The Community and Ethics Celebration is our new experiment! We are trying to find ways to build a morally intense, social community in which we support one another in improving ourselves and the world around us. There may be some kinks (not the dirty kind) as we try to work out how best to do this in a way that doesn't feel too churchy or contrived--so please come with openness and ideas! Our plan for our initial trial run is as follows, mostly as written by Disc Aimer (or St. Paul the Nonprophet):

Greetings and thanks. This is where we express gratitude for our community and we all thank each other for being Freethinkers.

Airing of Concerns. This would be a time to talk about personal problems or news stories that concern you. Everyone in the group would be encouraged to share AND encouraged to help either through improved understanding or by rolling up their sleeves and actually helping, depending on the needs expressed. I won't be the least disappointed if this portion of the meeting takes the whole time.

Study discussion. If Paul's stuck in charge, he'll start with a softball like the ten commandments. We'll have references to Exodus and Deuteronomy and discuss what is the purpose of the Decalogue. Then we'll talk about the ten strongly recommended considerations for modern atheists, what matters to us and what ethical rules make us valuable members of society.

Affirmations, self congratulations, and fuck off to our day (a day which should end at Al's place for Movie Night every other Sunday!). This is when we reaffirm decisions reached in the airing of concerns and the study discussion and thank each other for caring enough to show up.

***While children are absolutely welcome, this is not a child-centered event; there may be some mature topics and/or controversial language.