FREE PUBLIC SCREENING OF "SICKO" TO BE SHOWN IN LINCOLN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEBRUARY 2008

Contact: Email

Screening of film critical of American health care "one of over thousands across the nation"

www.michaelmoore.com/sicko

LINCOLN, NE - Lincoln Secular Humanists will host a public screening of the controversial new film by Michael Moore, "Sicko", on February 27th, 2008 at Jones Coffee, 727 South 11th Street. The film starts at 7pm and lasts approximately 1 and a half hours, immediately following there will be a group discussion about the health-care crisis in America.

"Sicko" is the latest film by producer and director Michael Moore and has been called, ". his most important, most impressive, most provocative film..." by Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times and, "...a very strong and very honest documentary about a health system that's totally corrupt and that is without any care for its patients", by Stephen Schaefer of the Boston Globe.

The Lincoln screening of "Sicko" is one of thousands nationwide as part of a grassroots effort to raise awareness of the severe health care crisis in the U.S. As Moore points out in the film there are more than 50 million Americans without health insurance and the number of uninsured is rising every year (based on CDC data) and "lack of health insurance causes roughly 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the United States" (Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations, Institute of Medicine, January 2004). Moore also ventures beyond statistics and gives us an emotional glimpse into the lives of people who have become victims of America's inadequate health care system, including rescue personnel who were working to save lives during the WTC tragedy and suffered from medical and psychological problems afterward. "Sicko" also points out the corrupt nature of HMOs by telling the stories of many people who were turned down by their HMO in their time of need.

This screening is FREE and open to the public and the media. Please join us in viewing this important film. Event details can be found at: www.lincolnsecularhumanists.org

Who: Anyone dissatisfied with American health care

What: "Sicko" FREE screening and discussion

Where: Jones Coffee, 727 S. 11th, Lincoln, NE

When: Wednesday, February 27th, 2008, at 7:00 pm

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LINCOLN SECULAR HUMANISTS TO SHOW DOCUMENTARY ON HISTORY OF ATHEISM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUGUST 2007

Contact: Email
Phone: 402-840-0781

Lincoln, NE - The Lincoln Secular Humanists (LSH) are proud to present Jonathan Miller's A Brief History of Disbelief. LSH will host a public showing at The Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street. LSH will air this important documentary in three, hour-long segments on September 17, 18, and 19, at 7 PM. Discussion will follow. Refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted to help LSH offset expenses.

A Brief History of Disbelief is the first-ever television exploration of the controversial idea that God does not exist. Jonathan Miller, author, director, and commentator, recalls the origins of his own lack of belief and uncovers the hidden story of atheism in this highly acclaimed BBC series.

A Brief History of Disbelief comes to us at an important time, as the visibility of atheism is seemingly at an all-time high. Recent books like The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything have become New York Times bestsellers. Many leaders and celebrities are "coming out of the closet." Earlier this year, U.S. Congressman Pete Stark publicly declared his lack of belief in supreme beings.

"This series is about the disappearance of something: religious faith," Miller says in the opening. "It's the story of what is often referred to as `atheism,' the history of the growing conviction that God doesn't exist."

"In making this series, I have inevitably discovered that the history of faith and doubt is a great deal more complicated that it might seem," Jonathan Miller declares. Among the program's surprising revelations is that philosophy, not science as often assumed, played a larger role in the gradual erosion of belief. And contrary to what many Christian fundamentalists today consider America's founding principles, the first presidents were actually skeptical of religion. A Brief History of Disbelief traces the history of the first "unbelievers" in ancient Greece through the role of disbelief in America's founding to its flourishing today.

Part I: Shadows of Doubt - September 17

Miller visits the site of the absent Twin Towers to consider the religious implications of 9/11. He searches for evidence of the first "unbelievers" in ancient Greece and examines some of the modern theories around why people tend to believe mythology and magic.

Part II: Noughts and Crosses - September 18

With the domination of Christianity from 500 AD, Miller wonders how disbelief began to re-emerge in the 15th and 16th centuries. He discovers that division within the church played a more powerful role than the scientific discoveries of the period. He also visits Paris, the home of the 18th century atheist Baron D'Holbach, and shows how politically dangerous it was to undermine the religious faith of the masses.

Part III: The Final Hour - September 19

The history of disbelief continues with the ideas of self-taught philosopher Thomas Paine, the revolutionary studies of geology, and the evolutionary theories of Darwin. He also examines his motivation behind making the series touching on the issues of death and the religious fanaticism of the 21st century.

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