AOF News & Views –
Newsletter for September 2016

Upcoming
Events ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ²

Ø  Seth Andrews: The Thinking Atheist                                            Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 6-8PM

The very amazing Seth Andrews, host of the Thinking Atheist podcast, returns to AOF to shake our
brains and see what rattles. Seth spoke here before in June 2015. The
AOF Speaker Series now joins hands with sister-organization Sac-FAN (Sacramento
Freethinkers, Atheists and Nonbelievers) to pull him back for an encore.
When AOF & Sac-FAN team up, it's always a hoot. Don't miss this bonus
event.

Details are scant, so we suspect
Seth plans to wing it. Anything goes. But to prepare you, here are words
from one of Seth Andrews's recent blog entries:

Comment-section warriors declare
that some of my more emotive pieces are "religious" because they
incorporate an appeal to the heart. In their minds, we should all be machines, quickly
chomping data points from an isolated perch on Mount Seleya, cordoning off
whole sections of our humanity.

Two things: 1) it’s perfectly fine to have feelings in regard to the things we
think about. 2) The church pastors are often really good at emotive
storytelling, but they didn't invent it, they don't own it, and they don't
negate the power of it simply because they're using storytelling tools to sell
bad ideas.

Storytelling isn't preaching or (necessarily) heart-over-head manipulation. As
long as our feelings aren't driving the vehicle, as long as they serve to
provide color for the outlines painted reasonably, and as long as they're kept
in check, they're a healthy part of the human condition, and they can draw us
toward a greater connection with ideas, facts, places and people.

It's a good thing Carl Sagan didn't toss the poetry in his work... the emotive,
rich, heartfelt and impassioned language, cadences and inflection that
positively impacted so many.

His storytelling ability was key in helping important ideas resonate in the
bones of his readers, listeners and viewers, and it made them all the more
powerful.

Can you imagine "Pale Blue Dot" as mere bullet points? Neither can I.

~ Seth Andrews

Location: Reason Center, 1824 Tribute Rd, Suite A, Sacramento. Map: https://goo.gl/iVQL8z.

Ø
Board
of Directors Meeting                                                               Monday, September 12, 2016, 7-9AM

Once again, an AOF planning meeting for AOF Directors and Officers,
but open to all interested friends and members. Especially those with ideas!

You are welcome to join us, meet the board, and share your wisdom
with AOF.

Location: Reason
Center, 1824 Tribute Rd, Suite A, Sacramento. Map: https://goo.gl/iVQL8z.

Ø
Hank
and Cleo Kocol: A Celebration                                               Sunday, September 25, 2016, 1-3PM

Not a
memorial, because how could we mourn them? This is a celebration, a tribute and
a paean to the lives of Hank Kocol (July 16, 1937 - Apr 20, 2013) and Cleo Kocol
(Jan 12, 1927 - July 5, 2016), charter AOF members, past AOF presidents,
activists, humanists, feminists, scintillating minds, and supporters of
our community of reason for decades. AOF would not be here without them, not as
it is now.

Come join us. Share your memories, learn about
their adventures together, and possibly leave with a token. For more
details, see the AOF website.

Location: Reason Center, 1824 Tribute Rd, Suite A, Sacramento. Map: https://goo.gl/iVQL8z.

Ø
California
Freethought Day Festival                                         Sunday, October 16, 2016, 11AM-5:30PM

Save this date! Sacramento Freethought Day had a growth
spurt; it’s now California
Freethought Day (CFD). Still a grand jubilee, a party, a gala, a secular celebration,
a salute to independent and rational thought, open to the public, free to
attend, combining the fun and festivity of a fair with the education and
activism of a conference—only larger, brighter, more freethoughty. The planning
committee is busy packing the day with events to entertain you as much as
uplift you, and to nourish you with knowledge. They will include speakers,
entertainers, food, prizes, a "family fun zone," vendors, exhibits,
panels, art ... and more.

Though the main event (Sunday) is free, advance registration
(also free) makes you eligible for delightful & toothsome door prizes. Also
a fun Supporters Reception (not so free, but worth it) will occur the evening
before, and a special training seminar for secular leaders the next day. To
register, to learn more, and especially if you wish to attend the reception, staff
a table, vend, volunteer, sponsor, help promote, help plan, set up or clean up
- visit the event website now, and contact the chairman. Sooner is better. CFD
will love to have you, because hands that help ... are beautiful hands.

