SDARI Event Schedule
Meetings
SDARI meets regularly on the fourth Sunday of each month, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm (except as may be noted below), at the Uptown Community Center, phone: (619) 543-9967, on Vermont Street, about two blocks north of University Avenue in the Hillcrest section of San Diego. Detailed directions to the meeting site, with maps, are on our Meeting Directions page.
Meetings generally involve a presentation by a distinguished speaker, followed by an open discussion. All meetings are free and open to the public, although donations are welcome (suggested donation: $5). For more information about SDARI, please drop us a line or call Keith at (619) 421-5844.
Social Time
The doors to the Uptown Community Center open at 6:10 pm on regular SDARI meeting nights. Bring your own food if you wish and join us for social time before the meeting. Meeting information and directions: 619 421 5844 (private home; no late calls), 619 987 6095 (cell)
AUGUST 2010 MEETING
- SUNDAY, August 22, 2010
Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Moore;
Topic: On her book, Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, about the Jonestown massacre in Guyana 1978.
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Few incidents shocked Americans as much as the murder and suicide of our citizens in a jungle commune in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. Dr. Rebecca Moore provides a fresh perspective on the events, locating the group within the context of religion in America. She offers a contemporary history that corrects the inaccuracies often associated with the group, and attempts to explain why ordinary Americans might join a collectivist, utopian project.
Rebecca Moore has a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Marquette University. She has written and published on medieval Christian theologians and their debt to Jewish biblical commentary. She co-authored the book A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and Christianity, with SDSU colleague Risa Levitt Kohn. The book examines how first-century Judaic groups interpreted Israelite religion in a new historical context. Dr. Moore also specializes in American Religion, with a speciality on New Religious Movements, where she has concentrated on explicating a group called Peoples Temple and the events at Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. This effort can be seen on her Jonestown website. Her book Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple was published by Greenwood Press in March 2009.
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SEPTEMBER 2010 MEETING
- SUNDAY, September 26, 2010
Speaker: Richard Lederer;
Topic: On superstition and poker (and probably some word play).
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More details to be announced..
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OCTOBER 2010 MEETING
- SUNDAY, October 24, 2010
Speaker: Dr. Jack Fisher;
Topic: On the American Council on Science and Health.
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More details to be announced..
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Meeting programs are of course subject to change, so do check here shortly before a meeting to see the latest info.
Future Meetings
Speakers and topics to be announced.
Directions to the Uptown Community Center
Detailed directions and maps showing the location of the Uptown Community Center are on our Meeting Directions page.
Past presentations
For descriptions of many of the past presentations and other events at SDARI meetings, see our Event Archives.