We Were At Earth Days 2019
We had a booth at this year’s Earth Days celebration, Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28 at the Forest Park lower MUNY entrance. Many people came by to say hello, encourage us, and sign up for our mailing list.
Author: admin
2019 Annual Meeting April 25
Our Annual Meeting was held at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at the Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road, 63117. We had a panel of experts on the Missouri Legislature, including Missouri State Representative Deb Lavender of Kirkwood, Karen Aroesty, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, and James Croft, Outreach Director of the Ethical Society of St. Louis, discussing “Destroying the Wall”, the attacks on church/state separation in the current session. It was be moderated by our President, Cynthia Holmes.
You Can Make a Painless Contribution
When you buy stuff from Amazon, you can have 0.5% of your purchase be donated to AU-St. Louis. This does not add anything to your bill, and everything else is just as usual. All you have to do is to use https://smile.amazon.com instead of the ordinary address, then identify us as the recipient of your gift. The direct link to us is https://smile.amazon.com/ch/43-1882014
Thank you for considering this.
Dean/Author Andrew Kersten Spoke about Clarence Darrow February 7
A sizable crowd enjoyed a lecture by UMSL Dean and History Professor Andrew Kersten at the Ethical Society on the evening of February 7. He is author of the recent book, “Clarence Darrow: American Iconoclast”.
National Leadership Meeting in DC, Oct 29-30
St. Louis had the largest continent (six) of any Chapter of AU at the annual National meeting in Washington, on October 29 and 30. It was an informative and inspirational experience, featuring our new President and CEO, Rachel Laser (in the middle of the picture). Highlights of the meeting can be found in the December issue of Church and State. A new video that gives a succinct view of what AU stands for is now available: Click here to watch it!
We had a chance to greet our long-time Executive Director, Barry Lynn, who was looking healthy after his heart attack last year.
No Religious Tests?
Artic
le VI, Clause 3 of the constitution guarantees that citizens are not required to have a specific set of religious beliefs, or any at all, in order to exercise their rights. Nevertheless, Americans have an aversion to atheists in public life, as is described a thoughtful review, “Without a Prayer: Why are Americans Still Uncomfortable with Atheism” by Casey Cep in the October 29 New Yorker of two books: “Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life”(Norton) by Cornell Professors R. Laurence Moore and Isaac Kramnick and “Seven Types of Atheism” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) by philosopher John Gray. If you don’t get to the books, the review is well worth reading. Click on the article link above.
Government-Subsidized Christianity
Susan Jacoby’s op-ed with this headline appeared in the Sunday, July 8, issue of The New York Times. The official title is “The White House is Tearing Down the Wall Between Church and State“. Click to read the article from the NYT website.
What Islamophobic Politicians Can Learn From Mormons
Be sure to read the op-ed in the Wednesday, May 22 issue of the New York Times, by Asma Uddin. Ms. Uddin is a Fellow (but not a fellow) at the Initiative on Security and Reli
gious Freedom at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. She seems to be an excellent source on many of the issues of importance to us.
Membership is going up from $25 to $35
The national AU organization (https://www.au.org) has just increased annual dues from $25 to $35/year, effective immediately. Your next renewal will be slightly more expensive, but still well worth it. The dues were $25 for more than 30 years.
“RBG”! May 23 at Frontenac Cinema
We had a small group on Wednesday, May 23, to see the new documentary about Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “RBG” at the Frontenac Cinema. We know that many of our members have already seen the show, or are planning to soon. It is an inspirational film, well worth the price. After the showing we had very nice dinner at Canyon Cafe, a nice “southwestern” restaurant downstairs.