Video of Programs (search and sort)

The Reality of Child Marriage in Oregon
01/19/2025
Fraidy Reiss

Presentation over Zoom by Fraidy Reiss, a forced-marriage survivor and founder of “Unchained At Last”, an organization seeking to end child marriage. Outdated laws have allowed child marriage at an alarming rate: Thousads of minors were entered into marriage in Oregon over the last two decades -- mostly girls wed to adult men, with an age difference that would be considered a sex crime outside of marriage. Fraidy Reiss was 19 when she was forced to marry a stranger who turned out to be violent. Her research and writing on forced marriage and child marriage have been published extensively.

The Evolution of Religion
01/12/2025
Sarah Strand

Presentation over Zoom by Dr. Sarah Strand. Why has religion existed in human society since the dawn of mankind? Natural Selection provides a way to describe and explain the evolution of ideas, culture, and religion. Sarah Strand is an Associate Lecturer in the Psychology Department at California State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Massachusetts.

Learning to Live after Loss
01/05/2025
Jeremy Knowles

Presentation at Friendly House by Jeremy Knowles. There is live music, a group game, and a discussion about one humanist’s attempt to go from grief to hope. Jeremy Knowles has an MBA from Washington State University and works as a Risk Analyst for Oregon State Treasury. He is also a member of Humanists of Greater Portland.

Hidden Threats to Democracy
12/22/2024
David Delk

Presentation at Friendly House by David Delk. Democracy is under threat in several ways. Some of those ways are hidden. Others are in plain sight. Delk discusses three ways, and then takes a deeper dive into one of them -- the Military-Industrial Complex. He discusses ways to combat militarism. David Delk is an activist and a Unitarian Universalist. His work has centered on campaign finance reform in Oregon, as well as anti-war work with the Peace & Action Group of the First Unitarian Church and the Alliance for Democracy, of which he is national co-chair.

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