Rationalists of East Tennessee Newsletter

July 2025

SPECIAL EVENT!

IN PERSON

Katherine Stewart

will speak about

Christian Nationalism

Latest book ----->

Katherine Stewart is an American journalist and author who often writes about issues related to the separation of church and state, the rise of religious nationalism, and global movements against liberal democracy. 

Blount County First Wednesday Meetup

Wednesday,  July 2 6:00 - 7:30 pm  

Come join us at "The Bird and The Book" Cafe,  1509 E Broadway Ave, Maryville, for socializing and dinner.

If you have any extra copies of Free Inquiry, Skeptical Inquirer, Freethought Today, or other Freethought magazines, bring them to the social. We will try to have RET stickers ready to place over your addresses to make the magazines suitable for distribution for outreach. 

This will be a monthly event, normally on the First Wednesday.  All are welcome to join in.

RET is participating in the 

Farragut July 4 Parade

Friday, 07/04/2025

8:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Farragut High School Junior Lot

The route is 1.3 miles long and participants will need to assemble by 8:30 AM.

Please note: We need a definite RSVP to secretary@rationalists.org so we can provide participants with the specifics about parking and protocols for the parade. We will have a really funny Flying Spaghetti Monster super-sized puppet and will need 3 people to manage it. We also need folks to carry banners and distribute fliers. 

Line up for parade vehicles will be at the Farragut High School junior lot (not the circle lot!)  Access to the high school junior lot is available from Campbell Station Road and from West End Avenue via Kingston Pike. 

Please note: Once you have responded that you are participating, you will receive a PDF with all of the rules and particulars. Please read that information carefully. If couples are driving we suggest two vehicles, one at the start point and one at the end point to aide in transportation. 

First Sunday In Person Meeting

Abdurahim Oguz, a Uyghur physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will give a talk on “Persecution of Uyghurs in China – A Uyghur’s Perspective.” 

Abdurahim Oguz received his PhD in Physics from Syracuse University in 2011. His PhD research was performed at the Physics Division of the Jefferson Lab on developing high power green laser based precision Compton Polarimetry for low energy electron beams. After completing two post-doctoral appointments at Penn State University and University of Tennessee, he joined ORNL Research Accelerator Division as a Laser and Optical Physicist in 2017. Currently, he is leading the laser and optical technology development efforts for several key R&D projects that include laser assisted charge exchange (LACE) injection, stripper foil temperature measurements, novel optical beam diagnostic methods for Ring Injection Dump and Target Imaging System for Second Target Station etc. He is a member of the American Physical Society (APS), Optica (formerly known as Optical Society of America) and International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).

Coffee and other warm drinks will be served. Bring a snack to share if you wish. 

We meet in the Cafeteria Annex of the Goins Administrative building. The direct entrance is at the rear of the building. Please use that entrance to avoid disturbing other events happening in the building. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87263557073?pwd=oZ7AgHhAXgfM1GYMcG7UrI7yp936eS.1

Meeting ID: 872 6355 7073

Passcode: 532806

RET Skeptic Book Club

July 13, 2025  Sunday       4:00 – 6:00 pm EST

Zoom Meeting

Keeping the Faith

God, Democracy, and the Trial that Riveted a Nation

Brenda Wineapple

“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school. Brenda Wineapple, the award-winning author of The Impeachers, explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. Darrow, a brilliant and controversial lawyer, said in his electrifying defense of Scopes that people should be free to think, worship, and learn. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president, argued for the prosecution that evolution undermined the fundamental, literal truth of the Bible and created a society without morals, meaning, and hope. In Keeping the Faith, Wineapple takes us into the early years of the twentieth century—years of racism, intolerance, and world war—to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history. At its heart, the Scopes trial dramatized conflicts over many of the fundamental values that define America, and that continue to divide Americans today. 544 pages.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82784641314?pwd=GWKzL2lpeQjWcfrENCs5VslDaeaKWd.1

Meeting ID: 827 8464 1314

Passcode: 144367

July 20, 2025

There will be no Third Sunday Morning Meeting in July because of the special presentation with Katherine Stewart on Sunday evening, July 20 at 7PM at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. 

Knox County Fourth Wednesday MEET-UP

July 23,  2025  Wednesday     6 – 8 pm 

Come join an informal gathering for food and conversation at    Corner 16, located on Northshore, just off Pellissippi Parkway. 

July RET Reflections

July 27, 2025  Sunday       4:30 – 6:00 pm EST

Zoom Meeting

Topic to be determined. Check our "Calendar" at rationalists.org for information as it becomes available.

July 25, 26, 27

Nashville "Nones" Convention (NaNoCon)

Montgomery Bell State Park

NaNoCon 2025 is coming in July. Join fellow freethinkers at Montgomery Bell State Park outside of Nashville for the July 25 weekend. The entire Lodge is reserved for participants, so it will be a wonderful time to meet like-minded people. Our own Aaron Tyrrell is one of the speakers and Seth Andrews and Dan Barker will also be there. Visit nanocon.rocks for more information and to register. 

Available to stream on YouTube:     Seth Andrews, The Thinking Atheist

On October 27, 2024, in Knoxville, Seth Andrews gave a speech about beliefs, brains, and why data often doesn't make a dent.  If you missed it or would like to see it again, it is available on Seth's YouTube channel, TheThinkingAtheist.