All: For about a decade, CFI has mailed free of charge educational and promotional materials to students and faculty who wanted to work with us to organize at their school.

These included organizing guides (that blue soft cover book most of you would have already received in the mail), brochures, posters, DVDs and VHS tapes, and similar items.

In the past we have had Freethinker buttons, lightbulb keychains that said "turn on to the New Enlightenment," stickers such as the current "Doubt" stickers parodying the Shout logo, handbills, business cards with interesting freethinking and skeptic quotes, bookmarks, etc.

Question: Do you have any ideas for new CFI promotional and educational products?

They should in general promote freethought, skepticism and the scientific outlook, should probably be affirmative in tone, and specifically should (ideally) encourage student involvement with the freethought/secular/skeptic student movement, Center for Inquiry, etc etc.

Any ideas? We want to explore producing new materials for the Fall 2006 term.

Center for Inquiry campus educational/promotional materials

All: For about a decade, CFI has mailed free of charge educational and promotional materials to students and faculty who wanted to work with us to organize at their school.

These included organizing guides (that blue soft cover book most of you would have already received in the mail), brochures, posters, DVDs and VHS tapes, and similar items.

In the past we have had Freethinker buttons, lightbulb keychains that said “turn on to the New Enlightenment,” stickers such as the current “Doubt” stickers parodying the Shout logo, handbills, business cards with interesting freethinking and skeptic quotes, bookmarks, etc.

Question: Do you have any ideas for new CFI promotional and educational products?

They should in general promote freethought, skepticism and the scientific outlook, should probably be affirmative in tone, and specifically should (ideally) encourage student involvement with the freethought/secular/skeptic student movement, Center for Inquiry, etc etc.

Any ideas? We want to explore producing new materials for the Fall 2006 term.

Hi Thomas.  This concept might be a bit too “militant” I guess but I had this idea of a graphic with a pacman that was actually a Darwin fish but with a pacman mouth eating little christ fish.

I’ll post more ideas when I come up with them.

I dont think thats a bad idea at all. Not too militant, and makes a point. Of course, David Nobel and others on the radical religious right argue that since we have a Darwin fish that this is yet more evidence that we are a religion. But as you heard DJ emphasize in one of those sessions, Nobel uses an outmoded definition of the word religion and plays fast and loose with the terms.

We usally say a chant in yoga that’s in sanskrit, but my yoga teacher gave me this translation, which has been brought to my attention that it is the wrong translation, but I still like the english part so….yeah.

I bow to the goodness within myself, who is the true teacher.
This essence inside takes the form of reality, consciousness, and bliss
Which is never absent and always is full of peace
Which exists without conditions and is the vital essence of illumination.

It’s odd, my Sanskrit is a bit rusty but I think the first line of your chant begins “OM in the name of Shiva ...” etc.

Om = standard ‘mystical’ sound in Hindu religion believed to provide magical powers.

Nama = name

Shivaya = of Shiva

(as I recall)

This is a standard Sanskrit chant, but I don’t exactly know who came up with the translation. Frankly, either my Sanskrit has gotten extremely rusty after ten years, or the translator basically pulled this translation out of a hat.

As such it actually is something of a polytheistic chant ...

Of course, there are some interpretations of Hinduism that claim it to be basically a fuzzy new-agey sort of religion, without deities or strong beliefs, but I don’t think that holds for the vast majority of Hindus in the world today. Certainly it doesn’t for the conservative, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in India.

Nothing wrong with Yoga, of course, but you do have to pay some attention to the accompanying philosophy.

:wink:

[quote author=“dougsmith”]It’s odd, my Sanskrit is a bit rusty but I think the first line of your chant begins “OM in the name of Shiva ...” etc.

Om = standard ‘mystical’ sound in Hindu religion believed to provide magical powers.

Nama = name

Shivaya = of Shiva

(as I recall)

This is a standard Sanskrit chant, but I don’t exactly know who came up with the translation. Frankly, either my Sanskrit has gotten extremely rusty after ten years, or the translator basically pulled this translation out of a hat.

As such it actually is something of a polytheistic chant ...

Of course, there are some interpretations of Hinduism that claim it to be basically a fuzzy new-agey sort of religion, without deities or strong beliefs, but I don’t think that holds for the vast majority of Hindus in the world today. Certainly it doesn’t for the conservative, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in India.

Nothing wrong with Yoga, of course, but you do have to pay some attention to the accompanying philosophy.

:wink:

I was afraid that might be what it said. I didn’t translate it, though, it was my yoga instructor. I don’t know if she really knows sanskrit considering she had the wrong translation. I should probably take the sanskrit off of there so it doesn’t cause any confusion. Either way, I still like the English part. I probably should have made sure that’s what it said before i put it there. O well.

Please leave up the Sanskrit. It is interesting. And it’s a beautiful language.

yeah, it is a beautiful language, but I just got done taking it off :D . sorry.