dannyman.toldme.com

Marvin Straus

8/11/06

Hello Danny Man,

Here is a project update from Marvin Straus, cocore3@cs.com, 303-494-4926, on The Freethinkers of Colorado Springs’ Fund to Distribute The Last Presentation.

The fund has been open for 90 days. These are the results:

1) Seventy generous individuals have mailed checks or used PayPal to contribute $7,135.
2) The Atheists Alliance has provided a statement of support from Margaret Downey, President and Bobbie Kirkhart, Past-President. AAI has also featured the TLP project on the Spotlight section of their website.
3) Nine other organizations have posted the fund request e-mail on their website.
4) Many people are forwarding the fund-request e-mail to others on their address lists. We know that because of the responses and contributions we have received.
5) There have been 67 requests for copies of the DVD.
6) Eight people or organizations have provided testimonial statements that are posted on http://www.cocore.org.

There are only 30 days left in the fund drive to raise the remaining $18,000.

I know that $18,000 is a lot of money, but this is a worthwhile ambitious project.
Look how far we have come! We’ve reached over 25% of our goal!

Please continue to support the fund by:

1) Giving money.
2) Forwarding the request e-mail below to your friends.
3) Webmasters can post a link on their website.

Funding e-mail and project information below.
——————————————————————–

This e-mail was written by Marvin Straus, 303-494-4926, cocore3@cs.com, the producer and director of The Last Presentation. Want to DO SOMETHING to encourage the separation of church and state?

I am writing to introduce an exciting and ambitious project to distribute a free educational DVD to 16,000 high schools in the United States. With help from many people in the secular world, work has already been completed on The Last Presentation (TLP).

From Margaret Downey, President and Bobbie Kirkhart, Past-President of Atheist Alliance International. “The Atheist Alliance International applauds this very first effort at explaining atheist philosophy to high school classrooms by way of a widely distributed DVD specifically produced for this purpose. We believe it is a valuable contribution to the curriculum of comparative religion studies.”

TLP is a 38-minute educational video that targets social science high school classes on diversity, sociology, and comparative religion. This video depicts a speaker, Sara Price, presenting a nonbeliever’s point-of-view a comparative religion class. The 35 students have already heard from five speakers representing major religions. Sara’s talk about freethinkers, atheists, and secular humanists is The Last Presentation given to the class. If you would like to read the TLP script, go to http://www.cocore.org. The script download is available either as a word doc or an Adobe pdf file. Feedback from beta showings of the video have been positive, ranging from “an excellent video” to “I’m so thankful someone is doing something.” To receive a free evaluation copy of The Last Presentation, see the contact information below.

Some nonbelievers, including myself, have made similar presentations to high school classes. When other speakers and I shared notes, we identified common themes. Generally, students at these social science presentations:
1) Were very interested in the opinions of nonbelievers.
2) Wanted to know more about the subject.
3) Were supportive of the speakers and his or her views.
4) Asked identical questions at different schools.

A few students did display deep-seated negative feelings such as “all atheists are communists” or “since nonbelievers have no religious background to guide them, they are probably immoral and unethical.”

After the presentations, many students said they had a more positive view of nonbelievers.

The problem: It is difficult to obtain an invitation to speak to a social science class. Teachers seldom invite nonbelievers, sometimes because they do not think of it. Attempting to contact each school or school board to ask for the opportunity to address high school students would be inefficient and time consuming.

The solution: Send TLP directly to the 16,000 public, high-school teachers. By doing so, with your help, we can
· open young minds to the secular world of logic, reason, and compassion,
· encourage the separation of church and state, and
· encourage the teaching of evolution instead of Intelligent Design.

These students are future voters and potential supporters of Jefferson’s wall. They will become citizens who hopefully will protect the rights of minorities, including nonbelievers. After watching the video, we hope the audience will think of nonbelievers as friends, not possible enemies.

WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT HELP! Although the video has already been created, the cost of duplicating and mass mailing 16,000 DVDs will be $25,000. The task of raising that much money is staggering, but together, with donations from $10 to $100, we can do it. The Fund to Distribute The Last Presentation has been established by the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs (a 501C3 organization) to receive tax-deductible donations. The fund is open now and will close September 4. If we can raise enough money, the mass mailing to high schools will take place on October 4, 2006. COCORE volunteers will pay all administrative costs, including PayPal charges, so that one hundred percent of all donations will go to the mass mailing project.

You can support this worthwhile project in three ways:

1) DONATE to the fund by:

Mailing your check to
The Freethinkers of Colorado Springs
Fund to Distribute The Last Presentation
PO Box 3481
Boulder, CO 80307-3481
or
Use the Internet. Go to http://www.cocore.org and click on PayPal.

2) Copy this appeal to your e-mail list.

3) Post a link on your website to http://www.cocore.org.

If you have questions, would like a list of high schools in your state, or would like a review copy of the DVD before donating, contact me.

Thank you for your consideration.

Marvin Straus
303-494-4926
cocore3@cs.com

(PS: We hate unwanted e-mail as much as you do. If you are not interested in separation of church and state, please notify me and I will remove you from the contact list.)