Past Events
2012
2011
Wednesday, December 14: Meeting at the Polish Legion. Member Ed Gilbert presented a paper byJohn Foelder entitled “Opiate of the People: Was Marx Right?” Minutes
Tuesday, November 22: Annual dinner at the Mandarin Restaurant.
Wednesday, November 16: Meeting at the Polish Legion. Brock Geography professor Phillip Macintosh spoke on the topic "Thoughts on Capital and Democracy". Minutes
Wednesday, October 12: Meeting at the Polish Legion. Matthew Merna spoke on medical marijuana and the legalization of marijuana. Minutes
Wednesday, September 14: Meeting at the Polish Legion. Dave Thomas spoke on his recent trip to North Korea. Minutes
Tuesday, May 10:Meeting at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara. Rene Chouinard, a very active local Secular Humanist, spoke on the theme: "Challenging Religion in Secular Public Schools".
Tuesday, April 12: Meeting at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara.Roy Blake showed some videos of a conversation between Richard Dawkins and Randolph Nesse on the subject of evolutionary medicine. Minutes
Wednesday, March 16: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Phil Curtis gave a talk on sex abuse of children by catholic clergy.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011: Meeting at the North China Buffet. J. Berry spoke on Charles Darwin's book, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to SexPresentation Photos
Wednesday, January 12, 2011: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Debate between Roderick Tamney and David Goicoechea, moderated by J. Berry. Minutes Photos
2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Speaker was Fred Bolton. His topic was "Religion in America."
Wednesday, November 17, 2010: Annual solstice dinner at the Keg restaurant, St. Catharines.
Saturday, October 16, 2010: Meeting at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara. Speaker was Mohamed Elmasry. His topic was "Canadian Muslims since 9/11."
Wednesday, September 15, 2010: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Discussion concerning Afghanistan featuring Horst Klaus and Grant LaFleche. Minutes
Sunday, June 6, 2010: Joint picnic with the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Don Cullen, the celebrated writer and actor, spoke on The Need for Narrative in Humanism. Minutes
Wednesday, April 14, 2010: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Professor
John Novak of Brock University spoke about two
famous freethinkers, Bertrand Russell and John Dewey, in a talk
entitled Russell's Doing Dewey
Wrong: Humanizing Faith, Hope, and Clarity.
Minutes
Wednesday, March 17, 2010: Meeting at the North China Buffet. The meeting featured a quiz: "How Much do You Really Know About the Bible?" Minutes
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010: Film night at the Brock Film Series at the Pen Centre. We saw the movie Creation and then adjuourned to the London Arms pub next door to discuss the film.
Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Phil Curtis gave a talk and multimedia presentation on the topic: Climate Change: Mitigation or Adaptation. Minutes
2009
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009: Dinner at The Keg in St. Catharines
Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2009: Meeting at the North China Buffet. Solstice celebration and elections. Minutes
Wednesday, Oct. 17, 12:30 pm at the North China Buffet Viktor Nagornyy spoke on Atheist Alliance International Minutes
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009, 7 pm at the North China Buffet Justin Trottier spoke about the Toronto Centre for Inquiry. Minutes; Photos: Justin Trottier Audience
Sunday, June 7th, 2009, Niagara Secular Humanists joined the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara again at their annual picnic at Queenston Heights.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 7:00 pm at the North China Buffet, 525 Welland Ave., St. Catharines. There were two presentations:
1) NSH member David Boese gave a talk on the Paranormal,
2) NSH president Horst Klaus, a long time astronomy buff, gave a talk on basic Astronomy. He passed around amazing Hubble Telescope illustrations and photographs, mainly from "Astronomy" magazine, the leading publication on the subject. Horst talked about the latest discoveries and theories from leading astronomers.
Saturday, February 14, 2009, 2:00 to 4:00pm: Celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara. After a short introduction, we presented the feature film, "Inherit the Wind", based on the infamous monkey trial of the fifties.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 - we were guests at a debate between our local atheist friend, Grant Lafleche and a representative of the clergy. The time was 7:15 at the Pelham Public Library, Pelham Ont.
