Hi RT, I notice you have yourself being in Texas. I presume you were not in the area affected by the hurricanes or, if so, not badly so?

I lived in Houston (actually Missouri City -- a suburb) for many years in-between living abroad and in Tulsa etc. and before living in the Texas Panhandle. So, while I have quite a few friends that have lived for several weeks without power in Houston, I in Glen Rose, TX (Just a bit Southwest of the Dallas/Ft Worth "Metroplex"), only got about 1/2" of rain and wind gusts of 30MPH.

My son lives near Pensacola Florida and due to his proximity to the gulf, he is in generally more danger than our Houston Friends.

One of my particularly eloquent Houston Friends spoke of cussing in the dark ... "magnificently". I am sure that I would have given him a run for his money had I been there.

MyOnlineTeam Daily Statistics for 10/01 - Active Members

Active team members report
==========================

                                                     Current          Points
Active member name            Rank      Change       Points        This Period
=========================     =====     ======     ===========     ===========
marysduby                         1          0      23,919,371          22,455
nl59056                           2          0      14,563,584             915
Dataman                           3          0      10,149,312          13,291
parmesian                         4          0       9,151,391           3,843
Esteban69                         5          0       8,230,728           5,392
Coingames                         6          0       5,512,565             599
Fanie                             7          0       4,727,821           8,669
Graham                            8          0       4,388,309             520
Blizzie                           9          0       4,385,929          11,720
frans6nl                         10          0       4,026,064           1,392
PohSoon                          11          0       4,021,293           4,256
Dave Bell                        12          0       3,867,221          19,870
RT                               13          0       3,333,193          22,592
Jonathan Figdor                  14          0       3,183,350           2,034
keithhenry                       15          0       3,065,428          13,719
Alain Bryden                     16          0       2,431,731           2,647
sulcata                          17          0       2,388,372           8,190
Vuj                              18          0       2,226,967           5,270
Mushball                         19          0       2,095,561          21,936
Rasse                            20          0       1,963,953             800
lawrencehardin                   21          0       1,811,781           1,575
stares                           22         +1       1,518,240           7,641
siseberg                         23         -1       1,516,349             430
finman                           24          0       1,490,577           1,213
Wunderwuzzi                      25          0       1,469,509             535
John Parker                      26          0       1,404,636               0
txjallen                         27          0       1,384,770             297
largethunder                     28          0       1,333,344           1,405
charlie99                        29          0       1,177,157             596
Rulkethecharon                   30          0       1,152,449           1,748
wrr                              31          0       1,053,893           3,946
Tomwp                            32          0         997,554               0
newtod                           33          0         933,736               0
AStafford                        34          0         915,808               0
Sunny L. Kae                     35          0         904,070               0
Arthur256                        36          0         736,431               0
laughing66607                    37          0         648,926               0
JerBlock                         38          0         605,172             623
johng                            39          0         583,326           1,232
Jockin                           40          0         560,607           1,136
Barramundi                       41          0         548,352           1,361
Blueprint                        42          0         536,526           3,031
Airwolf_Liu                      43          0         517,547             567
John Conrad                      44          0         516,739               0
dtype                            45          0         439,437               0
elpe                             46          0         385,634             647
Bon Kuhlman                      47          0         310,326           1,620
shinob925                        48          0         240,369               0
Momentary Lapse of Reason        49          0         232,427             573
NiceMedTexMD                     50          0         231,835           2,839
mapplebeck                       51          0         193,965             649
madambaster                      52          0         178,954             561
cknotty                          53          0         160,520               0
Harry de Swart                   54          0         116,971               0
sammercer                        55          0          83,110               0
WoytaZ                           56          0          77,251               0
Daragaaz                         57          0          26,874               0

Note: Active members are those who earned points in the prior 30 days.

Top Ten active members returning points today:
01: RT - 22,592 points
02: marysduby - 22,455 points
03: Mushball - 21,936 points
04: Dave Bell - 19,870 points
05: keithhenry - 13,719 points
06: Dataman - 13,291 points
07: Blizzie - 11,720 points
08: Fanie - 8,669 points
09: sulcata - 8,190 points
10: stares - 7,641 points

Total points returned today: 204,335
Active members returning points today: 42
Average points per member active today: 4865.11905

Most of the damage down in that area has to do with power. Hopfully all that is keeping us from hearing from him is that his computer has no power. As I understand it, real progress is finally being made on that front.

