2003 Newsletter

Are Human Traits Inherited or Acquired? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "Intellectual life today is beset with a great divide," says Steven Pinker in his article, "The Blank Slate," in Discover , October 2002. "On one side i...

The Consequences of War With Iraq Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "Going to war with Iraq would mean shouldering all the responsibilities of an occupying power the moment victory was achieved. These would include running the economy, k...

Statue and Inscription, Washington Square, Salt Lake City, The boy is pointing to the flagpole. Intolerance in the Left Behind  Series Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "Nicolae Carpathia, the man who turned the United Nat...

What is Consciousness? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report Through millennia philosophers have wrestled unsuccessfully with the question, what is consciousness? And in recent times neuroscientists have achieved some success b...

Ethics: Back to the Basics Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report Is there any more important subject than ethics? In an article in The Humanist , March-April 2003, Gregory D. Foster says, "Nearly all of us acknowledge the importance o...

Fossil Dating Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report Usually in the Discussion Group Report I synopsize and possibly critique the article that has been discussed in the meeting for the particular month, but this month I am rather quoting d...

Creationist Controversy Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report Did you know that the Grand Canyon was formed in a matter of only weeks, or at the most, months; that all of the earth and space were created in one day and the atmosphere i...

Is America Becoming Orwellian? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report George Orwell in his classic book, 1984  , depicted a world in which humans had given up their liberties to become the minions of an all-powerful elite. T...

How Do You Distinguish Between an Unorthodox or Bizarre Faith and Delusion? Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report "Critical examination of the lives and beliefs of gurus demonstrates that our psychiatric labels and our conceptions of w...

New Political Tools: Neoconservative Mind Control and War Richard Layton’s Discussion Group Report What is the intellectual basis of "Bushism," the orientation toward foreign and domestic policy of the Bush administration? Concerns and f...