‘Belief, Behavior, and the Questions of Megan Phelps-Roper’ will be held Sunday, Jan. 14
A discussion event about the interaction of human beliefs and behavior will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, at the Jefferson Center, in the Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St., Ashland.
The event is free and open to the public.
“Belief, Behavior, and the Questions of Megan Phelps-Roper” will focus on questions posed by Phelps-Roper, a former spokesperson for the Westboro Baptist Church hate group, on her podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling,” according to a news release.
Such questions include “Are you attacking ideas or attacking the people who hold them?” and “Are you willing to cut off close relationships with people who disagree with you, particularly over small points of contention.”
“We’ll explore Megan Phelps-Roper’s questions as they apply to the hateful social media attacks advocating physical violence towards JK Rowling, as an extreme example of a bad path,” the news release says. “WE will also apply them to the less harmful, but nonetheless unexamined, beliefs we might hold ourselves. We’ll consider the possibility that when we are convinced something is right, this may not always set us on the most productive path in life.”
Retired educator Tom Woosman will facilitate the discussion.
The talk is part of a series of speakers hosted by The Jefferson Center, a Rogue Valley nonprofit focused on critical thinking using humanist values to understand and engage with issues important to our community in the spirit of Jeffersonian ideals of rational inquiry and disciplined thought. See thejeffcenter.org for more details on this and other events.
Source: The Jefferson Center news release. Email Ashland.news at [email protected].
