Experience # 3

Last night I attended a SacFAN meeting. SacFAN stands for Sacramento Freethinkers Atheists and Nonbelievers. The meeting was held in a private room at a local coffee shop. Before the meeting started, people just hung out and talked. Quite a few of the people seemed to know each other, so there was a lot of conversation. The rest of the people seemed to come in groups. There were little groups of people here and there talking. I sat at a large table with my friend. A few more people joined us, and everyone was very friendly. This particular meeting was a "newcomers" meeting, so a lot of the people were there for the first time. The meeting was lead by a gentleman, who I assume is the group's "president" or something. lol I'm not sure if he has a title. As I mentioned, this was a newcomers meeting, so basically, he talked about all of the events and meetings that take place. One of the things he did talk about, which I found interesting, was the fact that a lot of these meetings basically take the place of "church." What I mean is, Church usually involves a lot of fellowship as well as social activities where you can get to know people who have common beliefs and interests. In that way, these SacFAN meetings are very similar. A lot of people who attend, are people who at some point, were a part of a church. These meetings are like a fellowship, without God. SacFAN is a group that falls under an umbrella group called the Sacramento Coalition of Reason. There are many other groups that are part of this coalition, and all of them have slightly different interests. There are "Humanists" groups, which focus on human's relationship with nature, each other and society. (this is my understanding of it) There are skeptic groups, which promote skepticism in relation to religion, alternative medicine, creationism, psychic fraud, etc. Pretty much anything you can be skeptical about. lol There are numerous other groups, but the main theme seems to be scientific facts over mysticism. There are also a few groups that are more political in nature, and focus more on separation of church and state, and freedom from religion. My overall experience was pretty neutral. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, but there was no clear belief, goal, agenda, etc. This was a newcomer's meeting, so that may explain some, as it was just an overview. I believe that I should probably check out one of the more specific groups to get a better idea of what it's all about. My understanding of it, at this point, is that it is more of a social club for people who are nonbelievers. I will add, since my friend mentioned that I always talk about food and music in my blogs, that the food at the coffee shop was fantastic, and at one point during the meeting, a guy's phone started playing some cool 80s tunes. :-) Thank you Florence, for taking me along.