Happy Humanist logo. Welcome to the Home Page of the
  Humanist Society of Metropolitan New York  

The Corliss Lamont Chapter of the
American Humanist Association


HUMANISTS
ARE CONCERNED
WITH
HERE AND NOW,
NOT HEREAFTER.

What We Are Who We Are When We Meet Connect with Us! What is Humanism? Articles and Reports Newsletters and Meeting Notices Equal Time for Freethought Radio Show Additional Information & Third-Party Links Contact / Contribute / Dues / Ceremonies

What We Are

The Humanist Society of Metropolitan New York (HSMNY) is one of many local chapters of the American Humanist Association (AHA). The chapter, as it presently exists, was founded in 1974 by Jesse Gordon and Corliss Lamont (1902-1995).

The AHA enjoys a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status with the United Nations and members of the Humanist Society of Metropolitan New York, acting as representatives of the AHA, attend sessions weekly at the U.N. and present humanist viewpoints and concerns as they relate to matters of world interest.

Who We Are

The current Chapter President is Robert Cameron Heihn. The prior Chapter President was Dr. Thomas Riggins. Dave Buehrens, Beth K. Lamont, and Lila Smith have served as members of the Executive Board. The previous Chapter President was Dr. Julius Manson. In December 2013, Stephen James was appointed Executive Director of the HSMNY, Goldie James was made Secretary, and Pamela Timmins joined the Board. Norman Roscoe helped with program coordination duties during the 2014 season. Beth Lamont currently acts as Program Coordinator for the group. Stephen James is the noted author of the book, American Stew: Hope in a Toxic Culture as well as co-host and co-producer of the award winning podcast series, The Hub for Important Ideas.

The group normally meets once per month — generally on the evening of the second Thursday of each month, usually with a speaker followed by a discussion. All chapter meetings are announced in advance on this website, via our RSS feed, our calendar feed, on Twitter, on our Facebook page, and via our Chapter Meeting Announcement Notices mailing list.

You can remain alerted to all changes made to this Web page by subscribing to our RSS 2.0 / XML 1.0 syndication feed (see link to our RSS feed below). You can also follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook (see our Twitter and Facebook links below). If you wish to subscribe to our Chapter Meeting Announcement Notices e-mail list, please fill-out and submit the Mailchimp subscription form below. Additionally, all of our past newsletters/meeting notices are available on this website for viewing (see link to our Newsletters page below).

HSMNY 'Connect with Us!' Flyer.To make it convenient for you to keep up with our chapter meeting announcments, we've prepared a small (89,525 bytes) one-page color PDF file flyer called Connect with Us! that includes URLs and QR codes (Quick Response Codes) for use by mobile users who have a QR code reader app installed on their device.

Simply download, print, and scan the document and you'll have full access to all of our important information whenever you're on-the-go using your Internet-connected (cellular data plan or Wi-Fi access) smartphone or tablet computer.

We welcome your participation. You may wish to become a member of the local group ($50.00 annually for singles or $75.00 annually for couples) and/or of the American Humanist Association, which can be contacted toll-free at (800) 837-3792.

When We Meet

MEETING SCHEDULE FOR THE 2022 SEASON
All future dates are tentative and subject to change!

IMPORTANT! Effective April 14, 2022, the HSMNY has suspended all operations for an indefinite period of time.

Happy Humanist Second
Thursday
January 13 *
February 10 *
March 10 *
April 14
May 12
June 9
July 14
August 11
September 8
October 13
November 10
December 8
* Canceled
Note: If you use Apple iCloud Calendar, Google Calendar, Mozilla Thunderbird Lightning Calendar, Microsoft Outlook Calendar, or Yahoo Calendar, we invite you to subscribe to the HSMNY calendar (HSMNY.ics) from our iCal feed via webcal. This will cause upcoming HSMNY meetings to automatically show up in your calendar along with all your other events.

If clicking the iCal feed via webcal link in your browser doesn't work, you may need to copy the link (URL) and paste it into the "Subscribe" link in your calendar program instead.

An alternate URL to try is Calendar feed via https.

Detailed meeting notices following July 23, 2015 will not be posted to this site.

However, Facebook and Twitter posts will most always be made, but the HSMNY Calendar mentioned above, as with the HSMNY RSS feed, will no longer be updated with detailed meeting information, although meeting dates will be included in both the Calendar feed and the RSS feed. Effort will be made to announce all upcoming chapter meetings via a Mailchimp mailing. Note that all tweets and Facebook status posts appear in their respective widgets located below on this page.

All programs are subject to change. All meetings are open to the general public, as well as members of the press — Chapter membership is not a requirement to attend. If you would like to attend a meeting, then just drop in — no prior arrangements are necessary.

View previous Meeting Schedules. Our 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 (partial, thru July 23), 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, and 1998 Meeting Schedules have been archived.
† Includes video.
Connect with Us!

Along with the iCal feed link given above, here are five more ways in which you can keep up-to-date with the activities of the HSMNY, including our chapter meeting schedule.

