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Great Discussions 2016 -- A Godless World -- Steve Arkowitz

This is another special session of Great Discussions 2016.

Our speaker will be Steve Arkowitz, President of Atheist United SLO

Great Discussions 2016 is a highly participatory course designed for those informed and thoughtful people among us who love to engage in real discussion and respectful debate over issues of the day. This course is a forum for exchanging ideas about international affairs and America's place in the world.

Attendees of the first three sections of this course met with representatives of Judaism, Islam and Christianity at their place of worship to learn about the principles of their beliefs and to discuss what they learned within the context of these core questions: How are these religious principles practiced around the world and how are we all affected personally?

There is currently a lot of talk and controversy about religious rights and values. From a world perspective, Muslims are viewed by many as being intolerant of Christians and other non-Islamic religions. From a domestic U.S. point of view, Fundamentalist Christians appear to be paranoid about their rights being infringed. We have seen in our visits to a Synagogue, Mosque and Christian Church, that the worlds major religions have similar beliefs in a Deity. In fact, the majority of the population of the world believes in One God.

However there are estimates that of the seven billion people in the world, one billion (15%) are secular/non-religious/agnostic/atheist.

The question for this Great Discussion is: What would life be like if the majority of the worlds population did not believe in a Supreme Being, Heaven or Hell? Some of the questions that may be raised:

Is a Supreme Being a human construct to explain the unexplainable?

Which way does a moral compass point if not toward a heaven or hell?

Is a belief in Gods plan enough to explain mans inhumanity to man?

What are the differences between humanists, atheists and agnostics and are these non-believers compatible with the beliefs of organized religions?

Thursday, June 23 2016, 10:00am- 12:00pm Union Bank, SLO

If you would like to have the password for the member price for this course, go to www.lifelearnerscc.org for information on how you can become a member.