• 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 (6/17/04):

1. The new Iraqi government wants custody of Saddam Hussein and all other prisoners by the time sovereignty is handed over at the end of this month. Do you think this should and will happen? A poll, requested by the Coalition Provisional Authority last month but not released to the American public, found more than half of Iraqis surveyed believed both that they'd be safer without U.S. forces and that all Americans behave like the military prison guards pictured in the Abu Ghraib abuse photos. Is anyone surprised by these results? Should the U.S. forces leave if the majority of Iraqis want them to? The poll found 63 percent of Iraqis believed conditions will improve when an Iraqi interim government takes over on June 30th. Do you think the conditions will improve?
2. The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down the legal appeal of Dr. Michael Newdow, who challenged the inclusion of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, not on the legal merits of the case but on the more obscure issue of "standing." Do you agree with the court's decision? Was the court trying to avoid the real church-state separation issue? Newdow and other opponents of the reference to "under God" have said they expect new lawsuits to be filed challenging the wording. Do you support future challenges to "under god" references? Will future challenges have a chance?
3. A movie reviewer at Fox News thinks Fahrenheit 9/11 is "a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail." Are you surprised? Will you try and see the film? Does Michael Moore knowingly try and deceive his audience with his films? Michael Moore says he had footage of prisoner abuse in Iraq months before it came out on 60 Minutes II. He says that he decided to stay quiet until his new movie came out because he thought he would be accused of just trying to get publicity for the movie. Do you blame him? If Moore had came out about the abuse earlier, would people have listened? Should Moore's film be given an 'R' rating?
4. A new CDC study found that hanging and other forms of suffocation have overtaken guns as the chief means of suicide among American youngsters 10 to 14 years old. What factors do you think caused this change?

Quote of the week: "Students who are outside the Judeo-Christian tradition should not be pressured by their teachers to put aside their beliefs in order to show love of country. The compelling issues raised by this case won't disappear because of today's action by the Supreme Court." [Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State - Source]

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

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