Monday, March 3rd
Round-table discussion on Fundamentalists and environmental issues.
Wikipedia has an article on "Evangelical environmentalism," mentioning the "Evangelical Environmental Network" (EEN), which fosters the term "Creation care."
Some established right-wing groups, e.g. the Traditional Values Coalition, take a more skeptical attitude.

Monday, February 4th
(Did not meet)

Monday, January 7th
Round-table discussion on the 2008 US Presidential primary season.
"Mike Huckabee -- threat or menace?"

Monday, November 5th
Episode 2 of Jonathan Miller's Brief History Of Disbelief (aka Rough History of Disbelief).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/atheism.shtml

Monday, October 1st
Episode 1 of Jonathan Miller's Brief History Of Disbelief (aka Rough History of Disbelief).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/atheism.shtml

Monday, September 10th
Open forum.

Monday, August 6th
Informal get-together.

Monday, July 2nd
Informal get-together.

Monday, June 4th
Informal get-together.

Monday, May 7th
Open forum, soliciting topics for next year, beginning Mon Sept. 10.
Tom F. called our attention to the BBC 3-part series "History of Disbelief," about atheist activism from ancient times to the present.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/atheism.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism:_A_Rough_History_of_Disbelief

Monday, April 2nd
Open forum.

Monday, March 5th
Round-table discussion:
The role of religion in the current wars (Iraq and Afghanistan)

Monday, February 5th
Round-table discussion: The battle for space?
China's new antisatellite capability

Monday, January 8th
Round-table discussion: Lying, from Santa to WMDs--
What is an acceptable lie?

Monday, 6 November
Round-table discussion: US elections on 7 November

Monday, 2 October
Open forum

Monday, 11 September
Round-table discussion: Are schools helping or hurting our future?

Monday, August 7th
Informal get-together.

Monday, July 10th
Informal get-together.

Monday, June 5th
Informal get-together.

Monday, May 1st
Roundtable discussion: Conservative Atheism
(Atheists who sympathise with right-wing U.S. politics).

Monday, April 3rd
Open forum.

Monday, March 6th
Open forum.

Monday, February 6th
Roundtable discussion: Republican Realignment
Have US Republicans peaked or is this just the beginning?

Monday, January 9th
Open forum.

Monday, November 7th
"Political Potpourri" -- an open forum.
Among the topics were the U.S. Supreme Court (and nominations to same), the Iraq war, and the dangers of fundamentalism, both Islamic and Christian.

Monday, October 3rd
Warren offered a "Case for Intelligent Design" which does not depend on the Bible, revealed religion, near death experiences, miracles, or the complexity of life.

Monday, September 12th
"The Future of Atheism" -- round-table discussion.

Monday, August 1st
Informal get together.

Monday, July 11th
Informal get-together.

Monday, June 6th
Informal get-together.

Monday, May 2nd
Open forum.

Monday, April 4th
"Peak Oil"
is the moment when extraction of oil from the earth reaches its highest point and starts to drop. Is peak oil near? If so, what are the likely consequences?

Monday, March 7th
Open forum.

Monday, February 7th
The Iraqi Election -- round-table discussion

Monday, January 3rd
"Is Atheism Gaining Ground?" -- open forum --
In the last ten years, surveys have shown a small but significant percentage increase in US atheists -- why?

Monday, November 1st
"Political Potpourri" -- pre-election open forum -- polls, predictions, and endorsement of candidates.
Even right-wing members rejected George Bush as incompetent (eg. Iraq), authoritarian, or both. About half endorsed John Kerry (in many cases without positive enthusiasm), the rest various third-party candidates.

Monday, October 4th
Open forum.

Monday, September 13
Roundtable discussion: Mystical Physics.
Some authors, eg Paul Davies and Roger Penrose, have written books linking science with theology. Does quantum physics imply god? Should atheists be worried?

Monday, August 2nd
Informal get-together.

Monday, July 12th
Informal get-together.

Monday, June 7th
Informal get-together. Discovering at the last minute that Chili's had closed its doors, we moved to Brother Jimmy's Barbecue (96 Winthrop St.) (formerly "the House of Blues"). The band made it rather hard to hear conversations on the second floor, but we may find the cellar more suitable in July.

Monday, May 3rd
Roundtable discussion on: Iraq War: Year One
What are the lessons of the Iraq War? Is it part of a wider war between Islam and the western world? If it is, which side has gained the most from the conflict? Has the threat of terror been reduced, increased, or stayed about the same?

Monday, April 5th.
Roundtable discussion: "One Nation Under God?"
Should/will the US Supreme Court uphold atheist Michael Newdow's attempt to strike the "under God" portion of the Pledge of Allegiance?

