I am happy to announce that we officially have a keynote speaker for our 3rd Annual Iowa Secularists Conference. Lori Lipman Brown, the Director of the Secular Coalition for America, will be joining us as our keynote speaker.

“Lori Lipman Brown is a former Nevada State Senator, private practice lawyer and law professor. Her legislative record in the arenas of public education, mental health care and the repeal of consensual sex crimes resulted in her being named Civil Libertarian of the Year by the Southern Nevada chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Legislator of the Year by the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Brown has been a frequent political commentator on television and radio and a regular columnist in a variety of print media.”

-from the Secular Coalition website at http://www.secular.org/staff.html.

Mark your calendars for July 12th and I’ll send more details as well as information on how to register as it becomes available. Thank you to those who have sent ideas about conference sessions!

Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 PM

Zio Johno’s, Marion
755 7th Ave
Marion , IA 52302

We will have another round of fabulous conversation and expanding our secular social circles. For more information and to RSVP please visit the Meetup site here.

Tuesday, February 12th, UNI Freethinkers (UNIFI) meeting
GABSYV (Campus Edition) at the Hemisphere Lounge UNI Campus in Cedar Falls from 7-11. Topic: What’s Wrong With Christianity?

Thursday, February 14th - Saturday, February 16th, Iowa City Darwin Day. For more information, please visit the website here.

Thursday, February 14th, Iowa City Darwin Day: Live From Prairie Lights book reading - Massimo Pigliucci will read from his recent book, Making Sense of Evolution.

Friday, February 15th, Iowa City Darwin Day: Lectures to the scientific community, 101 Biology Building
3:00 Massimo Pigliucci, “Making sense of evolution: the conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology.”
4:00 Martha McClintock, “Broken Ties or Alternative Strategies? Effects of social isolation on fertility and survival.”
6:00 Dinner at Linn Street Café, Advance tickets required, limited seating available

Saturday, February 16th, Iowa City Darwin Day: The Main Event - Public Talks, Macbride Auditorium
1:00 Christopher Brouchu, “The Dead Speak: What we learned from the Tyrannosaurus.”
2:00 Martha McClintock, “Social Isolation and Breast Cancer: Psychosocial Regulation of Gene Expression”
3:00 Massimo Pigliucci, “What’s science got to do with it? When scientists misspeak about religion.”
4:00 Panel Discussion, Drs. Brouchu, McClintock, and Pigliucci
Reception

Tuesday, February 21st, Cedar Rapids Meetup. Details to come. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Thursday, February 21st, Des Moines Meetup at Panera Bread,
4150 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines at 7pm. For more information or to RSVP visit the website here.

Thursday, February 21st, Iowa City/Coralville Meetup at Old Chicago in Coralville at 7pm. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here. *Note that this is the 3rd Thursday of the month instead of the 2nd.

Each Tuesday, ISU AAS meeting at 7pm in Ross 125 on the ISU campus, Ames.

Each Saturday, North Iowa Secularists meeting at 10:00am at the Mason City Airport Cafe at Hwy 122 W.

Each Sunday, Des Moines weekly meeting, 12pm Please RSVP on message board. Panera Bread on 42nd St., West Des Moines, in the back room., visit the Meetup site for more details and updates here.

Cedar Falls

• Tuesday, January 15th, UNI Freethinkers (UNIFI) meeting co-sponsored with Kaio Church, “Grab a Brew, Share Your View” at 7:00pm at the Voodoo Lounge in Cedar Falls.

Cedar Rapids

• Thursday, January 17th, Meetup at Leonardo’s Pizza at 7pm. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Des Moines

• Each Sunday, Des Moines weekly meeting, 12pm Please RSVP on message board. Panera Bread on 42nd St., West Des Moines, in the back room., visit the Meetup site for more details and updates here.
• Thursday, January 17th, Meetup at 7pm. This meetup is media night. We will be watching DVD excerpts, you tube clips and anything else people want to share. Bring anything you like as long as it is topical. Location details will come via email to those who RSVP yes. No food so come fed. For more information or to RSVP visit the website here.

Iowa City/Coralville

• Thursday, January 10th, Meetup at Old Chicago in Coralville at 7pm. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.
• Saturday, January 19th, Meetup at Capanna Coffee Co. in downtown Iowa City at 10am. For more information and the RSVP visit the website here.

Mason City

• Each Saturday, North Iowa Secularists, 10:00am on Saturdays at the Mason City Airport Cafe at Hwy 122 W

Tuesday, December 11th: Cedar Falls, UNI Freethinkers (UNIFI) will co-sponsor a meeting with Kaio Church called “Grab a Brew, Share Your View” at 7:00pm at the Voodoo Lounge in Cedar Falls. The topic of discussion will be “What to do with X-mas?” Addressing the Front Lines of the War on Christmas.” Find more details visit the website here.

Thursday, December 13th: Iowa City area meetup at Old Chicago in Coralville. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.
In January, I would like to start a second meeting each month. Please let me know your suggestions for another day and place!

Sunday, December 16th: Des Moines weekly meeting, NOON!!! (NEW TIME) Please RSVP on message board. Panera Bread on 42nd St., West Des Moines, in the back room., visit the Meetup site for more details and updates here.

Thursday, December 20th: Des Moines area meetup at Legends American Grill, 8460 Birchwood Ct., Johnston. For more information or to RSVP visit the website here.

Thursday, December 20th: Cedar Rapids area meetup at Vito’s on 42nd, 4100 River Ridge Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Each Saturday: North Iowa Secularists, 10:00am on Saturdays at the Mason City Airport Cafe at Hwy 122 W

On Tuesday, November 20, at 7:15 PM the Secular Humanists group of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City, 10 S. Gilbert, will host Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, WI. Dan will perform a freethought concert, during which he will discuss the importance of the separation of church and state.
The public is cordially invited to attend this free event.

Thursday, November 8: Iowa City area meetup at Old Chicago in Coralville. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Tuesday, November 13th: Cedar Falls, UNI Freethinkers (UNIFI) will co-sponsor a meeting with Kaio Church called “Grab a Brew, Share Your View” at 7:00pm at the Voodoo Lounge in Cedar Falls. Find more details visit the website here.

Thursday, November 15: Des Moines area meetup at Panera Bread 4150 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines. For more information or to RSVP visit the website here.

Thursday, November 15: Cedar Rapids, Great American God Out Simul-party. For more information and to RSVP visit the website here.

Tuesday, November 20: Iowa City UUSIC Secular Humanists meeting with Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, 7:00 p.m. in the UUSIC Fireside Room at 10 S. Gilbert St.

Weekly
Sunday morning: right now scheduled for Nov. 11th, 10am breakfast meeting in West Des Moines, Panera Bread on 42nd St. in the back room, visit the Meetup site for more details and updates here.

Each Saturday: North Iowa Secularists, 10:00am on Saturdays at the Mason City Airport Cafe at Hwy 122 W

Each Tuesday: ISU Atheists and Agnostic Society, 7:00pm Tuesdays on the ISU campus in Ames, Ross 120.

Christopher Hitchens, recent author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, will be speaking at Iowa State University on Wednesday, October 31st. The event will be at 8pm in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. For more details, please visit the event site here.

The Iowa Secularists are now on both Facebook and Myspace! If you are on either of these sites and would like to join the group there please go to these links at Myspace or Facebook.

Some Iowa Secularists were recently featured in an article by Molly Rossiter, the Faith and Values reporter for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The article focused on the perception of an increased push by atheists and secularists to have their voices heard. You can read the article here.