• OPEN DISCUSSION - For the first 30 minutes of the Thursday night forums we will have informal open 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 (12/16/04) & Monday (12/20/04):

1. Researchers at Princeton University recently concluded that all humans are capable of committing torture and other “acts of great evil”. It was reported that 25,000 psychological studies involving eight million participants support this finding. The researchers considered the circumstances surrounding how individuals committed seemingly inexplicable acts of abuse in the midst of the US military’s torture of Iraqi inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004. Do you agree with the findings that everyone is a potential torturer? What are the major contributing factors involved? What can be done to prevent rampant acts of torture and abuse like those that occurred at Abu Ghraib?
2. Hanukmas, Chrismukkah or something else? The combining of the winter holidays appears to be gaining popularity. For instance, Hallmark Cards says one of its most popular categories of Hanukkah cards combines Jewish and Christian themes. Cards from a company named Chrismukkah use humor to create a hybrid holiday. Greetings include images of a Christmas tree decorated with dreidels and a menorah filled with candy canes. Do you like the idea of these hybrid holidays? Is it disrespectful to the "true" meaning of each holiday or is it a fun and tolerant way to be more inclusive?
3. Should secular and/or religious symbols be allowed in the schools or government buildings during the holidays? Should holiday songs that have religious themes be sung in the schools?
4. OPEN HOLIDAY DISCUSSION. What do you celebrate and why?

Quote of the week: "It is time to take Christ out of Christmas. It is time to turn the holiday into what is is: a guiltless, egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration." [Leonard Peikoff, op-ed in the Miami Herald, December 23, 1996]

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