Wednesday, August 27th at 7 PM, Zeitgeist Zinema Theater Lake Superior Freethinkers invites you to the first in a series of occasional Nights Out At The Cinema. Please join us this coming Wednesday evening, August 27, at the Zeitgeist Arts Zinema for a one time screening of the film Do The Right Thing, directed by the legendary director, Spike Lee, from the year 1989. It is the Oscar nominated film that launched Spike Lee‘s career. If you haven’t already seen this film join us and experience it for the first time! If you have already seen it, you already know what a powerful cinematic experience it is. The film begins at 7pm, but why not join us earlier at the Zeitgeist Café and bar for a snack, conversation and perhaps a little drinkie. NOTE: this movie is rated R Whole Foods co-op members get a small bag of popcorn FREE! More at: https://zeitgeistarts.com/zinema2
Patrick Elliott will explain how the court is transforming state/separation in devastating ways. Attendees will get insights on current cases before the court as well as important FFRF cases, which demonstrate the need for the separation between state and church.
PATRICK ELLIOTT serves as the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Senior Litigation Counsel. Patrick hails from St. Paul, Minn. and joined FFRF as an attorney in 2010. Patrick oversees litigation for FFRF, including important First Amendment cases involving religion in schools, religious displays, and free speech violations. Patrick is admitted to practice in Wisconsin, Minnesota, the U.S. Supreme Court, and many federal district and circuit courts around the country.
During the meeting, Patrick will be drawing a name for a free FFRF membership! Both in-person anc Zoom attendees are eligible.
Join us after the meeting for brunch at Pizza Lucé.
Join us for our next First Sunday meeting of the Lake Superior Freethinkers! Sunday, May 4th Presentation at 10 am.
We are delighted to welcome:
Arielle Lee and Alicia Joel presenting “Religious Trauma: A Conversation“
Alicia and Arielle will each share their personal stories growing up in constrictive religious households with emotionally destructive belief systems and will share their journeys coming out of it into healthier ways of thinking, being, and living. They each had a different response to this upbringing: one, the good compliant child taking on multiple layers of shame, and the other, the rebel, who questioned and resisted the belief system as a young child at every turn.
At the end of their talk, there will be time for questions and personal sharing. Alicia will also touch on the religious trauma support group that she started leading in January.
Arielle Lee:
Arielle Lee stands strong as a voice against Christian extremism, having educated herself on the practices of Christian nationalist organizations for decades, and surviving a childhood directly impacted by their practices. She was raised under the practices of James Dobson of Focus on the Family, the organization behind the Heritage Foundation and the authors of Project 2025. By the age of 18, Arielle had bounced between homeschool, Christian boarding school, and several denominations of Christian day school in addition to being forced to attend multiple different denominations of Christian churches. When Arielle isn’t fighting Christian nationalism, you can find her working in local theater and as a photographer, focused on community building, or doting on her two delightful corgis as an avid animal lover.
Alicia Joel:
Alicia Joel is a trauma conscious yoga guide, cuddle therapist, body worker, and Sacred Counsel Guide. She facilitates gatherings for people to explore connection to themselves and others and provides safe spaces for marginalized people including those in the queer, trans, neurodivergent, and ethically non-monogamous communities. Her goal is to bring more connection, understanding, and wholeness to the world.
Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church
Author, Sarah McCammon presented via Zoom at Lake Superior Freethinkers’ First Sunday meeting on April 6, 2025 at 10 am.
From the Publisher:
Rigorously reported and deeply personal, The Exvangelicals is the story of the people who make up this generational tipping point, including Sarah herself. Part memoir, part investigative journalism, this is the first definitive book that names and describes the post-evangelical movement: identifying its origins, telling the stories of its members, and examining its vast cultural, social, and political impact.
“An intimate window into the world of American evangelicalism. Fellow exvangelicals will find McCammon’s story both startlingly familiar and immensely clarifying, while those looking in from the outside can find no better introduction to the subculture that has shaped the hopes and fears of millions of Americans.” —Kristin Kobes Du Mez, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus and John Wayne
About the Author:
Sarah McCammon is a National Political Correspondent for NPR and co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion policy and the intersections of politics and religion. She’s also a frequent guest host for NPR news programs.
McCammon is the author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, a 2024 book that is part memoir and part journalism, about the movement of people who grew up inside the powerful evangelical subculture and ultimately left in response to its increasing politicization. The first definitive book that names the growing social movement of people leaving the church: the exvangelicals.
“As a still photographer, I’ve always been interested in capturing the wild landscape. That’s all Antarctica is … wild. We were on the ice for four days and most of these shots were taken during that time.”
Jay Krajic, a native of the Chicago suburbs, earned his fine arts in photography degree in Utah. He worked for 20 years as a TV news videographer in Boise Idaho and in 2007 shot video for Idaho Public Television’s Outdoor Idaho. Jay currently lives in Duluth, Minnesota.
Lake Superior Freethinkers 