January:

President Doug Berger opened the first meeting of 2002 by leading a discussion about the claim that Humanism is dogmatic. He made an argument that our Humanist principles are not dogmatic in the negative sense but that we need them to define ourselves. We can't dilute them to please everyone. Currently to be a member of HCCO you only need to be in substantial agreement with our statement of principles. Humanist Principles are not assigned or dictated by some central authority. We come to agreement through consensus, which doesn't mean we are all 100% in agreement. Consensus means we all have a say. Doug then opened the floor for discussion. Some of the comments talked about tolerance and how that 
doesn't mean we have to agree with those views different than ours.

February:

Secular Sobriety
presented by John McCutcheon

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is far and away the most popular recovery group for alcoholics. However, AA contains a concept of a Higher Power and this can be very troublesome to nonbelievers trying to work through it. In a small handful of densely populated cities, there are AA chapters specially for nonbelievers, but in most parts of the country it is difficult to find them. Luckily, several secular alternatives exist: Rational Recovery www.rational.org, Recovery, Inc. www.recovery-inc.com, and Secular Organizations for Sobriety www.secularsobriety.org.

Recovery, Inc. is the only one that has meetings Central Ohio, and they have a broader focus than just alcoholism. Mr. McCutcheon is willing and able to provide materials to anyone interested in organizing a chapter of another group in Central Ohio though.

Beyond the lack of a concept of a Higher Power in the secular alternatives to AA, Mr. McCutcheon says that there is less of a focus on alcoholism being the result of a character flaws and more on the biochemical causes. He also said that while AA programs are supposed to avoid using shame, that the secular sobriety groups tend to do a better job of avoiding it.

March:

We had Tom Baillieul from Ohio Citizens for Science speak to us about the attempt to include Intelligent Design in the Ohio Science Education Standards. He told us about "the Wedge" strategy and how it was first used in Kansas in 1999 during their debate. "The Wedge" strategy is attempting to get Intelligent Design adopted by state school boards across the country in hopes that would do an end around the standard science peer review method currently used to adopt new Theories. ID supporters think that getting enough states to adopt ID will lead to it being adopted by the science community. Tom also gave a timeline and details on how the science standards writing committee developed the draft that ID supports want to change. He also took questions from the audience.

April:

We held one of our favorite programs, the Humanist Coffeehouse.  Lorie Wiener shared a couple of poems she wrote. Earl Wurdlow amazed us again with a memorized classic poem. Derrick Strobl and Roger Marcum read passages from some favorite books. Doug Berger, who has no real talent, shared some air checks from his favorite childhood radio station, CKLW.

May:

Larry Reyka  talked to us about what he does as a Humanist Chaplain and how Humanists and other non-believers can get married. Larry is registered with the State of Ohio to perform marriages. He also talked about the group that certifies Humanist Chaplains, the Humanist Society of Friends, which is a division of the American Humanist Association. He also told us some tales from his many years of performing marriage ceremonies with the favorite of the group being a ceremony for a couple in a motorcycle gang.

June:

Bob Fitrakis, editor of the Columbus Free Press, talked to us about US Politics since September 11th. He explained there is a problem with corporate media and how we can get information from other sources like the European press. He also said the US Military budget, in 1999, was more than the military budget of 7 of our allies combined. Bob also gave a short history of the Taliban and how the US government has had other extreme groups it supported in the past, turn on us. He explained that the US used extreme Islamic groups as a Cold War weapon against the old Soviet Union and now the government has to deal with what it created. He also talked about the Intelligence failures that missed the 9-11 event and how the Anthrax found in October was a kind only made in the US. He also cautioned us about the work of the Homeland Security office and its Orwellian overtones.

July:

President Doug Berger talked with the members about what HCCO is all about, how we plan and hold programs, and how he wants to see some real commitment from members to overcome the flat numbers and lower donation levels. He felt that while people do come to meetings he is concerned about the lack of participation in other events like our info booth and the lack of significant donations to the group. We have 50 paid members yet less than one quarter participate more than once a month.

August:

We had another edition of the Humanist Book Club where some of us told about some books others might be interested in. Although the selection was light, all looked like good books.

September:

Roger Marcum, HCCO Vice President, led a discussion about ethics. How one can work for a religious person or company was also discussed. Everyone in attendance added to the talk in some way.

October:

This meeting was off the cuff to say the least. Our scheduled speaker had to cancel so President Doug Berger took the opportunity to have a discussion about the issue of the American Humanist Association’s Tax exempt status and the Secular vs. Religious Humanists debate. It was the consensus that neither was a major issue with the group. Following the meeting we had our Annual Members Meeting where the 2003 HCCO Board was elected and 3 proposed amendments to our bylaws were voted on.

November:

Larry Reyka did a brief presentation on building a Humanist Community, beginning with a review of HCCO's current activities, which was followed by a discussion about ideas for other things we can do to further the goal of community building.

Among the ideas presented include:

• Taking the opportunity to know the other members.

• Greet visitors to our meetings to make them feel welcome.

• Holding more social gatherings including encouraging members to host small group discussions.

December:

Stan and Beth Bradley revisited their presentation from the 1999 AHA National Conference called "The Humanist Family".

They talked about meeting at a Humanist event and getting married as well as blending their two families together. The conversation was interesting to all.

2002 Winter Solstice Banquet:

Click here to see info and pictures from our Winter Solstice Banquet!

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