Finals Week Study Break

Date: Wednesday, December 12
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Harper 103
RSVP: To come

Details: Done with finals or need a break? Come relax with ice cream, cookies, and a screening of one of the incredible talks from Skepticon 4 (2011) or 5 (2012). Skepticon is the largest meeting of nonreligious people and freethinkers in the country, and the talks are always excellent, so come watch something awesome while getting away from finals.

Third Movie Night: The Wizard of Oz (with dinner!)

Date: Thursday, November 29th
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Cox Lounge, Stuart Hall (map here)
RSVP: Facebook Event

Details: The Secular Alliance is screening that old classic, the Wizard of Oz, a fantasy tale about adventure, defeat of evil, becoming a better person and monetary policy. What does that have to with secularism? Come, and maybe you'll find out! Come hang out, eat the free pizza dinner and enjoy.

As an aside, the wikipedia article for the movie is fascinating. 

Musings from the RSO Fair

First Years visiting the SA table

Last Friday was the Registered Student Organization Fair, in which all the RSOs on campus advertise themselves to other students, bribing them with free food, free information, and listhost sign-ups. The Secular Alliance was no exception... we were out there as well, gathering new minions recruits.

Look at all the interest!

Now, in general, spending 4 hours sitting at a table attempting to attract interest over the other couple hundred RSOs is not my idea of a good time. But this RSO fair was definitely worth it. We got a broad range of responses from "Huh. I didn't know we had a Secular Alliance. Cool." to "I was starting to think we didn't have a group for atheists/agnostics/seculars/non-religious students" to "Hey, my peeps! Sign me up!" to "Is this ironic? Are all the Jews at this school atheists?" to "Why are you in the middle of the religious organizations?" A full page and a half of students (nearly 50 individuals) signed up for the listhost and took information about the first meeting. For a campus of around 5000 undergrads that claims to be approximately 70% secular, it's still a low number, but considering that the group consisted of 8 active members its first year and around 12 last year, this is a massive increase in interest. If even half of these new students stick around, we'll have tripled in size.

This is particularly exciting because this is the year we really hope to expand our presence on campus and in the community. We have great ideas for weekly meetings, and big plans for regular church visits, social dinners, community service, debates, and speakers from the secular movement. We want to get our name out there as a place for non-religious students at the University of Chicago to come and hang out. Sometimes, we'll discuss topics in science, critical thinking, atheism, politics, and personal identity. Other times, we'll watch silly YouTube videos with a secular slant. We hope to create a safe space where everyone can feel welcome and open to talk about religion (or a lack thereof), and fill the void left by a lack of religious community. And the more students who know about it, the better we'll be able to meet those goals.

Secretary Alicia and President Chana welcome you to SA

So, for those of you returning to the Secular Alliance, welcome back. To all the new potential members, welcome. We hope to see all of you at the first meeting, and throughout the year.

Part and Whole: How Communities Large and Small Benefit Each Other

By: Chana Messinger


This is cross-posted (with a slightly different title) from my personal blog at www.fantasticastoria.blogspot.com

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Why does the Secular Movement (or Skeptical, or Atheist, or whatever) exist? Well, that’s an interesting and complicated question, and people answer it in a lot of different ways. The different visions that people have for their own communities or the movement are fascinating, and I imagine that they come out of differences not only in personal expectations, but also experiences of social communities and religious communities and how those are compared. All this is to say that I’m often curious about Secular Student Alliance affiliates across the United States and how they see themselves and the services they provide. I expect that some focus a great deal on their own communities, on their schools and on the community that they can provide for their members, which makes perfect sense in a variety of contexts, including, for example, a highly religious institution where there are few resources other than those who are already in the group. For my group, however, I take a different tack, which is to see our group as part of and inextricably linked to the broader movement. The reasons for this are several.