Monday, March 1st.
Roundtable discussion: The Return of the Religious Right
Congress is holding hearings on indecency, the president is endorsing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and The Passion of the Christ is a hit.

Monday, February 2nd.
Roundtable discussion: "The End of the World As We Know It." Are apocalypses predicted by atheists (eg Carl Sagan) any more credible than apocalypses predicted by Fundies?

Monday, January 5th.
Roundtable discussion on The Lord of the Rings (both the books and Peter Jackson's films)

Monday, November 3rd
Open forum on various topics.

Monday, October 6th
Open forum on various topics.

Monday, September 8th
Open forum on various topics.

Monday, August 4th
Informal get-together at Chili's restaurant.

Monday, July 7th
Informal get-together at Chili's restaurant.

Monday, June 2nd
Informal get-together at Chili's restaurant.

Monday, May 5th
An open forum was largely devoted to (1) Islamic fundamentalism, (2) SARS, (3) Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)'s belief that the government belongs in one's bedroom -- what prohibitions are defensible? and (4) public secondary schools: is local or State (centralized) control better for protecting standards in science education?

Monday, April 7th
Roundtable discussion on the Iraq War.
Opinions did not necessarily fall along the usual left-right divide. Some on the right expressed a fear that the secular Saddam Hussein would end up being replaced by Islamic fundamentalists, just as bad or even worse.

Monday, March 3rd
Roundtable discussion: Is Atheism Dead?
Atheist organizations are not growing. The largest atheistic movement of the twentieth century - Marxism - has collapsed. The fastest growing religions are those with the most superstitious, fundamentalist beliefs. Does atheism have a future?

Monday, February 3rd
Roundtable discussion on on "Faith and Free Will":
Can an atheist believe in free will, or is this power of the human mind that seems to defy causality the last remnant of the old faiths that atheism rejects?

Monday, January 6th.
Roundtable discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (and Peter Jackson's derivative films). A surprising number of atheists are fascinated with this work of a devout Roman Catholic (Tolkien).

Monday, November 4th
Round-table discussion on next day's election -- what to watch for, who to support.

Monday, October 7th
We had a roundtable discussion on "Atheism and War":
Does atheism make people less or more likely to start and fight wars?

Monday, September 9th
We had a roundtable discussion on the "fundamentalist Islamic threat" and what to do about it.
A poll found an even split on preemptive war with Iraq, with various nuances -- opposition on both diplomatic and isolationist grounds, support on both Marshall-Plan nation-building grounds and unabashed self-interest.

Monday, August 5, 2002
Informal get-together at Chili's restaurant.

Monday, July 1, 2002
Informal get-together at Chili's restaurant.

Monday, June 3rd, 2002
Informal get-together at Chili's restaurant.

Monday, May 6th
Eric Merrill Budd, founder and Chair of the Hedonic Society, presented a talk on the subject
"Do We Need God to be Good?"
Conservative religionists insist that, without God, human beings cannot have any standard of moral values. Eric made the case that ethical values can be found in the reality of our natural lives - and that absolutist morality can actually cause more harm than good.

Monday, April 1st
The Catholic Church in Crisis
The Catholic church is once again facing accusations of covering up the crimes of priests who abused their position to prey on children. How did it come to this, and what changes might be made to prevent it? Should they drop the vow of celibacy? Is the church being treated unfairly by the press? And what does this do to their moral authority?

Monday, March 4th
Life Extension (update for 2002)
How close are we to serious life extension? What new techniques show the most promise? What about cloning? (Follow-up from March 1999 discussion).
Politics: Will China be immune from anti-therapeutic-cloning hysteria? So far, Britain is, while the USA has been immune from Europe's anti-genetic-modified-food hysteria. Hurrah for political borders!
Healthy lifestyles: moderate alcohol, moderate regular exercise. Gyms make money selling lifetime memberships to people who hardly show up after first month.
A Fundy urban legend: Jesus is being cloned.

Monday, February 4th
Atheism in Popular Culture
Many religious commentators believe that popular entertainment has a secular humanist message. Is there any truth to this? What popular songs, television programs, and movies promote atheism? How many condemn it? Or is it just being ignored?

Monday, January 7th
Is the (American) Religious Right Finished?
Warren pointed out that many leading organizations of the 1980s and 1990s, eg the "Moral Majority" and the "Christian Coalition," have disappeared. Others bewailed America as hopelessly lost to secular perdition. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson's apparent cheerleading for Osama immediately after 9-11 helped marginalize them even further.
On the other hand, Bush the Younger owed major political debts to religious right groups for his election in Nov. 2000.

