Singapore Humanism Meetup Book Club #003 – The End of Faith by Sam Harris

2 February 2012 by

Did you know that there is a Singapore Humanism Meetup Book Club in the Singapore Humanist Meetup circle? It started out in 2010 when Ryan started the first Singapore Humanism Meetup Book Club on 14-September-2010 reading “Good Without God” by Grey Epstein.

A Singapore Humanism Meetup Book Club event is an informal gathering of SHM members who are interested to discussing about a book suggested by the Singapore Humanism Meetup book club coordinators. Book genre can range from Humanist Literature, Philosophy, Science, Logical Thinking, humanist related fiction and many more. Each session is about 1.5 to 2 hours, and participants are usually limited to not more then 15 people to ease discussion.

The most recent one was held on 22-Jan-2011 and saw 8 participant from all walks of life, background and age group gathered together in a member’s home to discuss and debate about the book: The End of Faith by Sam Harris. Although initially scheduled for a 2 hour session, members talked long beyond 3 hours! There was not a single moment of boredom though out as the topic discussed where highly entertaining, highly amusing, and addictively engaging. But more importantly, it helps them think about the questions that most humanist encounter in their life, and to exchange and learn new perspective of how other humanist see the world.

Just a recap of what was discussed

  • Pacifism, whether it works in resolving conflicts in this world
  • Whether religious moderate is as harmful as how Sam Harris describe them to be
  • Whether collatoral damage was a necessary evil
  • Whether humanist has a responsibility to share their view point with other people
  • Explaination on why the world’s fetility rate is falling (which would be an interested topic in the Darwin book club coming up!)

To date, the SHM Book Club has successfully conducted 3 reading meetup:

  1. 14-Sep-2010 – Good Without God by Grey Epstein
  2. 30-Oct-2010 – The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang
  3. 22-Jan-2011 – The End of Faith by Sam Harris

In conjunction with Darwin’s Day falling on February 12, Singapore Humanism Meetup book club meetup #004 will be held on 26-Feb-2011 (Saturday) from 3pm – 5pm reading The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, or Darwin: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

The Origin of Species is also available as an ebook on Gutenberg. Stanza and other iPhone and Android eBook apps would have it for free.http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2009

Do login to Singapore Humanist Meetup Group to RSVP before all spots are taken up!
Note: prior reading before each session is required.
The coordinator would like to thank Doug, Gim Sheng, Tawnya, Daniel, Fong Lai, Gesan and Nel for making the previous book club a totally unforgettable session!
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