WHO: First Coast Freethought Society Members and Friends
WHAT: Freethought Free-For-All
WHEN: Monday, January 22, 2024, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)
WHERE: This is a virtual event via Zoom. You can login to the meeting starting at 6:15 pm
MEETING DESCRIPTION: Share your thoughts. Share your opinions. Pose a question. Bring your hopes, dreams, aspirations, and concerns to our third Freethought Free-For-All where we are the speaker and the questioner! No topic is off limits. This is our opportunity to be heard. A lively Q&A is guaranteed or your money back! (It's free.) Freethought Free-for-all. Bring your friends. Bring your ideas.
TO ATTEND: Zoom Room opens at 6:15pm. Meeting begins at 6:30pm. To join the Zoom Room on January 22, click here:
For more info about the FCFS click here: www.fcfs.org
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A FEW FREE THOUGHTS: Welcome 2024!
Ken Hurley
How many religious people does it take to change a light bulb? None. They just sit in the dark and demand you accept that the light is still on. Welcome 2024! I can’t say I’ve loved the year 2023. From Donald Trump’s political resurrection and awful but electable prospects. To Congress failing to come together to help Ukraine. To America’s university presidents being unable to say that calling for the genocide of Jews violates campus policies. To the horrors that are Hamas and Israel. To this latest ludicrous impeachment inquiry. To the clown show that made Kevin McCarthy speaker of the House, and then the clown show that brought him down. To the new Christian Nationalist speaker of the house, Mike Johnson. To the terrible homeless crisis that reached its highest levels ever. Tent encampments in every major city. To the opioid killer crisis. To the astounding levels of immigration. To the unending American epidemic of gun violence. To the predictable pregnancy predicament of Kate Cox. It feels like the year in which America slipped further into terminal decline. However, there are bright spots! We have Taylor Swift and her love story with Travis Kelce! And, we have everyone who supports the First Coast Freethought Society, which as most of you know by now, is an organization of individuals who prefer science and reason over religious dogma and fanaticism. We've enjoyed the non-religious community of Northeast Florida and beyond since 1998. We now begin our 26th year! We are also the proud Jacksonville chapter of the American Humanist Association. We're on Facebook, X, Meet-up, Instagram, and YouTube! We meet socially through our Secular Sunday gatherings in the Park and our Book and Movie discussion groups. Then there's the FreeThinker Newsletter, to which we invite your readership, feedback, and submissions. It's free and you may subscribe at our website FCFS.ORG. We're all volunteers, yet we incur expenses. Largely promotion. We have promoted online, on the radio, and in print. If you know of a viable place for us to promote, please share it with us. We also have some associated costs for our website and fees for regulatory compliance as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. So, if you can see your way clear to offer a membership donation of $20, $50, or any dollar amount, you'll be part of the reason we're able to continue our public outreach. We are tremendously grateful for all who have become members and made donations. We need you and we appreciate you. We are especially grateful for those dearly departed who have left a lasting legacy for us in their wills. We've enjoyed an excellent lineup of speakers in 2023. You may view each presentation on our YouTube Channel. We look forward to a provocative lineup of exciting speakers in 2024. But first we'll kick off the New Year with our third Freethought Free-for-all. No guest speaker. No holds barred. No topic off limits. Just us, to discuss whatever comes to mind. Please join the discussion. Then in the following months we look forward to singer/songwriter/activist Holly Near. And, Dr. Adam Rosenblat, biology Professor at UNF, will discuss the disastrous effects of climate change. And, Gender Scientist, Dr. An Goldbauer. And, “The Thinking Atheist” and former Christian Minister, Seth Andrews. Also, Florida State Representative District 13, Angie Nixon. These are some of our guest speakers scheduled in 2024. Every presentation is followed by a lively and informative Q&A discussion. Sign on to our Meet-up page. Sign-up for our Newsletter and email announcements at our website. Stay in touch. A personal note of deep appreciation for the continued good work of our Board Members, our Committee Members, and all those who support the First Coast Freethought Society. with gratitude,
______
Ken Hurley, President
The First Coast Freethought Society;
and the Jacksonville Chapter of
The American Humanist Association
Care to share your thoughts? Please send comments, corrections, concerns, and well-wishes tokenhurley88@gmail.comMeanwhile, be well!
In Memoriam: Roger Curry (9/15/46 - 12/20/23)
Roger Curry, a member of the FCFS since 2010, died on December 20, 2023. A Jacksonville native, he attended Jacksonville University and LaGrange College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics in 1972. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1965 to 1988 as a Cryptologic Technician and worked for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as an Emergency Communications Officer from 1973 until he retired in 2003. Roger was also an avid amateur astronomer and a member of many years of the Northeast Florida Astronomical Society, taking many trips across the USA and around the globe to see special astronomical events, including solar and lunar eclipses, as well as partaking in a variety of cultures while doing so. Roger was very knowledgeable on a variety of topics, particularly in the sciences, providing very able assistance to the Jacksonville Atheist Meetup (JAM) trivia team, of which he was a regular participant for ten years. He also participated in many JAM and FCFS social events. As a regular at the monthly Sunday morning meetings at Losco Park, he regaled us with his wisdom, exploits, and a multitude of jokes, often corny but still worth a few chuckles.