Monday, 5 November 2001.
Warren gave introductory remarks on
"Artificial intelligence: Is humanity going to be replaced by its creations?"
followed by general discussion. Of particular note were a humanoid robot introduced (as entertainment) by Sony, and USAF remote-operated planes. Nobody seemed particularly upset at the increasing potential of robots.

Monday, 1 October 2001.
The WTC massacre set the stage for a roundtable discussion on the theme "Fundamentalism vs. Civilization."
An unusually large turnout participated vigorously. Apart from Howard W., nobody disputed the need to wage war on Osama's supporters.
A straw poll was conducted, whether, given the widespread popular sympathy for Osama and the Taliban in the Islamic world, the 9-11 War would escalate into a general war between fundamentalist Islam and civilization. Most of us thought the odds were against it, largely because governments in Muslim countries would, out of self interest, do what was needed to prevent it.

Monday, 10 Sep 2001 -- round-table discussion
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle
Is the universe 'fine tuned' for the emergence of life? If so, was there a tuner or a blind tunemaker?
A good summary of the issue (though from a theistic POV) can be found at URL:
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0106/articles/barr.html.

Monday, 6 Aug 2001
Informal get-together at Chili's Restaurant.
There was much discussion of recent films.

Monday, 2 Jul 2001
Informal get-together at Chili's Restaurant.

Monday, 4 Jun 2001
Informal get-together at Chili's Restaurant.

Monday, 7 May 2001
Discussion: If Christians are to blame for the Inquisition, should atheists be blamed for the crimes of Communism? Some participants rejected the premise.

Monday, 2 April 2001
Dennis P. Geller presented a talk on Secular Humanistic Judaism.
His knowledge of Judaism provoked lively interest and questions from the audience.
Before getting led off in a straitjacket, our inimitable D.P. later tried to get him to concede that the Romans were justified in destroying the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE).
The question was also raised, whether Elie Wiesel is an atheist.
For more information on secular humanistic Judaism, check

Society for Humanistic Judaism (more emphasis on philosophy)
http://www.shj.org

Congress for Secular Jewish Organizations (more emphasis on culture)
http://www.csjo.org

Kahal B'raira, Boston-area community
http://www.kahalbraira.org

Monday, 5 February 2001.
A round-table discussion of "Atheism and Science Fiction," eg Why is atheism so common among science fiction writers?

The non-sectarian adherents.com, a web research site of religious statistics, lists the religious affiliation of 64 leading science fiction writers at URL:
http://www.adherents.com/adh_sf.html
Warren tabulated them, and then excluded fantasy writers (eg JRR Tolkein) and those he considered inactive, to make a new table of the remaining 51. There were numerous debates, eg on how sharp the line is between fantasy and science fiction, and whether atheist SF fans and SF writers are more rational and attuned to science than mainstream religious believers.

Monday, 8 January 2001
Warren Stephens spoke about the "Darwinian Right."

After World War II, "Social Darwinism," seen as a source of Hitler's ideology, fell out of fashion. Beginning with E.O. Wilson's work on "sociobiology" (1975), however, Darwinian analysis has regained scientific respectability. Sociobiologists argued that self-interest, sex roles, hierarchy, and violence all likely had survival value in the past, and are part of today's genetic human makeup. Warren painted a Darwinian Right spectrum, from "soft" (eg editors of "Commentary," respectful of sociobiological arguments), to "intermediate" (some laissez-faire libertarians, not unsympathetic to classic Social-Darwinist "survival of the fittest"), to "hard" (national-racists who claim racial conflict is inevitable and that immigration should be restricted).
As a curious aside, audience member Joe R. called our attention to a Left-feminist take on eugenics, in the science-fiction novel Sheri S. Tepper, The Gate to Women's Country, Mass Market Paperback.

Monday, 2 October 1999.
In keeping with the spirit of the Halloween season Warren Stephens presented a talk on:
"The Horror of Atheism - the Scary Implications of Unbelief"

Monday, 11 Sep 2000 (one week late, due to Labor Day). Peter Denison presented a fanciful theory, "A Universe With God," wholly woven from his imagination. He began with a parallel world and, with a straight face, gave us both a modest utopia and a finite god.

Monday, 7 Aug 2000. Informal meeting at Chili's Restaurant.

Monday, 10 July 2000. Informal meeting at Chili's Restaurant

Monday, 5 Jun 2000. Informal meeting at Chili's Restaurant.

Monday, 1 May 2000. A roundtable discussion of the "Biotechnological Revolution," eg the effect of new developments on debates about abortion, euthanasia, and what it means to be human.

Monday, 3 April 2000. All members were invited to bring in news and political topics of importance to atheists and secularists.

