First Sunday

Robert Ingersoll: The Great Agnostic

The program will outline the life and ideas of the forgotten champion of the “Golden Age of Freethought” during the latter part of the 19th century. It will cover his beginnings as a preacher’s kid, through his self-education, legal practice, and eventual rise as a world famous orator, critic of the church, the Bible, and all things superstitious. He lectured against slavery, and later for absolute freedom of thought, the scientific approach, women’s rights, and other humanitarian ideals. His many admirers and friends included Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.

Jane Whitledge is a poet and songwriter, whose poems have appeared in Widener Review, Wilderness magazine, Minnesota Monthly, Yankee, and elsewhere. Her work has also been anthologized in 33 Minnesota Poets and a collection of Minnesota Women poets, To Sing Along the Way. Besides working part-time at the Duluth Public Library, she is working on a book-length manuscript.

As always, we’ll have coffee and conversation at 9:00 am followed by an optional breakfast buffet until the program begins at 10:00 am. Announcements will be followed by a Five Minute Reflection from one of our members and then the featured presentation. We are usually finished by about 11:30 am.