AAHS Monthly Discussion: Are There Really No Atheists in Foxholes??

Feel free to bring snacks for this Holiday weekend meeting.

Have you experienced severe stress and wished you were able to find solace by calling on Something supernatural for emotional or psychological relief?

As a freethinker, what do you do to find relief when overwhelmed by traumatic events in your life? Is there a substitute for prayer as a freethinker?

Theists can find consolation through prayer, calling on Something greater than themselves to help them bear up when an unbearable or overwhelming event occurs in their lives. A Google search for "comfort through prayer" brought 30,500,000 hits! Here are some Humanist responses to the issue of asking for prayers on social media from the "Ask a Humanist" website: "What do you say to friends asking for prayers during a crisis? (http://facebook.us7.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=496d882477bb9468e6669ebff&id=46dd2a362e&e=6e38397116)"

This month some of us may have felt shock, trauma or fear. Did you work through the 5 Stages of Grief? Or did you just "roll with the flow"?

What did you do to return to a more stable emotional or psychological state? How do you move forward after life throws you extreme losses if you do not rely on prayer? How have you dealt with other traumatic events in you life or the lives of others?

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Are you more resilient than those that rely on prayer to recover from sudden events that throw you off your game? Do you have an "internal locus of control (http://facebook.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=496d882477bb9468e6669ebff&id=83cfa00d88&e=6e38397116)" that enables you to bounce back after a trauma?

"Perhaps most importantly, the resilient children had what psychologists call an 'internal locus of control': they believed that they, and not their circumstances, affected their achievements. The resilient children saw themselves as the orchestrators of their own fates. In fact, on a scale that measured locus of control, they scored more than two standard deviations away from the standardization group."

• The New Yorker, "How People Learn to Become Resilient." Maria Konnikova , February 11, 2016

Come share what you have done to recover from loss, grief or stress - and learn how others cope with trauma and stress in their lives.

Come prepared to share your views and listen to others in a respectful manner. We prize intellectual discussion and freedom of thought and speech. But AAHS meetings are not a place to insult or belittle any individual(s) for differences of opinion or belief.

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"Skepticism is my nature. Freethought is my methodology. Agnosticism is my conclusion. Atheism is my opinion. Humanitarianism is my motivation."

-Jerry DeWitt (http://facebook.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=496d882477bb9468e6669ebff&id=9e8e341722&e=6e38397116), an author, public speaker, secular minister, life coach, and business consultant.

"Skepticism is my attitude; Freethought is my right; Agnosticism is my humility; Atheism is my conclusion; Humanism is my worldview."

-Jay N. Forrest (http://facebook.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=496d882477bb9468e6669ebff&id=eb844406ec&e=6e38397116) (Humanist Meditation Teacher)

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Scheduling note: There will be no AAHS meeting in December since the 4th Sunday is Dec 25. Enjoy the Holiday season! We will meet again Jan 22.