More to come, of course, but we will be issuing a news release on this fairly soon, stressing a number of reasons for choosing this city, the most important of which is rapidly growing strength and diverse dynamic leaders for Atheism in this politically crucial and interesting state. A number of state and local Atheist and freethought or humanist organizations in Iowa have expressed strong support for American Atheists holding the convention in Des Moines, and nationally known Iowa Atheists like Hector Avalos have also eagerly supported the idea.

We will have a great convention in 2011–with your help. Please keep me posted, as I will you.

Regards to all,

Ed B.
ED BUCKNER, President
American Atheists
www.atheists.org
ebuckner@atheists.org
908-499-9200 cell
770-803-5353 tel/fax, GA office

The convention will likely bring around 300-400 people to Des Moines, and maybe more depending on which speakers they can get to confirm. The AA convention is always Easter weekend, so it would be late April 2011.

Mr. Buckner looked forward to collaborating with all the local groups, using the local groups to help promote the convention, but also looked forward to helping out the local groups as much as possible to increase the awareness of the secular community around the state. He was encouraged by the fact that we had about 30 people there last night to meet with him, which bodes well for Iowa.

It’s obvious this will be a big boost for both the Iowa Secularists, and all the local groups. We can play active roles in promotion of the AA convention, as well as our own groups by manning booths at the convention, or coordinating with all the local groups to fill out the necessary volunteer spots that will be needed.

Exciting times are ahead and the IS looks forward to participating in this collaboration!

Scott Fedler
Chair, Iowa Secularists

AA is in the final stages of negotiating a contract with a hotel to host and things look VERY favorable. So favorable, in fact, that Ed Buckner is coming to Des Moines at the end of July and wants to meet with YOU, and any other atheist, humanist, secularist, freethinker, etc. who is available.

The meeting is likely going to be Monday, July 26th at 7:00pm at the Embassy Suites on the River at 101 E. Locust, Des Moines. If you’re available, he wants YOU there to tell him how this will impact the secular community in Iowa and, most importantly, how YOU can help.

The Iowa Secularists stand ready to help bring the AA convention to Des Moines in 2011 and looks forward to be an integral part of the planning and execution of the convention as much as possible. As with any news of this size, any individual help and input you could provide to Mr. Buckner on Monday, July 26th would be just awesome.

If you plan on attending, please contact Mr. Buckner directly to RSVP so he can plan accordingly. His contact information is:

Ed Buckner
President (retiring soon)
American Atheists
www.atheists.org
ebuckner@atheists.org
908-499-9200 (cell)
770-803-5353 (office/fax)

More details to come as AA negotiations proceed and the exact meeting room on July 26th is known. Score one for Iowa!

Scott Fedler
Chair, Iowa Secularists

The conference will be held Saturday, July 17, 2010 in Des Moines at the Ramada Tropics Resort and Conference Center, conveniently located at the intersection of I-80 and Merle Hay Road.

The meeting will consist of the following:

10:00-11:30: Business Meeting of the IS Associate and Contributing members

11:30-1:00: Lunch (on your own)

1:00-1:15: Introduction and Welcome
1:15-2:15: Secular parenting panel discussion
2:15-3:15: Discussion: “Countering intolerance with tolerance: what works?” facilitated by Athan Petridis, IS Board member and Professor of Physics at Drake University.
3:30-4:30: Critical Bible Discussion: “Biblical Prophecies”, led by Randy Henderson, President of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.
4:30-5:30: Hemant Mehta, “How campus/local secular groups are getting their message to the masses“.
5:30-6:30: Cocktails
6:30-7:30: Catered Dinner provided by the Ramada
7:30-9:00: Keynote address by Hemant Mehta “The Need for Critical Thinking in Public School Education“.

The day will conclude with a catered dinner and a keynote address by the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta!  Hemant Mehta is the Chair of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) Board of Directors.

Registration for the conference is $50 per couple, $30 for an individual, and because of the student focus by Mr. Mehta, the IS has added a registration level of $20 for students (student status will be verified).

Please be sure to register by July 2, 2010!  You may also mail in your registration to the Iowa Secularists at P.O. Box 883, Iowa City, IA 52244.  Online registration is available here.

