Skeptics

Dr. Sarah Strand Speaks on the Evolution of Religion at AASF

Oct 14, 2012 · 3:00 PM
Women's Building: Audre Lorde Room (2nd Floor)

This month Atheist Advocates of SF is proud to feature Dr. Sarah Strand speaking on the "Evolution of Religion." Although religion is often thought of as the antithesis of evolution, it is in fact a prime example of evolution.

Sarah will discuss why religion has been present in human society since the dawn of humankind, and the psychological origins of religion. She will show that human brains evolved to have a propensity to believe in the supernatural. She will point out the parallels between biological and cultural evolution. Sarah will conclude the presentation with evidence of how religion has “survived” by expanding and adjusting to changes in culture, or it’s “environment.”

Dr. Sarah Strand is an adjunct faculty at California State University, Sacramento and a research supervisor at the University of California, Davis. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Behavior in 2006 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Afterwards we will go to dinner in a nearby reasonable Chinese restaurant. Please join us.

When: Sunday, October 14th at 3:00 to 5:00 PM (Meeting will start promptly at 3:00)

Location: Audre Lorde Room (Upstairs), Women's Building,[masked]th (at Valencia), San Francisco

Cost: $6 Renting a meeting room means we must charge admittance. We would appreciate exact change if convenient. Most of all we want you to join us for this talk.

Note: The Women's Building is three blocks from the Mission 16th St. BART. If you don't know the neighborhood we suggest that as you reach the top of the stairs from BART, turn right and walk a few yards to 16th. Then turn left on 16th Street and walk to Valencia, then turn left on Valencia to 18th St.

Parking: Garage at[masked]st Street (at Lexington)

Our next meeting will be on Sunday, November 11th. Details to follow.

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Info: Larry Hicok:[masked] or [masked]

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Ming L.

Enjoyable & informative. Personal eye-opener that not all people have the ability to reason and that it is genetics based. This very much aligns with personal observation. How else can there be an answer to why 90% of the world are religious or belief-based in one form or another... and it has nothing to do with the level of education achieved. Simple questions such as "why would God the Creator not know about dinosaurs or the source of magma and tectonic plate movements? or why is he not aware of viruses and bacteria etc etc? Did God not go to school & get his PhD?"

0 · October 15, 2012
David D.

Great speaker. Terrific subject. Well presented. Good q & a.

0 · October 14, 2012
A former member

It was a very good and interesting overview of the subject.

0 · October 14, 2012
Mel

Larry H: Are you saying that those of us who are not members of AASF should not attend?

0 · October 14, 2012
- Larry H.
  
  Of course not. All Freethinkers are more than welcome. This Meetup group posts meetings of the entire freethought community. It does not have independent meetings.
  
  0 · October 14, 2012
- Mel
  
  Thank you for the clarification. I am new to the group and it is possible to interpret your response to Larry Graham as otherwise.
  
  0 · October 14, 2012
Larry G.

Are ticket purchases allowed at the door?

0 · October 14, 2012
- Larry H.
  
  Yes. No other ways of purchasing tickets are listed. This is a function of Atheist Advocates of SF. The problem occurs when groups that are not affiliated with us have tickets. We stopped taking Paypal pre-tickets as they charged us over $1 per $6 ticket.
  
  0 · October 14, 2012
- Larry G.
  
  Thanks Larry!
  
  0 · October 14, 2012