TALK 1 PMEST on ZOOM ONLY (No in-person meeting due to lack of air conditioning)
We are very pleased to once again have MiriamBeattie speak at Atlanta Freethought about her experiences growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness. She last spoke at AFS in 2015.
Miriam Beattie was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, baptized at 13, and deeply immersed in the faith. Her father served as an elder and her mother as a full-time pioneer while she was growing up, and Miriam and her two younger sisters were expected to set a Godly example in the congregation.
However as Miriam grew older, she began questioning many of the things she had been taught. She was brought before a judicial panel of elders and reproved at 16 and left home shortly before her 17th birthday. She briefly returned in early adulthood before being disfellowshipped by the organization and leaving for good at 22.
Now, Miriam identifies as a skeptic and an atheist. Her experience growing up in a high- control group instilled in her a deep respect for critical thinking and individual autonomy. Miriam will share her journey from devout believer to freethinker, and offer insights on how to support those recovering from coercive belief systems.
Note: due to the air conditioning being out, this month’s meeting will be held over Zoom only.
POTLUCK 11 AM to 1 PMEST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL
TALK 1 PMEST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL & on ZOOM
“The Shadow Gospel”
Mark Brockway
Details
When people talk about the chaotic, increasingly precarious political landscape in the United States, they often blame polarization and the culture wars. In The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-Liberal Demonology Possessed U.S. Religion, Media, and Politics,”Whitney Phillips and Mark Brockway tell a very different story. Analyzing eighty years of densely overlapping religious and secular messages preaching the dangers of liberalism, the book argues that the fracture and chaos in U.S. politics isn’t the result of a clean split between left and right. Instead, it’s a split between the shadow gospel’s quasi-religious anti-liberal demonology—the vague sense that an evil leftist force is threatening to destroy American society—and the people accused of being the liberal devil.
A shadow gospel framework helps contextualize the violence of January 6, 2021, the fervor of Satanic conspiracy theorizing, and the crusade against “wokeness” and LGBTQ existence. But it also helps explain the most vexing elements of our politics: that the most potent source of religious messaging and influence in the United States is secular, that the most ruthless destroyers of Republicans are other Republicans, and that anti-liberal fear and loathing span the political spectrum.
By offering new ways of thinking about religious influence, the left/right dichotomy, and the appeal of Donald Trump, The Shadow Gospel reveals the true roadblocks to pluralistic democracy and emphasizes what people across the religious and political spectrum stand to lose if we don’t exorcise our anti-liberal demons. There are no easy solutions to our vast and complicated political problems. But those solutions will remain elusive if how we frame our problems is part of the problem. It is long past time to drag the shadow gospel out into the light.
The book can be found on Amazon or other bookstores and is published at MIT Press.
The meeting will be both on Zoom and at Atlanta Freethought Hall,4775 N. Church Lane SE, Atlanta, GA, 30339.
Preceding the talk at 11, there will be a potluck lunch. Join AFS members and guests for some good food and great socializing. Please bring food according to the first letter of your last name: A-G: Bring a main dish H-P: Bring a dessert Q-Z: Bring a side dish AFS will provide drinks, plates and silverware.
Atlanta Freethought Hall
4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30339
Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, rebuilt in 1866 after the original structure was destroyed by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War. Atlanta Freethought Society (AFS) was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see an AFS Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.
SOCIALIZING 12 PM to 1 PMEST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL
TALK 1 PMEST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL & on ZOOM
Why Science Works
Paul Broman
The Atlanta Freethought Society presents its resident amateur historian, Paul Broman, for atalk titled Why Science Works. Join us for a discussion of how and why science works, plus its history from the first ancient healers to today’s modern systematic, self correcting system that allows us to discover so many astonishing truths about our natural world. This includes discussing problems that have been identified with scientific methods over the course of history and how science adapted.
Paul will also discuss the increasing danger of science denial, which began centuries ago with disagreement over whether the earth revolves around the sun and today has found its way into disputes over evolution, climate change, vaccines, and even genders.
Paul is a life member of AFS who is well read and enjoys research of interest to freethinkers. His earlier talks were titledWhatever Happened to Deism? and The Decline of Natural Theology.
To join the Zoom meeting go to this link: us02web.zoom.us/j/89006560911 Or show up in person at Atlanta Freethought Hall (4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, GA)
Join AFS members and guests for some socializing prior to the 1 PM talk.
Atlanta Freethought Hall
4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30339
Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, rebuilt in 1866 after the original structure was destroyed by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War. Atlanta Freethought Society (AFS) was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see an AFS Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.
POTLUCK 11 AM to 1 PMEST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL
TALK 1 PMEST at ATLANTA FREETHOUGHT HALL & on ZOOM
How Not to do a Paranormal Investigation
Karen Stollznow and Matthew Baxter
Matt and Karen will be speaking about investigating the paranormal through a skeptical lens.
Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist, researcher, and podcaster. She’s the author of Bitch: the journey of a word; On the Offensive: prejudice in language past and present; Missed Conceptions: how we make sense of infertility; and Language Myths, Mysteries, and Magic. Her forthcoming book is Beyond Words: how we learn, use, and lose language. Karen is currently a researcher at Griffith University. She’s also a host of the science, history, and folklore podcast Monster Talk, and a veteran investigator of paranormal claims. Karen lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and son.
Matthew Baxter has always had an interest in the paranormal and was fascinated by every aspect of it. He read books by believers and skeptics alike and was determined to find his own truth. Matthew has investigated homes, pubs, restaurants, hospitals, parks, churches, and theaters. He has gone after UFOs, aliens, cryptids, and psychics among other phenomena. He has appeared on Larry King Live, National Geographic, CNN, and the Travel Channel along with many appearances on local news programs, documentaries, magazines, and books. He has spoken at conferences such as TAM and Universities nation wide.
Our meeting Is in person (4775 N. Church Lane. Atlanta) or via Zoom, your choice.
To join the Zoom meeting go to this link: us02web.zoom.us/j/89006560911 Or show up in person at Atlanta Freethought Hall (4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, GA)
POTLUCK from 11 AM to 1 PM EST
Join AFS members and guests for some good food and great socializing prior to the 1 PM talk. Please bring food according to the first letter of your last name:
A – G : Please bring a Side Dish
H – P : Please bring a Main Dish
Q – Z : Please bring a Dessert
Atlanta Freethought Hall
4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30339
Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, rebuilt in 1866 after the original structure was destroyed by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War. Atlanta Freethought Society (AFS) was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see an AFS Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.
“Trump’s America vis-à-vis The IslamicRepublic: The Concentration of Power and how the PowerfulPrey/Pray on the Ignorant“
Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh
The daughter of a high-profile Iranian doctor and a small-town American science teacher, Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh was born in Washington, D.C., came of age in Iran during the Shah’s era, and later traveled back to the United States to attend university, receiving a degree in philosophy from Stanford University in 1978. The Islamic Revolution began brewing during her senior year at Stanford, and shortly after graduating she returned to Iran and plopped herself down in the middle of it. She later moved to Spain, where she met and married a Spaniard, thus weaving a third cultural strand into her identity.
A career English teacher, Suzi has taught students in public schools, private schools, and universities on three continents and in three languages. She has taught ESL to children in Honduras, World Literature and Linguistics to university students in Tehran, IB Literature and Theory of Knowledge to high scho ol students inSpain, Creative Writing to undergraduates at Boston University, and Literature and Composition to middle school, high school, and university students in Georgia.
Alongside her teaching career, Suzi has maintained a second career as a writer, editor, and translator. Rather late in life, she received an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Boston University, where she had the privilege of studying with National Book Award winners Sigrid Nunez and Ha Jin and Pen/Hemingway Award winner and New York Times Bestselling author JenniferHaigh.
Suzi’s fiction has appeared in The Georgia Review, Fiction International, Glassworks Magazine,Narrative Northeast, Mobius Journal for SocialChange, Quiddity International Literary Journal, and elsewhere. Her recent story collection, titled Zan, was awarded the 2022 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize and was published in June of 2024.
Suzi’s cultural identity is a bit of a moving target, which makes it a paradox that she has resided, for the better part of the past two decades, on a 6-acre mini-farm in Woodstock, Georgia.
Our meeting Is in person (4775 N. Church Lane. Atlanta) or via zoom, your choice.
To join the Zoom meeting go to this link: us02web.zoom.us/j/89006560911 Or show up in person at Atlanta Freethought Hall (4775 N. Church Lane, Atlanta, GA)
Atlanta Freethought Hall is a former Primitive Baptist Church, which was built in 1866. Atlanta Freethought Society was founded in 1985, which makes it one of Metro Atlanta’s oldest secular societies. AF Hall is the meeting place for several other organizations and we rent the building at reasonable rates. If you would like to rent the hall for an organization meeting, a party, a wedding, etc., please see a Board Member. Our building is wheelchair accessible.
Our meeting Is in person (4775 N. Church Lane. Atlanta) or via zoom, your choice. Our January meeting will be a talk by Mark Banks about the fascinating subject of Astronomy (not astrology). We will start with our ancient ancestors who spent thier entire lives out under the stars. Then, move along to the reaissance & the birth of our modern science of Astronomy. Then a review of our journey to the present & future of stellar exploration. Mark Banks has been a long term member of AFS, a retired aerospace engineer, an avid amateur Astronomer and past president of the Atlanta astronomy club (2010-2018).
Before the January 12th meeting we will have a Potluck Lunch, starting at 11:00. Join AFS members and guests for some good food and great socializing. Please bring your favorite dish with plenty to share.
AFS will provide drinks, plates and silverware.
The main meeting will start at 1:00PM after lunch.
