{"id":15579,"date":"2025-05-26T05:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T05:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/?p=15579"},"modified":"2025-06-05T21:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T21:59:10","slug":"2025-06-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/2025-06-01\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing God: An Evolutionary History of World Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1354\" height=\"1295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/humanists.org_2025_06_01_Dave-Fitzgerald-at-ocean.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15581\"\/><figcaption>David Fitzgerald<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p><strong>11 a.m., June 1, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Join us either in person or over Zoom, as the Atheist Community of San Jose and the Humanist Community co-host our old friend and superb speaker David Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n<p>Recently scholars around the world have made some jaw-dropping discoveries in the field of global religious history\u2014including ones that overturn so much of what we think we know about the founders and origins of major world religions.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Fitzgerald, author of <i>Nailed<\/i> and <i>The Complete Heretic&#8217;s Guide to Western Religion<\/i> series, including <i>The Mormons<\/i> and <i>Jesus: Mything in Action<\/i>, reveals the changing scholarly views and surprising new developments in the study of the origins of our top ten world religions. His 3-volume book on these findings, <i>PLAYING GOD: An Evolutionary History of World Religion<\/i>, is out now. Dave will bring some of his new books for sale and for signing.<\/p>\n<p>Author David Fitzgerald is an award-winning writer, historical researcher, and atheist activist who lectures internationally at universities and secular events, and is a frequent guest on many podcasts. He has been a passionate advocate for atheism, civil rights, and secular humanism his entire adult life. From 1990 to 2020, Dave was a top atheist leader in San Francisco. He now lives in Eureka, CA.<\/p>\n<p>Please don\u2019t miss Dave Fitzgerald!<\/p>\n<p>To quote our freethought compatriot from the Stockton Atheists, David Diskin, \u201cDave Fitzgerald has a list of engaging, entertaining, and informative talks on all walks of religion. He\u2019s an absolute favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"vimeo-player\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1089595136?h=2d01e30109\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/1089595136\">06\/01\/2025 Playing God: An Evolutionary History of World Religion &#8211; David Fitzgerald<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/hcsv\">Humanist Community-SiliconValley<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Attend in Person:<br>On the first and third Sunday of June, such as June 1, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists at the <b>Mountain View Senior Center<\/b>, 266 Escuela Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.<\/p>\n<p>If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>Also, we will continue to present our forums <a href=\"https:\/\/us06web.zoom.us\/j\/81653890712?pwd=QzN4MTVNbGEwQ0Zua3d1VG9tVE50UT09\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here<\/a>.<br>No password is needed &#8212; 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&#8217;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:<br>Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712<br>Passcode: 250634<\/p>\n<p>Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)<\/p>\n<p>Find an international number to call: <a href=\"https:\/\/zoom.us\/u\/afYkAuvE6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/zoom.us\/u\/afYkAuvE6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our events in your Apple Calendar:<br><a href=\"webcal:\/\/p162-caldav.icloud.com\/published\/2\/Mjk3Nzk1MTgyMjk3Nzk1MRBa7aU6zKSIJMfDjhqBP8r3muvKK3GLLCRnZoCneHpXv08CyGJAJRVI5yyh-SVWxGJE9xHfdUs72pmiBNlOBpY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">webcal:\/\/p162-caldav.icloud.com\/published\/2\/Mjk3Nzk1MTgyMjk3Nzk1MRBa7aU6zKSIJMfDjhqBP8r3muvKK3GLLCRnZoCneHpXv08CyGJAJRVI5yyh-SVWxGJE9xHfdUs72pmiBNlOBpY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Add this event to your Google calendar: <a href=\"https:\/\/calendar.google.com\/calendar\/event?action=TEMPLATE&amp;tmeid=N29tOTlwYTdobmU2YmJsZXM3cmIzY2pqcXYgaHVtYW5pc3Rjb21tc3ZAbQ&amp;tmsrc=humanistcommsv%40gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img src=\"https:\/\/calendar.google.com\/calendar\/images\/ext\/gc_button1_en.gif\" alt=\"Google Calendar\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Like us on Facebook:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/humanistcommsv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/humanistcommsv\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Visit the Humanist Community web site:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/2025-06-01\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/2025-06-01<\/a><\/p>\n<p>RSVP on Meetup:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/humanistcommunity\/events\/308057396\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/humanistcommunity\/events\/308057396\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click the Interested button or share on Patch:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/patch.com\/california\/paloalto\/calendar\/event\/20250601\/acdb628c-c893-458a-87ea-27b15662176f\/playing-god-an-evolutionary-history-of-world-religion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/patch.com\/california\/paloalto\/calendar\/event\/20250601\/acdb628c-c893-458a-87ea-27b15662176f\/playing-god-an-evolutionary-history-of-world-religion<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Retweet our announcement on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HumanistCommSV\/status\/1927014554027827664\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/x.com\/HumanistCommSV\/status\/1927014554027827664<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Playing God: An Evolutionary History of World Religion <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nCav3ZCGjC\">https:\/\/t.co\/nCav3ZCGjC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Meetup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Meetup<\/a> via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Meetup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Meetup<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ijzfJpJh2s\">pic.twitter.com\/ijzfJpJh2s<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HumanistCommSV\/status\/1927014554027827664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Watch videos of our past Forums: <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user2798508\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user2798508<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>11 a.m., June 1, 2025 Join us either in person or over Zoom, as the Atheist Community of San Jose and the Humanist Community co-host our old friend and superb speaker David Fitzgerald. Recently scholars around the world have made some jaw-dropping discoveries in the field of global religious history\u2014including ones that overturn so much &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/2025-06-01\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Playing God: An Evolutionary History of World Religion&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[243,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15579"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15603,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15579\/revisions\/15603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanists.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}