The conference will be held Saturday, July 17, 2010 in Des Moines at the Ramada Tropics Resort and Conference Center, conveniently located at the intersection of I-80 and Merle Hay Road.

The morning will consist of a meeting of the voting members of IS (Associate and Contributing members) and will include respective reports from the officers of the organization, as well as a potential vote to fill an open seat on the Board.  This meeting will last from 10:00-12:00 that morning.

1:00-1:15: Introduction and Welcome
1:15-2:15: Secular parenting panel discussion
2:15-3:15: Discussion: “Countering intolerance with tolerance: what works?” facilitated by Athan Petridis, IS Board member and Professor of Physics at Drake University.
3:30-4:30: Critical Bible Discussion: “Biblical Prophecies”, led by Randy Henderson, President of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.
4:30-5:30: Hemant Mehta, “How campus/local secular groups are getting their message to the masses“.
5:30-6:30: Cocktails
6:30-7:30: Catered Dinner provided by the Ramada
7:30-9:00: Keynote address by Hemant Mehta “The Need for Critical Thinking in Public School Education“.

The day will conclude with a catered dinner and a keynote address by the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta!  Hemant Mehta is the Chair of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) Board of Directors.

Registration for the conference is $50 per couple, $30 for an individual, and because of the student focus by Mr. Mehta, the IS has added a registration level of $20 for students (student status will be verified).

Please be sure to register by July 2, 2010!  You may also mail in your registration to the Iowa Secularists at P.O. Box 883, Iowa City, IA 52244.  Online registration is available here.

The morning will consist of a meeting of the voting members of IS (Associate and Contributing members) and will include respective reports from the officers of the organization, as well as a potential vote to fill an open seat on the Board.  This meeting will last from 10:00-12:00 that morning.

The afternoon sessions for ALL members of IS will follow the below schedule:

1:00-1:15: Introduction and Welcome
1:15-2:15: Secular parenting panel discussion
2:15-3:15: Discussion: “Countering intolerance with tolerance: what works?” facilitated by Athan Petridis, IS Board member and Professor of Physics at Drake University.
3:30-4:30: Critical Bible Discussion: “Biblical Prophecies”, led by Randy Henderson, President of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.
4:30-5:30: Hemant Mehta, “How campus/local secular groups are getting their message to the masses”.
5:30-6:30: Cocktails
6:30-7:30: Catered Dinner provided by the Ramada
7:30-9:00: Keynote address by Hemant Mehta “The Need for Critical Thinking in Public School Education“.

Registration is available here.  Please be sure to register by July 2, 2010!  You may also mail in your registration to the Iowa Secularists at P.O. Box 883, Iowa City, IA 52244

Thanks,

Scott Fedler

Chair, Iowa Secularists

By CLARK KAUFFMAN • ckauffman@dmreg.com • May 28, 2010

Reposted from http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100528/NEWS02/5280336/Iowa-Catholic-school-fires-teacher-after-Facebook-survey-indicates-she-doesn-t-believe-in-God.

A Catholic-school teacher from Fort Dodge has been fired because of a Facebook survey in which she said she did not believe in God.

Abby Nurre, 27, was hired last summer as an eighth- grade math teacher at St. Edmond Catholic School. In August, she responded to a Facebook members’ poll in which she was asked whether she believed in God, miracles or heaven.

In response, Nurre answered, “No.” Her answers then became part of her Facebook autobiography page, which was accessible only to her designated “friends.”

In November, Nurre posted a comment to an online discussion forum, Atheist Nexus. In her post, she provided a link to a New York Times article that, as she described it, indicated the government had spent $2.3 million on prayer research in the past 10 years.

Five weeks later, she was called to the office of Monsignor Kevin McCoy and handed a letter informing her that she was suspended for making “atheist statements in a public forum.”

McCoy barred Nurre from school grounds. A few days later, without discussing the matter with Nurre, the school’s board of directors fired her for violating a policy that prohibits employees from advocating “principles contrary to the dogmatic and moral teaching of the church.”

Nurre appeared at a January board meeting to plead her case. In a written statement, she told the board that her forum posting was not an endorsement of atheism and was devoid of any opinions or advocacy.

“It never occurred to me that teachers were limited in their professional and personal education to only church-approved sources of information,” she told the board.

