The spring 2009 lecture series sponsored by the Ethics Center at California State University, Fresno will begin Wednesday, Feb. 2, with a discussion of religious wars.

The lectures are from noon to 12:50 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium in the University Business Center. They are free and open to the public.

Upcoming lectures

Feb. 2: “The Myth of Religious War.â€Â David Chan, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, will discuss religious wars and the myths that accompany them.

March 4: “God, Darwin, and the Culture Wars.â€Â Fresno State philosophy faculty member Leonard Olsen will lecture on the arguments surrounding the origin of life on Earth and how individuals take extreme sides without acknowledging a middle position.

March 18: “César Chavez and Nonviolence.â€Â Jose-Antonio Orosco, an associate professor of philosophy at Oregon State, will present an overview of his book, “César Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence.”

April 29: “Ancient Philosophy and the New Atheists.â€Â Robert Metcalf, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado at Denver, will discuss “new atheismâ€Â and contrast it with ancient Greek approaches to the critique of religion.