What we’re about
"The Humanist Society of Santa Barbara is an all volunteer non-profit educational organization that promotes the values of Humanism on the Central Coast of California. Humanists care about having this one precious life be the best that it can be for all people on the planet, and about preserving the Earth for future generations.
Most humanists are secular, many are atheists (having either been raised as atheists or having "thought their way out" of their religious upbringing).
Humanists stand in wonder at the magnificence and complexity of the universe, and are generally curious and interested in how things work, how things came to be the way they are, and how to impact where we are headed for the benefit of all humanity.
Humanists value reason and the scientific method as the most reliable method of discovering what is true. We value our 1st amendment rights, particularly freedom of speech and the separation of religion from government.
Interested? Please join us!
HSSB Website: [www.SBHumanists.org](http://www.sbhumanists.org/)"
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Mary Beth O'Connor: From Junkie to Judge... Without GodLink visible for attendees
Our Program: Mary Beth O’Connor will describe her history of methamphetamine use. She will describe how she responded when her rehab insisted she comply with the God-based approach of Alcoholics Anonymous and how she built a secular recovery program. She will provide an overview of substance use disorder and treatment options. This will include six peer support groups and a study comparing the efficacy of several of them. She will explain the benefits of building a personalized secular recovery program and the obstacles to doing so. Mary Beth will provide recovery resources and take questions.
Our Speaker: In her award-winning memoir, From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction, Mary Beth shares her three-phase journey: the abuse and trauma that drove her to shoot methamphetamine at 17, the resulting chaos from her addiction, and how she developed a personalized recovery plan, without a higher power, that led to twenty-nine years of sobriety so far.
Mary Beth is a Board Member for She Recovers Foundation and a Director for LifeRing Secular Recovery. She regularly speaks on behalf of these organizations and about multiple and secular paths to recovery. She published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, I Beat Addiction without God, and one in Recovery Today, How I Attained 28 Years Sobriety by Rejecting My Rehab’s Submit to AA Order.
Professionally, 6 years into recovery, Mary Beth attended Berkeley Law School. She worked at a large firm, then litigated class actions for the federal government. In 2014 she was appointed a federal Administrative Law Judge and retired in 2020.