Among the details about his life he shared with us was that he had been raised a Christian and firmly believed the dogma he had been taught for much of his life until about 1990, when he found the supernatural aspects of the religion incompatible with his ever-increasing understanding of science and the way the world actually works. Roger was a good, very sociable friend, whose presence will be profoundly missed by those who knew him. Our sympathies to his family and other loved ones.
A Gathering of Freethinkers
Fred W. Hill
Over the river and through the city, to the Olive Garden we rode, to partake in repast, drink, socialize and be merry, we freethinkers of northeast Florida, celebrating the winter solstice and a quarter century of our society, thinking and saying and writing as we please, and as our federal constitution allows, about god, son & holy spirit, a trio beyond the beliefs of most of us, although so many others do their utmost to impose them upon everyone.
Much has changed in two score and five years, members come and gone, some to other interests or distant locales. Many others have passed beyond this mortal coil, as is the ultimate fate of all who live.
However, we trust, none have gone to heaven or to hell, realms solely of human imagination.
What the future portends we cannot be absolutely certain. Yet we can imagine a better world, where reason prevails over greed, dogma, bigotry and fear bred of superstition. Where science is used to lighten our way rather than to atomize our bodies.
We may never see such a utopia, but perhaps as we join together, making what small steps we can muster, to support one another in good cause, and do our part to make humankind, alias Homo sapiens the “wise man” kinder and wiser.
We may be dreamers, as Lennon sang so long ago, but we’re not the only ones, and we invite all who share our worldview to join our freethought society. And enjoy some cake!
The First Coast FreeThinker is published for all freethinkers and potential freethinkers.
Readers are invited and encouraged to share our original material, provided they give credit to this publication. The officials of the FCFS are not responsible for opinions or other statements expressed in this newsletter. The FreeThinker is intended to convey ideas that stimulate thought and promote discussion on a variety of subjects.
2024 Copy Submission Deadlines
Sunday, Jan 28, 2024 - FEBRUARY
Sunday, Feb 25, 2024 - MARCH
Sunday, Mar 24, 2024 - APRIL
Sunday, Apr 28, 2024 - MAY
Sunday, May 26, 2024 - JUNE
Sunday, June 23, 2024 - JULY
Sunday, July 28, 2024 - AUGUST
Sunday, Aug 25, 2024 - SEPTEMBER
Sunday, Sep 29, 2024 - OCTOBER
Sunday, Oct 27, 2024 - NOVEMBER
Sunday, Nov 24, 2024 - DECEMBER
Sunday, Dec 22, 2024 - JANUARY
More Information for Contributors
We welcome submissions. Articles, poetry, etc. should be e-mailed to editor@fcfs.org. Materials must be submitted ELECTRONICALLY. Submissions may be formatted in MS Word, in a text file, or in an e-mail.
Articles no longer than 1,000 words are recommended. Longer articles will be evaluated in terms of whether their importance and degree of interest to our readers warrant publication.
Subject matter must tie in with freethought or with the Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles (found on our website). All accepted submissions are subject to editorial modification (copy editing). Our style guide is The Chicago Manual of Style. Authors, not the First Coast Freethought Society, are responsible for the accuracy of all quotations and for supplying complete references where applicable.
Sleeping Through History
Merrill Shapiro, Trustee and Immediate Past President, National Board of Trustees, Americans United for Separation
of Church and State
Why England Slept was a somewhat popular book in the very early 1940s, a published version of a senior year thesis by a student at Harvard University by the name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Its title is an allusion to another book published in 1938, entitled While England Slept, by a member of the British Parliament whose name was Winston Churchill. Both books addressed the question, “What was the rest of the world doing while Germany fell into authoritarianism and planted the roots of a military machine unparalleled in the late 1930s and early 1940s?” The new year 2024 is an election year. We can sleep through it and watch forces of authoritarianism rise in our midst and snatch away even our “unalienable Rights, … among these … Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In my particular bailiwick, we can sleep and lose our right to hold whatever religious beliefs suit us, as well as the right to have no religious beliefs. We can sleep and find that we are coerced into supporting, with our tax dollars, religious practices that are not our own. We have a lot to lose! We can sleepwalk through the year and spend our time talking about these issues to people who already think as we do. Or we can wake up and, as our Christian neighbors believe they should, “Go tell it on the mountain,” speaking about where we are headed to people who are not like us, those who are too comfortable on the sidelines, those disgusted with politics these days, those who are apathetic, those who are indifferent, those who have lost hope that we will ever be able to “preserve, protect and defend” our beliefs as a participatory democracy. If you don’t have strong feelings about where our country, where our region, or where our community are headed, then let’s not expect to influence anyone at all. Let’s start in our own homes and our own hearts. Yes, Democracy is on the ballot. Let’s not sleep through these trying times.
One dreary yet dreamy winter day during a conversation between David Schwam-Baird and Ken Hurley, these two squabble quibblers decided to pick the bone of contention and share their chit chat with The Freethinker. Titled: Chit and Chat Talk Back. Separate essays, similar thread. We hope you'll enjoy reading both, and know we kindly invite your corrections, comments, and queries.
