Our Lynden Last Saturday Secular Social - Book: Religion vs Secular Humanism
Details
At Bellingham Barnes & Noble on this last Saturday of October, 25th, from 1 pm to 4 pm, Author A Timothy Church will be available to sign your copy of his book:
RELIGION vs SECULAR HUMANISM: What the Psychological and Social Sciences can tell us
Please drop in any time between 1pm to 4pm to say "Hi" to our local author and meet others from our "clan" doing the same. Below is the link for further information:
Sat. Oct. 25th, Bellingham Barnes & Noble book signing, Local Author A Timothy Church, 1 to 4pm
RELIGION vs SECULAR HUMANISM: What the Psychological and Social Sciences can tell us
Book Details:
In today’s contentious climate—in which a seemingly unbridgeable gap between religious and secular worldviews persists—this book discusses the relative merits and viability of religion versus secular humanism from the perspective of the psychological and social sciences.
Among the questions asked:
- Are there plausible naturalistic (vs. religious) explanations of the origins, evolution, and functions of religion?
- What are the beneficial and harmful effects of religion and can the benefits be adequately achieved via secular means?
- Can secular humanists live moral, meaningful, and fulfilling lives, or is the fully secular life deficient in some way?
- Can psychological science show us how to live meaningful and fulfilling lives, with or without religion?
- As much of the world secularizes, is religion likely to persist? Should it?
Evidence-based proposals to reduce the religious-secular gap are also offered. The discussion is non-polemic and accessible to inquisitive lay people.
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A. Timothy Church, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology at Washington State University. He has published extensively in prominent scientific journals in the areas of culture and personality and his research in these areas was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Mental Health.
He is a member of the American Humanist Association and a contributor to Free Inquiry magazine.
His most recent books are Religion versus Secular Humanism: What the Psychological and Social Sciences Can Tell Us (Hypatia Press, 2024) and The Praeger Handbook of Personality Across Cultures (3 volumes; Praeger/Bloomsbury, 2017).
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HERE'S A LINK TO AN ARTICLE THAT THE ABOVE AUTHOR, TIMOTHY CHUCH PUBLISHED IN CFI'S PREMIER MAGAZINE, FREE INQUIRY - Read and Enjoy!
Is Secular Humanism Ready to Replace Religion? If Not Now, Will It Ever Be?
A. Timothy Church
FREE INQUIRY BIMONTHLY MAGAZINE
From: Volume 45, No. 4
June/July 2025
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NOW BACK TO OUR LYNDEN LAST SATURDAY OF MONTH
SECULAR SOCIAL:
We had 13 attendees at our Last Saturday Secular Social & Discussion meeting, September 27th, 2025.
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Car Pools Available. Contact me by text (360) 510-2501 or by email:
SecularWorld@aol.com - We meet at the North end of Bellingham Costco before 10:25 AM, Leave 10:25 sharp - We'll look for you if you text me at above number that you're coming!
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Our "ICE BREAKER" STARTER TOPICS:
#1) (See above) We will use the title and description of the book above for our general discussion, "CAN SECULAR HUMANISM PROVIDE ALL THE USEFUL FUNCTIONS OF ORGANIZED RELIGION? AND IF SO, WILL THAT BE THE FINAL END OF RELIGION'S NORMALCY WITH RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS PUSHED TO THE FRINGES OF A TOLERANT SOCIETY? (Thank you Tim Church for this general topic)
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#2) Authors of 'Science Under Siege' warn of concerted effort to discredit science:
War on Science - (9 minutes long) PBS
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#3) - Why Do People Stop Believing in God? 16 minute video - Thank you Dennis for this article for discussion! Link Below:
Why Do People Stop Believing in God?
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#4) From "ATTENTION" economy to "INTENTION" economy:
Collection and Commodification of Intent via Large Language Models (again, thank you Clint Miller for this suggestion!)
Link to: Intention Economy - Long Read!
This is the next economic shift with the new DATA (vs $) economy, where we move from attention grabbing click-bait to "Intention" farming with the aid of LLM (Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence tools)
I will attempt to read and share my "Reader's Digest" version LATER to share for those who find the article too long.
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We can "change the topic" on the fly based on current attendee's suggested preference - Please feel free to suggest an alternate subject on our around the table introductions!
Also, updates, links to material to read or watch and PDF files to down load will be provided later this week to those I have email addresses for.
If you'd like to be included and haven't received email alerts from me, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT SecularWorld@aol.com TO STAY INFORMED AND RECEIVE LATEST UPDATES!
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We will start out by introducing ourselves, our personal passions and also share our choice on how to conduct our meeting (2 minutes or less per person).
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Freethought encourages creative solutions, but then this group uses reason, evidence and the scientific method as the only reliable means to prune down answers to our probing questions and common sense solutions to humanity's current problems.
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Normally we never follow through with pre-readings, videos or topics anyway and jump in to whatever subjects pop up during introduction circle. The flavor of conversation is quite varied and unique based on who shows and what those present bring to the table.
Feel free to bring a book or article and your take on the readings. Comments on ever changing current events easily fill our discussions!
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Free Coffee, cream and sweetener will be provided. Just bring yourself and share in great conversation, but if you'll be hungry, feel free to bring your own lunch to eat during our talk.
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Have a future idea or topic? Email me at secularworld@aol.com and share!
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Randy Drubek & Monty Vonn – Coordinators