Alabama Honors Freethinker and Humanist

dcsmart

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Sat Oct-10-09 09:52 AM
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Alabama Honors Freethinker and Humanist

The Secular Coalition for America announced its approval today upon hearing that the State of Alabama and the U.S. Congress will be honoring Helen Keller, a noted freethinker and humanist, with a statue in the U.S. Capitol Complex.

Helen Keller famously rejected a fundamentalist religious worldview, once stating, "There is much in the Bible against which every instinct of my being rebels." She also served on the advisory board of Charles Potter's First Humanist Society of New York.

"Alabama is making great progress," said Sean Faircloth, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America. "First they removed the unconstitutional Ten Commandments display installed by former Chief Justice Roy Moore, and now they're honoring Helen Keller - a freethinker and humanist who helped make our nation a better place."

The 600-pound bronze statue was commissioned by Governor Bob Riley and funded by private donations. The unveiling ceremony will be on Wednesday, October 7.
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The Secular Coalition for America is the national lobby for atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheistic Americans with the unique mission of increasing the visibility of and respect for nontheistic viewpoints and protecting and strengthening the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all Americans.
http://secular.org/news/Alabama_Honors_Freethinker_and_Humanist091006.html

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babylonsister

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Sat Oct-10-09 10:14 AM
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1. Free thinker, humanist, and socialist!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6731035

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dcsmart

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Sat Oct-10-09 10:25 AM
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2. Very cool

thanks for posting the link....i didn't know about it. a lot of good info...i am going to post your post in the Socialists Progressives Group, my home away from home...LOL...

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eppur_se_muova

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Sat Oct-10-09 01:58 PM
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3. Are faith, reason mutually exclusive? (Huntsville Times/al.com) {de-baptism ceremony}

Friday, October 09, 2009
By Kay Campbell
Times Faith & Values Editor kay.campbell@htimes.com
UAH Freethought group hosted de-baptism event

"Ever been baptized? Think it was a mistake? Wish you could be de-baptized?"

With the whir of a blow dryer and a tongue-in-cheek parody of religious ceremony, college students at the University of Alabama in Huntsville lined up last month to "blow away the waters of faith with a hair-dryer of reason."

UAH Freethought Club President Ben Burns explained club members planned the event partly to get attention for the club during one of the first meetings of the school year. The event was uncharacteristically flamboyant for the club members, who usually meet to hear debates over points of belief or to discuss current films.

"We are trying to point out that it's OK to make fun of religion," Burns said. "People like the feeling of community ritual. I guess it gives a sense of purpose."
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more: http://www.al.com/religion/huntsvilletimes/news.ssf?/base/living/1255079776200000.xml&coll=1

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EvolveOrConvolve

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Sun Oct-11-09 10:05 AM
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4. In related news

Alabama celebrates its 1st Annual Bizarro World festival.

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muriel_volestrangler

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Sun Oct-11-09 05:20 PM
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5. How wide is the definition of 'freethinker'?

She wrote a book "My Religion" in 1927, later republished as "Light In my Darkness", in which she says she supports Swedenborgism.
http://books.google.com/books?id=x7oPaKrr4x4C&lpg=PP1&dq=%22helen%20keller%22%20religion&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://www.amazon.com/Light-My-Darkness-Helen-Keller/dp/0877851468
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedenborgianism

Seems pretty religious to me. Does 'freethinker' just mean "not mainstream religion"?

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