I asked “Do you know what time it is?” Man looked at his watch and said, “3:36.” Two minutes later I asked the same man, “Do you know what time it is?” Man looked at his watch again and said, “3:38.”
- personal observation
You're supposed to enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon
SLOW TIME
Ken Hurley
One of my life goals has always been to have more time. More time to enjoy what being alive offers. At a young age I realized that for me to want more time as a goal, there must be conditions. Certainly, I do not want to spend any time in the slammer. Too late for that pipedream. One day I may share my experiences hitchhiking around America when I was 17 and my brief time in the pokey. So, I revised my goal to want more quality time. Today, I realize if I cannot get a time extension on my life, say another healthy three hundred years or so, then my goal is to figure out a way for the allotted time I have to move more slowly in an enjoyable way. I understand that the passage of time is relative. If you have ever spent time with certain relatives, then maybe you've discovered how to slow time. But, is it enjoyable? We humans are bound by the unchangeable trajectory of time. Are there any strategies we can employ to perceive time differently allowing us to appreciate each rapidly passing moment in a way that makes the good moments last longer? So I followed a powerful suggestion by eating “... one of those squat, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines,’ which look as though they had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell.” As Marcel Proust describes them, and made them forever popular in his epic work, In Search of Lost Time, aka Remembrance of Things Past. My memories were jogged just by entering the bakery of my childhood. The madeleine biscuit is a bit larger than a walnut yet soft and spongy, with a quality and potential to stir powerful memories of things past. I had my first madeleine biscuit as a child, brought home by my mom from Hofstetter's Bakery. You may have memories that rise from a bakery too. Maybe, a proper seven-layer cake? My mother, who I am certain had no knowledge of Proust, unwittingly created memories for me that I now realize help slow time. Living within the reality of memories (distorted or other) evoked through the senses by the humble tea-soaked madeleine (mom's preference Orange Pekoe) helps time move more slowly. So, later in life, I bought a box of madeleine biscuits each week for a month and journeyed through fond memories triggered by relishing a madeleine biscuit immersed in Orange Pekoe. This sort of deep mental and emotional involvement in sensations and memories seems to allow for an expansion of time. As it turns out, good memories can encourage a profound appreciation for the present moment. After a while though, the delight of the madeleine biscuit turned into a displeasurable belly ache. So I tried Melba Toast. But I couldn't find any fond memories to help me slow time. There is a phenomenon known as the "flow state," introduced by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (Please repeat his name out loud.) When individuals are fully engaged in an activity that challenges their skills and immerses their attention, they enter a state of flow where they lose track of time. This happens to me when I sit at a piano to compose or play. Or when I hike, write lyrics, poems, or short stories, or doodle. Or when I write what you're reading now. You're likely wondering will this drivel ever end? See, time can move slowly! Anyway, I can get fully absorbed in a focused flow that seems to slow time. Or at least, make me unaware of how fast time truly is. The flow state is mindfulness which cultivates awareness of the present moment, discouraging preoccupation with past or future events. I'm told mindlessness does the same. Ignorance is bliss sort of thing. The focused flow state is different from the madeleine biscuits scenario. Self-awareness can anchor one's attention to the present, foster a deeper connection with lived experiences, which seems to me expands the perceived duration of time. Cultivating mindfulness through practices such as meditation or mindful breathing can ground us in the present and enhance our awareness of time passing. By consciously noticing the finer details of our surroundings and sensations, we can engage more effectively with the present moment, leading to a more fulfilling experience of time. A good trick to slow time happens when you sit quietly with no external distractions and become aware of your breathing, heartbeats, and gentle thoughts. Sit with them for a while each day. Time enjoyably slows. Our perception of time is not solely governed by objective measurements such as a clock or stopwatch. After all, time is merely a human measurement of distance. Our perception of time is shaped by various cognitive and physiological factors. One factor is the "oddball effect." Looking at you, Schwammy! (It's actually a compliment.) The “oddball effect” explains how our perception of time can be distorted by unexpected or novel stimuli. We seek ways to break the mundane monotonous patterns of life. The introduction of an unexpected element, the "oddball," momentarily disrupts life’s predictable patterns, which helps create the illusion of time slowing down. A baseball pitcher and batter understood this well until MLB introduced the pitching time clock in 2023 to help speed the pitcher/batter interchange. Another phenomenon linked to physics and the psychological experience of time is called "time dilation." In situations of extreme danger or heightened emotions, individuals often recall the event as if it were occurring in slow motion, suggesting that this apparent alteration in time perception arises from an increased activation of the amygdala and other related brain mush, which allows for more detailed and vivid memories. One example from my real life is when I drove a taxicab as a part-time job in college. It was midnight and I had just dropped off my passengers at their motel. I was only one minute onto the desolate service road when I saw a car speeding toward me. I was hit head on by a drunk driver doing over 60 mph in a 25 mph zone. As our headlights got closer, just before they smashed, the dark night blindingly brightened until the boom of the crash caused everything to go dark again. My cab was spun around and was pushed 80 feet before it was stopped by a telephone pole. The dashboard collapsed onto my legs as my head crushed through the windshield. No seatbelt. Fortunately, a hard head. I remember my first words were not eloquent, “Oh, shit.” I couldn't open the door but the window was down so I climbed through the window. First thing I noticed, I could stand. That was a relief. Second thing I noticed was that it seemed like it was raining. But I could see stars. Actual stars in the sky! No clouds. I was confused. Next thing I noticed was that my cab was a mangled wreck. It took me a moment to locate the car that hit me. I found it but I couldn't see anyone inside. I couldn't open the doors. As I struggled to figure out what to do, other people arrived. One man came to me in an anxious state yelling, “I saw the whole thing. He