Location: CA State Capitol North Steps, Capitol Park. Map: http://tinyurl.com/j9c6qob

Contact:  209-610-0651, or email: [email-masked]

THE GODS OF
YESTERDAY

(Anonymous)

Where
are the gods of yesterday,

Gracious
and beautiful, grim and gray,

Masculine,
feminine, great and small,

Benign
and manevolent, one and all?

Born
of the union and sad mischance

Of
mad Superstition and Ignorance.

They
came into being and passed away.

Where
are the gods of yesterday?

Yea,
where are the gods of yesterday,

Demon
and dryad and goblin and fay?

Where
are the gods the Egyptians knew,

Isis,
Osiris, and Horus too?

Where
are the gods of the Grecians, great,

Where
are the gods of the Roman state?

Temple
and alter are gone for aye;

And
where are the gods of yesterday?

Lo,
where are the gods of yesterday,

Fetish
of flesh and idol of clay?

Where
is the Syrian's goddess pale,

Ashtoreth
- and his sun-fed, Baal?

Where
are the Norseman's gods of war -

Odin
and Jord, and the thundious Thor?

Vestments
and votaries gone to decay,

And
where are the gods of yesterday?

Yea, where are the gods of yesterday,

Cruelly kidnapped or gone astray?

Out of the nimbus of night they came,

Nodded, vanished - and left a name;-

Left but a name - and the gibbering wraith

Of a pestilential, departed faith.

Gone are the priests with their rich array;

And where are the gods of yesterday?

Aye, Where are the gods of yesterday?

Jehovah is trav'ling the highroad gray

And Christ, with his cross upon his back,

Has set his feet in the trodden track,

To that undiscovered land whose bourn,

Restores to the Christian souls that mourn,

The eye to rejoice or the zeal to warm

But a partial glimpse of a shadowy form.

While the virgin Mary has left the post

And, hand in hand with the Holy Ghost,

Has entered upon the footworn way,

That leads to the gods of yesterday.

Oh tell me, Prince, if you will or may;

Just where are the gods of yesterday?

When you donate blood...

Halloween is coming, and really, do
you need all that blood? Please donate a pint at the Blood Source. And if you
do, use AOF Blood Source ID# 4857.

Numerous Donation Centers exist --
find them listed at:  http://www.bloodsource.org/Locations.

AOF gets no perks when members
donate, but it saves lives, and is good for public relations. And what can be
more

Humanistic than donating blood?

Support the Reason Center

The Reason Center (RC) opened in
July 2014. Since opening it has hosted well over 200 events. Currently RC has
twelve partner organizations.

Its
mission: to support a social and intellectual community for freethinkers,
contribute to society through education and community service, advance the
civic understanding and acceptance of freethinkers, and uphold the separation
of religion and government.

To continue this good work, the
Reason Center relies on members and donors, and your continued support. Please
consider supporting the Reason Center. To set up a monthly or one-time donation,
visit the website, ReasonCenter.org.

Not a member of
Atheists and Other Freethinkers? Pshaw! Join us! (You’ll sleep better.)

AOF is a
501(c)(3) non-profit association, FEIN 68-0325762. General Meetings are free
and open to the public. AOF also hosts civic service projects, dinners, movie outings,
parties! Your reasonable dues will help keep it all going. To see what cooks,
visit the website,  www.aofonline.org; or contact AOF at our
24/7 voice-mail: 916-447-3589; or write to PO Box 15182, Sacramento, CA
95851-0182.

AOF Acting
President: Kristi Craven. Vice-president: Mynga Futrell. Editor: Fran Evanisko.
And all the rest of us, locked in our cells.

“The purpose of Atheists and Other Freethinkers (AOF) is to
promote civic understanding of atheism and the acceptance of atheists in our
community.  Through educational programs,
projects, and publications, AOF will extend secular perspectives, including the
separation of religion and government and the right to think and speak freely
on these perspectives.” There, we said it.

Special event at Reason Center (not an AOF
one, but hecka fun)

Marie Bain - Live Music Launch!

Marie, star and author of "Family Values: The
Bible Tells Me So", is about to launch her album, and will perform
at the Reason Center on Sept 17, 7 PM.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, it's better
than Cats. The event features her single "I Don't Know"
and a short selection of her other songs:

A free event. She'd love for you to be
there and share the fun... and maybe a bottle of wine and a cheese cube. Invite
your friends and join her.

Also subscribe to her YouTube Channel.
She needs 100 subscribers so the powers that be will grant her a welcoming-er
website address.

Where? Reason Center, 1824 Tribute Rd, Suite A, Sacramento. Map: https://goo.gl/iVQL8z.