board has some ideas for all of these issues – but we want to hear from you, too.

Wait a minute, Mr. Postman

We also are considering going to a newsletter that is entirely electronic. However, we know that not every one has e-mail, and some people prefer to receive an actual mailing. Sooooo . . .

n If you want to continue getting a mailed copy, please send me an e-mail to that effect.

n If you want to get a mialed copy, but cannot send me an e-mail, let us know at the meeting. Or you can leave a message with Jeff, 817-732-4235.

Of course we are interested in cutting our mail costs, but we don’t want to exclude anyone. So we will do whatever necessary to keep everyone in the loop. And speaking of costs . . . .

Will you due your part?

Annual membership is $20, and is due this month. You can pay at the meeting, or mail a check made out to Humanists of Fort Worth. Send it to Bruce Berggren, 10100 Stoneleigh Dr., Benbrook TX 76126. We’ll be checkin’ the mail to see if your check is in the mail . . .

Our manifesto destiny

As noted, our topic this month will be the Humanist Manifesto 2000. If you haven't seen it, this document is worth checking out. Eleven Nobel Prize-winning scientists have signed onto it; on the other hand, once conservative columnist called it "a goulash of hard-core individualism, fettered capitalism, left-over socialism and goofy Al Gore environmentalism."

What's the real story about this document? That's what we'll be talking about. We will have a few copies of it at the meeting, but we will have a much more lively discussion if you can take the time to read it over in advance. Folloowing are some web sites where you can check it out; take a look, and be ready for an evening of lively discussion. See you there!

http://www.netset.com/~dberger/manifesto.html is the full version of Paul Kurtz’s "Humanist Manifesto 2000: Toward a Planetary Humanism".

http://www.secularhumanism.org/manifesto/index.htm condenses the work to just 2 pages.

http://www.secularhumanism.org/manifesto/promise.htm has "The Promise of Manifesto 2000." It’s only 10 pages long, and has some thought-provoking comments on the new version.

To get a historical perspective, you can read about Humanist Manifesto I (2 pages) at
http://www.humanist.net/documents/manifesto1.html

And check out Humanist Manifesto II (6 pages) at http://www.humanist.net/documents/manifesto2.html

Finally, you can order a book copy of the 2000 version ($4.45 for the first one, $1.00 for each additional copy) at http://www.secularhumanism.org/manifesto/purchase.htm

Oh, one more thing . . . .

As if you haven’t already gotten enough from us, you’ll also be receiving one more e-mail soon. It will be a copy of the proposed revisions to the by-laws. You are encouraged to print this out and read through it, too.

That’s it for this month. Hope to see you at the meeting!