Category: Past Events

You are cordially invited to our Summer Solstice Luncheon on Saturday, June 26 at 1:30 PM. It will take place at our favorite venue, the Royal East Restaurant, 782 Main Street, Cambridge*.

It is important that you make your reservations by E-mail or telephone before June 23 with a call to our number, (617—547-1497). Leave your name and telephone, and we’ll confirm within days. Now would be just the time to reply here at your computer or dial our number. When you arrive present your check, (for $21.00 per person), and choose your seat.

We always have a good time at these luncheons; and it’s a real pleasure to greet old friends and new. And the Chinese food is varied and plentiful and our hosts, Otto and Ken, are eager to please.

A word on the program of the day: Prof. Mark Lindley, a longtime member and friend of GBH, has just had his 3rd book on an Indian subject published. His original year-long stay at the Atheist Centre to write a book on Gandhi in conjunction with Lavanam, a son of Gora, was financed by HAM. The book documents Gandhi's progression towards a more Humanistic viewpoint under the influence of Gora, who was greatly respected and praised by Gandhi, especially for his social betterment projects. Mark has also published a book about J. C. Kumarappa, a great innovator of the ecological approach to Economics. His latest work, a biography of Gora, the great exponent of Positive Atheism, has just been published by The Gandhi Library. Mark will weave these 3 subjects together for us in what is sure to be a fascinating and informative talk.

*For free parking: The Royal East is on the corner of Windsor and Main. You will be turning Right if you are coming from Mass. Avenue and Left if from Kendall Square. Turning on Windsor travel for one short block. Turn left (important) on State Street and park in the MIT lot on your right.

A true punk-rock philosopher will perform and speak about his life as a humanist musician and scientist! Greg Graffin, the lead singer and songwriter for seminal punk band Bad Religion, will receive the 2008 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism. Graffin, who is also a life sciences professor at UCLA and an expert in religious belief among scientists, will speak about his experience in music and science and his views on humanism in general. The award, presented last year to novelist Salman Rushdie, is sponsored by the Humanist Chaplaincy and Harvard Secular Society. Graffin will follow his acceptance speech with an acoustic performance and a question and answer session. Tickets are available now from the Harvard Box Office: $5 for students, $10 for the general public.

Since forming Bad Religion in 1980 while still in high school, Greg Graffin and Bad Religion have recorded fourteen albums and toured extensively around the world. Hits such as 1988’s Suffer and 1994’s Stranger than Fiction have kept them at the forefront of punk music for almost three decades.

Dan Barker, leading spokesman for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, will speak in Phillips Brooks House, Harvard Yard, on Sunday, April 20 at 1:30 in the afternoon. It will be a talk on "Fighting the Imperial Presidency - Keep Church and State Separate."

His organization, for decades now, has constantly fought the right to be free from government's support of religion, both in the media and through lower jurisdictions up to the Supreme Court.

Visit FFRF.org for an amazing education; their radio programs will enlighten you. Dan Barker will also entertain us at the piano. Attendance is without charge and parking in the Law School lot is free.

Happy Spring from HAM! We have a special announcement in advance of our next newsletter to add to your personal calendars:

The First Annual HAM Spring Equinox Brunch

Sunday March 30, 2008 we invite HAM members and guests to celebrate the arrival of Spring at our first Equinox Brunch. We will gather at Changsho Restaurant (1712 Mass. Ave between Harvard and Porter Square) at 1:00 pm for food and good spirits. Changsho serves an all-you-care-to-eat Asian buffet including Chinese dishes and sushi for $18.95 a person (drinks are extra), and has a semi-private area with large tables we have reserved for the occasion. Payment by cash or check only, please.

Changsho has its own parking lot for customers across the street from the restaurant. There is street parking on Mass, Ave. as well. Please let Tom Ferrick know you are attending by Saturday morning, March 29 so we can fine-tune the reservations.

HAM is following up on our successful Winter and Summer Solstice luncheons in Central Square to add to our Humanist celebrations of the turning of the seasons, without supernaturalism. Please consider attending what promises to be a casual and very social Humanist celebration.