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Colin Thornton is the editor and contributing writer for the blog Science-Based Parenting.

He will be presenting "Monsters, Myths, and Legends" and explain the historical and scientific truth behind various creatures and supernatural beings, such as vampires, fairies, dragons, and more. He will attempt to demystify their origins by examining the cultural fears surrounding their advent. He will also give freethinking parents a way to discuss these creatures with their children in a way that fosters a respect for science and reality.

Ex-Christian Testimonies

Our speaker for this month canceled so this coming meeting will be more about the members. Specifically, we'd like to hear the stories of those in our group who are ex-Christian (or ex-Muslim or ex-whatever religion). Share your story of how you once saw the world as one of the faithful and how you broke free.

Our guest for August will be Congressman John Yarmuth, who will be joining us at 8 pm on August 25th at the Fox and Hound restaurant to say a few words and engage in a question and answer session with us as respresentatives as the secular voice of Louisville. In 2006 John Yarmuth was the only candidate on any Louisville ballot who came out making a strong statement in defense of the wall of separation of church and state. Since that time we've seen many gains in this area on the local and national stage, and also some setbacks. Now, in 2009 we're going to take a moment to hear from him about the secular state of our community and of the nation.

Our meetup would normally be on the 18th of August, but we are moving it to the 25th of August in order to accomodate the congressman's schedule. The day of the week (Tuesday night) and the time (7 pm if you are getting dinner, 8 pm for the guest presentation) are the same as always. Congressman Yarmuth won't be able to join us for dinner, so he'll be arriving at 8 for his remarks and question and answer session.

Also, we're having this meeting at the Fox and Hound restaurant behind Oxmoor Mall. They've given us about ideal terms (our own space, anyone can order whatever they want off the full menu, no minimums or anything), so we'll try them out.

Fox and Hound Pub & Grille - Louisville
302 Bullitt Lane
Louisville, KY 40222
Phone: (502) 394-7620

I'm setting this meetup up a little differently than normal.

There are no "Maybe" responses for this one. You can either be there or you can't. Please don't say you are going to be there unless you really intend to be there.
I'm setting an upper limit of 60 people. I believe that's the upper limit of space at Fox and Hound. If I find out differently I'll change it.
To the extent that it's possible, if we start approaching the limit I'm going to set up a waiting list, and give first preference to people who have attended the meetups in the past. That may not be necessary, though. We'll see what happens.

In order to keep things organized I think it's going to be necessary to have the session be moderated. There are lots of concerns and questions we could voice to the congressman. I'd like to have an agenda planned out in advance and have people on the list here suggest things they'd like to hear from the congressman about in order to keep things on topic and make sure the most significant comments and questions get heard. I'll post more on that in a couple of days. If you have any thoughts about the best way to make it work, send them to the list.

More discussion will come on this in the next few days, for now I just wanted to make sure people knew who the guest is going to be, and that you are all aware of the change in location and date.

This month we'll be meeting at the Bristol Bar & Grill in the Highlands, about a half a block down from Ramsi's. Facing the door of Ramsi's, turn right and walk half a block, and you are at the Bristol.

We need to meet at the Bristol this month because of some facilities they have, but doing so necessitates a couple of changes in the way we do things. I'll send a followup email outlining those changes.

Our June guest will be Dr. Jason Gainous, from UofL. Dr. Gainous is a professor of political science whose specialty is the intersection of religious values and politics. He describes the presentation he will be making for us thusly:

"My research focuses on political behavior and public opinion research. I have published on a variety of topics including how religion and values shape attitudes and voting behavior. I plan to talk about the current state of public opinion with regards to religion and voting behavior in the U.S."

Dr. Gainous' curriculum vitae can be found here --

http://louisville.edu/politicalscience/faculty/jason-gainous.html

I spoke with the people at Kaelin's yesterday. They will not be ready to reopen by Tuesday, but they should be ready by the end of May, so we will have the option of going back there next month.

For this month we'll be meeting at Ramsi's again. I had a guest lined up for this month, but it was necessary to reschedule that person for next month. This might be just as well, I'm thinking, because it gives us an opportunity to devote a meetup to internal business. So this month we'll concentrate on meeting some of new people who have recently joined, talking about the adopt-a-mile program Mike and Ed have made available to us, and talking about the possibility of becoming a little more formally organized, with non-profit status. In addition, I'd like to form a few committees for planning various aspects of the churchless picnic in July, and we'll be needing volunteers for those committees. So if you'd like to help with aspects of the picnic, definitely plan to be there. I look forward to seeing everyone this coming Tuesday night.