Everyday Freethought

There was a Latino Atheists meeting out in Warrenville. There were not as many new people as we had hoped. It was me, Jaime, Jose, Martha, Jaime’s wife, and the only new person: Jaime’s sister.

Contrary to predictions, Jaime’s wife did not lay down the law and give us a to-do list and set out some plans. She had to leave early to save the world. That’s her day job.

Jaime talked about the web site, and is thinking about some new layouts. We decided that we should consistenly produce some more content before we worry about the layout.

Martha will write about science fiction (we spent a lot of time explaining “Doctor Who” to Jaime and his wife) and give dating advice. Jose might write about why he started the group and what the plans are.

We would also like some contributions from Latinos in other states. If you would like to write an article about the growing Latino Atheist movement, contact us. You could send us a message on Twitter. I don’t think too many of us are into Facebook.

Image of Mexico City flag from Wikipedia

The next meeting for the Chicago Latino Atheists Meetup is on May 12, 2012. The location will be Warrenville. It will be at the Corner Bakery at 28258 Diehl Road. So if you live out in the Western suburbs and have been wanting to come to a meeting, now is your big chance.

Image from Meetup. Original source unknown.

The big Latino Atheists meeting with Juhem Navarro-Rivera (Twitter account) and his wife Yasmin happened this past weekend. There were quite a few people there: most of the usual crew, and a couple of new faces. He also has a site called The LatiNone (Twitter account here).

Another new face was Rachel, another non-Hispanic. She is interested in pushing atheist/skeptical activism forward here in Chicago, and has told me about groups I had not heard of.

One of the big topics of discussion is the religious demographics of Latinos in the USA. The big story is that a lot of Latinos are leaving the Roman Catholic Church and becoming evangelicals. But the other big story is that the number of non-affiliated Latinos is increasing just as quickly. JNR likes the term “Nones” to encompass atheists, agnostics, humanists and just about any other label that people who give themselves if they do not believe in any deity or religion. I think that is a good term, since atheism is not a religion.

He will probably post more about it. He wants us to use the ARIS survey and not the Pew survey  of religious affiliation. He also mentioned that many media reports on Latino religious trends talk about the RCC to evangelical migration, but ignore the growth of Latino Nones. He said that the Nones are the third largest group of Latinos, after the RCC and evangelicals. There are more Latino Nones than all other non-RCC and non-evangelicals combined.

Jose, Martha, Rachel and Mr and Mrs NR talked about the Reason Rally. JNR and Jose talked about what direction the group should take: Should we incorporate, become part of a larger group (like CFI  or Hispanic American Freethinkers). It looks like Hispanic American Freethinkers is a registered non-profit.

JNR talked about politics as well. The Republican Party has been trying to get Latinos into their party on the assumption that Latinos are culturally conservative. But the Tea Party/Talibaptist wing of the party (which is most of it) is driving them out.

JNR said he would like to see an atheist president, but it is not a big deal to him. We decided that Jaime will be our first atheist president, as well as the first Latino president. The next meeting might be out in Aurora at Jaime’s place. His wife will put us on the straight and narrow.

Jaime 2020. Make it happen.

Image from The LatiNone

I have not been to the meetings for Latino Atheists in January and February, but I made it yesterday. There were a couple of new people there. One of them was from Spain. We also talked about doing a monthly podcast. One of the new guys is a medical student and was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist. He was “volunteered” to give a presentation on Seventh Day Adventism and on abiogenesis. Jose, the leader, was in the military, and was “volunteered” for a few duties in the service.

Will anything happen? Who knows? Jaime’s wife was not there. When she is there, she lays the hammer down and stuff gets done. Correlation is not causation, but it is a strong correlation.

There was a meeting of the Latino Atheists this past weekend. I got there late.

There was a presentation on Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was recorded, and I made a few comments. So I will be on an upcoming podcast. I was told that another guy showed up. He claimed to be a shaman, and supposedly stepped out because he was losing his power. Or he just needed a cigarette.

When I know more about the podcast or about the presentation file I will post something.

Image from Latino Atheists Twitter profile

There was another meeting of Latino Atheists earlier today, and I was there.

There is a small, consistent group. Our webmaster implored us to post more often, so I will cross-post this on that site.

Right now the plan for next month is to give a presentation on Our Lady of Guadalupe. Apparently there are no written records of the event that were written at the time. They were all written 100 years later. Our webmaster had put some links on the Latino Atheists Facebook page.

I think we will all collaborate on the content, but I will not present.

So right now our momentum is consistent. But we would like to ramp it up more.

Image from Wikipedia

There is now a Latino Atheists podcast. One of the meetings was recorded. Jose gives a presentation on atheism in general. I was not there, but I did listen to it.

We have talked about expanding the group beyond just meeting in a cafe and talking. We have discussed giving a presentation or having a panel every month. We have also talked about recording a Skype call on one of the off-weeks as well. There is some debate on the off-week call. It might just be two of us and not the full crew.

Image from Latino Atheists Twitter profile

There was another meeting of Latino Atheists in Oak Park this weekend. There was still a lot of talk, but I think we are moving closer to some action. It was the usual crowd with one special guest.

Mrs Sanchez laid down the law. She basically busted our balls and told us to stop talking and start doing something. I like it when a woman takes charge. (Unless they tell me to get lost.)

In all seriousness, I think we are moving closer to getting things moving. We will probably have meetings in a different space, and we might start recording our meetings, and put them online either on YouTube or as a podcast. We talked about doing other activities, more charitable, like blood drives, relationship advice, computer advice, English lessons.

Also: I will be in Dallas for three months. If there are any Latino Atheists in the Metroplex, contact me.

Image from Latino Atheists Twitter profile

There has been some growth in the Latino Atheists group on Facebook. We have had quite a few people join/like it.

We had quite a turnout at the last Meetup in Oak Park: 7 guys. Yes, it is still all guys

One just moved to Chicago, and another was visiting from Virginia.

Anyway, I think that things are looking up for the group and for the movement. Get an account on the website and join the community.

I got an account on the Latino Atheists site. Right now I cannot think of too much to add there right now. I will probably whip up something in a couple of days. I do not have access to the Twitter account. But when I post I will probably cross-post.