Presented by Roy Speckhardt (Executive Director of the American Humanist Association) and Maggie Ardiente (Director of Development for the American Humanist Association). Roy Speckhardt discusses why a prejudice still exists against the humanist community, where it is commonly assumed that one cannot be good without God. How do we rise above this challenge? What can nontheists learn from the success of similar movements, such as the gay rights movement? Roy identifies three critical areas where we must improve to achieve our goals: greater unity, more community, and the need to increasingly be more vocal in order to achieve our humanist vision. Maggie Ardiente will give an update on the AHA's latest projects to promote humanism at the local and national level. She points out that the American Humanist Association was, for many years, a "philosopher's club" for a small number of people. Today, the AHA is one of the most active secular organizations in the country, working to lobby Congress on humanist issues, promote science and reason in education, protect the church-state wall, protect the rights of nontheists through the courts and build a network of humanist groups across the country--all to represent the growing number of Americans who are "good without God."
Presented by Todd Kimball. 1. Why current media and technology makes it less likely that a person will become employed quickly in a rewarding job. 2. How to turn the job acquisition process from an ordeal into a fun and exciting process. 3. The 5 key influencers that companies look to when they are "hiring". 4. The effective and appropriate way to utilize recruiters or staffing companies in the job acquisition process. 5. How the job acquisition process can benefit you and be applied to other areas of life even when you are not looking for work.
Presented by Rosemary Hardin. This presentation will focus on how to care for your own dead in Oregon (yes, it's legal), and why doing so can be emotionally healing, environmentally friendly and a rich, life-affirming experience.
Presented by Dr. Jeff Seward of Pacific University. He returns to survey the three major strands of the socialist tradition--Marxism, anarchism (or "libertarian socialism"), and social democracy--and offer up an assessment of their future prospects based on their historical achievements and failures. Do any of these strands of the socialist tradition still offer a viable alternative to the contemporary development of globalized capitalism? Does capitalism itself have any viable future if its trajectory cannot be shaped in part by the ongoing relevance of the socialist tradition?