2001 Newsletters

What Does Love Have To Do With It?The Role of Chemical Signaling In Our Choice of Partners Stephen Downes, of The University of Utah Department of Philosophy gave the following presentation to the Humanists of Utah in December 2000 I am...

Creation Myths of the Middle East On January 11th, 2001, Dr. Ewa Wasilewska, professor of anthropology, presented to the chapter a talk on "Creation Myths of the Middle East." Dr. Wasilewska teaches numerous courses on the ancient and modern...

The Problem of Scientific Illiteracy Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones," says Richard Dawkins in his book, Unweaving the Rainbow. "Most people are never going to die because t...

Rocky Anderson Addresses the Humanists of Utah On March 8, 2001, the Humanists of Utah were addressed by the most progressive mayor in the history of Salt Lake City, Ross "Rocky" Anderson. The mayor was introduced by veteran chapter member,...

Holy Terror! Religiously Inspired Terrorism Professor Carl Yaeger discussed terrorism in general and religiously motivated terrorism in particular at the April meeting of Humanists of Utah. He began his remarks by defining terrorism as the "calculated...

Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "A rational society is one that values argument and considers virtually all points of view subject to debate. It promotes inquiry, experimentation, and empiricism, m...

Is Man/Nature Dualism Dead? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report A passage in The Gay Science  by Friedrich Nietzsche portrays a madman carrying a lantern in broad daylight and searching for God. This mirthless character d...

Is The Time Ripe for a Progressive Revival? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "Where do we go from here?" asks Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., in his article, "A Question of Power," in The American Prospect, April 23, 2001. An ambiguous a...

Credibility Round Table Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report Recently the Salt Lake Tribune and the Associated Press Managing Editors sponsored a "Credibility Roundtable" on the coverage of religion. Various leaders from religions, t...

Is the Capacity for Religion Hardwired into Our Brains? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "Einstein felt it. It's what draws people to church, prayer, meditation, sacred dance and other rituals. Chances are you've felt something l...

What a Tangled Web We Weave When We Practice to Believe Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report The title of this article is taken from the title of a section in an article, "The Psychology of Biblicism," by Robert M. Price in the May-June i...

Respect For Human Rights Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "If I'm barely scratching out a living in East Tennessee, worried about having enough money to get my kids a decent education or to make the payments on a bigger house, w...