What we’re about
The Humanist Community in Silicon Valley was established in 1962 and is a chartered chapter of the American Humanist Association. We have a long tradition of promoting humanist values while providing interesting educational programs and fun, friendly social events for our members.
Check out our WEBSITE, like us on FACEBOOK, and follow us on TWITTER (@HumanistCommSV).
Our main event is the Sunday Forum which features a different speaker each Sunday discussing a topic of interest. A wide variety of topics are covered from week to week. Forums are held in various locations from 11am until 12:15pm. Look at each individual Forum listing to see where it is being held.
A buffet lunch follows the Forum at 12:30pm. Lunch is free for first time visitors and students. Otherwise we ask for a donation of $10. If you can't afford that, please give what you can, and join us for good food and even better conversation.
NOTE: Approximately 30 to 40 people attend the Forum each Sunday. Because Forums happen every Sunday, most of our members do not RSVP on Meetup, so don't let our RSVP count fool you.
Other weekly programs include the Free Thought Discussion Group (http://www.humanists.org/blog/free-thought-...) every Wednesday night at 7:30pm, and the Academic Video Group (http://www.humanists.org/blog/academic-vide...) every Thursday night at 8pm.
Monthly events include a Potluck, workshops (see the calendar for classes and schedules), and our Fun Group (www.humanists.org/blog/fun-group), which organizes a "fun" activity around the first of each month.
We hope to welcome you soon to the Sunday Forum or one of our other events. If you would like to suggest a topic for our Forum series, please send a message to the organizers (Brian and/or Matt Courtney). We would love to help you share your enthusiasm for a topic, a speaker, a social action project, a fun outing, etc., with other community members.
Humanists have more fun... together!
See you soon!
Brian
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Pro Bono Photo: Serving the photo needs of action organizations in the Bay areaLink visible for attendees
Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we welcome Chris Casselll to tell us about Pro Bono Photo, which serves the photo needs of social action and environmental organizations in the Bay area.
PBP (https://www.probonophoto.org/) is a clearinghouse that matches worthy organizations that need photographic and videographic services, with volunteer photographers and videographers who wish to donate their time and expertise. PBP was founded in early 2017 by Jack Owicki; the first Women's March was the initial large event that we covered. Chris Cassell has been a photographer for PBP since that beginning.
In the years since then, and as PBP has become increasingly known to social and environmental non-profit organizations, two different roles of PBP have become increasingly separate and sometimes in tension with each other in terms of their ground rules. Those roles are (1) covering protests, and (2) helping non-profits document their meetings, conferences, etc. The protest coverage role had receded somewhat during the Biden administration but, needless to say, has exploded in activity since the start of 2025.
Chris will describe the evolution of Pro Bono Photo and those roles over the years, highlighted by photos (taken mostly by Chris) from events that PBP has covered. He will also explore the aspirational notion that the effect of PBP's activities has been "necessary, though not sufficient". That is, through documenting protests, PBP multiplies the effectiveness of those actions so that protest becomes more than just a bunch of left-coast people waving signs in each others faces. Helping to demonstrate that a critical mass of Americans share their anger with the current direction of politics is a necessary step. But that step plus several others may be needed to effectively change the direction that American society is headed.
Chris is a retired aerospace engineer; Lockheed Martin brought him to the Bay area in 1997, but in 2012 he transitioned to being a co-founder and the astrodynamics lead of Deep Space Industries, Inc. DSI had the long-term goal of near-Earth asteroid mining, but failed as a business in 2018. Chris' education includes a B.A. in Physics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from UC, San Diego.
He is a member of two "religious humanist" organizations; the Ethical Culture Society of Silicon Valley (past Treasurer), and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto where he is currently a member of the Action Council (for social action).Chris has been a serious amateur photographer since the late '70s. Currently, in addition to Pro Bono Photo, Chris is active with the Los Gatos-Saratoga Camera Club where he is Judge VP, responsible for arranging judges for the club's monthly photo competitions. He also regularly judges photo competitions at other camera clubs around the Bay area.
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Attend in Person:On the first and fourth Sunday of the month, like Sunday, July 27, attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the Neutra House Conference Center, 181 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA 94022. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.
If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.
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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, go to:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81653890712?pwd=QzN4MTVNbGEwQ0Zua3d1VG9tVE50UT09
No password is needed -- our host will admit you from the waiting room.
Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it's not already installed), and then take you to the meeting.You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smart phone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634Join the meeting by phone. +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call here:
https://zoom.us/u/afYkAuvE6***
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Click the Interested button or share on Patch: https://patch.com/california/paloalto/calendar/event/20250727/0fd3a5ce-341f-4450-912c-eb87ce555a7c/pro-bono-photo-serving-the-photo-needs-of-action-organizations-in-the-bay-area
Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter: https://x.com/HumanistCommSV/status/1944983794571714676
Humanist Community website: http://www.humanists.org/
Videos of previous forums: https://vimeo.com/hcsv/
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/)) of the Humanist Community.
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If you would like to speak at a Humanist Forum, or know someone who would, or there is a topic you think we should discuss, please let us know by emailing vp@humanists.org or havasy@live.com.
