• 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 (8/5/04) & Monday (8/9/04):

1. Much of the information that led to the raising of the terror threat level at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old. Are recent terror warnings a political ploy by the White House or legitimate information based on intelligence? Is the Homeland Security Advisory System (the color-coded system that depicts the current risk of terrorist activity) a good idea? Do terror warnings create unnecessary fear? When should the general public be informed about a terrorist threat?
2. There were a series of coordinated bomb attacks on five Christian churches in Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and injuring 50 others in the first attacks targeting the country's Christian minority in a violent 15-month insurgency. Are Christians and other non-muslims less safe now than they were under Saddam Hussein? Will the condemning of the attacks by leading Muslim clerics suppress further acts of violence targeting Christians?
3. Three Tampa Bay city council members walked out rather than listen to an atheist give the opening invocation at City Hall last week. Should an atheist have been invited to give an opening invocation? Should City Council meetings have an opening invocation at all? Was walking out by the 3 city council members a show of discrimination? Is discrimination against non-theists a problem in this country?
4. The 2004 Human Development Index, prepared by the U.N. Development Program, has ranked Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands as the best five countries to live in. The 285-page report uses not just per-capita income but also educational levels, health care and life expectancy in measuring a nation's well-being. The United States was ranked in eighth place, a drop of one position from 2003. Do you agree with these rankings? What are the main reasons that some countries exceed in certain areas while others struggle? In what areas could the United States use the most help in?

Quote of the week: "History - that ever-unfolding, ever-flowering story of human civilization - teaches us that the rights and accomplishments of humanity are the results of its past struggles, and that the road less traveled is many times the highest path to human progress. We therefore invoke this council and all of our leaders to be guided and inspired by the invaluable lessons of history, the honest insights of science, the guileless wisdom of logic, and the heart and soul of our shared humanity - compassion and tolerance." [Excerpt from the opening invocation delivered by Michael R. Harvey of Atheists of Florida at Thursday's meeting of the Tampa City Council - Source]

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