North Texas Skeptics

I added the North Texas Skeptics to the list. They have been around for awhile.

We are up to 19 organizations listed now but some of the newer Meetup groups have already disappeared. I will purge them from the list when I get some time.

Dallas Atheists

Yet another Meetup Group, this one meeting in the heart of Dallas, the Dallas Atheists.

Rowlett Brights

Another Meetup Group has popped up on the northeast side of Dallas, the Rowlett Brights. This one looks like it is family friendly.

University Freethought

Atheists and Freethinkers Society at the University of Texas at Dallas
http://www.afsutd.org/

Freethinkers of the University of Texas at Arlington
http://www.freethinkersofuta.org/

North Texas Freethought Alliance at the University of North Texas
http://unt.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2200610966

Fort Worth Faithless Atheists

The Fort Worth Faithless Atheists is a new Meetup group that meets for the first time tomorrow.

The North Texas Atheists also launched a Meetup group recently. This is in addition to the pre-existing Upcoming.org, MySpace, and Yahoo Groups sites.

North Texas Atheists

On August 30th, the North Texas Atheists group was launched on MySpace.com. They also have a Yahoo Groups mailing list.

North Texas Humanists

Shannon Croft started a new Meetup.com group called the North Texas Humanists.

Changes

We initially launched the Dallas Brights back in 2004 as a new student organization at U.T. Dallas. We then expanded it into a Meetup.com group open to all in the Dallas area. When Meetup.com changed their system in 2005, we stopped using their service and eventually our monthly meetings stopped as well.

For 2006, I am reviving and refocusing the Dallas Brights to serve as an area wide announcements list. We presently have more than ten related organizations in the Dallas area with a significant overlap in membership. The Dallas Brights announcements list can serve as a mechanism for reaching this community by posting to a single e-mail address.

As examples from within the last couple of years, our local community has hosted speakers from the American Atheists and the Ayn Rand Institute. Likewise, we recently announced a Moment of Silence case regarding church-state separation in a Dallas area public school. We also gathered together to celebrate Darwin Day. These are examples of local activism opportunities and special events of interest to our community which we can announce via the list.

The Dallas Brights might not need to meet as a separate group distinct from the many local organizations listed on our webpage anytime soon. We do, however, provide a general discussion list for socialization, sharing news, and seeking advice. Unlike the announcements list which is moderated for content, the discussion list is a free speech zone with only limited moderation to prevent spam.

While the volume on the discussion list might become excessive for some, the traffic on the announcements list should remain light with just a few notices each month. If you join just one of the lists, it should be the announcements list as notices will normally not be duplicated on the discussion list. If you have not done so already, I invite you to subscribe now.