“It’s unfortunate that the school fires teachers for getting information from nonchurch sources, then showing that information on another Web site without comment or opinion. … Teachers are taxpaying citizens and are entitled to think, be informed and take action.”

The board voted a second time to fire her. The school and Iowa Catholic Conference then challenged Nurre’s request for unemployment benefits.

That led to a recent hearing where Tim Hancock, the St. Edmond business manager, testified on behalf of the school. Hancock said that by becoming a member of the Atheist Nexus site, Nurre violated the principles of the Catholic church.

“She should be denied unemployment benefits for being a member of an atheist Web site,” Hancock testified.

Nurre said she never advocated atheism. She said she had to register as a member of the site in order to post the link to the New York Times article.

“I believe in knowledge,” she testified. “I believe in communicating with other people of different beliefs. I believe in being an open person. That, to me, is not immoral.”

Her Facebook page was accessible to designated friends and she had not authorized any students to access the page or the survey within, she testified.

On cross-examination, Paul Jahnke of the Iowa Catholic Conference pressed Nurre on her religious beliefs.

“Do you deny that you are an atheist?” he asked.

Nurre testified, “I am not an atheist.”

Jahnke asked Nurre why she responded to the Facebook survey by saying she didn’t believe in God.

Nurre replied, “I feel that opinions on such things constantly change.”

At the hearing, Hancock testified that the school had little choice but to fire Nurre.

“There were printouts of the Facebook page and of that Nexus group that the kids actually had,” he testified. “When students in a Catholic school are running around the school with this survey and it says, ‘Do you believe in God?’ and it says, ‘No,’ well, that’s in conflict with what we are teaching.”

Administrative Law Judge Steven Wise ruled that Nurre was entitled to unemployment benefits because the school had failed to prove misconduct.

Wise said the Facebook survey and Nurre’s posting to the atheists’ forum “did not involve publicly advocating principles contrary to the teachings of the church and did not involve immoral conduct.”

The Iowa Catholic Conference is an advocacy organization headed by the church’s four Iowa bishops.

This is a reminder that we’re still taking nominations for a seat on the Board of Directors for IS.  The by-laws state all nominiations must be in by 60 days prior to the annual meeting.  This would put the deadline at May18th. 

So, if you would like to nominate yourself, or anyone else, for a seat on the IS Board please let me know by May 18th.

The annual meeting will be July 17th in Des Moines, and more information can be found here: http://iowasecularists.org/2010/registration-is-now-open-for-the-5th-annual-iowa-secularists-conference/.  Don’t forget to register, too!

Thanks!

Scott Fedler
Chair, Iowa Secularists

It will be held Saturday, July 17, 2010 in Des Moines at the Ramada Tropics Resort and Conference Center, conveniently located at the intersection of I-80 and Merle Hay Road.

The morning will consist of a meeting of the voting members of IS (Associate and Contributing members) and will include respective reports from the officers of the organization, as well as a potential vote to fill an open seat on the Board.  This meeting will last from 10:00-12:00 that morning.

1:00-1:15: Introduction and Welcome
1:15-2:15: Secular parenting panel discussion
2:15-3:15: Discussion: “Countering intolerance with tolerance: what works?” facilitated by Athan Petridis, IS Board member and Professor of Physics at Drake University.
3:30-4:30: Critical Bible Discussion: “Biblical Prophecies”, led by Randy Henderson, President of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers.
4:30-5:30: Hemant Mehta, “How campus/local secular groups are getting their message to the masses“.
5:30-6:30: Cocktails
6:30-7:30: Catered Dinner provided by the Ramada
7:30-9:00: Keynote address by Hemant Mehta “The Need for Critical Thinking in Public School Education“.

The day will conclude with a catered dinner and a keynote address by the Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta!  Hemant Mehta is the Chair of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) Board of Directors.

He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he graduated with honors in both Mathematics and Biology. While there, he also helped establish their first secular student group, Students WithOut Religious Dogma (SWORD). He is now earning his Masters in Math Education at DePaul University.

He has worked with the Center for Inquiry and is the SSA representative to the Secular Coalition for America. He is also on the board of Foundation Beyond Belief, a charity organization targeting non-theistic donors.

