Watch Party For California Freethought Day

12 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., October 11, 2026

Humanists at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto invite you to a Watch Party for California Freethought Day, Sunday, October 11, from 12 to 5:30 pm, at UUCPA.
California Freethought Day combines the fun and atmosphere of a fair with the education and activism of a conference. It’s a festival of freethought. We’ll have speakers and entertainment, an authors’ and podcasters’ panel, and more! Our event has occurred in October of every year since 2001. Our mission is to host an annual festival that encourages freedom of speech and thought, civic engagement, enthusiasm for science, social justice, and the separation of church and state. See the full list and details on the official website.
Our theme this year is “In Facts We Trust: Misinformation and Media Literacy” as we highlight the vital role that reliable information, critical thinking, and media literacy play in a healthy, democratic society.
Join us at our free event to celebrate freedom of speech and thought, civic engagement, enthusiasm for science, social justice, and the separation of church and state.
The event will be outdoors at the California State Capitol Building and livestreamed via Facebook and YouTube. Closer than the capitol, though, is the Humanist Watch Party at UUCPA.
📅 Program
12:00 PM – Program Starts (see the full schedule)
5:30 PM – Event Ends
🎤 Speakers, Live Entertainment, and More
Our 25th year features the following speakers, entertainers, podcasters, authors, and more:
– Jared Huffman, US Representative for California
– Tim Russ, Actor, Star Trek: Voyager
– Alex Lee, California State Assemblymember
– Jonathan Lopez as “Hellen Heels”
– Candi Carpenter, Musical Artist
– Austin Archer, Comedian and Actor
– Bertha Vazquez, Education Director for CFI
– Chris Nichols, CapRadio Journalist
– Brian Dunning, Host of the Skeptoid Podcast
– Forrest Valkai, Science Communicator
– NorCal Resist, Community Organization
– Jovan Bradley, Podcast Host, Commentator
– Rina Wakefield, Poet
– Thomas Smith, Host of Serious Inquiries Only
– Lydia Smith, Podcaster
– Sean O’Brien, as Robert Ingersoll
– Andy Swan, as Uncle Sam
– and more to come!
We’re also awarding several scholarship winners and community leaders.

📍 Attend the Watch Party in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in Room 1 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, 505 East Charleston Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306.

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-10-11/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

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The Nerd Reich

11 a.m., September 27, 2026

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we discuss The Nerd Reich.
This Sunday we will discuss a vision of the future of technology and the state. In his book “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy”,
Gil Duran describes how the super-rich are influencing government through an unlikely future where government and its legal constraints are brushed aside
by technologically, enabling a world of “sovereign individuals.” Duran gives a frightening analysis of this philosophy and what we can do to stop it.
Gil Duran is an American journalist, author, and former political staffer who began his career in journalism at the San Jose Mercury News in 1988.
He worked as a press secretary for Jerry Brown and a communication director for Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Haris.
This program was shown on Democracy Now! Last month. You can watch this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg7YNUbaV-8

📍 Attend in Person:
Join fellow Humanists in the Milpitas Library Group Study Room A, 160 N Main St, Milpitas, CA 95035-4323. Often after our meeting, we find a nearby inexpensive eatery for a luncheon.

🎙 Attend Online
Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634

Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call:
here.

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-09-27/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

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9/11, 25 Years On

11 a.m., September 20, 2026

Join us this Sunday, 25 years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, as we look at two videos on how these attacks changed the country.

The first video, Forever War: How 9/11 Unleashed U.S. Violence on Civilians Abroad & Attacks on Rights at Home, from Democracy Now!, is a look at how post-9/11 policies and the so-called war on terror reshaped the country and the world. It brings together Jameel Jaffer and Azmat Khan.

Jameel Jaffer is legal expert and director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, a legal and advocacy organization based at Columbia University dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights.
Azmat Khan of the Columbia Journalism School, who won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing the massive civilian death toll from U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. It is live streamed at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

You can watch this 25:30-minute video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q22J4ysUvc

The second video, What has America learned from the 25 years since 9/11? Fareed digs in, is from CNN. In it, Fareed Zakaria speaks with CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, author of “All the Presidents’ Wars,” about the legacy of America’s war on terror. Twenty-five years after 9/11, America and the world are still living with the consequences of the war on terror. It produced major tactical successes, at enormous human and financial cost.

You can watch this 28-minute video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-js5VzdBKF0

📍 Attend in Person
Join fellow Humanists in the Milpitas Library Group Study Room A, 160 N Main St, Milpitas,. We often choose a local inexpensive eatery for lunch afterward.

Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call:
here.

