Speaker: Ellen Johnson, Executive Director of Enlighten the Vote (see here) and former American Atheists President Topic: How We Can Get Politicians to Pay Attention to Us The Democrats have Hillary, the Republicans have Carly, the Germans have Angela Merkel, and we Atheists have Ellen Johnson. If you don’t know who Ellen Johnson is, then you have missed out on an important part of Atheist history. Ellen was the protégée of American Atheist founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who was murdered in 1995. …

Speaker: Tyson Gill Topic: Advancing Atheism into a Post-Dawkins Era Tyson is the author of “Belief in Science and the Science of Belief: A Guidebook to Fact-Based Thinking” (found here). He is also an NYCA Member and frequent contributor to our NYCA Newsletter. This month Tyson will challenge our thinking about atheism and the atheist movement. He makes a compelling case that while the Four Horsemen have been the vanguard of our movement, we now risk premature détente with religion. In order to achieve the enduring and…

Speaker: Muhammad Syed Topic: Islam and Atheism A tide of disbelief is rising in most Muslim countries. Muhammad Syed will talk about the need to support secularists, atheists and free thinkers. He will also be discussing common misconceptions within Muslim communities about Islamic history and scripture. Muhammad is a human rights activist, writer, speaker and community organizer. He is the founder and President of Ex-Muslims of North America (see here), the first Ex-Muslim advocacy and community building organization on the continent. The…

Speaker: Stephen Bronner, PhD Topic: The Bigot: Why Prejudice Persists Stephen Eric Bronner is a prolific author, activist, and one of America’s leading political thinkers. His new book The Bigot: Why Prejudice Persists (see here) presents bigotry as a systematic, all-encompassing mindset that has a special affinity for right-wing movements. In what will surely prove a seminal study, Bronner explores its appeal, the self-image it justifies, the interests it serves, and its complex connection with modernity. He reveals how prejudice shapes the…

Speaker:  Scott Williams, Ph.D. Topic: An Afternoon with Scott Williams Assistant Professor of Anthropology – Center for the Study of Human Origins Acting on a tip from spelunkers two years ago, scientists in South Africa discovered what the cavers had only dimly glimpsed through a crack in a limestone wall deep in the Rising Star Cave: lots and lots of old bones.The remains covered the earthen floor beyond the narrow opening. This was, the scientists concluded, a large, dark chamber for…

Speaker:  Patricia Wright, PhD Distinguished Service Professor Stony Brook University Topic: Lemurs – Earth’s Most Diverse Group of Primates Madagascar is a strange place. It’s sometimes called the 8th continent due to its unique evolution and physical isolation. Ninety percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else. With no monkeys to compete with, Madagascar’s lemurs evolved into over 100 species, from the 3.5-inch Berthe’s mouse lemur (the smallest primate in the world) to the now-extinct giant sloth lemur (which weighed as…

Speaker:  Matthew Stanley, PhD Associate Professor (faculty page) NYU: Gallatin School of Individualized Study Matthew Stanley teaches and researches the history and philosophy of science. He holds degrees in astronomy, religion, physics, and the history of science and is interested in the connections between science and the wider culture. He is the author of Practical Mystic: Religion, Science, and A. S. Eddington (Chicago 2007), which examines how scientists reconcile their religious beliefs and professional lives, and Huxley’s Church and Maxwell’s Demon…

Speaker:  Elizabeth Raymond MD, MPH Senior Medical Associate, Gynuity Health Projects (About Dr. Raymond) Dr. Raymond is a senior scientist at Gynuity Health Projects in New York City, a leading international women’s health research organization. Over the past 20 years, she has published over 75 peer-reviewed scientific papers on contraception, abortion, and related fields and has served as an expert witness in multiple high-profile legal cases in these areas. Her studies have been pivotal in support of FDA approval of various contraceptives and have led to…

Speaker:  Professor Simon Garnier N.J. Institute of Technology, Biological Sciences Professor Garner’s interdisciplinary research lab studies the mechanisms underlying the coordination of large animal groups, such as ant colonies or human crowds, and their applications to complex problems such the organization of pedestrian traffic or the control of robotic swarms. He studies how information is exchanged and transformed during interactions between the members of a group, and how this can lead to the emergence of “intelligent” group behaviors. In short, the…

Speaker:  Susana Martiez-Conde Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, Physiology, and Pharmacology Suny Downstate Medical Center Topic: Neural Magic: Techniques for Tricking the Brain Susana Martinez-Conde directs the Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience. Her research bridges perceptual, cognitive, and oculomotor neuroscience. She is best known for her studies on illusions, eye movements and perception, neurological disorders, and attentional misdirection in stage magic. She has pioneered the study of stage magic techniques from a neuroscience perspective and has proposed that neuroscientists and magicians share many…

