WELCOME

TO THE JEFFERSON CENTER, A COMMUNITY OF

 ATHEISTS, HUMANISTS AND OTHER FREETHINKERS

IN THE ROGUE VALLEY OF SOUTHERN OREGON

WE INVITE YOU to participate in all of our activities.  Please use the "Programs" tab on the left

vertical menu to learn of our educational and social events.  To join The Center, use the "Membership"

tab on the left vertical menu.

"We stand for nothing together...except for the importance of reason, evidence, and

science in understanding the world.

 We hold a common morality that ties society together, and as the more gregarious

subset of the freethought community (the less gregarious are staying home) we also believe

in the importance of coordinated communal activity.

 We'd all like to live in a more rational world, where our leaders made political decisions based on evidence

rather than faith, where secular education was paramount, where we recognized the common humanity

of everyone on the planet and worked to make this world a better one, free of the illusion of

another world beyond."

                                                     ---Paul Zachary (PZ) Myers

UPCOMING EVENTS

JULY SALON

  The July Salon Features Two Speakers

                                                             From TED Talks 

Susan Blackmore studies memes--those self-replicating "life forms" that spread themselves via human consciousness. 

We've now headed, she believes, toward a new form of meme, spread by the technology we've created, temporarily

named a "teme."  Her talk on "Memes and 'Temes'" will begin the Salon program on Sunday, July 25th at 4 p.m. at

The Jefferson Center, 208 Oak Street, Suite 101 in downtown Ashland.  She comes to us via the Internet site of TED,

a non-profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.  It started out in 1984 looking at three worlds:  Technology, Entertainment,

and Design.  Since then its scope has expanded to presenting major conferences both in the U.S. and abroad.

Susan Blackmore has written about memes, consciousness and near-death experiences; has appeared on British TV

and writes for The Guardian of London.

 J. Craig Venter will present his TED talk "Synthetic Life."  He made

headlines in 2001 for sequencing the human genome.  Two years later he started mapping the ocean's biodiversity. 

And now, in 2010, he's created the first synthetic lifeforms--microorganisms that can produce alternative fuels. 

He heads the J.Craig Venter Institute and is on Time magazine's 2007 list of the "100 Most Influential People in

the World."

Join your fellow Members and Friends for these two stimulating presentations.  Discussion follows. Refreshments

after that.

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THOUGHT FOR THIS MONTH.................. 

 "One of the significant propositions of New Atheism is that faith should not be exonerated, should not be

treated with respect, but rather disputed and, when damaging to individuals or society, condemned. In fact,

we should call faith exactly what it is---absurd. Furthermore, faith results in the disregarding of important

values such as freethinking and objective truth seeking that are needed to solve the problems in modern society." 

                          --- Victor J. Stenger, The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science

                             and Reason (2010)  [Dr. Stenger will be our Jefferson Memorial Lecturer in October.]      

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MONTHLY BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP meets on Tuesday, August 10th at 1 p.m. to discuss Daniel

Dennett's book Freedom Evolves.  New members are cordially welcome.  For more information, contact

Discussion Coordinator, Sandra Coyner coyner@sou.edu

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THE JEFFERSON CENTER IS AN AFFILIATE MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN

HUMANIST ASSOCIATION and AN AFFILIATED LOCAL GROUP OF

THE COUNCIL FOR SECULAR HUMANISM

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The Center is located in the Historic Ashland Armory at 208 Oak Street, Suite 101 Ashland, OR 97520

Office message telephone:  541.488.9450  

THE JEFFERSON CENTER is funded by grants from the Minneapolis Foundation, the City of Ashland Economic and

Cultural Grant program, the Schwab Charitable Trust, from individual donors, and from Members of The Jefferson Center. 

Your contributions are gratefully accepted.  We are a non-profit organization with 501 (c) (3) status under the laws of the

Internal Revenue Service, therefore your contributions are tax-deductible.

[Web pages updated 07/16/10] 

Webmaster:  Bob Semes