Time: Wednesday, March 2 · 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Location: Centennial Student Union-Minnesota State Mankato Campus room 201

Feel free to sign up on the SMART meetup page, or just show up to the event.

… students followed his most recent visit to the campus by going to the service at which he preaches on Sundays (at a YMCA), where they walked to the front of the room and held up signs with the names and photographs of gay youth who have killed themselves this year after bullying incidents.

This protest, though peaceful, non-confrontational, and merely bringing awareness to the outcome such sermons can cause, is being labeled by some as “anti-Christian”.

Link to Full Article

“U.S. District Court Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin today ruled that the federal statute designating a yearly National Day of Prayer (36 U.S.C. § 119) violates the separation of church and state enshrined in the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.”

Full story here

PZ Myers came out as well, and helped with the raffle.  PZ and Roy both spent time at the after party at Mill Street Tavern, which is actually a very cool bar in downtown Cannon Falls.  They were really great to us and it was a blast.

Lots of turn out from the southern group- there were about 8 or 9 of us there, which is pretty big considering the drive!  In total, there were about 80 people at the show, and we raised more than $600 for the Cannon Falls Food Shelf and the Cannon Falls Public Library.  It was an amazing time!  Cannon Falls Freethinkers, and Ken Kressin- they set this in motion and made it happen.  We are happy to support them and join with them to build a freethinking community!

Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, told City Pages’ Matt Snyders on Thursday that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has diverted funds from the “Support Our Troops” license plate program to his Governor’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, an office that works to connect religious organizations with state funds.

Link to full story

From the article:

What “college standards” do atheists not meet? Are we not equal members of the Concordia community? Do we not share the same rights to express our religious views as those that participate in Sunday Night at East or in Tabernacle?

See everyone at the next meet up.

Come on out to The Hub to celebrate with us.

“As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion.” -Butterfly McQueen

Ms. McQueen also famously said “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ babies!”, but that’s another meet up for another time.

We will have a philosophy game with NO KNOWLEDGE required to play for those who wish to play. Anyone who doesn’t want to play can just hang out and discuss their Freedom From Religion. Or not. Whatever you decide to talk about is fine with us… We’ll also have a few tasty philosophy books from our private collection for lucky folks to take home with them.

The Hub has pretty good food and a fun atmosphere, so you can plan to eat there as well if you’d like. We have the private area upstairs reserved until close, which is 10pm, so feel free to stop by anytime between 6pm and 10pm.

We are, as the name implies, a collection of atheists, realists and thinkers.  Freethinkers.  Humanists.  Deists.  Pagans.  Sometimes Buddhists.  You get the picture.

We are purely a social group, intended for socialization, social networking, and good times.  Find us on Meet Up or Facebook to get the idea and get in on the action.

Join us to keep up to date with events in Southern Minnesota, mostly near the Mankato area.  We will post any freethinking event that may be of interest to our members, and any member can organize an event!

Also, if you have a freethinking blog and are in Minnesota, please email us or comment if you would like to be included on our MN Blogroll.

All sorts of freethinkers were out in full force, even traveling from as far away as Cannon Falls AND the Twin Cities. Holy smokes!  Or rather, Secular smokes!

Freethinkers sat around, talked, ate, drank, and made merry.  Everyone brought a ‘white elephant’ gift and, though some had to be coerced, all participated in the gift exchange.  Tons of great items, from dinosaurs to Kleenex to philosophy and riddle books.  There was a fountain, yo yo, fairy pins, and all sorts of other goods being passed around.

Toward the end of the night, a few brave adventurers were left.  Time to listen to some holiday songs in private, so we cranked up Tim Minchin’s newest atheist holiday classic “White Wine in the Sun”, and of course some classic South Park.

The door to the private room was shut so that everyone could hear the music better, and wouldn’t you know, now everyone was accidentally locked in the room!  (Who knew that the doorknob was busted- must remember to check prior to closing doors in unknown places…) When the host tried to call the bar, they couldn’t hear over the cover band making rock on the stage.  It took a while to get let out, but everyone was pretty content.  The evening ended with much dancing and merriment, some arguing, and also seeing a belly-fruit bearing lady smoking.

All in all, a successful first Meet Up.  Here’s to many more!