Sunday Discussions are intended for people who enjoy discussing controversial public policy issues. We meet from noon to 1pm on most 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sundays of the month. Participants are encouraged to suggest controversial topics of interest and to moderate those discussions.
Sunday Discussions meet online with Zoom.
Contact RickNeil@gmail.com if you would like to participate.
----------------------------Schedule----------------------------
Date Moderator Topic
12/07/2025 Stew "Are the Food Coop & Amtrak stealing your money?"
12/21/2025 Fred "SECOND STRIKE: What should the US have done about the two survivors, and what should it do now?"
01/04/2026 Stew "AI: Nature Retreating, or Nature Succeeding?"
Past Discussions
11/30/2025 Fred "Should both US major parties moderate their extremist ends before elections?"
11/16/2025 Stew "Where Lies Responsibility For U.S. Opioid Deaths?"
11/02/2025 Fred "What SHOULD the Supreme Court decide in the upcoming anti-tariff case?"
10/19/2025 Stew "What The HELL Is Going On?"
10/05/2025 Fred "When should a US military member refuse an order to fire on civilians as being unlawful?"
10/05/2025 Fred "When should a US military member refuse an order to fire on civilians as being unlawful?"
09/21/2025 Stew "Should We Abolish Federal Congressional Districts?"
09/07/2025 Fred "Are government Independent Agencies compatible with democracy?"
08/31/2025 Stew "The Deep State: Real? Good or Bad?"
08/17/2025 Fred "Should Brown University have agreed to the federal government settlement of $15 million plus restrictions?"
08/03/2025 Stew "Liberty vs. Security: Where Should Government Draw The Line?"
07/20/2025 Fred "In light of drones and other modern technology, should the physical and mental standards for US military recruitment be changed?"
07/06/2025 Steve R. “Should the United States change to a parliamentary system?”
06/29/2025 Fred "Have US Presidents Grown Too Powerful?"
06/15/2025 Stew "Will literacy be as important an asset in 2050?"
06/01/2025 Fred "Is peace in Ukraine even possible; what would it look like?"
05/18/2025 Fred "Should there be maximum, in addition to minimum, age for election to public office?"
05/04/2025 Stew "What are the 'Natural/Inalienable' rights/powers of nations/governments?"
04/20/2025 Fred "Annual Taxes Discussion"
04/06/2025 Stew "What Happened to Jury Trials? Does it Matter?"
03/30/2025 Fred "Should the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau be abolished?"
03/16/2025 Stew "Is Donald Trump attempting to avoid WW3 in the same way that Neville Chamberlain managed to avoid WW2?"
03/02/2025 Fred "Should a review group assigned to find funding savings for a business, charitable, or governmental organization be allowed full access to all of that organization's data?"
02/16/2025 Stew "Whither FEMA: leave it alone? modify it (how)? abolish it?"
02/02/2025 Fred "TARIFFS: Would you accept appointment to be the Commissioner of the new External Revenue Service?"
01/19/2025 Stew "Is college accreditation currently valid? How should it be changed?"
01/05/2025 Fred “How much presidential pardon power is compatible with democracy?”
12/29/2024 Stew "Under what circumstances should the U.S. Government employ sanctions?"
12/15/2024 Ian "Has American Foreign Policy Since the End of World War II Been Aggressive?"
12/01/2024 Fred "Should we have confidence in the mainstream media?"
11/17/2024 Pat "Should we have confidence in the Secret Service?"
11/03/2024 Stew "What Should U.S. Government Policy Be Regarding Israel & the West Bank?"
10/20/2024 Marland The old saw: "If you want a new idea read an old book, if you want an old idea read a new book," Still true?
10/06/2024 Steve R "Do Women In Power Reduce the Possibility of War?"
09/29/2024 Fred "Should the government subsidize vaccines, insulin, and tirzepatide?"
09/15/2024 Stew "Reincarnation is real. What are the public policy implications?"
09/01/2024 Fred “Which is better, Harris’s increased corporate tax or Trump’s wider tariffs?”
08/18/2024 Stew "The national debt: Building for a better future, or ticking time bomb? Who cares?"
07/21/2024 Fred "Would it be better for the nation for Biden to withdraw from his nomination campaign."
07/07/2024 Stew "Presidential Debates"
6/30/2024 Fred "Should the US ban (or force divesting) TIK TOK?"
