Event:
CFI - Florida Third Annual Conference
How Will Our
Democracy Survive?
Progress in a
Regressive Society!
Date:
February 11–13, 2005
(click here for full schedule)
Location:
The Deauville Beach Resort, Miami Beach, FL
700 ft beach directly on the Atlantic Ocean
$99 Run of the House
$129 Ocean front
For reservations call 800–327–6656
*Special rate until Jan. 11, 2005
Vincent Parr - Conference Chairman
For more than 30 years, Dr. Parr’s practice has been Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He is president of both the Center for Rational Living and the Rational Living Foundation in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Parr is the coordinator of professional affiliations between Center for Inquiry, Albert Ellis Institute, and their affiliates worldwide.
Friday, 11 February
African Americans for Humanism Meeting
All Conference Attendees Invited!
Feb 11, 2005 3-4PM Margaux Room
- Discuss plans for a humanist-centered celebration of Martin Luther King Day next year.
- Discuss the Harlem discussion group of the Center for Inquiry--New York and the possibility of starting similar groups in other parts of the U.S.
- Have a question and answer session in which participants may make suggestions for future events, programs, etc.
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6:00-8:00 p.m. Registration
7:00 P.M. to 9:30 p.m. Reception, Cash Bar & Program:
”Alchemy to Skepticism: Turning Lead into Gold”
Jeanette Madea
The history of science is interwoven with the history of religion, politics, world exploration, and all aspects of human activity. The evolution of
modern science, specifically chemistry, was impeded until recent centuries by the prevalence of mystical thinking, superstition, dogma and
repression. Until these were replaced by skepticism and the scientific
method, significant progress in sciences such as chemistry was virtually
impossible. But along the way were important accidental discoveries and
some wonderful stories.
Dr. Jeanette Madea is a senior professor of chemistry at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Michigan State University and has been involved in chemical education for thirty-three years. Her passions are chemical demonstrations and outreach programs that bring the excitement of chemistry to children, the general public, and other educators.
Saturday, 12 February
8:00-9:30 a.m. Registration
8:45-9:00 a.m. Welcoming Remarks Toni Van Pelt
Toni Van Pelt is the executive director for the Center for Inquiry-Florida. She is a businesswoman with 30 years of experience in owning and running a private company. She is the past President of the Florida National Organization for Women and a feminist and a secular humanist activist. She serves on the Resource Center for Women’s board, Pinellas County helping women in transition develop employment, personal, and parenting skills that lead to self-sufficiency.
9:00-9:45 a.m.
“Human Rights and Responsibilities”
Norm Allen Jr.
Norm will talk about the relationship between the individual and society. He will emphasize the importance of guarding against licentious
behavior, while defending civil liberties and pursuing the good life.
Norm Allen, Jr. is executive director of African Americans for Humanism and deputy editor of Free Inquiry magazine. He is the editor of African-American Humanism: An Anthology, and AAH Examiner. His writings have been published in newspapers throughout the US, and he has spoken on numerous radio and television programs.
9:45-10:30 a.m.
“Fallibilism and Faith, Naturalism and the Supernatural,
Science and Religion”
Susan Haack
There are many differences between the sciences — a federation of
kinds of inquiry — and religions, or “creeds”: differences not only in
what they believe, but also in why and how they believe it. There is real
incompatibility between the scientific and the religious world-pictures;
and the scientific account, incomplete and fallible as it is, is by far the better-warranted. The focus here will be on other dimensions of difference:
on the deep tensions between the reliance of the sciences on the evidence
of the senses, and theological appeals to a distinctive, scientifically
inaccessible religious experience; between the natural explanations
sought by scientists, and the supernatural explanations sought by theologians; and between the fallibilism of the sciences, and religious dogma
and appeals to faith.
Dr. Susan Haack was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, where she received her Ph.D. in 1972. She has taught since 1990 at the University of Miami, where she is presently Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Law. Dr. Haack is the author of Deviant Logic, Philosophy of Logic, and Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate. She has also published numerous articles, in philosophy journals, legal journals, in general-interest magazines. Her most recent book is Defending Science -- Within Reason: Between Scientism and Cynicism (2003).
10:30-10:45 a.m. Break
10:45-11:30 a.m.
“The Humanist Perspective”
Awilda Torres
"Why are so many people starving and dying? Is it God's will? My life
raising a child as a single parent. How I found myself involved in
atheism."
Awilda Torres discusses her personal journey to atheism and humanism,
through her attempts to reconcile conceptualizations of God with the
suffering of mankind and her own personal struggles as a single parent,
to her ultimate involvement in atheism.
11:30-12:15 p.m.