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-09-20/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

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Gloria Steinem, March 25, 1934 – September 2, 2026

11 a.m., September 13, 2026

Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss two videos about Gloria Steinem.
Steinem speaks candidly about having an abortion in the 1950s, her humanist views and rejection of an afterlife, and why, in the face of so many of today’s challenges, she remains a “hope-a-holic.”
Steinem died this past September second. She was a catalyst in the advancement of women’s rights. In the US and all over the world, she influenced the removal of legal restrictions that made a woman almost property of her husband, having little control over her sexuality, her body and her finances. She had a dramatic positive effect on the lives of the women who grew up in this new world. We need to honor and defend these accomplishments in the face of pushback from the far right.
The first video is a never-before-seen 12-minute 2008 interview with The New York Times, in which Ms. Steinem reflected on her career as a writer, organizer and fund-raiser. You can watch this video online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB1DYsAyApY
In the second video, Annie Laurie Gaylor, the Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, interviews feminist icon Gloria Steinem at FFRF’s 2021 National Convention, where Steinem received FFRF’s Forward Award. Steinem speaks candidly about having an abortion in the 1950s, her humanist views and rejection of an afterlife, and why, in the face of so many of today’s challenges, she remains a “hope-a-holic.” You can watch this 28-minute video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdy0z9LcEHM

📍 Attend in Person
Join fellow Humanists in the Orchard Room of the Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022. We often choose a local inexpensive eatery for lunch afterward.

Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international phone number to call:
here.

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-09-13/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

Add this event to your Google calendar:

JARED HUFFMAN: NO PROPHETS

4 p.m., October 4, 2026

Join us this Sunday, as we discuss JARED HUFFMAN: NO PROPHETS with the author.

🎫 You can see Huffman livestreamed or in person at Books Inc. in Palo Alto, CA at 4 pm this Sunday, October 4.
Get free tickets here, or register to attend online here.

Join us for a reading and pivotal discussion followed by a live audience Q&A.
Books Inc. Palo Alto is thrilled to host California congressman Jared Huffman for a discussion and signing of his new book No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism.
This event is presented by Freedom From Religion Foundation (SF Bay), Humanist Community in Silicon Valley, and the Atheist Community of San Jose.
Jared Huffman represents California’s 2nd Congressional District which spans the North Coast of the state, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.
No Prophets is a behind-the-scenes look at the shocking extent of Christian nationalism’s reach in our government—and the fight to defend church-state separation.
Sinclair Lewis is said to have warned: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” On January 6, 2021, Rep. Jared Huffman saw something chillingly close to that vision. Thousands of Christians following self-declared prophets stormed the Capitol. The insurrection should have been a national wake-up call about Christian nationalism. Instead, most Americans and politicians looked away.
No Prophets argues that Christian nationalism is now America’s most dangerous political movement. Huffman pulls back the curtain on religious extremists behind the insurrection who have only grown more powerful with Trump’s return. Openly vowing to destroy church-state separation and democracy as we know it, they now work inside the highest levels of government to drive domestic and foreign policy, reshape federal agencies, undermine science and education, and tilt elections. The endgame: an authoritarian theocracy that imposes their religious beliefs by force of law.
Drawing on his experiences as a formerly devout Christian and the only Humanist ever to serve in Congress, Huffman maps the movement’s largely hidden landscape—taking readers behind the scenes of the Capitol, exposing the tactics and myths Christian nationalists use to advance their agenda, and showing how America is imperiled by our reluctance to confront threats cloaked in Christianity.
But, he argues, it’s not too late. If we muster a broad interfaith coalition grounded in shared commitment to democracy, we can reclaim the public square for everyone—religious and secular—to share on equal terms.
No Prophets is a clear-eyed, urgent appeal to defend the secular foundations of democracy.
Jared Huffman is a Humanist and the only member of Congress to admit he does not believe in gods. He founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus with Congressman Jamie Raskin to promote sound public policy based on reason, science, and moral values. He lives in San Rafael, California.
Books Inc. Palo Alto is thrilled to host California congressman Jared Huffman

📍 Attend in Person
Join fellow Humanists at Books Inc. Bookstore, 855 El Camino Real#74, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
It is in the Town and Country Shopping Center. Reserve a spot at Books Inc for free by clicking here, or scan the QR code above.

🎙 Attend Online
Also, we continue to present our forums on Zoom. To attend this one, register here

10/04/2026 JARED HUFFMAN: NO PROPHETS – Jared Huffman from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/

Visit the Humanist Community web site:
https://www.humanists.org/blog/2026-10-04/

RSVP on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/humanistcommunity/events/314082415/

Watch videos of our past Forums: https://vimeo.com/user2798508

Add this event to your Google calendar: