Using religion to justify aggression

Here is a quote from a book on the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. The President at that time was William McKinley.

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By late fall of 1898, McKinley believed the American people and the Republican Party favored annexation of all the Philippine Islands, and directed America’s peace commissioners to secure them.

McKinley explained to a group of clergy his decision to keep the Philippines. After “prayer,” he concluded that Filipinos “were unfit for self-government [and] would soon have anarchy and misrule.” So, the United States would keep the islands “to educate the Filipinos and uplift and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could for them, as our fellow men for whom Christ died.”

Church/State Separation Lecture to Preempt TAR Meeting

In lieu of meeting at Barnes & Noble this month, I am recommending that we attend the lectures on Sunday, February 26, 2 to 4pm at Temple Israel, 2004 E. 22nd Pl. (just south of Utica Square Shopping Center). The lectures are sponsored by the Oklahoma Conference for Community and Justice. Lecturing on February 26 will be Paul Finkelman of TU, Joe Bessler-Northcutt of Phillips Theological Seminary, and Ray Owens, also of Phillips.

The lectures on the 26th are part two of a three-part lecture series.

Let's Go Geocaching

The first of seven activities for freethinkers this month happens this Sunday starting around 1pm. We will gather at Randy’s house, 6705 E. 54 St. and talk about geocaching and what we are about to do. Then we will see if we can find six caches hidden within a two-mile radius of Randy’s house.

I will have a sheet on each hidden cache, but if you would like to have an advance look at what we will be searching for, go to www.geocaching.com. In the box for the ZIP code type in Randy’s ZIP code of 74145. There are 54 caches within a three-mile radius of the 74145 post office. (There are now hundreds of caches in the Tulsa area, with new caches being placed each week.) By clicking on any of the listed caches, the page for that cache is displayed. (If you have an account with geocaching.com (it’s free) then a small map pinpointing to location of the cache is displayed on the cache page.)

The six caches I have selected for us to find are:

Lunchtime Cache #8
Micro Mania #9
Hidden Park
Twisted Sisters
Asphalt Jungle – SP4
Nest Egg

You will notice that the terrain difficulty for all these is low. We should be able to walk right up to them. Finding them is another matter. Some caches are very cleverly hidden. Once I was caching with Dan Cagle in Norman, and we searched for twenty minutes (at least), and then Dan spotted the cache. We were within 20 feet of it all the time we were searching. With a group of us searching, we should be able to locate each cache within 10 minutes. (I hope.)

I have a travel bug I need to drop off in one of the caches, but I won’t go into that now.

Two caches we will be looking for are at LaFortune Park, and another one or two are in parks, also. If you see a cache on the geocaching web site that interests you, print the cache sheet and bring it with you.

Perhaps we could go to the Mazzio’s near Randy’s afterwards for some pizza?

February Events of Interest to Freethinkers

Sun., Feb. 5, 1pm
Geocaching Adventures with Randy and Dan. Meet at Randy’s house, 6705 E. 54 St. Then we will go searching for half a dozen hidden caches in Randy’s neighborhood using a GPS receiver.

Sat., Feb. 11, 10am
Secular Singers at Randy’s house, 6705 E. 54th in Tulsa. Join Bea, Randy, Gail, Julia, and Dan to sing freethought and other songs. Come to sing or just come to listen and enjoy the fellowship.

Sun., Feb. 12, 2pm
Humanist Study Group at Border’s, 81st & Yale. Topic: Jared Diamond’s recent book Collapse

Wed., Feb. 15, 11:30am
ALGAE (A Little Group of Atheists Eating), luncheon at White River Fish Market, 1708 N. Sheridan. This seafood restaurant seems to be growing in popularity.

Sun., Feb. 19, 1pm
HAT Monthly Membership Meeting In lieu of the MMM this month, we will meet for lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse at noon. Then we will watch the film Moloch in the nearby OSU-Tulsa auditorium. Film starts at 2pm.

Sat., Feb. 25, 11:30am
Food & Fellowship at Marie Callender’s on 51st St.

Sun., Feb. 26, 2pm
Tulsa Atheist Rendezvous at Barnes & Noble Bookstore on 41st St. See www.tulsaar.blogspot.com for the latest TAR news.


Questions? Call Dan at 798-3629