January 14, 2009 6:30pm - members' meeting and talks about personal experiences at the end of WW II as a child or as teenager, in Germany by Horst Klaus and NSH member Mitsko Susaki in Japan. A discussion and Q. & A. period followed in the North China Buffet in St. Catharines.
2008
Saturday, December 20/08 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the Unitarian Congregation: Our annual Winter Solstice. Our V.P. Will Wilson and his two fellow musicians provided music for entertainment. It was a pot luck lunch and everybody enjoyed the Event and the donated refreshments. We were lucky with the weather too - had a window between snow storms. Two videos: Everybody is having a good time, and Our V.P. Will Wilson and his two musicians playing as a trio.
November 22, 2008 - A group of NSH members and friends participated in the Ontario Blood Donor Drive at the clinic in St. Catharines. Unfortunately, many of us could not participate due to age (max. 71 years) or recent infectious diseases. But we gave the others our support by being there!
November 12, 2008: Speakers: Dave Thomas of CCFA on Cuba and Horst Klaus' Essay: "If There Was A God, WHY..." - A list of questions for doubters and believers.
October 18, 2008: Wine tasting tour in Niagara-On-The-Lake, visiting four wineries. Nine participants from NSH enjoyed it greatly! Photo, photo, photo, photo.
October 7, 2008: A group of about 15 NSH members and friends met at the Niagara Cinesphere Theater on October 7th to watch the matinee show of Bill Maher's movie, "Religulous". Everybody enjoyed it a great deal, one or two want to see it again.
September 17th, 2008: General meeting
The Niagara Falls-New York Unitarian Congregation had three picnics this summer - one each in July, August and September. They invited their Canadian friends at the UU Fellowship in St Catharines and the Niagara Secular Humanists!
September 7, 2008: Hosted by Marn Weld. Gathering at about noon - food served at 1:00.
August 24, 2008: Hosted by Yvonne Stocker. At the Gazebo in Whirlpool State Park. Hot dogs, condiments, beer & pop provided by Yvonne. Gathering at about noon - food served at 1:00.
July 27, 2008: Hosted by Betsy and Peter Diachun. Gathering at about noon - food served at 1:00. Paper products, hamburgs, hot dogs, rolls and condiments, beer and pop provided by Betsy & Peter. Kayaks and games.
June 8th, 2008: Second Annual Combined NSH/UU Picnic.
May 21st, 2008: Trip to the Royal Ontario Museum
April 9th, 2008: The Great Debate - Does God Exist?
2007
Oct 18, 2007: Talk by Tom Flynn, editor of the 'Free Inquiry', Center for Inquiry, Amherst, NY
Summer, 2007: First annual picnic.
2007: Illustrated talk by Horst Klaus about his overseas business travels during mid-seventies and the mid-nineties to about 50 countries.
2007: Trivia quiz - What do you really know about the Bible? 50 questions with 4 possible answers each.
February 14th, 2007: John Novak speaks. Unfortunately, due to a snowstorm, only eight members attended.
2006
December 20th, 2006: 2nd Annual Winter Solstice Party
July 19th, 2006: The third meeting, the first election meeting. Directors were nominated and elected: President, Horst Klaus; Vice-President, J. Will Wilson; Treasurer, Philip Curtis; Secretary, Alex Hart; Members-at-large, John Novak and J. Berry. Also, the name of the group was changed from the Niagara Friends of Secular Humanism to Niagara Secular Humanists.
February, 2006: Horst Klaus gives a talk at the Unitarian Congregation of Niagara titled "The impossibility of Intelligent Design".
February, 2006: The second meeting, during which a DVD from the US called "Heart of the Beholder" was shown.
2005
In the fall of 2005, the Humanist Association of Niagara was dissolved. In the fall of 2005, a new organization, Niagara Friends of Secular Humanism, was originally put together. The founding meeting was in December 2005, which was also the First Annual Winter Solstice Meeting. The founding members were Horst Klaus, J. Will Wilson, John Novak, and Phil Curtis.