Do moral values have their origins only in religious doctrine or can they arise from the purely physical, naturalistic world? Come and hear one philosopher's view on the origin and justification of moral values and his belief that they are created naturally by animal brains using two fascinating capacities: representation and recursion. De-mystify your view of moral reality.

Dr. Scott Forschler, a philosophy instructor at St. Cloud Technical and Community College, will be giving a talk on Monday, February 20th, at 7:00 pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall in St. Cloud entitled "Morality De-Mystified". The program is open to the public and is free of charge.

Dr. Forschler has been teaching and writing about ethics for almost a decade and is working on a book on the foundations of morality. He has spoken on secular ethics to student groups throughout the Midwest, and at professional conferences both in the United States and internationally.

Read more: Dr. Scott Forschler to speak on religion and morality

Tom Stavros, past president and CMF member-at-large, wrote to the St. Cloud Times recently regarding a piece that portrayed atheists negatively:

I found the (Page 3A, Jan. 8) story on religion and atheism interesting in that so few people who are “spiritually apathetic” won’t define themselves as atheists. While that is their choice, when one looks at the root of the word, all atheism means is “without” and theism means “belief in a god or gods.” It does not require that one believes there is no god (although some atheists do).One aspect of religion not mentioned in your story is identifying those I call “Pascal Christians.” (Google “Pascal’s Wager.”) If you could get a count of people who go through the motions just to be on the safe side, but don’t really believe, the atheist totals would be much larger.

People avoid the atheist label because of the negative connotation of the word. That baggage stems from religion drumming into people from the time they are toddlers until death that unless one believes in their god, that person can have no morals and is destined for hell. And the media reinforces it continually (i.e. the canard that there are no atheists in foxholes even though there are many who have come forward to make a lie of the statement) while whitewashing religious leaders.

Read more: Letter: Negative, untrue views of atheists persist

Christopher Hitchens, noted author and philosopher, world traveller and challenger of rigid minds, died today at age 62. Here are some tributes.

• Hemant Mehta in the Star Tribune
• David Folkenflik on NPR
• Vanity Fair
• BBC News
• His brother Peter on Daily Mail
• A collection of obituaries on RDF
• Richard Dawkins at the Texas Freethought Convention 2011
• A video compliation by The Thinking Atheist
• Atheist Experience: Remembering Hitchens
• The Onion

We'll be meeting as usual for coffee first Sunday mornings from 10 until noon. Please join us at the Good Earth Food Co-op in St. Cloud's Centennial Plaza. (map)

Good Earth offers a simple breakfast bar starting at 10:30, which they plan on expanding in the near future. Their coffee selection isn't as robust as Caribou's, but we're hoping that the usual invogorating conversation makes up for that, and they do have other beverages available. They also request that no outside food or drinks be brought in.

We look forward to seeing you there!