06/16/2024 Stew "Unintended consequences: Why do governments insist on obtaining most revenue from Pigouvian taxes with universally negative side effects?"
06/02/2024 Fred "Should a US president be immune from state and lower level prosecution?"
05/19/2024 Stew "A Constitutional amendment: Governments shall not discriminate based upon citizens' marriage or living arrangements."?
05/05/2024 Steve B "What Are The Benefits of Covert Action?"
04/21/2024 Fred "Are Sales Taxes Fair?"
04/07/2024 Fred "Not specific - Whatever comes up"
03/31/2024 Fred "Has Christianity, on balance, been a net plus for the world?"
03/17/2024 Stew "Is improving health care, for the purpose of extending life-expectancy, good for society or patient?"
03/03/2024 Fred "Is NATO in the best interest of the US?"
02/18/2024 Stew "Are attacks against civilian populations ever justified? Why/not? When?"
02/04/2024 Fred "Are electric vehicle drivers cheating us?"
01/21/2024 Stew "Should future aid to Israel be contingent on Israel removing its settlers from the West Bank?"
01/07/2024 Fred "Should we increase aid to Ukraine?"
12/17/2023 Stew "Is the widening U.S. military footprint making us more or less safe?"
12/3/2023 Fred "Should US increase aid to Israel?"
11/19/2023 Ian "Does the sweeping new law of nature proposed by scientists expanding on evolution seem valid?"
11/05/2023 Fred "Do we need career politicians?"
10/29/2023 Stew "Are educators educated enough to educate others?"
10/15/2023 Timothy "Is Stephen Jay Gould's concept of Non-overlapping magisteria intellectually sound and what might be its relevance to the UU religion?"
10/01/2023 Stew "Liberty & Equality are incompatible ideals. How & where can we get them to co-exist?"
09/17/2023 Fred "Can the President Pardon Himself?"
09/03/2023 Stew "Return to the OFFICE: long overdue or mindless & wasteful?"
08/20/2023 Timothy "Has what it means to be Human changed? If so, how and will this trend continue?"
08/06/2023 Timothy "Is UU Asleep at the Wheel?"
07/30/2023 Fred "Should the U.S. Ban TikTok?"
07/16/2023 Fred "What Should We Do About the Worldwide Falling Birth Rate Crisis?"
07/02/2023 Stew "Standing"
06/18/2023 Timothy "Is Americans' trust in markets over government justified?"
06/04/2023 Stew "Is DEMOCRACY the best form of Government & the goal we should attain?"
05/14/2023 Timothy "What Are We? How Did We Get Here? Why Are We Here?"
05/07/2023 Stew "Is Support for the Israeli Government & Its Policies in the Best Interest of the U.S.?"
04/30/2023 Ian "Framework: Is Autism a Risk Factor for Social Violence?"
04/16/2023 Fred "What Should We Do About Social Security?"
04/02/2023 Pat "Does Artificial Intelligence represent early-stage consciousness?"
03/19/2023 Stew "Fentanyl: More Reefer Madness or a Genuine National Threat?"
03/05/2023 Stew "Does ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) represent a threat to our ability to educate? Is it some other threat? Why?"
02/19/2023 Fred "Should the US National Debt Ceiling Be Repealed?"
02/05/2023 Stew "Given the highest vulnerability to COVID by the elderly, was it the correct moral decision to vaccinate the elderly first? The correct economic decision?"
01/29/2023 Steve B “Why is inflation a problem?"
01/15/2023 Fred "Is Overpopulation a Problem?"
12/18/2022 Stew "Are We Too Prosperous?"
12/04/2022 Timothy "Is An American Humanist Party a Good Idea?"
11/20/2022 Fred "What Do the Midterm Election Results Portend?"
11/06/2022 Steve B “Government: Should We Throw The Baby Out With The Bathwater"
10/23/2022 Fred "What Should Be the Response to Use of Tactical Nukes in Ukraine?"
10/16/2022 Steve B “Christianity: Should We Throw The Baby Out With The Bathwater"
10/02/2022 Timothy "Is morality based on enlightened self-interest?
09/18/2022 Stew "Are Trade Embargoes an Intelligent, Effective Foreign Policy Tool?"
09/04/2022 Fred "Should Student Loan Debt Be Cancelled?"
