The monthly meeting of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs takes place on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:00 PM. August’s meeting will be on the 24th and will take place in the meeting room at the Gill Foundation. The building is on the south side of Costilla Street, between South Wahsatch and South Weber; the address is 315 East Costilla. Please click "Read more" below for complete details ...

The Freethinkers of Colorado Springs are very pleased to present Dean Tollefson, who will speak about “The Roots of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.” What are the foundational ideas of reality, method  of knowing, and values — including freedom — on which our democracy is built? Where did these enlightened ideas come from, and how did they grow? From what ideas were the Enlightenment thinkers attempting to free themselves, and who led the way? With so much discussion lately about our freedoms, these basics need to be reviewed now so that we have clearer thinking about where our intellectual foundations have taken us, and could take us still. The Age of Reason (17th century) and the Enlightenment era (18th Century) are crucial to our development. 

Where might, or could, such an enlightened foundation lead us in the future? We’ll examine key ideas of our history, contrasting it with a few current worldviews. These explorations are fun to compare and contrast. We will tie these ideas to our Constitution, especially our Bill of Rights, so that we can see when the guidelines for our Nation have been followed and when they have been ignored.

Dean Tollefson is a student of philosophy/intellectual history and taught these subjects before his retirement. His undergraduate majors at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, were Philosophy and Religion, and Sociology. He did Master’s degree and doctoral work in College Administration and Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. He served in college administration for twenty-four years, teaching occasionally, including three years as a Dean of Students on a campus where student riots prevailed (he won, with good students’ help). He was later appointed head of a consortium of professional Colleges of Art and Design.  In his profession (Inter-College Community Development) he was elected President of the National Consortium Council (a hundred such consortia, which included about half the colleges and universities in our country) at a very demanding time in its history. A subsequent Board of Directors of the National Council awarded him an Honorary Doctorate for his leadership during that period.  He is a Reagan-era survivor, found work caring for his emeritus-Professor’s uncle, who suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease, for two and a half   years, and later taught philosophy again, most recently at Pikes Peak Community College. He currently serves as a Community Chaplain — responding to the needs of that 75% of our community who are not churched — officiating weddings, memorial services, and dedications/baptisms.

Don’t miss Dean Tollefson at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, August 24th, at the Gill Foundation, 315 East Costilla Street. As always, everyone’s invited, member or not, and admission is free!