ran a stop sign! Mister, are you ok?” We stood face to face. I asked him, “Is it raining?” He said, “Mister, that's your blood running down your face. You better sit down. You might faint.” Well, I didn't sit down. I didn't faint. The bright headlights and “rainy” blood are vivid examples of psychological “time dilation.” The desire to slow down time is not mine alone. Which is why science explores the biological mechanisms that influence our perception of time. Our internal biological clock, known as the circadian rhythm, regulates our sleep-wake cycle and influences our perception of time. Disruptions to our circadian rhythm, such as jet lag, a newborn baby in the house, or unpredictable shift work, can distort our perception of time, making us feel that time has either accelerated or decelerated. Our perception of time is also influenced by how good we feel as determined by the level of dopamine in our brains. I don't want to waste time explaining that dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, which plays an important part in our perception of time. When dopamine levels are elevated, time seems to pass more quickly, while lower dopamine levels result in a slower perception of time. Turns out that I put the dope in dopamine. If I better understood the intricate relationship between dopamine and time perception, it might help me develop appropriate strategies to slow down time. The old adage, “Time flies when you're having fun," seems true. Although, perhaps, time moves at just the right pace. Next time you find yourself needing to kill some time, give me a call. Perhaps, we can spend some time wisely trying to figure out how to slow time enjoyably.
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I Have All the Time in the World
David Schwam-Baird
Time, time, time “See what's become of me “While I looked around for my possibilities “I was so hard to please. - Simon and Garfunkel, A Hazy Shade of Winter
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. - Albert Einstein
I went to a restaurant that serves ‘Breakfast at Any Time.’ So I ordered French toast during the Renaissance. - Steven Wright
Even though I have all the time in the world to write this essay (I’m retired, after all), I have almost no time left to complete it! There’s a looming deadline! In the words of Duke Ellington, “I don’t need more time. I need a deadline!” So, is there any time left? For the last many decades, cosmologists have assumed that our universe is about 14 billion years old. Recent discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope have led some cosmologists to theorize that our universe may be much older than that. In our little corner of that universe, our Earth is approximately 4 billion years old. Our lovely sun is expected to last another 5 billion years, and when she goes, Earth goes with it. Earth creatures of the genus Homo have existed for, perhaps, 2 million years. Creatures of the species Homo sapiens have possibly existed for between 200,000 and 300,000 years. What we laughingly refer to as ‘human civilization’ may have begun 13,000 years ago. This is a LOT of time. Where did all that time come from? Where does the time go? Does knowledge about these vast time spans have any bearing on how we should view our own lives? On how we should be spending our own time? A lucky few among us will live into our 90s with passable physical health and many, if not all, of our marbles. Do those 90+ years matter in the Greater Schemes of Things (in the 14 Billion Year Scheme; or the 4 Billion Year Scheme; or even the 13,000 Year Scheme)? On the face of it, it seems there are two basic ways to answer this question. On the one hand, of the approximately 120 billion humans who have been born in the last 13,000 years, the average person might “know” between 600 to a thousand (relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, baristas). The individual is a drop in the sea of humanity, and a speck on the spectrum of time. For some folks this is a terrifying concept. It seems to say that the individual ultimately means nothing, and that anything that she or he does, or creates, or values, also means nothing. This was how the idea of Eternal Life was born. Eternal Life is the THC Gummy-Bear of the Soul. For others, this is a great comfort, for it means that all of our suffering, pain, stress, and fears are as nothing. These other folks find solace in knowing that a billion years ago, or a billion years hence, those sufferings, pains, stresses, and fears didn’t or won’t exist. But whatever happened a billion years ago, or will happen in another billion years, we are here now. A billion years means nothing when hours, days, weeks, months, and years stretch out ahead of us. Those of us who have reached a ripe old age have trouble remembering details of events that happened thirty years ago. We remember that we were pained by that broken arm, by childbirth or that broken heart way back when, but if we feel it now, that thirty years of time has actually dulled those pains. But we do know what our pains, stresses, and fears are right now. We also know, with at least some degree of certainty, what the pains, fears, and stresses of those surrounding us are. Oh, yes, and we know about joy, thrills, and wonderments, too. Can these pains be shortened? These fears mitigated? Those joys expanded? The wonderments deepened? Let’s not be too cute about all this. The temptation is to platitudinize about the value of the little time we do have. “Oh, my dears! Let us make the most of our time on Earth!” Oy? Do admonitions like this really help us? To what extent will my life be even marginally improved by the lesson from a motivational poster with a cute kitten hanging from tree branch (“Hang in there, baby!”), or by watching a half hour of a Suze Orman special (Ugh!)? Tomorrow, I will still have those debts to worry about, and that dentist appointment, and I still haven’t finished working out those figures for the boss. Ah, Time! Yes, we can say that time is valuable. We sometimes even talk about time as if it were a commodity. “Can I have a moment of your time?” You can’t really do this. You can help me out by babysitting for me so that I can run to the store. But you cannot sell me an hour of your time so that I’ll have more time next Tuesday to finish a project. It is often the universe that conspires against us here. All those billions of people I alluded to earlier are using up the same time you are using, and they have little regard for your bit of it. They will impinge upon your time with impunity. They will ring the doorbell while you are in the shower. They will call you when you are up on the ladder wrestling with the gutters. They will demand that you work this weekend when you had plans to visit Uncle Teddy and Aunt Pearl. (Oh, maybe that was a good thing?) Time waits for no one, as the saying goes. And everyone else wants to waste the time you have. We can be mindful, sure. But when crunch time comes, and we have to finish the job or get to our destination, time will still conspire against us, as will all those other people who are using up the same time. We will often find that we have to wait for another time to work on our mindfulness.
