Secular Student Alliance eMpirical No. 42: Don't Panic! The SSA Breaks 200 Affiliates!
 February 2, 2010 |
In this issue:
- Introduction
- Northern California Regional Leadership Summit Schedule
- Secular Charities for Haitian Relief Efforts
- Darwin Day is Coming!
- Winners of the Fall Student Membership Drive
- So Help Us God In The Courthouse
- Greta Christina and Dr. Darrel Ray Added to SSA Speakers Bureau
- Secular Student Delivers Inaugural Invocation in Southern Maine
- Should Humanists Deliver Invocations? "No," says Frank Bellamy
- Should Humanists Deliver Invocations? "Yes," says Andrew Lovley
- SSA Internship Reflection: Cameron DeHart
- Skepticon II: A Roaring Success in the Midwest
- FreeThinkers@USF Celebrate Banned Book Week
- Northern California Campus Organizing Needs Your Support
- Student, Community Groups Bring Together Non-believers, Free Thinkers
| The SSA only exists because of your support. Please donate today. Secular shorts: Don't miss the Northern California Leadership Summit! Join us Feb. 12-14 at Stanford University for a chance to meet SSA staff and student group leaders from all over the western US! On the East Coast? Mark your calendars for the New England Leadership Summit, to be held at Harvard University, April 16-18! The Humanists of Florida are hosting their first-ever, all-inclusive conference with the Center for Inquiry and the American Humanist Association. Learn more at the conference website! Going somewhere? Support the SSA by using our Travel Gateway.  Contact us! Call us toll free at 1-877-842-9474. You can also email us at [email protected]. We are always happy to hear from you and answer any questions or concerns! What do you think? This is your eNewsletter and we are always updating and changing to fit your needs, so please let us know what you think of our new format! Email [email protected] with any suggestions, ideas, or comments. eMpirical Team Content Manager: Frank Bellamy Editors & Assistants: August E. Brunsman IV, Ait Chapel, Amanda Knief, Lyz Liddell, Hemant Mehta, Luis A. Morán Morales | So this is eMpirical 42 and, as all really hoopy froods know, this is the answer. Alas, we still don't know what the question is. Someone in our office suggested that it might be "what is the square root of 0.44 times the number of campuses in the United States which still need an SSA affiliate group?" For those of you who don't have a brain the size of a planet, that makes for about 3,960. Thrilled though we are that everything might be about us, we're still withholding final judgment. Philosophical quandaries aside, we have just added our 200th (and 201st, and 202nd, and 203rd...) campus affiliate group! We're delighted to have grown so much and that there are more opportunities for secular students than ever before. Things are in full swing as students settle into the winter/spring term! Darwin Day is coming up fast, as well as our Northern California Leadership Summit. You won't want to miss these great opportunities! Plus, we're seeing students branch out into projects and undertakings bigger and better than ever. Check it out! Not a student? You can still become a member of the Secular Student Alliance and support young freethinkers. There has never been a more exciting time to get involved! Northern California Leadership Summit Schedule Read more... Secular Charities for Haitian Relief Efforts |
 For more information, visit secularstudents.org. If you are having trouble viewing this e-mail, it can be viewed on our website. | |
Darwin Day is coming up sooner than you might think, and you don't want to miss the opportunity to celebrate the 201st birthday of the biologist who reshaped our understanding of the origins of life. 
Dr. Michael Newdow is leading the Newdow v. Roberts lawsuit, regarding the inclusion of the phrase "So help me God" in the presidential oath of office. University of Pittsburgh student Sarah Silverman was able to attend the oral arguments in the case's appeal. 
Should secular humanists be delivering invocations at public events? Frank Bellamy argues against furthering an institution that might better be laid aside entirely. 
Should secular humanists be delivering invocations at public events? Andrew Lovley makes the case for why they should and how doing so is a benefit to society. 
Cameron DeHart, a freshman at the Ohio State University, was one of our two 2009 fall interns. He shares his experiences working with the Secular Student Alliance office. 
Mid-November 2009 brought a host of interested atheists and other secularists to the Springfield campus of Missouri State University to partake in Skepticon II, a two-day event featuring best-selling authors and freethought experts. 
In the fall of 2009, the FreeThinkers at the University of South Florida were joined by two off-campus organizations to raise awareness about the importance of freedom of speech during Banned Book Week. 
Arthur Jackson describes the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley's involvement in the Secular Student Alliance's Northern California Regional Campus Organizing project, and the program's unexpected success. 
The Evansville Courier & Press published this article featuring the Agnostics and Atheists Club of North High School, one of our campus affiliate groups. Reprinted with permission.
Submitted by Luis on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 16:12