Speaker:  Jeremy Kasdin, Ph.D. Professor, Vice-Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Princeton University Topic: In there life beyond our own solar system? Professor Kasdin says that “The Universe is teeming with planets.” So far though, astronomers have only been able to detect potentially Earth-like planets through indirect observation. Kasdin and his NASA colleagues want to change that with a revolutionary space-based telescope and starshade. With this new observatory, astronomers and engineers could get snapshots of some of the billions of…

Speaker:  Nathan Lent Professor, Vice-Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Princeton University Topic: Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animal Nature. Dr. Lents will present selected topics from his book, Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animal Nature – We Are Not Unique in Many different Ways (see here). Animals fall in love, establish rules for fair play, exchange valued goods and services, hold “funerals” for fallen comrades, deploy sex as a weapon, and communicate with one another…

Speaker:  Panel Discussion Topic: What should be the atheist agenda after the election? The cost of this event is $20 which includes a wonderful all-you-can-eat brunch followed by our guest speaker.

Video:  Written, directed, and produced by Roderick Bradford Topic: The Truth Seeker: D.M. Bennett D.M. BENNETT (1818-1882) was pronounced guilty for violating the Comstock Law in New York on March 21, 1879. “The trial of Dr. Bennett for sending obscene matter through the mails is one of the most important of the day,” declared The New York Sun. The judge’s ruling, a Washington Capitol newspaper reporter opined, “surpassed anything of the sort since Pontius Pilate, and would make it dangerous to mail a Bible or…

Speaker:  Barbara Mancini Topic: The Legal Battles Over Assisted Suicide A Pennsylvania county judge has thrown out an assisted suicide case against a 58-year-old nurse named Barbara Mancini, who was accused of homicide last year for allegedly handing her 93-year-old father a bottle of morphine. This case was also featured story on CBS’ 60 minutes. Ms. Mancini is an advocate for Compassion & Choices, the nation’s oldest, largest and most active nonprofit organization committed to improving care and expanding choice at…

SPEAKER: JOANNE SOUZA, Ph.D Director, Biology Online / Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology / STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY SUBJECT: DARWIN: One of Darwin’s unanswered questions: In what ways are humans unique among animals and how did we get that way within the process of evolution by natural selection? DESCRIPTION: Charles Darwin’s major contribution to science was his theory of evolution explaining biological change over time made possible by the process of natural selection. His science predicting that all life shares…

SPEAKER: Dave Silverman President, American Atheists SUBJECT: American Atheists’ Trump Action – How NYCA and AA Can Work Together The cost of this event is $20 which includes a wonderful all-you-can-eat brunch followed by our guest speaker.

SPEAKER: Katherine Stewart President, American Atheists SUBJECT: Betsy DeVos and the Republican Plan to Make Charters Available for Religious Schools AUTHOR: The Good News Club – The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children A chilling exposé of the well-funded, highly coordinated effort by Christian Nationalists to use public schools to advance a fundamentalist agenda. Katherine Stewart’s chilling exposé of the well-funded, highly coordinated effort by Christian Nationalists to use public schools to advance a fundamentalist agenda. “Even those well-versed…

SUBJECT: Fake News – Repetition Becomes Fact VIDEO: The Brainwashing of My Dad Examines the Influence of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” News Media. How right-wing news programs, talk shows and internet sites turned her once reasonable father into a raging embodiment of intolerance and suspicion. It warns of how generations of Americans have been tricked into an angry cult-like devotion to a new conservative lord and savior: Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. The cost of this event is $20 which…

SUBJECT: CREATION STORIES / MYTHS A creation myth (also called a cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, formally, it does not imply falsehood. Cultures generally regard their creation myths as true. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths, metaphorically, symbolically and sometimes in a historical or literal sense. They are commonly,…

SUBJECT: MY JOURNEY OF A BANGLADESHI WOMEN FROM ISLAM TO ATHEISM ZERIN FIROZE is an outspoken Ex-Muslim, atheist, feminist and human right activist. Due to her advocacy for secular, LGBT and women’s rights, she has received death threats from groups such as Ansar-Al-Islam, Jamaat-Shibir, Hefajat-e-Islami and was forced to flee Bangladesh The cost of this event is $20 which includes a wonderful all-you-can-eat brunch followed by our guest speaker.

SUBJECT: SECULAR MUSIC PERFORMER: SHELLEY SEGAL, SINGER AND SONGWRITER FROM AUSTRALIA The cost of this event is $20 which includes a wonderful all-you-can-eat brunch followed by our guest speaker.

