“What Today’s Atheists and Humanists Can Learn from John Dewey” Presented by David Noise, president of the American Humanist Association (AHA).

1:00-1:15pm - Social Time

2:00-3:30pm - Presentation

After the meeting we will have dinner at the Chinese Wanderer’s Garden Buffet at about 4:00pm.

John Dewey, born in 1859, was arguably the most important American public intellectual of his era. As one of the founders of the modern humanist movement, Dewey’s approach toward atheism in many ways set the tone in America for the rest of the 20th century. But if that’s the case, why was the religious right so successful in the latter half of the century? What went wrong?

Answering these questions, and thereby learning from Dewey, will be David Niose, president of the American Humanist Association (AHA). (Minnesota Atheists is an affiliate of the American Humanist Association.)

Niose’s background includes experience in law and mass communication. A graduate of Boston University’s School of Public Communication and Suffolk University Law School, he has practiced law in Massachusetts since 1990. He has also worked in print and broadcast media, taught both history and law, and written extensively on a wide array of social and political issues.

Niose has spoken to freethought groups around the country, emphasizing the importance of utilizing mass media to inject Humanist ideas into the public dialogue, improve the public image of Humanists, and sway public opinion away from the religious right.

In addition to being president of the American Humanist Association, Niose also sits on the advisory panel of the Secular Coalition for America (SCA).