Monday, 6 March 2000. Dr. R.M. spoke about the early history of the ADG, from its founding on March 21, 1987 to August 1990. He showed a more detailed knowledge of atheist-related philosophy than most of the audience. He invited us to his more serious-minded "Disproof Atheism Society" (DAS, referenced above), though mentioning DAS members were expected "to work" on studying philosophical questions. One ADG-er thought that sounded a bit patronizing, but others (including the editor) thought it was simply accurate.

Monday, February 7th 2000. Warren Stephens spoke on "The Population Implosion." He pointed out that fertility rates were declining in most of the world, and had already fallen below replacement rates in developed countries.
Whether this is a looming demographic catastrophe or a just-in-time reprieve for scarce resources will depend at least in part on medical technology: are we approaching a point where an active and worthwhile human lifespan can be extended indefinitely?

Monday, January 10th, 2000.

Warren joined a panel discussion with Tom Ferrick of the Humanist Association of Massachusetts and Sheila Gibson of the New England Skeptical Society (NESS).
Topics included Y2K postmortem, overpopulation, nominations for "atheist of the century," sociobiology, and ethics.

Tom Ferrick called attention to Prof. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University, a leading exponent of sociobiology. Prof. Wilson was interviewed in the Sat 1 Jan 2000 issue of "Wall Street Journal."
(The date is not a misprint. WSJ, a weekday publication, apparently considered the millennial new year worth a Saturday edition. Although I have a copy of the article, I do not intend to have it scanned and posted for copyright reasons. There is other material about him on the Web.)
Tom also recommended a 1995 paper by Michael Werner, "Moral Pluralism in a Postmodern World," which I may post if I get permission, and find someone with a scanner.

Monday, 1 November 1999. Warren, a fan of the fast-talking, high-decibel "McLaughlin Group," assembled an in-house "panel of know-it-alls" for scattershot treatment of a wide range of atheist-related topics. (A last-minute change).

Monday, 4 October 1999. Warren Stevens spoke on
"Debating Believers: An Atheist Reports from the Front Lines" (What works and what doesn't work when debating religious believers in real life?).
Most of us had seen Warren in action before, but nevertheless had a good time getting more background, eg. on when he "found Jesus" and decided to pick on Him.

Monday, 13 September 1999. Hayward Taylor, a finalist at the 1999 "Great American Think Off," spoke on pros and cons of some rules from specific major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Mon 2 August 99. Informal get-together at Chili's Restaurant.

Monday, 5 Jul 99. Informal get-together at Chili's Restaurant.

Monday, June 7th 1999.
The agenda was methods to increase attendance at ADG meetings. There was no scheduled speaker.

Monday, May 3rd 1999.
Jon Bekken of the IWW presented a talk on "Secular Immigrants at the Turn of the Century" (ca 1900). He spent much of his time on Chicago and its ethnic press, especially for Czech immigrants.
There was a general sense that outspokenly atheist journals were more common in ethnic groups with strongly religious journals. In contrast to Czech immigrants, for example, the Yidish-speaking community, where there was more of a live-and-let-live attitude between the religious and non-religious, did not bring out explicitly anti-clerical journals.
At the end of his presentation, Jon Bekken was closely cross-examined on the failures, real or alleged, of socialism, by ADG's vocal libertarian-capitalist wing. He took it in good humor; one of the culprits, Chuck, is a personal friend (who had invited him to speak).
His E-mail address is jbekken@parsons.iww.org

Monday, April 12th 1999. Warren, a fan of the fast-talking, high-decibel "McLaughlin Group," assembled an in-house "panel of know-it-alls" for scattershot treatment of a wide range of atheist-related topics.

Monday, March 1st 1999. The topic: Life Extension.
Warren spoke on the practicality of significantly extending the human lifespan.

Monday, 1 Feb 1999. Peter Denison spoke, under the title "Evolution and Religion," though mostly the subject was reasons for the popularity of religion.

Monday, January 4th 1999. Topic: "Tonight we're gonna panic like it's 1999."
Note: This title parodied a song by "Prince," but the link no longer worked on Y10105.
Millennial fever is starting to heat up but it isn't focused on Jesus so much as on 'Y2K.' Warren was the speaker.
Dishonorable mention: Gary North, a "Christian Reconstructionist" (Religious-Right ultra) has set up and extensively cross-linked his own Y2K panic-page at
http://www.garynorth.com/

Monday, November 2nd. Topic: 'There is a God'. Speakers were Earnest Wallace, an evangelist, and his friend Bill Buehler.

Monday, October 5th. "Resolved: Atheism is incompatible with Free Will." Jerry was the speaker.

Monday, September 14. "Debunking Ayn Rand." Warren was the speaker.
Three members of a local Rand Society showed up, but one later criticized the event as a "spectacle." Was his word-choice a common Randian evasion, or a term that many might apply to our Warren?

There were no formal meetings in Jul and Aug 98.