Twenty four hours ago I attended a “Meet-A-Muslim” gathering in Kenner, Louisiana at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Center. Every Wednesday from 6-7pm people of  “all faiths, or no faith” are invited for a short talk about the origin of that particular brand of Islam, listen to a short incantation from the Qoran view a short video and have the opportunity to ask any question that one might have concerning Islam. Then you mingle while enjoying the most delicious cake…

  As we move into a new year, we would like to remember and give many thanks to those who are stepping down and welcome those who have stepped up to help NOSHA with our organization going into 2017. Both Grant Smith and Ricky Adams are leaving our board of directors after many terms of service. Smith has been a tireless volunteer at our monthly meetings handling our directional signs and Adams initiated the design and ongoing maintenance of our fun…

            This is a poem by NOSHA member, Audrey Coulter. She read it to attendees at our annual Winter Solstice party earlier this month and we thought it was so good that we should highlight it for everyone who couldn’t be there!   I no longer believe in Christmas Nativity scenes make me cringe Halleluiah choruses assault my ears Santa and elves bring me to tears   I once believed in the myth Believed in…

  The recent Presidential campaign and election has revived a question about the role of NOSHA  when political issues steal quietly into our discussions, or when they smack us smartly across the face, as this grotesque campaign and its regrettable cast of candidates have. Are we a political group? Should our group be involved in politics? If no, why not, or why should it be; and if so, how much involvement is appropriate? This much we do know without looking…

When is a theatrical production not a play? When it is a reading, with  script readers  taking the place of actors and reading—while either seated or standing—the dialogue of a play written for actors by the playwright, and without a designed set or choreographed movement and action across a stage. It is still a theatrical production, but one stripped to the bare bones of voice.      Five of the 13 players sitting in a closely packed row of chairs…

The crew of NOSHA volunteers who made the trip to Denham Springs to assist in the cleanup from the flooding that swamped nearly 90 percent of the homes in the area traveled in separate cars—with the exception of Dave and Joyce Thomas, who shared their ride. Joining in on the project with the Thomases were Eve Ortiz, Kathleen Branley, Jennifer Porter, Glenn Pearl, Marty Bankson, and Cecelia (a young woman referred by previously committed Adam Kay). Most used  smartphone GPS…

Four years ago, Reason Rally 2012 was promoted as the “largest secular event in world history,” a Woodstock for atheists and skeptics. Organized and produced by David Silverman, President of American Atheists, Inc., it was a momentous coming out party for 30,000 nonbelievers on the Mall in Washington, D.C. A long lineup of speakers from the scientific and entertainment fields were the main event. Reason Rally 2016, held last month again in Washington, “had a greater variety of activities over…