For general information about online classes,

visit the CFI Institute Online main page

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"Humanists and the Military Chaplaincies"

(SEC 250-0712)

Online Seminar Course

July 1 – July 31, 2012

Instructor: Jason Torpy, President of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers

Instructor: John Shook, PhD, CFI director of education and AHA education coordinator

This one-month, four-module course will discuss nonbelievers in the military and the supporting roles for military chaplaincies.

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Seminar Objectives: This four-module short course, running from July 1 to July 31, is a forum for discussing the role that military Chaplains can have for supporting the military service of nonbelievers.

Seminar Topics:

-Understanding the roles and responsibilities of military chaplains in general

-How secular chaplains and humanist chaplains can support nonreligious military personnel

-The ways that military chaplains can “cross boundaries” by providing support to service members not within their own religious, or nonreligious, areas

-An update on the current status of efforts by MAAF and other organizations to ensure the availability of appropriate chaplains for military nonbelievers. For an overview, visit http://militaryatheists.org/chaplain.html

Readings: Literature explaining secularism and humanism, and readings about this issue of military chaplains, are provided electronically to students inside the instructional area, along with supplemental audio/visual materials, all available online at no extra cost.

Your Instructors:

Jason Torpy is President of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF), a national non-profit building community for atheists and humanists in the military. He also holds seats on the board of the Secular Coalition for America and the American Humanist Association. After earning top graduate honors from two intelligence training programs, Mr. Torpy was offered direct admission to the United States Military Academy in 1994, and was commissioned as an officer to serve for five years in Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq with the Army’s 1st Armored Division. He left the service in 2005 at the rank of Captain to obtain the MBA degree from Ohio State University. Throughout his military career and since then, Mr. Torpy has been active with the nontheist community, addressing issues of separation of church and state and equal opportunity for nontheistic service members, and speaking on a range of issues related to the atheist, humanist, and general nontheist community, especially as these issues relate to the military. His website is http://militaryatheists.org/jasontorpy.html

John Shook, PhD, is Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry and Education Coordinator for the American Humanist Association. He also serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Science Education at the University at Buffalo, teaching for the joint CFI-UB Science and the Public online masters program. From 2000 to 2006 John was professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University. Shook publishes on philosophical topics regarding science, the mind, humanist ethics, democracy, secularism, and religion. His most recent books are The God Debates, and as editor, The Essential William James. John blogs at It's Only Natural.

About CFI Institute Online courses:

CFI 200-level seminar courses are taught at an intellectual level equivalent to an introductory college course. We expect students to participate in the seminar discussion at their own chosen pace, and there are no other writing requirements and no grading. These seminar courses are entirely online — everything for the course except the book is provided on a CFI website. You will read the course lectures, follow links to other webpages, ask your questions, and participate in class discussion with the instructors and other students on our website.

There is no specific time that you must be online. There is no "live" part to these courses, and you cannot miss anything even if you can only get online at 6am or 11pm — you can log in and participate anytime, day or night, 24/7. A certificate of course completion is available to students who do participate online (as opposed to only lurking and reading, which is also an unobjectionable option for some students). Completion of eight courses at the Expertise 200-level is rewarded with the Institute's Certificate of Expertise.

Online seminar courses are now jointly advertised by the Center for Inquiry and the American Humanist Association, and both organizations encourage their members/affiliates to consider taking them. Online courses are the most visible sign that CFI and the AHA have entered a cooperative relationship on some educational programming. That cooperation is facilitated by Dr. John Shook, who now serves as education coordinator for both CFI and AHA.

Seminar Fee: $60 for general registration; $50 for Friends of the Center; $30 for students and active/reserve military members

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