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We did it! We met our fundraising goal!
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Obligatory Cheesy Fundraising Image
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Believe it or not, we did it without filling your email inbox full of donation requests all December
long. Granted, it was a modest $2,000 target, but we're still a young organization.
Thanks so much to those of you who donated and who share our passion for state/church separation and freethought community-building.
Of course, no fundraiser would be complete without a cheesy fundraising image. See that to the right.
With all the work we have ahead of us, this funding will put us on track to get a lot more done in 2016.
Also, it earns us a very generous matching donation which is already on it's way as of this weekend.
If you still want to support the work of the CFFC you can do that in a number of ways that don't include a donation. Check out our support page here: CFFC Support page.
A fantastic way to help is just being alert and informed about state/church separation. If you ever have any questions, use our Contact page.
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Local or regional news that matters to you!
Dr. Daniel Batcheldor
C FFC's first educational event for 2016 is going to be a great one! Daniel is the Department Head of Physics and Space Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology. He will explain how we know the age of the Earth, what we know about planets around other stars, and how we know our universe had a beginning. Come out and learn, meet new friends, and help the freethought community grow.
1:00 PM, Sunday, January 17
University Club of Winter Park, 841 N. Park Ave, Winter Park, 32789
RSVP on
Meetup and/or
Facebook
The Holidays Without Jesus and Satan? Inconceivable!
Conspicuously absent from the Florida State Capitol Rotunda this season was the Florida Prayer Network's nativity scene. Pam Olsen, FPN president
called the creche
"a wood display and some figurines." It seems she had previously considered it far more important than this and felt it should be on display for all to see.
Perhaps she's realized the value of secular government-or maybe The Satanic Temple's display in 2014 helped her see the light.
Since the nativity wasn't planned for display, The Satanic Temple
did not participate this year
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Regardless, this year's Festivus pole was adorned with rainbow colors and a disco ball in honor of the
SCOTUS
decision regarding same sex marriage.
Let's place this one on the "Win" column and hope the 2016 holiday season goes as smoothly.
Secular Invocation Update
We have worked very hard to facilitate secular invocations across Central Florida since the spring of 2014. So far we've had 31 of them and there are already several lined up for 2016.
Your assistance is needed in these towns and counties so be in touch if you are a resident and wish to help us obtain permission to participate. You don't have to do an invocation yourself if you don't want to.
- Apopka
- Casselberry
- Maitland
- Ocoee
- Sanford
- Winter Garden
Be sure you don't miss the chance to observe a secular invocation in your area. You can come and join us for a bite to eat afterward, too. Stay tuned to our
Facebook Events page and our
Meetup Group.
There are two secular invocations already planned for Maitland in January!
"Eminent" Domain?
There is an unconfirmed report (
on this blog) that The Holy Land Experience will be removing their
illegally painted creation myth mural from the retaining wall adjacent to their property. We have inquired with FDOT and will let you know. Let's hope this is the case.
Florida Legislation RE: The Pledge of Religionce
As you might expect in the Florida Panhandle (a.k.a. the Deep South), the right to dissent and exercise free speech is only allowed when it is popular among the masses.
The area's legislative delegation
met to discuss how they could (pander to voters and) keep kids from realizing that recitation of the Pledge was NOT mandatory in the hopes that their kids would become more patriotic (or at least appear patriotic).
Read commentary and summary at the
Friendly Atheist Blog here. And s
tay tuned as the CFFC gets involved in some lobbying at the Capitol if this gets to committee.
Palm Beach County Schools Sued Over Evolution and Islam
An attorney and former Florida lawmaker, with his son as plaintiff, are
suing the School District of Palm Beach County
for failing to teach evolution and for teaching that Islam is a peaceful religion while ignoring other parts of the Koran.
This attorney is known to the area's freethought community as an ally. We'll be keeping an eye on this case for you.
Video of the story here
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STEM Toy Drive
Holiday toy drives often end up collecting lots of stuffed animals, religious books, and other items that aren't very conducive to learning. The CFFC worked with BE Orlando to address this need and thanks to your support we were able to donate
more than 70 science and math toys
(and some really cool stuffed animals) to the Coalition for the Homeless and SafeHouse of Seminole. Look for an announcement in the coming weeks about our next volunteer/charity event. We'll be promoting and participating in at least one event each quarter.
The Satanic Temple Featured on This is Life with Lisa Ling
Always a curiosity, The Satanic Temple was featured on CNN in December. The full episode is not available online, but you can see the show in segments at
the CNN website. This organization is an ally of the CFFC and takes on Humanist and
SOCAS activism as part of their work.
If you haven't yet looked into this organization, be sure to check it out and educate yourself.
Don't be as closed-minded as the religious people who actually believe in Satan because these Satanists are non-believers, too.
See what they are all about for yourself. Only have a second? Then
read their tenets
at their website here. You may be surprised.
Stay Informed and In Touch
As always, be in touch on any of these issues or report state/church violations on the
Contact Us form on the website.
If you aren't watching our
Facebook and
Twitter pages, you'r missing most of the news that we make happen. Be sure to find us there!
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Coalition of Reason Member Events
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Sat, Jan 2 at 7 PM
Sun, Jan 3 at 4:30 PM
Sat, Jan 9 at 3:30 PM
Sun, Jan 10 at 8:30 AM
Sun, Jan 10 at 12 PM
Sun, Jan 10 at 1 PM
Mon, Jan 11 at 6:15 PM
Mon, Jan 11 at 7:30 PM
Wed, Jan 13 at 6:15 PM
Sat, Jan 16 at 10 AM
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Friends of Ours. Friends of Yours.
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Allied organizations which deserve your attention
An often overlooked area with plenty of nones and non-believers is Lake County. Here are the groups we know of. Please check them out and share them with your Lake County friends! As a very rural locale we need to support our fellow freethinkers there.
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Freethinkers
A History of
American Secularism
by Susan Jacoby
More information at:
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Want to help with us get some work done? Here's how you can do it!
Got WordPress Skills We Can Borrow? 
Our project site over at teamchaplains.wordpress.com could use some tuning up. No long-term commitment required (unless you want to help with the minimal research required through Google Alerts).
All we really need help with is:
- Choosing a theme, color scheme, and some photos
- Making sure the site reflects the nature of our work
- Providing an easy link back to our pages and social media
- Referring readers to reference materials we will provide
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Giving thanks to real people
We really owe a great debt of gratitude to all those who have supported our work over the past few years--especially during our recent fundraiser. Of course, we did meet our goal, but we also made many new friends and allies and learned of new ways our supporters were able to help us out.
From volunteers, to donors, people who just got in touch to ask a question or report a violation. Thanks to you all for an amazing year!
A special thanks to our Board of Directors who are guiding the organization and will be looking for more help soon:
- Keith Becher
- Joseph Richardson
- David Williamson
- Jocelyn Williamson.
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"Almost any sect, cult, or religion
will legislate its creed into law
if it acquires the political power to do so."
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CENTRAL FLORIDA FREETHOUGHT COMMUNITY
PO Box 621123, Oviedo, FL 32762
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on the separation of state and church
Freedom From Religion Foundation Chapter
American Humanist Association Affiliate
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A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.
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Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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