Past meetings and events for freethinkers florida in 2025

 

 

 

Jan 5th, Sunday, 1 - 3 PM, Remembering January 6th

Bob Kraus

 

Jan 13th, Monday, 6:00 - 7:30 PM, Conversations That Matter: Death Café II

Hosted by Alan Merson and Kathy Bell.  

Both Alan and Kathy have devoted a good portion of their life work experience in counselling and other related work. Their experience will be very valuable in Death Café. THIS SESSION IS ALREADY FULL.

 

 

OPEN FORUM LAUNCH A SUCCESS

 

The Freethinkers Open Forum kickoff was held on January 23 and was very well received! The next session will be held on Sunday, February 16. If you are really passionate about a topic and want to see it on the agenda, please volunteer to be a moderator on that topic, and the Open Forum Team will consider adding it to the agenda. Let Roger Mack  at freethinkersotow@gmail.com  know. Topics will be emailed about a week before the meeting so you can consider them.  

The topic that seemed to generate the most controversy at the last meeting was Despotic Leaders. Good points were made that we are headed toward despotism in America right now. Others felt that by a historical comparison, we were nowhere near despotism in America at this time. Diverse opinions are valued by freethinkers!

The most thoughtful discussion was the transgender topic. Participants were sincerely perplexed on how to compassionately handle medical and social issues when it comes to children identifying as transgender. Perhaps this is a topic that we as Freethinkers would benefit from exploring further.

Again, please let Roger know if you have any comments or topics for Freethinkers Open Forum.

Several topics will be announced prior to the meeting and each subject will have its own table for an in-depth discussion, so you will be able to choose an issue of interest to you.

 

 

Feb 2nd, Sunday, 1 - 3 PM,

UNDERSTANDING LEGAL CHANGES IN INSURANCE IN FLORIDA

Tracy Fero of Fero and Sons Insurance will provide a powerpoint presentation and has advised that she is reserving most of the time for Q & A. So bring your questions of a general nature about vehicle and home insurance, the process of obtaining insurance and making a claim, flood and hurricane riders, liability, uninsured motorist, and more. Sorry, she will not be able to handles individual insurance matters at this metting.

 

Feb 16th, Sunday, 1 - 3 PM 

FREETHINKERS OPEN FORUM RETURNS

Topics will be emailed around February 9.

 

 

MARCH 12

BLACK HISTORY IN FLORIDA: 

THE ROYAL COMMUNITY AT RISK

FIELD TRIP TO ROYAL RURAL HISTORIC DISTRICT

On March 12, interested Freethinkers will take a field trip to the Royal Rural Historic District near Wildwood, FL, to learn about the origins of Royal as a Black Homesteader Colony, only one of two surviving in the U.S. today. Descendants of the original freedmen who settled there still live on the properties granted by the Homesteaders Act of 1862. The community is now threatened by development and a highway expansion.

 

One of the ways the citizens of Royal are funding their battle with the State of Florida to retain possession of the land granted to their ancestors is to provide tours of their community while sharing their history. The donation is $10 per person, payable the day of the tour.

The tour will begin in Royal at 11 a.m. and will last about two hours.  Carpooling is a possibility, so please note whether you are willing to carpool by driving or riding.  We will meet in the OTOW Hobby Building Parking Lot at 10 a.m. We will be driving to the Alonzo A, Young, Sr. Enrichment & Historical Center, 9569 County Road 235, Wildwood (Royal), FL 34785.

 

 

As we celebrate Black History Month, let's make plans to learn more and support this important cause.  You can register by responding to FreethinkersFlorida@gmail.com.

 

SUNDAY MARCH 9, 1-3 PM

Dr. Rod Broker, a retired academic and former clergy person, will talk about his journey “ From Christian Minister to Christian Humanist.”

 

SUNDAY MARCH 23, 1-3 PM

UNDERSTANDING A MARGINALIZED COMMUNITY

After watching two short videos featuring a biochemist and a  medical doctor to give us some background, we will host OTOW resident Jill Carel, the president of our local PFLAG chapter and the mother of a 43-year old transgender man, to help us understand many aspects of this marginalized community.

