September Meeting

It's been a while since I added a post to this blog.

We met at Symposium Cafe in the Meadowvale Town Centre on the 15th to resume our monthly HPHC meetings generally held on the third Tuesday of the month.

There was no set discussion topic and so the conversation meandered along, with the introduction of a new member, Alex Thomas, who came from a long line of devout Syrian Christians from South India. His father is a minister of their local community but Alex and his brother have deviated from the religious fervour of their ancestors. We welcomed back Cheri Cowan, all the way from Caledon, to her second meeting with HPHC, the first being a backyard barbeque at my place. The rest were HPHC stalwarts, Prof. Jackson and his brother-in-law, Bene, Mark (Devenish) our treasurer (came hoping to coax new memberships) and Elka. Ernie was unable to attend.

Cheri is a certified secular officiant although not yet with the Humanists. Her recollection of a recent secular wedding opened the door to a discussion on marriage vows and how stable can it be for non-religious. I was of the opinion that a common-law relationship was probably more likely to succeed, given that marriage is generally considered the 'graveyard of romance' though not necessarily so. From an evolutionary perspective, Homo Sapiens sapiens are considered to be opportunistically serially monogamous. As such, vows such as 'till death do us part' are artificial constraints on otherwise healthy relationships.

The conversation then centred on Alex's deconversion and the threats his family faced (of excommunication) since his defection from the faith. The community involvement of their faithful keep all under a tight wrap.

Our next meeting will be held at the Oakville Town Hall, Acorn Grill at 7:00pm on Friday, Oct. 23rd. It will be a public meeting to hold a workshop on preparing a Living Will by Dying with Dignity