• 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 (1/20/05) & Monday (1/24/05):

1. (Tsunami topics carried over from last week.) The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Indian Ocean coastlines on December 26th is over 150,000.
• Why wasn't an adequate warning system in place? Could a warning system really have saved more lives? What can be done in the future to prevent such loss of life from deadly tsunamis?
• A U.N. official criticized the U.S. of being "stingy" after initially offering only $15 million in aid to the tsunami victims. (This was later raised to $35 and then $350 million in aid money.) Was the criticism about the U.S. being "stingy" in this situation justified? Is the U.S. "stingy" about helping poor countries? Was President Bush too slow in his response to the tsunami crisis?
• How do people of different world views explain the tsunami and the destruction it has caused? How do people that believe in an omnipotent and omnibenevolent deity continue to have faith after a disaster kills so many people and causes so much suffering? Is it dangerous that some theists consider this a sign of the end times and that some theists even thank god for the tsunami and the death it caused?
• Do you think the news media has adequately covered the tsunami disaster? Is the media responsible for the overwhelming number of donations? With the numerous charity organizations available and the danger of internet scams, which charities do you recommend?
2. Discuss the Presidential Inauguration
• Is it inappropriate that $40 million is to be spent on the Presidential Inauguration while violence rages on in Iraq and stuggles continue after the Asian tsunami devastation? Should the inauguration festivities have been canceled or trimmed down?
• A California atheist asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to keep Protestant ministers from saying prayers at President Bush's inauguration. Should official prayers be allowed at presidential inaugurations?
3. OPEN DISCUSSION.

Quote of the week: "Not only does science know why the tsunami happened, it can give precious hours of warning. If a small fraction of the tax breaks handed out to churches, mosques and synagogues had been diverted into an early warning system, tens of thousands of people, now dead, would have been moved to safety. Let's get up off our knees, stop cringing before bogeymen and virtual fathers, face reality, and help science to do something constructive about human suffering." [Richard Dawkins - Source]

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