Exciting news from the FTFK group! In October the FTFK group got together for our kids to show their creativity and create Humanlight holiday designs to be submitted into a national competition run by the Humanlight organization.

Well, we just found out a couple of days ago that three of our kids were winners! Not only do they each win prizes but their designs will be put on merchandise (holiday cards and ornaments) that will be sold nationally. How cool is that!?

The FTFK group will be participating in the Humanlight celebration on December 20th this year.

Why are so many "Christians" so eager to outlaw gay love and gay marriage? Some even claim that marriage is a "sacred" institution. Yet the average marriage lasts less than eight years, while half of all marriages end in divorce. Ambrose Bierce defined love as a "temporary insanity curable by marriage."

Where:
Jack Quinn's Irish Alehouse and Pub
21 S Tejon St
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 385-0766

Time:
6:30 PM November 19th

Swing on by and join Drinking Skeptically for some good Irish pub food, drinks, and great conversations. We will be meeting at Jack Quinn's Irish Alehouse. Ask the front desk hostess to find out which table we are seated at. There is dollar parking at the Plaza of the Rockies, which is one block south from the pub.

Everyone is welcome even if you do not drink.

Don't forget to sign up!

Location: 315 East Costilla in Colorado Springs

John Patrick Michael Murphy, one of the founders of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, will be giving a talk about "The Early Days of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs."

More than two hundred years ago, We the People created a democratic republic, the United States of America (US), founded upon the Enlightenment ideas of democracy, secularism, separation of powers and human freedom. Thousands of Americans fought, suffered and died in the Revolutionary War – and many wars thereafter – establishing and protecting the US Constitution and the civil, human and political freedoms its Amendments define.

By the time you read this, the United State's 2008 Election will probably be over. Thanks to President George W. Bush (rejected by popular vote in 2000 and prevailing in 2004 in Ohio under rather dubious circumstances), the office of President of the United States is radically different than it was on January 20, 2001.

It is hard to think of anything more deserving of privacy than the human reproductive process. Intimate, beautiful, rewarding, personal and sometimes tragic, human sex and reproduction are among the few places where the government has yet to insert its sticky fingers. Still, a small but historically violent group of what appear to be religious fundamentalists demand that the government codify their religious beliefs by regulating the reproductive processes of the People of the United States.

As reported in the Gazette, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (ffrf) has put up one of its billboards in Colorado Springs, on Academy between Dublin and Woodmen.

The billboard itself simply says "Imagine No Religion". "This is an alternative message that people need to hear in Colorado Springs, the hotbed of the Christian right," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the ffr.

Where were you the night the first African American President was elected?

Where were you the night of the greatest election race in living memory?

Where were you the night of one of the most inspiring, articulate, grateful, humble and powerful speeches - you will ever hear?

Where were you the night of one of the most gracious, articulate, conciliatory speeches from a losing candidate - you will ever hear?

I know where my kids were. They were watching history - and they'll never forget it.

Remember this night.

The hike this Saturday will be Section 16 - also know as the Palmer loop trail. This is a easy to moderate hike to go up but quite steep coming back down. There is also a very nice side trail overlooking Crystal Park that we will probably want to take.