Galveston, one of my many favorite places to visit over the years, is another none-to-pretty story altogether.

Hey everyone, Harvard has approved my decision to switch from an MTS degree (2 years) to the MDiv (3 years + a thesis). Here is the petition I wrote. Let me know if anyone is interested in Humanism or Humanist-related issues.

Jonathan P. Figdor
Petition to change from MTS to MDiv

I propose to switch my degree from an MTS focusing on Religion, Ethics, and Politics, to an MDiv preparing for Humanist chaplaincy. I suppose I need to explain why an atheist wants to become a chaplain. Fortunately, I’ve had some time to consider this. The answer has a little to do with Melissa Proctor, a lot to do with Jim Wallis, and a great deal to do with Greg Epstein. When I arrived at HDS, I was admittedly an angry atheist. I thought that I would study atheism at HDS and become the next Dawkins or Hitchens, debating religious apologists and smelling perpetually like whiskey. But then I took Jim Wallis’s course, Faith and Politics. When I saw what his deep religious convictions motivated him to do, I was stunned. Prior to knowing Jim Wallis, I thought that Christian ethics was an oxymoron. I realised that I had to move beyond atheism’s purely negative claim that there is no God. Indeed, I realised that the existence or non-existence of God has nothing to do with what actually matters in the world – our fundamental moral obligation to our fellow human beings. I realised that atheism had to get over the question of the existence of God. Debating the question with every religious apologist is a waste of time. We atheists need to regard the question of God’s existence as closed and concern ourselves instead with how we are going to live ethically in a post-God world.

In the second part of my first semester (indeed, much happens in a short amount of time at Harvard), I learned that religion, for many people, is less about beliefs and more about community and social acceptance. This is a difficult thing for an atheist to understand, after all, we reduce religion to its barest truth claims and then challenge them directly. A full semester of examining the question of why women stay in what I would consider to be psychologically abusive religious traditions drilled into my head time and time again that many people join religions not because they are attracted by the crazy theologies, or even the ethics codes, but because religions are also social organisations. This makes a big difference for a young atheist, to find out you have been going about it the wrong way! We were focusing on the religious truth claims of religion, but not providing them with any community after they abandoned their faith in religious dogma. Now we Humanists know that we have to provide that sense of community, that sense of belongingness in order to offer an attractive alternative to traditional religion.

Having learned this lesson, I came into contact with Greg Epstein. Greg taught me about Humanism. At first, we simply talked about atheism, but I could tell Greg wanted to move the subject onto something constructive. Humanism, for those of you unfamiliar with the movement, is officially defined by the American Humanist Association as: “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfilment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.” One of my friends prefers to define it as “religion minus all the objectionable and crazy parts.”

I really do think that Humanism offers a vision of the future that is in desperate need for our world. We do not need to bicker any more over whether God prefers Hindus, Christians, Muslims, or Buddhists, since it is obvious that God is either inattentive to, impotent to change, or unmoved by the current poor state of affairs. That said, it is our obligation as human beings to move past the question of God and refocus our attention on the question of ethics. I want to be part of a movement that stands for real change – a movement that focuses on things that matter, people, and not on supernaturalism and superstition. As a Humanist chaplain, I will educate the students of tomorrow that the ideas they learn in the classroom need not be checked at the doorway in a Humanist meeting. I will educate the students of tomorrow that the answers are to be found not necessarily in The Bible and The Qu’ran, but in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and John Rawls’s Justice as Fairness. As a chaplain I will work to develop Humanist ethics, particularly in areas where Humanism’s lack of supernatural beliefs might help remove confusion from the issue (issues like abortion and gay marriage). And perhaps most importantly, as a chaplain, I will work hard to promote interreligious dialogue that is respectful of people’s attachments to their religious traditions, but also forces the dominant religious organisations of our time to seriously reconsider some elements of their tradition.

I respectfully request that you accept my petition to transfer from the MTS program to the MDiv program at Harvard Divinity School. Attached is a list of classes which can be used to fulfil the requirements of the MDiv. If any clarification is required, please do not hesitate to email me at jfigdor@hds.harvard.edu.