“Human Nature and the Role of Reason”
John Anton
A variety of different views on human nature in wide circulation today claim to have “the truth” on their side, but not all recognize the importance of human reason. Once again we are facing the problem of assigning to reason the place it deserves in handling our everyday affairs, from politics to religion, from science to art, and from personal life to national and international policies. The embedded conflict in reason versus faith has reached the point of a critical issue in our lives. Anton will examine of the intrusion of irrationality into contemporary cultural, political and educational affairs.
Dr. John P. Anton is a Distinguished Professor of Greek Philosophy and Culture at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1954. During the course of his long and prolific career has taught and lectured at universities across the United States, won numerous awards and honors and held offices in more than a dozen philosophical associations. His most recent work, American Naturalism and Greek Philosophy, is forthcoming from Prometheus Press. Anton also authored Critical Humanism as a Philosophy of Culture and Archetypal Principles and Hierarchies: Essays on Neoplatonic Themes.
12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Lunch
“Optimistic Forecast: Bright Prospects for Naturalism
and Humanism in the Future!”
Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz will review the exciting trends in the world which point to
the steady growth of the secular and rationalistic outlook, increased
awareness of humanistic values, the continued improvement of standards of living and human health on the planet, and the bountiful opportunities for enhancing joyful exuberance for more and more people.
Dr. Paul Kurtz is the founder and chairman of the Center for Inquiry and its two main
subdivisions, the Council for Secular Humanism and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Kurtz earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Columbia University in 1952. Dr. Kurtz is the author or editor of over 40 books, including Affirmations: Joyful and Creative Exuberance, The Transcendental Temptation, and A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. He has published over 650 articles and reviews. He is Editor-in-Chief of Free Inquiry magazine.
2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
“The American Historical Tradition of Humanist Values”
David Koepsell
The Founders of the US were children of the French and British
Enlightenment, and wrote the values associated with humanism into the
fabric of our civil government. The Constitution, specifically the Bill of
Rights, upholds the freedoms, values and dignities we, as secular humanists, hold most dear. From free speech, to participatory democracy and
non-establishment of religion, these values are essential to the US, and
increasingly under attack by the religious right. We, as patriots, must
strive to educate people as to the secular, civil nature of our government
and society.
Dr. David Koepsell is the executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism. He earned his Law degree and Doctorate in Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In addition to practicing law for eight years, he is adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy at SUNY, specializing in Legal Philosophy, Ontology and Ethics. His dissertation, The Ontology of Cyberspace, was published in 2000. His publications include a number of articles in scholarly journals Reboot World (fiction) and Searle on the Institutions of Social Reality, co-edited with Laurence Moss.
3:15-3:30 p.m. Break
3:30-4:15 p.m.
Panel “Discussion: Reaching the Campuses: Meaningful
Alternatives to Evangelical Outreach”
DJ Grothe, moderator. Sarah Jordan, Bill Hall, and Florida students
With the amazing success of conservative intellectual movement on
America’s campuses, in addition to well-organized evangelical Christian
campus outreach and fringe-science and New Age campus movements,
many students feel besieged. How can the inquiry community respond?
Join DJ Grothe, director of CFI’s Campus Outreach, Sarah Jordan, a campus organizer with CFI as well as area students for a discussion on how
you can get involved promoting reason, science and freedom of inquiry
on Florida’s college and high school campuses.
4:15-5:00 p.m.
“Reproduction: the facts and their implications for
Policy and Ethics.”
Elaine M. Hull and Richard Hull
Too often both public policy and personal decisions are not subjected to careful consideration of current scientific thinking. Elaine Hull will explore the facts of conception, fertilization, embryonic stem cells and other related issues, demythologizing the claims that often characterize public debate on policy as well as the personal considerations that involved in abortion decisions and donating spare embryos for research purposes. Richard Hull continues with reflections on when it makes sense to talk about an individual's identity, and applies our current scientific understanding about reproductive facts to policy issues and personal reproductive choices.
Dr. Elaine M. Hull is Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. She recently moved there from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she served for 37 years. Her Ph.D. was granted by Indiana University. Author of a hundred articles and abstracts, she has been a continuously funded basic researcher for over 25 years. Her work mainly concerns the neurophysiology of male and female sexual behavior.
Dr. Richard Hull was Professor of Philosophy and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Buffalo until his retirement in 1997. He took his graduate training at Indiana University. He served on several area ethics committees and has offered advanced courses in bioethics at Buffalo General Hospital. Dr. Hull has edited eight books, including Ethical Issues in the New Reproductive Technologies and has authored 100 articles, chapters, reviews and pamphlets, most on issues in medical ethics. He has lectured widely on ethical issues in medicine, nursing, allied health care and biomedical research.
