Freethinkers mostly a low-key group

The Arbor Crest Winery’s sprawling grounds allow for several events to be held at once.

Last Sunday, a dress-up party was held near the old Riblet Mansion. There also was a meeting of area Hummer owners next door to the monthly meeting of the Inland Northwest Freethought Society, who bill themselves as “a group of atheists, humanists, agnostics and others.”

Dennis Bower, the Free Thinking host, advised all attendees that they could visit a free wine tasting at the Arbor Crest Tasting Room by mentioning that they were attending the Freethought meeting. However, most stayed and shared the trays of hors d’oeuvres, pastries and samples of wine passed among the godless and the doubters in a large stone gazebo.

A notice of the group’s meeting was in the newspaper and asked participants to “bring a sun hat, sack lunch, a good sense of humor and intelligence to join in conversation and fellowship.” It is hard to find anyone who has all of those things.

After an hour of chatting, interspersed with quips about “believers” and a reading of old Internet jokes (free thought has its limits), someone tapped a glass, and Bower brought the Free Thinkers to order at 2 p.m. The meeting began by reviewing the business matters that plague even the most freely thinking organizations. Dues must be paid and such.

There are 28 members of the Spokane Freethought Society, but the group acknowledges that some free thinking is being done outside the organization by welcoming guests.

Due to the unusually high number of first-timers attending Sunday, Dennis suggested that each attendee speak about an issue of interest to themselves or the group. Some declined. Some talked and talked.

The old members were friendly and welcomed newcomers to such an extent that three or four Christians were allowed to profess their beliefs without interruption, an accommodation that probably would not be extended in many church groups, should three or four atheists stand up to profess their thoughts.

But it is not “believers” who seem to be the bane of the Freethought Society.

One of the first-time attendees (me) publicly confessed that he had come to the meeting with the secret hope that a pitched battle might break out between the atheists and the agnostics. No actual burning at the stake or scourging with a whip was hoped for, just a bit of Free Thinking in-house rancor and name-calling.

It was not to be. All the old hands seemed to be united in their disdain for the “agnostic.”

Some hissing may have occurred when that word was spoken. Nobody stood up for the uncertain.

“An agnostic is a timid atheist,” one member summed up, dismissing that sorry condition. Apparently, few things are lower. The old you’re-with-us-or-you’re-

agin’-us mind-set prevailed.

The meeting moved along with some pauses while a few 12-steppers compared how long they had been free from their personal afflictions.

Every 10 minutes, one of the members made a circuit among the group holding out a tray offering sweets, snacks or a sample of an Arbor Crest wine. It was hard to hate the godless on that Sunday.

The meeting came to an end with no screaming, no haranguing and no displays of rage.

Disappointing, indeed. It could have been the wine.