OCTOBER MMAH MEETING

Hello everyone,

Mark your calendar for another exciting MMAH Dinner Meeting with typical spirited discussion to follow.

When: 5:00 pm, Sunday, October 25, 2009
Where: Great Wall Buffet Restaurant (Private Banquet Room)
4832 W. Saginaw Hwy.
Lansing, Michigan 48917
(517) 327-9500
Cost: Buffet $8:25 (beverage extra except for tea), or order from menu

Click on Get Directions for interactive map (not to be confused with the World Buffet Restaurant which is on the same strip mall. Great Wall Buffet is located east of Mall Drive that runs N-S between the 2 restaurants)

Mark Thompson had been a feature speaker at one of our previous meetings in which he gave an engaging talk on the topic, How to be an Informed Skeptic: the Application of Critical Thinking. We are pleased that by popular demand Mark again will be our featured speaker for this month’s Meeting. The topic of his talk is Being Good for a Good Reason.

Morality is often placed as being the province of religion with philosophy holding a distant second. Often Atheists and Humanists are accused by religious believers of being without morals or just filing the serial numbers off from religious ethical codes and declaring them secular values.

On the other side are Atheists and Humanists that declare morality is a social construct that has no hold on human behavior and that all acts are neutral with their consequences determined by each society’s view, not objective reality.

Learn how science, history and philosophy show the roots of human behavior and the development of moral thought and action. Find out about the distinctions between morality, mores and folkways and how they are intertwined into our modern discussion of “what is right.” Finally learn about how others have developed naturalistic codes or guidelines for living with others without having to fall into either supernatural absolutism or moral relativism.

Speaker Biography:

Mark Thompson graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a degree in Computer Science. He spent ten years as communications and computer systems policy analyst modeling those system designs and operations. His experience with the technical and organizational errors that plagued such systems led him back to school and the acquisition of a dual degree in Psychology and Sociology from Maryville University. Mark then graduated from Saint Louis University with a Master’s in Organizational Psychology with a focus on research methods. His lifelong interest in how humans really think and act (versus how they think they do) has led him to the naturalist outlook and research on how to develop and apply it.

We look forward to another great turnout for this meeting. Please RSVP to provide an approximate headcount for reserving the Private Banquet Room that can accommodate 100+ people. You can email or call me anytime at (517) 750-3887 or (517) 914-2278 cell

Jim Hong, Director
Mid-Michigan Atheists and Humanists
Affiliate of American Atheists

"An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated."

…….Madalyn Murray O’Hara