Another way to stay alerted to all additions and changes made to the HSMNY meeting schedule is to use your favorite RSS Feed Reader / News Aggregator program or Web-based service to subscribe to our syndicated RSS 2.0 feed.
eXtensible Markup Language
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You can also signup to receive an e-mail notification whenever a change is made to this webpage by subscribing to the Visualping service, which is free when monitoring up to two pages with daily checks.
You can also follow us on Twitter @HSMNY.
Follow us on Twitter.
You can also find us on Facebook.
Find us on Facebook.
What is Humanism?
What is Humanism? If you're new to the subject of Humanism and would like to see a definition of it, please visit our What is Humanism? page. Through the use of Google Translate, at the click of a button the page is instantly available in over 100 languages (note: not supported by the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser).
Articles and Reports
Watch the videos. Michael Moore Videos, clips of three interviews conducted in March 2010 with Michael Moore discussing the issues surrounding health care reform legislation, plus the trailer for his 2009 movie, Capitalism: A Love Story.
View the photos. Thomas Paine Bicentennial, photos and other materials related to the celebrations held at Thomas Paine Park at Foley Square in New York on June 8, 2009.
Read the essay. Evolution and Ethics, Comments on the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election Debates, an essay by Beth K. Lamont.
Read the review. The New Mandate For United Nations Peacekeeping, a review of the Brahimi Report by Beth K. Lamont.
Read the article. Why Humanists Should Reject The "Social Contract", an article by Thomas Riggins.
Read Comments on the Presidential Scandal. A Report and A Suggestion on the meeting of August 22, 1998, Sex, Lies, and Leadership, concerning the Clinton Presidential scandal, by Beth K. Lamont.
Read about the Siloists. The Other Humanists, a report on the Siloists, by Beth K. Lamont. Includes comments submitted to us by visitors to this website.
Read a report on the ICC. Comments on the ICC, an article about the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court, held at Rome, Italy, during June and July 1998, by Beth K. Lamont. Originally published in 1998.
Read a follow-up report on the ICC. Comments on the ICC - Part II, a follow-up article about the current status of the International Criminal Court, by Beth K. Lamont. Originally published in 2003.
   Humanists Support the United Nations.
Read the brochure. A brochure comparing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the Humanist Manifesto and describing efforts of humanists to support the United Nations is available for on-screen viewing. A second version, designed especially for printing, can be downloaded for use by Humanist Chapters to promote Humanism and the U.N.
Newsletters and Meeting Notices
Read Chapter Newsletters and Meeting Notices. Copies of old HSMNY Chapter Newsletters in the form of Adobe® Acrobat® PDF (Portable Document Format) files are available for downloading/viewing/printing on our Newsletters page.
Equal Time for Freethought Radio Show
Listen to the show. We are pleased to host a streaming audio archive of older Equal Time for Freethought (ETFF) radio shows on our Archive page. Hosted by local humanists and atheists, the weekly show includes news, interviews, and commentary, and aired live on WBAI Pacifica Radio in New York City. All files are in MPEG-4 AAC-LC (.m4a) audio format and will play on any modern device/system.
Additional Information & Third-Party Links
Although as our name implies, we welcome visitors and members from the entire New York metropolitan area, if you're in Northern New Jersey and cannot travel into the city to attend our meetings, you may wish to visit the Humanists of North Jersey, which holds monthly meetings in Fair Lawn. Additionally, the New Jersey Humanist Network in Somerset holds frequent meetings and social events. If you're in Monmouth County, you can connect with the Red Bank Humanists, or if you're in Camden County, you can join with the Camden County Humanists in Pennsauken.
Visit 'The Humanist' magazine website. The Humanist, a print magazine published by the American Humanist Association (AHA), is recommended reading.
Read the 'Human Values Weblog'. The Human Values Weblog (blog), sponsored by Half-Moon Foundation, Inc., is also recommended reading. RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 syndication feeds are available.
Visit Humanists International (IHEU). Humanists International (IHEU) is the world union of more than one-hundred Humanist, rationalist, laïque (lay, or of the people), ethical culture, atheist and freethought organizations in over 40 countries, with a stated mission to represent and support the worldwide Humanist movement.
Visit the EHF. The European Humanist Federation (EHF) is the largest umbrella organization of humanist associations in Europe, promoting a secular Europe, defending equal treatment of everyone regardless of religion or belief, fighting religious conservatism and privilege in Europe and at the EU level.

Blue Ribbon Campaign.We support the Blue Ribbon Campaign for online freedom of speech, press and association. Please visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation for additional information on free speech and civil rights in the on-line world.

Contact Information:

Telephone Beth Lamont at 914-588-5284 or e-mail Stephen (Steve) James at vxjames@gmail.com.

Contributions/Donations and Annual Dues Payments:

Please bring cash to a chapter meeting to pay your annual HSMNY chapter membership dues ($50.00 for singles or $75.00 for couples).

Humanist Chaplains/Celebrants/Ministers:

Wedding Your Way New York (logo).New York City Registered and New York State Authorized Humanist Chaplains/Celebrants/Ministers are available to officiate weddings, both legal and ceremonial, as well as marriage vow renewal ceremonies and other special occasions. Our rates are reasonable and we are responsive to your special needs. Please visit Wedding Your Way New York for additional information.

Please report any technical problems with this site to webmaster.hsmny@corliss-lamont.org.

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This page last revised:  June 16, 2023.

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