January 6, 2006February 3, 2006Meeting Report

January 22, 2006

Concentric Circles

This meeting, of which the original announcement appears below, was quite successful. As Terry Cantrell was sick, Ted Webb stepped in as his replacement.

What happens when the interior heat of the sun is reflected in the brains of Humanists listening to four well informed persons agreeing and disagreeing with each other about arguable subjects?

What if it’s politics? The economy? Foreign policy? Humanist propositions? Concerning what is important in our lives?

We'll find out when Leon Lefson, Chuck O'Neill, Margo Gunnarsen and Terry Cantrell go at it as they sit in an Inner Circle at the next Humanist meeting and set the rafters ringing.

The Program Committee is experimenting with a different agenda. We want to see if it works to involve an enlarged group responding to some of the proposals and arguments the four discussants will make in about 25 or 30 minutes of intense analysis before bringing everybody else into verbal engagement. 

The meeting featured two circles of chairs. The inner circle consisted of the persons who led the discussion. The outer circle consisted of everyone else.

Margo Gunnarsen wondered why nothing was said in Humanist Manifesto III about extermination of other species. Leon Lefson wondered why left-of-center organizations don"t get together for a common purpose. Ted Webb brought up the strong support among evangelical Christians for the war in Iraq. We also discussed the relative merits of charitable work in helping the victims of poverty or injustice as opposed to working to prevent the victimization or poverty from occurring in the first place. Do we mop the floor or turn off the tap? Do we do both? There was a variety of opinions on all of these questions, but no clear consensus. Leon Lefson emphasized the importance of critical thinking in finding solutions to social and other problems.

Report prepared by Wayne Luney, Recorder

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