Please offer any comments be they fast or slow to editor@fcfs.org Thanks for reading!
Now, Our Correspondent in Thailand...
Eating Fido: The Three-Pronged Motivation for Veganism
Steven Lance Stoll
I chose to write about this topic as we all begin a new year and many are making resolutions for their lives. I will do my best not to make this preachy or in any way insulting to people. I write about this issue fully committed for myself, but very aware that it is a very minority position. Of all my columns, I’d especially enjoy feedback on this one; I’d enjoy hearing your opinions, opposition, and rationale on all sides of the issue. The three-pronged motivation is Health, Morality, and Climate.
My mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in April of 1984. She was a two-pack-a-day cigarette smoker for 4 decades at that time, and we all focused on what could be done to save her life! She was one of those people who verbalized her intent to “beat” cancer, but anyone who knew her as I did could see that this was just lip service and that she was terrified and was essentially already gone. But she did put up the good fight, for whatever that’s worth. She did the chemo and lost her prized long, thick black hair. She did radiology and vomited and did everything else the doctors provided except morphine, which scared her. Strangely enough, the night before she died we convinced her to take morphine and after one dose my dad and I had a remarkable night with her as she carried on her funny and playful self. I suppose the relief of pain for the first time in 6 months afforded her one more day as her old self. The next day the morphine didn’t provide much relief and she died that night. From that April I began to read everything I could about cancer and cancer treatments. The traditional chemo, radiology, and surgical approaches and the other than medical, like Laetrile, diet, coffee enemas, and such. Much of this “treatment” and advice was the fringe of the fringe and made little to no scientific sense. My mom would only follow the advice of her oncologist, so my research was pretty much for myself alone. The doctor was giving her constant hope that his treatment was working. Once when I was visiting, I pulled him aside and told him I worked in the medical world (in Ophthalmic surgery) and that I could handle the truth. Boy, this was not a good thing for me to say, because he laid it out in all its horrific detail for me. “These patients (not “your mother”) respond to one type of chemo agent for a while, then it doesn’t work so we try another until none work, then, thankfully they get pneumonia and expire,” he told me!
In my exploration of the disease of cancer, in the days before the internet, I went through dozens of books in the library. I read about work being done in Switzerland and elsewhere in the world, as well as the Laetrile studies in Mexico and the traditional medical research in the U.S. I read about the causes of cancer, my mom’s variety excluded as we clearly knew from where it came. Two areas became of great interest to me, environmental factors and those related to diet. There was a great deal of agreement in the literature about causal factors for various cancers that were contracted due to different toxic elements people were exposed to in the environment:
Aflatoxins, Aristolochic Acids, Arsenic, Asbestos, Benzene, Benzidine, Beryllium, 1,3-Butadiene, Cadmium, Coal Tar and Coal-Tar Pitch, Coke-Oven Emissions, Crystalline Silica (respirable size), Erionite, Ethylene Oxide, Formaldehyde, Hexavalent Chromium Compounds, Indoor Emissions from the Household Combustion of Coal, Mineral Oils: Untreated and Mildly Treated, Nickel Compounds, Radon, Second-hand Tobacco Smoke (Environmental Tobacco Smoke), Soot, Strong Inorganic Acid Mists Containing Sulfuric Acid, Thorium, Trichloroethylene, Vinyl Chloride, Wood Dust
The other area of agreement was about dietary factors in cancer development, or the protective and prophylactic elements of diet. One factor that I hadn’t been aware of was the connection of high intakes of animal products, particularly animal fat from red meat, to the development of various types of cancer. Whether traditional medicine or the coffee enema crowd, all seemed to agree meat was a major factor. Processed meat includes bacon, ham, lunch meats, meat jerky, hot dogs, salami, and other cured meat products. Any amount of processed meat and more than around 18 ounces of fresh meat per week are most strongly linked with a higher risk of cancer. Alcoholic beverages. Some of the best foods to eat during chemotherapy or other cancer treatments are plant-based proteins. They offer the highest levels of vitamins and minerals. This means eating lots of vegetables as well as beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds. I have never liked the idea that an animal has to die to provide me a meal. As a child I would never eat anything that “looked” like an animal. I wouldn’t eat chicken, fish, or beef with bones, muscles or eyes still on it. By the time I was in high school, hamburger, canned tuna, and chicken salad were about all the types of meat I’d eat. Once at 18 I visited a cousin in New York who asked me if I liked lobster. I told her I did, and ate it when I had received good grades in school as a reward from my dad! But… to me, lobster was the tail… ONLY. My cousin took me to a restaurant that put bibs on us and laid out a complete large lobster cadaver completely covering our plates. My cousin went on to cut, break, and suck through that corpse with complete enjoyment as I surgically cut from the tail only. Later that year I decided I was going to become a vegetarian. It only lasted a few months, until I got really ill from living on virtually only carbohydrates, as I hadn’t balanced my diet at all.