6:00-7:00p.m. Cash Bar
7:00-9:30 p.m.
3rd Annual Banquet and Awards Paul Kurtz
“Roadmap for a Humanist World by 2050” Louis J. Appignani
Topics covered: population, religion vs. science vs. ethics, nationalism,
education, energy, alternative lifestyles, individual wealth accumulation,
post industrialism, bioethics revolution.
Louis Appignani is a successful businessman from Coconut Grove, Fl. For the last 12 years, he has been the president of Los JA Realty. He was a founder and the president and chairman of Barbizon International Inc, modeling agency until 2000. Appignani was educated at the Baruch School in New York, Indiana University and Columbia University, where he received his M.S. in Finance. He has served on the boards of several professional civic organizations. In 2001, he founded the Appignani Foundations to “support secular activities that will address significant, viable and long term human goals on our plane.” A recent gift from the Foundation earlier this year helped to establish the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics at the United Nations in New York City.
Sunday, 13 February
9:00-9:45 a.m.
“Political Science and Its Discontents”
Austin Dacey
How does science fit into a democratic society? Can science be apolitical? Anti-democratic? To what extent should citizens and their elected representatives have a role in funding, guiding, and restricting, scientific
research?
Dr. Austin Dacey is director of research and education at the Center for Inquiry, and visiting assistant research professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is executive editor of Philo, an academic journal of philosophy, and director of the new Masters degree program in Science and the Public at SUNY Buffalo. Dr. Dacey has lectured and published widely on issues at the intersection of science, religion, ethics, and society. He is co-author of The Case for Humanism: An Introduction.
9:45-10:30 a.m.
"Where do we go from here?"
Sarah Jordan
This is a time of social discontent and disconnectedness. We are all worried -- about politics, education, jobs and the economy, and the war, civil rights. For many of us, humanism compels us to work for the good of society, for equality, tolerance, liberty. But this cannot be accomplished by criticisms, but requires activism in our communities, at the local level, where we can most effectively engage in social, political and charitable works.
Sarah Jordan is Campus Organizer with the Center for Inquiry International. Prior to coming to CFI, she worked for eight years as a radio personality and disc jockey with stints in news and educational television production.
She has been a volunteer advocate for victims of domestic violence and is the cofounder of a Wyoming group of university women. Ms. Jordan will graduate from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in Biology and a background in physical anthropology and plans to continue graduate studies in forensic osteology. She has been a guest teacher of (hominid) evolution at high schools in her home state of Wyoming, in addition to working at the Tate Geological Museum and Douglas Fossils. Most recently, Ms. Jordan conducted laboratory research on neurological development in chicks.
10:30-10:45 a.m. Break
10:45-11:30 p.m.
Terrorism & Times of War: A Code Red Threat to Church-State
Separation”
Beth Corbin
History has taught us that church-state separation, and our civil liberties, are at great risk in times of crisis. Because of that, it’s more important that ever that we remain vigilant in protecting our Constitutional rights.
Beth Corbin is the national field director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and was previously field organizer at the National Organization for Women in Washington. Beth has traveled around the country speaking on behalf of AU before a variety of organizations. Since joining AU in 1998, Beth has built an email activist network that reaches hundreds of thousands of church-state activists nationwide. She has worked in both radio and television in Florida and in her home state of Indiana. Beth Corbin is the managing editor of the National NOW Times.
11:30-12:15p.m
“Promise and Problems: The Future of the Center for Inquiry
Movement”
DJ Grothe
DJ Grothe talks about CFI’s strategies for responding to the reigning
paranormal and religious beliefs of our culture, and how CFI provides
meaningful alternatives. Grothe has lectured on over a hundred campuses
and to nearly as many community free thought, skeptic and humanist
groups on topics as diverse as pseudo-science and the paranormal, secular ethics and the Enlightenment. Hear him detail plans for the new CFI
Communities program, and how these Communities fill a vital role for both
campus outreach and in strengthening the CFI movement.
DJ Grothe is program director for the Center for Inquiry, and serves as director of the CFI - On Campus, a secular, pro-science alternative to organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ and fringe-science and paranormal movements. Mr. Grothe has lectured widely on secular ethics, religious-political extremism, church-state separation, the role of religion in education, science advocacy and skepticism and the paranormal. Before completing graduate studies in philosophy and intellectual history at Washington University, DJ worked as a corporate magical entertainer.
12:15-1:00PM
The Future of the Center for Inquiry Movement Continued
A
Panel Interaction with Conference Participants
Toni Van
Pelt, Paul Kurtz, David Koepsell, Austin Dacey, Norm Allen, Sarah
Jordan
