- National Day of Reason Breakfast and Reception: Show Up for Secular Government!Minnesota State Capitol, St Paul, MN
Christian nationalism is taking its toll across the country: limits to reproductive freedom, attacks on trans students, book bans, efforts to damage our public schools, political leaders who say they are following God's instructions, and more. Let's show up in force to say Not in Minnesota!
The National Day of Reason was initiated by the American Humanist Association and other secular advocates to counter the National Day of Prayer. Your presence at the Capitol will send a message to lawmakers that public policy should be based on science and reason, not religious dogma.
Let's be sure our Minnesota policymakers hear as much from us as they do from the prayer advocates.
Guest speakers:
Ron Millar on "The True Meaning of Religious Freedom: Fighting the White Christian Nationalist Threat.” Ron is the Political Action Committee coordinator for the Center for Freethought Equality, the advocacy and political arm of the American Humanist Association. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, a model for Minnesota's Secular Government Caucus.Deepinder Singh Mayell on “Congress Shall Make No Law: Preserving the Separation of Church and State.” Deepinder is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. The ACLU has a long history of fighting for church-state separation and is working nationwide to fend off attacks on abortion rights, transgender rights, voting rights, and more.
Members of the Secular Government Caucus, a group of lawmakers who have united to stand up for separation of religion and government. All legislators are invited.
Help make this year's National Day of Reason breakfast and reception our biggest event yet. Show up to insist that our government must remain secular, without favoring one religion over another or the religious over the nonreligious – as guaranteed by our Constitution.NOTE: THE EVENT IS FREE BUT WE ARE ISSUING TICKETS SO WE KNOW HOW MUCH FOOD TO ORDER. IN ADDITION TO RSVPING TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, PLEASE REGISTER HERE.
Agenda:
8:30 a.m. Doors open. Help yourself to continental breakfast.
9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Remarks by humanist leaders, guest speakers, and Secular Government Caucus members.
10 a.m. Fill out postcards to deliver to your legislators urging them to uphold secular values. Visit advocacy tables.Our Day of Reason events are free but if you are able to make a donation to help cover speaker and food costs, it would be most appreciated! Contribute here and select "National Day of Reason" in the dropdown menu.
This event is sponsored by HumanistsMN, the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, and Or Emet - the Minnesota Congregation for Humanistic Judaism.
- Freethought Toastmasters HYBRIDLarpenteur Estates Party Room, Saint Paul, MN
You’re invited to attend Freethought Toastmasters (http://freethought.toastmastersclubs.org/), a club of Toastmasters International (http://www.toastmasters.org/). Build your leadership and communication skills in a supportive, freethinking environment; a place where you will find familiar faces you know from Minnesota Atheists. (most club members do not RSVP on Meetup since they attend most meeting and coordinate through the 'Toastmaster' of the evening if they cannot attend, so don't let the low RSVP numbers dissuade you from attending)
Join us IN-PERSON or join us ONLINE! This meeting will be HYBRID, but we expect most participants to be there in person. For those wishing to join us on zoom, please use this ZOOM URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89851371791?pwd=WFZmcHgxZkw4bFJidWQ2c05kbEQ4Zz09
We open the party room at 6:00 PM for socializing before the meeting. We encourage zoom participants to join the meeting between 6:15 and 6:25 to socialize and iron out any technical issues. Use the meeting url to access the meeting, this will allow you to join via your computer or smartphone zoom app and will use your devices built in speakers/microphone/video. Message us or comment below if you need the call-in alternative.
Schedule:
• 6:00pm - The party room opens for in-person attendees, a meal is provided
• 6:15pm - Join the Zoom meeting for a pre-social
• 6:30pm - Freethought Toastmasters Business Meeting
~6:40pm - Toastmaster calls the meeting to order
~6:50pm - Scheduled Speeches
~7:25pm - Table Topics: impromptu speaking opportunity
~7:40pm - Evaluations
~7:55pm - Closing
• 8:00pm - Meeting Ends, optional post-social
The roles for this meeting are as follows:
Toastmaster
General Evaluator
Speaker #1
Speaker #2
Speaker #3
Evaluator #1
Evaluator #2
Evaluator #3
Timer
Grammarian
Ah Counter
Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. While in many other Toastmaster Clubs the culture deters any mention of religion, so atheists feel guarded and often stay "in the closet," this club provides not only training in public speaking, but also continuous education in topics of interest to atheists.
This club offers the opportunity to talk about a wide range of topics. We welcome people of all worldviews, but of course our members tend to be non-religious. We take current events seriously, but our politics range from capitalist to socialist, from liberal to conservative. Our ages run from the 20s to the 60s (and beyond).
If you decide to join, you can learn to be a better, more confident speaker. No matter what our worldviews, we are committed to mutual respect, tolerance, honesty, encouragement and constructive criticism. If you become a member, you will have the opportunity to prepare and deliver speeches regularly, and receive constructive evaluations of your speeches. It’s a great place to become comfortable as a speaker. With the help of other members, we learn to prepare and present effective speeches on a wide range of topics from humorous to serious. We also learn to think fast during our "Table Topics" sessions (impromptu speeches). We never know quite what to expect from our speakers, but we can always count on an interesting evening together.
As a club of Toastmasters International, we charge the standard rate with no additional club dues. To join Toastmasters, it costs $45 per six months (prorated depending on when you join) plus a $20 new member fee. The new member fee pays for the educational program and the general membership fee pays for district events (local educational sessions for the greater Toastmasters community), general overhead, and a Toastmasters magazine members can opt to receive in the mail.