Recently there is a global advocacy movement for Vegan diets that seems to be very much centered in the United Kingdom. Much of the online advocacy is promoted on YouTube and elsewhere by British vegans. I’ve watched a lot of the debates and the confrontational tactics of these activists. I remember years ago confronting PETA activists who were protesting against animal research in medicine while they continued to eat meat and wear leather belts! Consistency has never been a great virtue among activists, or humans in general, which is why cognitive dissonance is such a common trait among most. The Vegan activists strike me, though, as very consistent but ill-advised in their effort. While their arguments about the immorality of eating animals and its detriment to health are sound, the attachment of people to the taste and flavor of meat eating is rock solid. While I agree with the arguments of vegans about the cruelty and immorality of eating animals and treating them badly, I think it is a lost cause to expect all people to give it up. The ALL OR NOTHING approach does not work, and comparing eating animals to abusing children is a stretch and offensive. The logic is interesting but I guess it depends on what the goal is. If your goal is to reduce animal suffering, much more suffering could be reduced by getting millions of people to eat LESS meat, than to get a handful of people to buy into your philosophy completely. The same could be argued for reducing climate change. If you can get millions of people to reduce their consumption of meat to help animals and the environment, as well as to benefit their own health, once they begin to eat vegan, to discover delicious ways to cook vegan, it might become habitual and could very well lead to full-time vegan diets. So many people hear about the cruelty to animals and how they are sentient beings, and end by commenting how delicious a steak is! You can voice a logically constructed and factually correct argument for veganism from a moral point of view and still lose the debate! There is little difference between the family dog and a farm raised pig, but no one wants to eat Fido! Americans respond to this argument in ridiculously inconsistent and conflicting ways. In France you find horse and rabbit in the grocery store, as well as internal organs as meat. Here in Thailand people eat high-protein, low-fat insects as part of the diet. You never see this in America. They criticize the Vietnamese for eating dogs, while they eat cows, chickens, pigs, deer…what’s the difference? To me as a vegetarian, there is no difference, an animal is an animal, and if you are going to eat a carnivorous diet all should be on the plate - Fido too! But Americans love animals, at least cute ones! Lamb chops and veal are still eaten, but most people are unaware how cute the animal this meat comes from is! Americans feed the “cute” animal meat and the organs to dogs, cats, and of course the poor and immigrants, but they don’t eat it themselves. As a vegetarian, I find the, “I don’t eat cute animals” position is clearly ridiculous. All animals are sentient and feel the pain of their execution and suffer their confinement; no amount of emotional grappling can change or justify these facts. Animals suffer their captivity and their death so people can enjoy the flavor of their bodies. One can accept that as a fact and feel comfortable with it, or they can accept it and refuse to contribute to it. The argument that one NEEDS to eat animals is not an accurate debate point. Humans are omnivores not carnivores… a lion REALLY needs to eat animals to survive, humans don’t. There are other sources for all the vitamins, minerals, and other components of living tissue, and most of it is actually superior for our health. I promised not to be preachy, so I have to admit that my love of the flavor of cheese keeps me benefitting from the enslavement of cows, and I know all of the horrible tactics done for me to get dairy. While I don’t approve, I admit this cognitive dissonance, but assure you I will leave animal-based cheese as soon as a plant-based alternative comes out that is as good. I do try them all the time! There is a plant-based ice cream outlet in Bangkok that is delicious, and I’d eat only it all the time if it were available for me to get in the grocery. I have also had delicious vegan cheeses at vegan restaurants, but again the products are not readily available.
So, with my prior interest in not killing animals, the information I learned about cancer that decade or so later made it motivational for me to commit to a vegetarian diet, and I have for the past 39 years now. I have tried a couple times to go vegan with little success. The meat substitutes aren’t necessary for me; I do use some soy protein like hamburger meat in dishes, but haven’t found a cheese substitute that works for me. So instead I have cut way down on my cheese and egg intake. I have an egg maybe once a week, but can enjoy soy similarly and I haven't had dairy milk in decades, favoring soy for my coffee, although I admit to enjoying ice cream now and then. The tens of thousands of animals I have not eaten in the 39 years of being vegetarian have benefitted animals, and my health up to now has been exceptional. It is important to realize that not eating meat is not simply beneficial to health with reference to cancer. The medical data is rife with information linking meat eating to other diseases like the leading cause of death, heart disease, also diabetes, stomach ailments, and many others. While protein is necessary for life, animal tissue protein carries with it a great deal of well-known medical complications and conditions.
