News
Van will be teaching a class this fall titled “Introduction to Humanist Philosophy”, through Boise Schools-Community Education. The classes will be Wednesday nights, 7-8, beginning October 6th. For anyone interested in this class, the catalogs should be out by the end of August, or you can go the Community Ed website at: http://www.boiselearns.org/pub/
The booth at Eagle Island Experience (May 21-23) was, well, an experience. Cold, rainy, and windy. A salute to the valiant volunteers who stuck it out until the end. The last day did see a little sun and a few visitors. We will have our booth up once again at the Hyde Park Street Fair (Sep 17-19) – under the banner “Secular Idaho”. SI formed in 2009 as an umbrella group for 5 local freethought Groups, including HOI, BUUF Humanists, Idaho Atheists, Boise State Secular Students Alliance, and Atheist/Humanist/Non-theist meetup.
Elections results were made official at the May Meeting (May 24), with D G Van Curen (Van) taking over as President. Kris Hartung moved into the Vice President position, Paul Rolig, former President, took over the Treasurer position, and Nancy Rolig is still our Secretary. Bylaws were also amended to change the frequency of elections from one to two years, and to move the elections from May to April.
Watch Van’s National Day of Prayer interview on ABC
Kris Hartung is the Boise Secular Humanist Examiner. For interesting articles and links to past copies of Secular Idaho newsletter, visit The Secular Humanist Examiner web page
The billboard project, sponsored jointly by Humanists of Idaho, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Boise State Secular Student Alliance, Nontheist Meetup group, and Idaho Atheists, was in place from the first week in March to the first week in May, 2009. The board, with the message “BEWARE OF DOGMA”, was located on Fairview, east of Maple Grove, and faced east bound traffic. Paul and Van were interviewed by Fox News, many good letters were generated, and we even picked up a couple of new members. A bit of positive outreach.
Crop Walk 2009 was a big success. HOI walkers raised several hundred dollars, much of which went to the Idaho Food Bank. For information on how to take part in our charitable works, and/orhelp make next holiday season a bright spot for a struggling family, Contact Us
Van’s new book, “Dissecting A Bible: A Critical Analysis of Holy Scripture”, is now available. For more information, or a sample from the book, visit the Dissecting A Bible website.
HOI volunteers did well at the Idaho Public Television fundraiser in March, 2008. Hats off to Jan for putting it all together, and to all those who manned the phones. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get a spot for the 2009 telethon. Something about the economy. Anyone interested in volunteering for any of our projects, or have questions regarding any of our charitable programs, should contact us.
Darwin’s 200th birthday was celebrated with a guest speaker, Dr Coors, brought in by the BSSSA. Interesting and informative talk about science and recent developments in biology in general and evolution in particular. Still open for ideas on Darwin’s birthday in 2010.
Don’t forget that our monthly discussion meeting is on the 4th Monday of the month, 6:30, at the Flick’s Theater, upstairs, in the Loft. Book reviews and speakers are often part of this meeting. We hold our annual elctions in May, and encourage participation in the democratic process.