08/21/2022 Stew "What Should be Done to Control Invasive Species Like House Cats & Kudzu?"
08/07/2022 Timothy "With Which Philosophy Do U Most Identify?"
07/31/2022 Fred "Are Red Flag gun laws a good idea?"
07/17/2022 Fred "What new abortion issues does Virginia face now?"
07/03/2022 Stew "Under what conditions should/could secession be a human right?"
06/19/2022 Timothy "Is Nuclear Power the Only Hope/Solution for Climate Change?"
06/05/2022 Stew "Is Taiwan next? What should U.S. policy be?"
05/29/2022 Fred "Is the U.S. a nation that would arrest political opponents?"
05/15/2022 Stew "Will Ketanji Jackson be a positive addition to the Supreme Court? Why?"
05/01/2022 Timothy "What Kind of Government Would Be Compatible With Right-Libertarianism?"
04/17/2022 Fred "Is Under $400,000 Annual Income a Fair Threshold for No Tax Increase for Build Back Better?"
04/03/2022 Timothy "Would U Agree to Assassination of Putin?"
03/20/2022 Fred "Do We Really Want Self-Driving Vehicles?"
03/06/2022 Stew "What, if anything, is Free Will? And depending on the answer, How should public policy change?"
02/20/2022 Pat "What should NATO and the US do to counter a major Russian invasion of Ukraine? Ground forces?"
02/06/2022 Timothy "What is This Thing Called Non-Theistic Religion?"
01/30/2022 Fred "Should Senate Hearings for Supreme Court Justices Be Public?"
01/16/2022 Timothy "What are our UUFF Sunday Discussion goals for the New Year, individually and as a group? Where might U like to see more emphasis?"
12/19/2021 Stew "Parental Leave: Good, Bad, When, How Much?"
01/02/2022 Fred "Do we really want electric vehicles?"
12/05/2021 Steve B “Should government power to tax be limited? If so, how?”.
11/21/2021 Stew "Schools Debate: Gifted And Talented, Or Racist And Elitist?"
11/07/2021 Timothy "If The Goal of Humanism Is To Improve the Lot of Humankind, What Should Its Core Issues Be?"
10/31/2021 Fred "Who Should Restrict Misinformation on Social Media?"
10/17/2021 Fred "Should Government Have Laws On Personal Medical Decisions Such as Abortion and Vaccination?"
10/03/2021 Steve B "What is the basis of morality? Does science have a role to play?"
09/19/2021 Steve R "Should U.S. immigration policy be more or less restrictive than it is today? What restrictions and incentives should apply?"
09/05/2021 Stew "The Seven Deadly 'Sins': Are They? Why?"
08/29/2021 Timothy "Can We No Longer Afford to Give Religion a Pass?"
08/15/2021 Rick "How Should the U.S. Deal With Global Warming?"
08/01/2021 Fred "Should the District of Columbia Become a State?"
07/18/2021 Timothy "If Not Government, Who/What?"
06/20/2021 Stew "UFO, SETI, & METI Projects: Should 'We' Pursue them? Why?"
06/06/2021 Timothy "Should There Be a Limit On Wealth?"
05/30/2021 Fred "What Can Be Done About Mass Shootings?"
05/16/2021 Steve B "Is Cryptocurrency Anti-social?"
05/02/2021 Timothy "Is the US Military Degrading America's Security and Well Being?"
04/18/2021 Fred "What Religious Actions Should be Supported by US Taxpayers?"
04/04/2021 Stew "How Can We Stop Politicians' Lies Without Stifling Free Speech?
03/21/2021 Fred "What Should the Republican Party Do Now?"
03/07/2021 Stew "Should the President Alone Have Control of the Nuclear Button? If Not, How Should It Be Done?"
02/21/2021 Fred "Should the President's Constitutional Pardon Power be Amended?"
02/07/2021 Stew "Should Some Form of Recall Exist for Elected Federal Officials? If Yes, How Should It Be Done?"
01/31/2021 Fred "Should Supreme Court Justices' Terms Be Limited?"
01/17/2021 Rick "Should Trump be Prosecuted?"
01/03/2021 Fred "Do the Advantages of a Minimum Wage Outweigh the Disadvantages?"
Discussion Topics Back to 2003:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-abF7QSk1sff3Q8wkA9sWv3kuSkNR1q6/view?usp=sharing