History of the SL Humanism Group
From ROMA Scribae
SL HUMANISM HISTORY
Origins in the Linda sim (2006)
The SL Humanism Group are an independent group of Humanists, atheists, agnostics, progressives, and other free thinkers inside the 3-D virtual world of Second Life® (SL). They have been holding weekly discussion meetings every Sunday since 2006. They also organize Humanist-themed events for the larger online community, engage in social activism, and generally educate others about the principles and history of Humanism. The group has over 615 members.
The SL Humanism group was created in January of 2006 by Torin Golding. Originally, the group met in a built garden space floating above Torin’s mainland ROMA land. It was accessed via a teleporter. The Garden was similar to the later Humanism Garden builds in that it was mostly a seating area (originally several circular benches and seating pits allowed members to sit in the round) and held informative texts and a large statue of Giordano Bruno (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno). It also had a small room where one could sit on a bench and feel as if one was suspended in the vastness of the universe, with stars floating past. This room had a façade taken from the Temple of Neptune in the Pinician Gardens in Rome and had a clever design to mask the exterior while inside the space. The universe room, partially evocative of the Pantheon with its square exterior and circular interior, still survives today in the current Humanism Garden. The “What is Humanism” kiosks also date from this period.
In the beginning, the group offered Sunday discussion sessions organized around a topic (although there may have been some early flexibility on the time until 2pm SLT was chosen). The group attracted a sizable following, enough to assign two other officers in the group: Ste Sullivan and Zarta Vargas. They mainly covered meetings when Torin was not able to attend and helped organize several initiatives.
The 2006 Day of Reason Event
On 7 May, 2006, the SL Humanism Group held its first organized event: the SL Day of Reason (http://www.flickr.com/photos/romacitizens/sets/72157601494717707/). Suggested by member William Gide, the event coincided with the National Day of Reason (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_day_of_reason). Torin and William spoke at the arena on mainland ROMA on several topics. It was very well attended. The owner of Support For Healing Island, Zafu Diamond, very kindly offered the use of his island for a post-event party where attendees relaxed on the shores of the land’s central lake.
Movement to an Island Estate
When ROMA moved to an island estate in October of 2006, the Humanism Garden received its current position at the northeast corner of the sim. This was part of the design of the sim from the beginning, mainly when there was no indication or idea that ROMA could expand beyond the corners. The new Garden was designed with an upper garden area (with sea views, central tree, swimming duck, and square seating area) and a lower library area (housing the universe room and the texts). Meetings continued in this new space. Ste Sullivan had mainly left SL by this point and was replaced as officer by Atheist Newchurch.
In December of 2006, Torin began the tradition of using the group to fundraise for a secular charity over the holiday period. Over $160 US was raised and donated to Oxfam in the group’s name.
Developments and Changes (2007)
In January of 2007, Torin and Zarta fell out over movements she was making toward RL Humanist groups without informing the rest of the group management, and she left the group to start her own group centered on her in-world nightclub. Atheist and Torin continued to run the group themselves from its new home in ROMA.
In March of 2007, the ROMA Subura sim was added to the east of the Garden. Land was set-aside to provide the Garden with extra seating space (and help distribute the lag and traffic at meetings). The “Grounds For Thought” coffee shop was also added across the sim line. (See this image for the layout: http://www.flickr.com/photos/romacitizens/1143200376/in/set-72157601494771601/)
On 16 April, SL Humanism invited over the Skeptical Buddhist group for a roundtable discussion on differences and similarities between the two groups. We have done similar roundtable meetings with the Unitarian Universalist group in SL.
In September of 2007, Torin’s build at Burning Life incorporated a small Humanism Garden. A meeting was held there in this special festival space on 30 September (http://www.flickr.com/photos/romacitizens/sets/72157602213800694/)
Atheist Newchurch reduced his time in SL after founding the very successful “Atheist Center” in SL. Assisting Torin with group management by this point was Boythorn Ironclad, Mickey James, and Morgana Fillion. Boythorn began a short-lived tradition of a pre-meeting social/fieldtrip event.
In October of 2007, the ROMA Transtiberim sim was added to the north and more seating area was created. The Humanism Garden was now at the junction of three sims. (This phase of development can be seen in this Halloween party album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/romacitizens/sets/72157602891935236/)
Halloween and Christmas meetings were usually theme/costume/party meetings.
Two hundred US dollars was raised in 2007 for the Secular Holiday Charity Drive and donated to Oxfam. The results notecard said:
Congratulations Humanists! The secular holiday charity drive was a great success! Our final tally was L$52,708.00 or $184.30 US. I rounded this up to $200 US and sent in our donation to Oxfam International today! We should be getting a card back from them soon, which I will digitize and share with you. Here are some things that our $200 may have bought to help make a difference around the world (from the Oxfam website): We may have provided a needy family with 4.5 sheep, 2 cows, or 1 camel We may have planted 333 trees We may have paid for the irrigation of a farmer’s field for 1.5 years We may have started two small businesses in a developing country We may have bought 6 desks for a local school We may have paid for 6 community members in a developing country to receive gender rights training Each of those things would be covered by $200 US and are part of Oxfam's work around the world. Thank you thank you thank you for helping to make a difference this holiday season and show that Humanists will step up to the plate and show our compassion in practical ways. I’m so proud to be a part of this group! A happy and peaceful new years to you and yours!
Darwin Day 2008
Sunday 10 February, 2008, the SL Humanism group decided to hold an event celebrating Darwin’s Birthday (Darwin Day). They organized a “monkey parade” where they dressed up in monkey and ape avatars and went on an organized field trip around the grid. Visited places held some connection to the theme of evolution, and the event attendees teleported between them as a group. Interspersed between the visits were stops at Welcome Areas to hand out notecards about the holiday. The owner of Genome Island gave us permission to use his land for the final party at the end of the parade. According to a notecard, the schedule was:
“Gather in the Humanism Garden in ROMA by 1:00pm * 1:00 pm- We go as a group to Biome (Microscopic Life) [15 mins] * 1:15 pm- We go as a group to the Morris Welcome Area - [15 mins] * 1:30 pm - We go as a group to the Abyss Museum of Ocean Science [15 mins] * 1:45 pm- We go as a group to the Waterhead Welcome Area - [15 mins] * 2:00 pm- We go as a group to the World Wildlife Fund Conservation Island [15 mins] * 2:15 pm- We go as a group to the Plum Welcome Area - [15 mins] * 2:30 pm- We go as a group to the Noah's Ark in SL - [15 mins] * 2:45 pm- We go as a group to the Ahern Welcome Area - [15 mins] * 3:00 pm- We go as a group to Genome Island [final stop and party]”
Images from the event can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/romacitizens/sets/72157603889947793/
To the Present Day
In October 2008, the ROMA Maritima sim arrived and a canal dug along the western edge of the ROMA Subura to provide a navigable channel for boats. This necessitated a redesign of the Garden’s seating. All sim boundary straddling was removed. The coffee shop was moved across the Transtiberim border and accessible at the edge of the seating area.
In December of 2008, a new secular charity was chosen for the holiday drive: The Fred Hollows Fund (http://www.hollows.org/). A total of $210 US was raised and donated.
In 2009, Boythorn withdrew his account from SL and Mickey and Morgana retired from the group. Officer positions were extended to Lludmila Mirrikh, Bent Ferd, Nakaima Oh, Seaplane Jonson, and Darjee Ling.
June 20, 2009, the group had a dance in the Garden to celebrate World Humanism Day. There was a contest to offer a build reflecting ‘What Humanism Means to Me.” This was won by H3thr Swashbuckler.