As I studied and taught about climate change, sustainability, and our planet, it became more and more clear the role that meat eating plays in the destruction of our climate and its impact on the ability of humans to survive on this planet. Half of the farmland is dedicated to raising feed crops for farm animals rather than people, and the waste from these animals is poisoning the land and the water all over the earth. Methane from the raising of beef alone does as much damage as all of the automobiles on the planet. The tens of billions of chickens, pigs, cows, and other animals we raise and slaughter for food annually account for around 15 percent (automobiles are 17%, but as electric cars take over the automotive world this number will quickly reduce) of global greenhouse gas emissions. We are approaching 10 billion human beings on the planet, and a billion or more still lack potable water and live under virtual starvation conditions; it certainly would be a better use of land to grow food for people without polluting fresh water than to grow feed crops for cows. Farming advocates tell us that a person needs ¼ acre of land to grow enough food to sustain them, while a cow requires an entire acre. When permaculture is combined with poultry, fruit trees, and possibly aquaponics, the quarter acre can not only support one person but contribute to the support of several others. If we combine pastures used for grazing with land used to grow crops for animal feed, livestock accounts for 77% of global farming land. Imagine if that could be reduced significantly, and the land used to grow food for people using clean and sustainable modern farming methods. So, the reality of the fast-food meat-focused diet leaves the vast majority of humanity to get its food from only 13% of available farmland. No wonder so many are fighting starvation.
In conclusion, do you have to immediately become a vegan so that you can prolong your life and save the planet? While every vegan certainly contributes to the benefit of the planet and their own health, what would be more valuable is this: if, knowing the benefits of eating less meat to personal health, the lives of animals, and to the slowing of climate change, every person would reduce the amount of animal based protein they consume. Meatless Monday, or a meatless month as the Buddhists adhere to in Thailand, would go a great way to reducing animal suffering, improving human health, and slowing climate change. Of course, a 50% reduction in meat consumption would go further, and huge numbers adopting veganism would be better still. I’ve been reading a lot about meatless alternatives that science is developing, and once the barrier of taste and texture is achieved and a meatless product is produced that looks, feels, and tastes like meat, huge numbers of people will make the choice. The $100 vegan hamburger isn’t gonna do it, though!
Legislation affects our daily lives, whether the legislation is local, state, or nationally originated. We believe it is important to understand which legislation is upcoming so our voices can be heard, whether it is yay or nay.
Please have a peek at the ADVOCACY OVERVIEW page on our website. This page is maintained by David Schwam-Baird, Advocacy Committee Chair, who keeps us apprised of current and pending legislation relevant to the First Coast Freethought Society. Click here to learn more: https://fcfs.org/advocacy-overview/
Further Reading for Freethinkers
Our readers may also want to check out current or past issues of the following magazines, which may be found online or in retail outlets such as Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. These are just some of the sources for news and opinion available to the freethought/skeptic/atheist community:
First Coast Freethought Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 550591, Jacksonville, FL 32255-0591 http://fcfs.org Phone # (904) 274-3125
Statement of Purpose
The First Coast Freethought Society, Inc. is a charitable, educational, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization dedicated to supporting nonreligious persons in the Northeast Florida area and promoting a nontheistic approach to everyday life.
Membership
If you share our world view and would like to be a part of the FCFS, we encourage you to join.
For information on all of our activities, please join the First Coast Freethought Society Meetup Group. https://www.meetup.com/FirstCoastFreethoughtSociety/ You don't need to be a member to attend these activities! Please let us know if you have a suggestion for a speaker program or other event. Let's make it happen!
FCFS Board Members
President - Ken Hurley
Vice President - Jeanette Emerson
Secretary - Madeline Sims
Treasurer - Stephen Peek
At-Large - Fred Hill
At-Large - David Schwam-Baird
At-Large - Dian Sheer
Past President - Mark Renwick
FCFS members are invited to attend our quarterly board meetings. The meetings for 2024 are: January 7, April 7, July 7, and October 6 from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm. All meetings are held on Zoom. If interested in attending, please contact firstco@fcfs.org.
Committee Chairs
Newsletter - Fred Hill
Program - Jeannette Emerson & Lance Stoll
Advocacy - David Schwam-Baird
Membership - Dian Sheer
FCFS volunteer staff may be reached via e-mail at info@fcfs.org.
For meeting details and to RSVP to the First Coast Freethought Book & Movie Discussion Group, please join our Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/humanistbookgroup/
First Coast Freethought Book & Movie Discussion Group
WHERE: Barnes and Noble Booksellers-Mandarin, 11112 San Jose Boulevard Suite 8 · Jacksonville, FL
Over the course of more than three decades as an American diplomat, William J. Burns played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time—from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post–Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post–9/11 tumult in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran.
In The Back Channel, Burns recounts, with novelistic detail and incisive analysis, some of the seminal moments of his career. Drawing on a trove of newly declassified cables and memos, he gives readers a rare inside look at American diplomacy in action. His dispatches from war-torn Chechnya and Qaddafi’s bizarre camp in the Libyan desert and his warnings of the “Perfect Storm” that would be unleashed by the Iraq War will reshape our understanding of history—and inform the policy debates of the future. Burns sketches the contours of effective American leadership in a world that resembles neither the zero-sum Cold War contest of his early years as a diplomat nor the “unipolar moment” of American primacy that followed.