Hemant was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for his work as the “eBay Atheist” and his book about the experience, I Sold My Soul on eBay (WaterBrook Press), was released in 2007.

Hemant’s blog can be read at FriendlyAtheist.com.

He currently works as a high school Math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago.

Hemant will provide two sessions at the conference – one focusing on the suitability of religion and religious belief in education, and another one about how to build secular student groups and how to interact positively with theists.

Registration for the conference is $50 per couple, $30 for an individual, and because of the student focus by Mr. Mehta, the IS has added a registration level of $20 for students (student status will be verified).

Please be sure to register by July 2, 2010!  You may also mail in your registration to the Iowa Secularists at P.O. Box 883, Iowa City, IA 52244

Please select your option below, and select “Buy Now” to register!

Type

Student $20.00 Single $30.00 Couple $50.00

For HumanistNetworkNews.org
Apr. 21, 2010

On April 19, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a case that will determine whether the University of California Hastings College of the Law acted appropriately when they refused a campus group official school recognition because the group does not allow non-Christians and gays and lesbians from being voting members or officers. The Christian Legal Society argues the refusal denied them their free association rights; however, Hastings has argued that its nondiscrimination policy is necessary to ensure that all students have equal access to all school-funded and school-recognized groups.

Bob Ritter, staff attorney of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, legal arm of the American Humanist Association, attended oral arguments and offered his analysis:

Of particular note, the use of student activity fees to fund an religious organization and the conduct-speech distinction where not a significant part of the discussion. Strangely, much of the discussion centered on what was Hastings actual policy and how it is enforce–two issues that should have been settled [in lower courts] and not requiring much discussion at the Supreme Court. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a typical 5-4 split among liberals and conservatives, with Justice Kennedy being a swing vote. On the other hand, the case could be sent back to the 9th Circuit with instruction for more fact finding (unlikely, but a possibility) because the 9th Circuit’s decision was only 2 sentences. We’ll have to wait until the end of June (when the Court adjourns) to find what the justices really think.

On March 15, the American Humanist Association filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court, arguing that Hastings acted appropriately. The press release announcing the brief appears below.

The American Humanist Association files Amicus Brief in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez

(Washington, DC, March 17, 2010) The Appignani Humanist Legal Center, legal arm of the American Humanist Association, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court Monday, arguing that the Court should affirm a decision made by a federal appeals court that the University of California Hastings College of the Law acted appropriately when the they denied recognition to a Christian-only student group. (The brief can be found at the following URL: http://americanhumanist.org/system/storage/29/1449/CLS_v_Martinez_08-1371_AHA_amicus_brief.pdf )

The lawsuit was launched in 2004 by a chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS), a group that was barred from receiving school funds, priority access to facilities and use of Hastings’ logo because they did not permit non-orthodox Christians and gays to become voting members or leaders. Hastings had denied a request from the group that they be exempt from the school’s nondiscrimination policy, which prohibited student groups from discriminating on the basis of “race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, sex or sexual orientation” as a condition for receiving access to school resources. The District Court ruled that Hastings’ policy was permissible and did not constitute a violation of the groups’ free speech rights, contrary to CLS’s argument. The 9th Circuit Court affirmed the policy was permissible because it was viewpoint neutral and reasonable.

“A University has every right to prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion or sexual orientation among student groups that receive school resources,” said Bob Ritter, AHLC attorney and counsel of record for the brief. “Public schools have an interest in making sure all students feel welcome, whether they are religious, non-religious, straight or gay. And ensuring that their resources don’t go to groups that violate policies of nondiscrimination is an appropriate measure to keep universities inclusive.”

“To be clear, this case is not about the school limiting student groups’ free speech rights,” Ritter added. “Groups that wish to discriminate in their membership are free to do so as privately operated entities, but they are not entitled to school sanction of their discriminatory policies.”

The AHLC’s brief argues that Hastings and other publicly-run institutions or entities can establish a conditional limited public forum for free speech, as long as the conditions for using the forum are neutral and generally applied. “A university can require student groups to abide by certain policies as long as those policies are applied universally, without bias or favor,” Ritter clarified.

The Appignani Humanist Legal Center filed the friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the American Humanist Association, The American Ethical Union, Atheist Alliance International, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Institute for Humanist Studies, Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and Secular Student Alliance.