SPEAKER: JIM HELTON – AMERICAN ATHEISTS: NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZER Jim G Helton is the National Field Organizer for American Atheists. After attending the Reason Rally, he co-founded the Tri-State Freethinkers and then became the Kentucky State Director. Under his leadership they adopted the Highway in front of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter which also included a protest that received international attention and changed the story. He also played a key role in eliminating Gideon’s bible distributions in public schools…

TOPIC: Recovering From Religion SPEAKER: Gayle Jordan – Executive Director, Recovering From Religion Doubt Your Beliefs? Have Questions About Changing Or Leaving Your Faith? You Are Not Alone, And We Are Here To Help. Learning how to live after questions, doubts, and changing beliefs is a journey. We at Recovering from Religion are intimately familiar with this path, and we are here to help you to cross that bridge. Our passion is connecting others with support, resources, community, and most…

SPEAKER: SUSANA MARINEZ CONDE Susana Martinez-Conde is a neuroscientist and science writer. She is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology & pharmacology at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center. BOOK: CHAMPIONS OF ILLUSIONS A full-color celebration of stunning visual illusions and the science behind them.
In Champions of Illusion, Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik present a smorgasbord of mystifying images, many selected from their Best Illusion of the Year Contest. Whether it’s false motion, tricks of perspective,…

SPEAKER: MIKE REISS Mike Reiss has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award during his twenty-eight years writing for “The Simpsons”. He ran the show in Season 4, which Entertainment Weekly called “the greatest season of the greatest show in history.” In 2006, Reiss received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Animation Writers Caucus. “Springfield Confidential”, Mike’s memoir of three decades at “The Simpsons”, will be released by Harper Collins in June 2018. Reiss has written jokes for such comedy…

SUBJECT: Does Religion Have the Right to Deprive a Child of a Basic  Education? – My Fight Against the Hasidic Yeshivas SPEAKER: Naftuli Moster, Executive Director of Young Advocates for Fair Education You’ve heard the rumors, read the articles in the newspapers and probably wondered:  Could this be true? Is it possible that a religious sect would deprive its children of a modern education, including science and mathematics, in order to more strongly imbue its ancient religion? NYCA’s February Brunch speaker says…

SUBJECT: It Felt Like Rape: A Hasidic Woman’s Journey Out of an Arranged Marriage – and the Closet SPEAKER: CHAVIE WEISBERGER Chavie Weisberger married a man she’d barely met and suffered for years until she realized she was a lesbian. But her greatest battle was yet to come. Chavie Weisberger, Community Engagement Coordinator Chavie is a Footsteps member since 2012, and a long-time supporter of the OTD (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) community. In her capacity as Community Engagement Associate, Chavie plays a…

SUBJECT: Children’s Victim Act SPEAKER: Robert Hoatson, Ex-priest advocate to extend statute of limitations THE PRIMARY LEGISLATION OPPONENTS ARE: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE HASDIC / ORTHORDOX JEWISH COMMUNITY AND THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA. THEY OPPOSE THE EXTENSION OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE CLAIMS BEYOND ONE’S, 23RD  YEAR; BECAUSE IT WOULD BANKRUPT THEM. The cost of this event is $25 which includes a wonderful all-you-can-eat brunch followed by our guest speaker.

SUBJECT: Board of Directors Working Meeting IF YOU ARE A PAID (2018) NYC ATHEISTS MEMBER;  YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. FOR NYC ATHEISTS TO CONTINUE AND TO BE SUCCESSFUL, WE NEED: 1)  PAID MEMBERSHIP, 2) ATTEND EVENTS / MEETING AND 3) SERVE (VOLUNTEER) 1) OBJECTIVE OF MEETING GET MEMBERS TO BECOME BOARD MEMBERS (BASIC REQUIREMENT – PAID 2018 MEMBERSHIP) 2) NEED VOLUNTEERS TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY / MANAGEMENT FOR SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS SUCH AS: ——  ACTIVISM Be involved in developing and managing…

SUBJECT: YOU’RE FIRED ATHEIST!!! WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS? SPEAKER: DARYL COCHRANE, Director of the Manhattan Community Service Center & LGBTQ Communities Lead Advisor with the Community Relations Bureau of the New York City Commission on Human Rights The cost of this event is $25 which includes a wonderful all-you-can-eat brunch followed by our guest speaker.

SPEAKER:Nathan H. Lents, Ph.D. TOPIC: HUMAN ERRORS: A PANORAMA OF OUR GLITCHES, FROM POINTLESS BONES TO BROKEN GENES Nathan H. Lents, Ph.D. is Professor of Biology at John Jay College of the City University of New York He also blogs for Psychology Today and maintains The Human Evolution Blog. He is the author of two popular science books: Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animals and Human Errors: A Panorama of our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes. Cost…