Learning to Live

Wes Fornes

July 9, 2017

One of the most impacting statements ever is the Socratic statement: the unexamined life is not worth living. It takes courage to view yourself as the subject matter for interrogation, scrutiny, and questioning. Wes will come at this idea with experience from counseling patients in their last stage of life while on hospice.

Wes Fornes is a former Evangelical pastor who is now an Atheist chaplain. Once a passionate evangelist for Jesus Christ, Wes now uses his passion for meaning-making to help the dying and bereaved deal with loss. The fundamental focus for Wes is: How can I have meaning and purpose in life? Unable to shake his deep conviction for spirituality, his career now as a Secular Humanist revolves around helping terminally ill patients on hospice cope with grief and death.

After receiving a master’s degree in Theological Philosophy and studying Existentialist Philosophy at Oxford’s Green College, Wes spent 12 years deeply committed to full-time ministry. Wes pastored churches in both Baptist and Pentecostal traditions while in Texas and Virginia. In 2010, Wes left the ministry after being a closet Atheist for a year while still a pastor.

Currently, Wes directs the psychosocial team of chaplains and social workers whose goal it is to provide spiritual and emotional support to patients and their families. Wes often speaks in the Bay Area on issues concerning ethics, morality, grief and terror management theory.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-07-09): Learning to Live (Wes Fornes) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.


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Report on the June 2017 AHA Conference

Debbie Allen, Paul Gilbert, Arthur Jackson

July 2, 2017

HCSV Executive Director Debbie Allen, HCSV Board President Paul Gilbert, and longtime HCSV member and leader Arthur Jackson will present their impressions and thoughts about the 2017 American Humanist Association (AHA) Conference, which they attended in Charleston, South Carolina in June.

After the Forum, please join us for a lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.

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The Human Awareness Institute

Anne Watts

June 25, 2017

Anne Watts is a certified hypnotherapist, educator, mediator and coach, specializing in couples and family dynamics, healing the inner child and issues of self-esteem and sexual abuse. In workshops offered by the Human Awareness Institute (http://w15.hai.org), Anne witnessed the transformation occurring on a deep and practical level; they opened their hearts to themselves and others through the healing power of love. Anne realized that she had found the vehicle to express compassion, empathy and service to others in a way that transcends social and cultural boundaries, and trained to be a HAI facilitator. Since 1985, she has facilitated hundreds of workshops in the U.S., Australia, Japan, Germany and England.

The Human Awareness Institute (HAI) empowers individuals to be potent, loving, and contributing; promoting personal growth, by replacing ignorance and fear with awareness and love. HAI aims to create a world where people live together in dignity, respect, understanding, trust, kindness, compassion, reverence, honesty and love. The Human Awareness Institute is committed to creating a world where everyone wins.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-06-25): The Human Awareness Institute (Anne Watts) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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Summer Solstice Brunch

June 18, 2017
From 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

In observance of the summer solstice and World Humanist Day, join us for a complimentary brunch and celebrate the lengthening of days with your humanist family. Your RSVP is important for planning purposes. Please RSVP on Meetup (see below), or email ED@humanists.org, or call 408-650-8466.

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Fostering Identity, Promoting Community: The Gay Bar in American History

Prof. Nancy C. Unger

June 11, 2017

For more than one hundred years, gay clubs and bars have served as sanctuaries and party-spots and hook-up sites. They’ve been the secular centers of community and education. But also of violence and persecution that ultimately led to great advancements in pride, rights, and freedoms. This richly illustrated talk by Santa Clara University history professor Nancy C. Unger highlights the history of a long and colorful American tradition in the LGBTQ community: the gay bar.

 

Humanist Community Forum (2017-06-11): Fostering Identity, Promoting Community: The Gay Bar in American History from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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