 

MARCH 14-16, IN ORLANDO

FREEFLO (FREETHOUGHT FLORIDA)

Hundreds of humanists, atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, and scientific skeptics will attend the Freethought Florida conference. Proceeds from the FreeFlo Conference support scholarships for secular students in Florida. Follow this link for more information.

 

Speed Meeting -- This is going to be fun, like speed dating without the dating part!  This Sunday, April 6th, you can get to know a bit about your fellow freethinkers individually, and share something about yourself.  Prompts will be given at the start of each five-minute conversation.  When we are all done laughing and reminiscing, we will hear from two of our own, Brenda Foster and Tom Allen, about their journeys to freethinking.

 

Banned & Woke Book Club -- At our meeting this Sunday, April 6th, we will have our last call for registration for the next B&WBC on Monday evening, April 28th from 6:30-8 pm in the Hobby Building Events Room.  Our book is 1984 by George Orwell which is, of course, both banned and woke.  You can also join the 16 Freethinkers who have already signed up (and if you did, no need to sign up again) by emailing by replying here to FreethinkersFlorida@gmail.com.  Don't worry about getting enough time to discuss this book, we will break into smaller groups and then report back to the whole.  There's a lot to talk about, given all the parallels to what is happening in America today.

 

SUNDAY MAY 4, 1–3 PM

WORD AND IMAGE: HOW GRAPHIC DESIGN INFLUENCES OUR EMOTIONS AND OUR DECISION-MAKING

Understand the hidden power of graphic design with our own Domenica Genovese, a co-founder of the design firm, Greatest Creative Factor, and former adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore. In this presentation, Domenica will demonstrate how design impacts our thinking and the decisions we make in daily life from the grocery store to the voting booth. Learn how design can help us understand complex issues, and how it shapes our opinions, feelings, and actions—often without us even realizing it.

 

FREETHINKERS OPEN FORUM

Sunday, May 18,

 

 Freethinkers Open Forum will feature six table discussions...give some thought to which topic is most interesting to you:

 

 

Table #1: Roe vs. Wade - Constitutional Issues

Table #2:  Roe vs. Wade - Moral Issues

Table #3: Living in a 55+ Community - Social Connections

Table #4: Democratic Socialism

Table #5: Are Freethinkers Open Minded?

Table #6:  Is there such a thing as Free Will?

 

See your Freethinkers May Newsletter for discussion questions associated with each topic or visit www.FreethinkersFlorida.com/Events to review the list. Of course, it will be held in the Hobby Building Events Room from 1-3 pm.

 

  PROGRAMS FOR JUNE

 

 SUNDAY JUNE 8, 1-3 PM

OTOW HOBBY BUILDING EVENTS ROOM

JESUS WITHOUT GOD

Our friend and freethinker Dr. Rod Broker returns to discuss Jesus Without God. As many of us will remember, when Rod was with us in March, it was a standing room only crowd, and we are promising more chairs. As an academic, a counselor, and former Lutheran pastor, who evolved to become nonreligious, Rod now identifies as a Christian Humanist. He has a unique viewpoint on how religion sometimes gets in the way of what is really important in life.

W GRAPHIC DESIGN INFLUENCES OUR EMOTIONS AND OUR DECISION-MAKING

Understand the hidden power of graphic design with our own Domenica Genovese, a co-founder of the design firm, Greatest Creative Factor, and former adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore. In this presentation, Domenica will demonstrate how design impacts our thinking and the decisions we make in daily life from the grocery store to the voting booth. Learn how design can help us understand complex issues, and how it shapes our opinions, feelings, and actions—often without us even realizing it.

 

SUNDAY JUNE 22, 1-3 PM

OTOW HOBBY BUILDING EVENTS ROOM

 

SPECIAL GUEST CHAT GPT WILL PARTICIPATE IN A
FREETHINKERS PANEL DISCUSSION

 

Rumor has it that Chat GPT will be visiting the Ocala Freethinkers on June 22. She will be participating in a panel discussion with some of our best and brightest Freethinkers. It is an open forum so we’re not sure where the discussion will go, but for sure it will cover the capabilities of GPT, the impact on the economy and jobs, the philosophical Implications, and perhaps most importantly how you can use GPT in your everyday life. Please plan on joining us and being amazed at how far computer intelligence has come. Also, please email us if you have any topic you particularly want discussed. See you then!