Humans are well known to form groups; it is quite natural and quite obvious. There are tribal groups, political groups, religious groups and on and on. Likewise, we humanists have a plethora of groups, sub-groups, and affiliates of many kinds. For the most part this is a good thing, as it gives us the ability to choose the groups that best fit our individual preferences. This can lead to a certain amount of fragmentation of what we might call, for lack of a better term for all groups, the Freethinkers World.

Part of what got me going on this subject was when I thought about putting together a list of links to free thinker organizations. I soon realized that this project was more than a short term little job.

When one populates such a list, again the word plethora comes to mind. The AHA has many affiliates, as does CFI. There are ethical unions, humanist councils, LGBT councils, humanist foundations, skeptical societies, secular coalitions, secular student groups, and atheist organizations, freedom from religion organizations and many more. I realize that much of the fragmentation is unavoidable and perhaps even necessary.

The American Humanist Association has an affiliate called United Coalition of Reason; with a local group now organizing named Utah Coalition of Reason (U-CoR). This local group, as an umbrella organization, will be useful to all the member groups in efforts to coordinate and promote their various agendas. In this way I feel this group will actually address some of the problems of "fragmentation." This coalition may also help Humanists of Utah with recruitment, by increasing our visibility. Recruitment is for me and the Board of directors is one of the toughest tasks we have. Humanists tend to be individualistic and not big on "joining" organizations. We don't like to urge others to join either, perhaps because doing so feels a little like missionary work. Whatever the reasons are recruitment is difficult and can be expensive if you try to get peoples attention through the media.

The board of directors of Humanists of Utah discussed and then voted to pursue joining the Utah coalition of Reason, in hopes that it will enhance our visibility to the public and also foster and facilitate more cooperation among the member groups.

Also of interest, at the June board meeting, a young man named Taylor Worthington attended by my invitation. He is a student at UVU and is interested in starting a humanist group in Utah County. He was there to get informed and tell us about what he wants to accomplish. The board was receptive and is willing to help him in his efforts to start what will probably be some sort of a satellite organization of Humanists of Utah or AHA. We wish him well and will work to help make this happen.

Another item of interest was a letter I had forwarded to me about a presentation given by Hugh Giblin where he raises the proposal to create an American Humanist Party. As you may well know Humanists of Utah has to be careful about getting involved in politics because of our non-profit status. But as individuals we are free to vote for the candidate of our choice regardless of party, so why not the Humanist Party? It would also be a way to fight this fragmentation problem I mentioned earlier. The party would likely have a platform that most of the people in the "freethought community" would agree with. Quite a task creating a new party, but a task that several fellow humanists that I have talked to, agree is a good idea.

That's about it for now. I hope your summer is going well and I hope to see soon at the July movie night or at our BBQ in August.

--Robert Lane
President, HoU