All Toronto Oasis in person meetings have been cancelled until further notice due to the COVID-19 situation. We hope to re-book our speakers and musicians once this crisis is over. In the meantime, we may be able to connect via video conferencing using a platform such as Zoom. We will keep you posted.
Category: Announcement
Announcements made by the Toronto Oasis organizers.
Toronto Oasis Sunday meetings at our regular time (11 am) & location (569 Spadina Ave.) will resume on Sunday Jan 12th, 2020.
There will be no Toronto Oasis Sunday meeting today, Dec 22nd, and the next two Sundays Dec 29th and Jan 5th.
Toronto Oasis Sunday meetings at our regular time (11 am) & location (569 Spadina Ave.) will resume on Sunday Jan 12th, 2020.
In the meantime, check out the following:
Sunday December 22nd: Experiential Field Trip to Quaker Meeting (60 Lowther Ave.) 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Dan Cooperstock (our Toronto Oasis treasurer) invites us to join him at the Quaker Meeting he belongs to. For more information and to RSVP go to our Meetup event at: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/266794446/
Sunday December 29th: Toronto Oasis Visits West Hill United Church (60 Orchard Park Drive, Scarborough) 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. Like Toronto Oasis, West Hill United Church is a member of the Oasis Network. We will participate in their entirely non-theist service. For more information and to RSVP go to our Meetup event at: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/266794383/
Friday Jan 10th: Winter Book Study at West Hill United Church (60 Orchard Park Drive, Scarborough) 7:30 pm. The book they chose is Me, Myself, They: Life Beyond the Binary by Joshua Ferguson. They plan on meeting every other Friday beginning on January 10th. Books are available from West Hill at a discounted price of $21. For more information check out https://www.westhill.net/blog/winter-book-study and their book study blog https://whubookstudy.blogspot.com/.
Also, here is a link to the lyrics of the sing-along songs from our music director Cassie Norton:
April 15th Sunday Oasis Gathering Cancelled
Due to the severe weather Alert issued by Environment Canada, our regular gathering is cancelled this morning, April 15th. We will reschedule our speaker Michelle Bilek for another date and will keep you posted.
Please stay safe on the roads and sidewalks this weekend, and we’ll see you next Sunday!
Contributing to Oasis
Like all organizations, it takes money to keep Toronto Oasis running! (Volunteering is also extremely helpful.) Expenses include room rentals, honorariums to musicians when we have them, and some web expenses.
We welcome donations at each Sunday event, and can even take them by credit card with the Square app on one of the leadership group’s cell phones.
You can also sign up for monthly donations to Toronto Oasis on Patreon. Go to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4361700, then sign up to “BECOME A PATRON”. Please note that donations via Patreon are in US$. We can also set up monthly donations with the Square app.
Our thanks for any contributions of time or money!
Toronto Oasis is not currently a charitable organization, so you can’t claim these donations as tax deductions, but we are hoping to become a registered charity in the future.
Welcome to Toronto Oasis
Toronto Oasis is a community that meets regularly to create a place for freethinkers to celebrate the human experience. Each week we gather to discuss real-world principles based on reason, not tradition, which are supported by evidence, not scripture or revelation. Launching in February 2016, Toronto Oasis is fundamentally different from a church; we could be described as a freethought oasis, where we welcome all people who want to be part of a community exploring life through reason.
We are guided by core values which define our community. They shape our interactions with each other, society, and the world.
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People are more important than beliefs.
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Reality is known through reason.
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Meaning comes from making a difference.
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Human hands solve human problems.
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Be accepting and be accepted.
Everyone is on their own journey–Agnostic, Atheist, Secular Humanist, or Questioning Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu–we look to provide a community that accepts you as you are on your journey: as long as you accept others for where they are on their journey. We aspire to be a community where people come together, celebrate the human experience, and not let faith get in the way.
Toronto Oasis meets every Sunday at 10:30 am. The community gets together to enjoy coffee, live music, and to learn something new about the world, to draw strength from the power of human community, and to engage in service projects for the betterment of the human condition. Our hope is that you leave each Sunday with a desire to reflect or make a positive change within yourself or the community at large. We invite you to join us to make new meaning in life by making a difference and doing great things.
“Regardless of theological orientation, there is some kind of deeply ingrained basic human need for community. Homo sapiens are a tribal species that need support from others; that cannot be denied.”
– Mike Aus, Executive Director, Houston Oasis
June 29 Pub Night on the Danforth!
(Catching up on past events we failed to post about:)
On June 29th, Toronto Oasis had their second pub night. We met on the Danforth to have a pint or two and see Rick Miller and friends. Rick was our inaugural speaker at Toronto Oasis, and his wife Stephanie Baptiste was, may we say, our most scintillating speaker to date! Here’s a chance to see them sharing their voices in a different way, rocking to some great classic rock covers!
The Varsity Magazine takes a close look at Toronto Oasis
They have the weather right, that’s for sure. The day was blustery and cold. But they also have everything else right, too, and for a magazine article about a topic as nuanced as religion and the secular, that is an amazing feat.
Thank you to Managing Editor Jaren Kerr and journalist Tom Yun for a great article exploring what Toronto Oasis is all about and why most people think of it as being Outside the Circle.
“February 12, 2017 was a Sunday. The roads were treacherous and the sidewalk was slippery. There was a snowstorm; the kind that encourages most people to stay in their homes, but that didn’t stop over 100 people from visiting U of T to talk about anything other than God.
“The first gathering — service, meeting, it’s still not decided what to call it — of the Toronto chapter of the Oasis network was held in the Koffler House Multi-Faith Centre. The Oasis network, established in the US, provides a community similar to that of a church or a mosque for the non-religious, the secular, the skeptical, and the curious.
Sun Dec 29 – News
Secular, churchlike Oasis set to launch in Toronto via Toronto Star.
City’s famed atheist minister among those starting local chapter of network.
A new Toronto group is expected to launch on Feb. 12, joining a growing network of communities popping up across the central and southern United States, with meetings based on shared common values instead of a religion. Read more …