Welcome to the Grand Traverse Humanists. If you value science, reason, and compassion and believe that humans are responsible for their own destiny, you have come to the right place. We are a community for the non-religious in the Grand Traverse area, offering a forum for discussing and advancing a secular worldview based on our common humanity. Our programs include monthly speakers and discussions, film and book groups, and various volunteer and social events. All are free and open to the public. Check out Upcoming Events below, or click on the calendar. Nontheists, agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, rationalists, humanists, and more…we welcome you to join us!

Upcoming Events

  • G.T. Humanists Meeting: Jim Olson

    G.T. Humanists Meeting: Jim Olson

    Join the Grand Traverse Humanists as they welcome Traverse City attorney Jim Olson with a talk on environmental law called “Humanity, Law, and the Fate of the Earth’s Commons.”
    Jim Olson has nearly 40 years of experience as an environmental, water, and public interest law advocate and champion, dedicated to protecting waters and ecosystems in the Great Lakes Basin. Jim currently contributes to For Love of Water’s legal and policy work, including policy analyses, law review articles, comments, reports, and other publications. He has lectured at every major university in Michigan, authored dozens of articles on the public trust, and litigated many relevant cases. He’s also the author of several books, the latest of which is called “People of the Dune.”
    Jim is a graduate of Michigan State College of Law (Detroit College of Law) and has an L.L.M. Degree in public lands, natural resources, and environmental law from the University of Michigan Law School. He received the Champion of Justice Award from the Michigan Bar Association in 2010, and was named a Michigan Lawyer of the Year in 1998 for his work on environmental and water citizen suit laws.
  • G.T. Humanists Book Club Dec 15: The Anxious Generation

    G.T. Humanists Book Club Dec 15: The Anxious Generation

    Join the Grand Traverse Humanists at 4 p.m. as we discuss the latest book by Jonathan Haidt, “The Anxious Generation.”
    Description from Amazon: “After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?
    In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.
    Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.
    Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.”
    The discussion will take place at the home of Rich and Lin Foa, at 1415 Lake Drive in Traverse City. Please RSVP to Rich at 720-545-8828, and bring a dish to pass if you like!
  • G.T. Humanists Winter Solstice Celebration Dec 21

    Please join the Grand Traverse Humanists at 7 p.m. as we celebrate the day of Earth’s northern hemisphere’s maximal tilt away from the sun, resulting in the year’s shortest day! Come enjoy the company of fellow secularists during the festive season. We’ll gather at the home of Mark Elliott and Heather Kingham, 7670 E Shore Rd. in Traverse City. Please RSVP to Mark at 231-392-1215, and bring a dish to share if you like!