• INFORMAL DISCUSSION - For the first 30 minutes of the Thursday night forums we will have informal discussion. This will allow for late arrivals, food & drink ordering, and new attendees to become acclimated.
• ANNOUNCEMENTS - Any events, news, or other items that you feel are of interest to the group can be announced at the start of Free Inquiry Forum.

TOPICS for Thursday (3/4/04) and Monday (3/8/04):

1. Discuss the current situation in Haiti. In 1994, Clinton sent 20,000 Marines to Haiti to oversee the return to power of president Aristide who was removed by a military coup. What went wrong? Why did our nation-building effort in Haiti fail? Should the U.S. be involved in nation-building at all? On Monday, Aristide was reported to have fled Haiti and was in South Africa. Was Aristide forced to go into exile by the U.S. military or did he go of his own free will?
2. The California Supreme Court ruled that a Catholic charitable organization must include birth control coverage in its health care plan for workers even though the nonprofit is morally opposed to contraception. Do you agree with this ruling? Will the ruling prompt other states to fashion similar legislation?
3. A doctored photo that made it appear that Vietnam veteran, John Kerry, was appearing alongside actress Jane Fonda has been circulating the internet recently and was on many websites as evidence of Kerry's "anti-American" activities after his war service. How damaging can these bogus photos be to politicians? With advances in technology, altered photos, audio and video have become easier to create and harder to detect. Will this continue to become an increasing problem and what can be done about it?
4. A recent study concluded that half of all young Americans will get a sexually transmitted disease by the age of 25. What are the causes of this trend? What can be done about it?
5. Astronomers have revealed how they came within minutes of alerting the world to a potential asteroid strike last month. On January 13th the 30m object was thought to have a one-in-four chance of hitting the planet within 36 hours. What should scientists do in this type of situation? Tell the world about the uncertain circumstances or wait for more data?

Quote of the week: "In their effort to ban "artificial"--that is, effective--contraception, the Roman hierarchy claims that it violates "the natural law," that any attempt to control human fertility is an impermissible "meddling with life." They don't seem to realize that effective "meddling with death" by science and technology has made a balance of births and deaths imperative today. If science and technology had not "violated the natural law" by stamping out the mass killers--epidemic diseases--we wouldn't need fertility control." [Waldo Zimmermann, "The Plight of the Unwanted Child," 1981]

Send your topic suggestions for an upcoming FiF to: info@freeinquiryforum.com

TOPIC ARCHIVES