Ultimately, The Back Channel is an eloquent, deeply informed, and timely story of a life spent in service of American interests abroad. It is also a powerful reminder, in a time of great turmoil, of the enduring importance of diplomacy.
Jeanette Emerson and Lance Stoll, Program Co-chairs
Our meeting next month is Monday, February 19, 2024 at 6:30 pm when we will host singer and activist Holly Near. A lively Q&A is guaranteed or your money back! (It’s free.)
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freethought and secular humanism in this community
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Your bequest will ensure that the FCFS continues to be a beacon for freethinkers
on the First Coast and remains a vital voice of reason in Northeast Florida.
You can designate FCFS as the full or partial beneficiary of your will, retirement, brokerage, or bank account. Naming FCFS as a beneficiary, and using other assets not subject to income tax to make gifts to your heirs, is a savvy way to support the ones you love without affecting your current lifestyle or your family’s security.
If you have already included FCFS in a bequest or other planned gift, we hope you will let us know so that we can properly thank you and recognize you. Your willingness to be listed as a member encourages others to follow your example, but we would also honor your wish to remain anonymous.
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Ken Hurley, PO Box 550591, Jacksonville, FL 32255-0591 or
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Upcoming Freethought Events
Sunday, January 28 - Submission deadline for the February 2024 FreeThinker.
Monday, February 19 - FCFS online, virtual meeting - on Zoom
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astounding levels of immigration. To the unending American epidemic of gun violence. To the predictable pregnancy predicament of Kate Cox. It feels like the year in which America slipped further into terminal decline. 
Sign on to our Meet-up page. Sign-up for our Newsletter and email announcements at our website. Stay in touch. 
society, thinking and saying and writing as we please, and as our federal constitution allows, about god, son & holy spirit, a trio beyond the beliefs of most of us, although so many others do their utmost to impose them upon everyone.
rust, none have gone to heaven or to hell, realms solely of human imagination.
can muster, to support one another in good cause, and do our part to make humankind, alias Homo sapiens the “wise man” kinder and wiser.
n sang so long ago, but we’re not the only ones, and we invite all who share our worldview to join our freethought society. And enjoy some cake!
Both books addressed the question, “What was the rest of the world doing while Germany fell into authoritarianism and planted the roots of a military machine unparalleled in the late 1930s and early 1940s?”
So I followed a powerful suggestion by eating 
Csikszentmihalyi. (Please repeat his name out loud.) When individuals are fully engaged in an activity that challenges their skills and immerses their attention, they enter a state of flow where they lose track of time. This happens to me when I sit at a piano to compose or play. Or when I hike, write lyrics, poems, or short stories, or doodle. Or when I write what you're reading now. You're likely wondering will this drivel ever end? See, time can move slowly! Anyway, I can get fully absorbed in a focused flow that seems to slow time. Or at least, make me unaware of how fast time truly is.
Cultivating mindfulness through practices such as meditation or mindful breathing can ground us in the present and enhance our awareness of time passing. By consciously noticing the finer details of our surroundings and sensations, we can engage more effectively with the present moment, leading to a more fulfilling experience of time. A good trick to slow time happens when you sit quietly with no external distractions and become aware of your breathing, heartbeats, and gentle thoughts. Sit with them for a while each day. Time enjoyably slows.
dilation." In situations of extreme danger or heightened emotions, individuals often recall the event as if it were occurring in slow motion, suggesting that this apparent alteration in time perception arises from an increased activation of the amygdala and other related brain mush, which allows for more detailed and vivid memories.
doors. As I struggled to figure out what to do, other people arrived. One man came to me in an anxious state yelling, “I saw the whole thing. He ran a stop sign! Mister, are you ok?” We stood face to face. I asked him, “Is it raining?” He said, “Mister, that's your blood running down your face. You better sit down. You might faint.” Well, I didn't sit down. I didn't faint. The bright headlights and “rainy” blood are vivid examples of psychological “time dilation.”
5 billion years, and when she goes, Earth goes with it. Earth creatures of the genus Homo have existed for, perhaps, 2 million years. Creatures of the species Homo sapiens have possibly existed for between 200,000 and 300,000 years. What we laughingly refer to as ‘human civilization’ may have begun 13,000 years ago.
this really help us? To what extent will my life be even marginally improved by the lesson from a motivational poster with a cute kitten hanging from tree branch (“Hang in there, baby!”), or by watching a half hour of a Suze Orman special (Ugh!)? Tomorrow, I will still have those debts to worry about, and that dentist appointment, and I still haven’t finished working out those figures for the boss.
when you are up on the ladder wrestling with the gutters. They will demand that you work this weekend when you had plans to visit Uncle Teddy and Aunt Pearl. (Oh, maybe that was a good thing?) Time waits for no one, as the saying goes. And everyone else wants to waste the time you have. We can be mindful, sure. But when crunch time comes, and we have to finish the job or get to our destination, time will still conspire against us, as will all those other people who are using up the same time. We will often find that we have to wait for another time to work on our mindfulness.
central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time—from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post–Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post–9/11 tumult in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran. 
