humanism

“There is absolutely nothing to stop us ‘seculars’ from following Jesus.”

Today is the National Day of Prayer in the United States, an annual day of observance that was formally established by Congress in 1952. The law that establishes a National Day of Prayer ( 36 U.S.C. §…

The decision comes on page 8. The sound of screaming is coming from behind a locked door in a warehouse. You have to do something. What do you do? If you try to break the door down, you turn to page…

Religious people take note.

On being Jewish and atheist.

Harvard’s humanist chaplain disagrees… sort of.

The absence of historical and sociological context for atheist politics, and its disconnection from social justice activism, will keep it in the lily-white one-percent column.

My grandfather, born to immigrants in 1878, was undoubtedly familiar with the all-but-forgotten figure of Robert Green Ingersoll, the “Great Agnostic,” who popularized Darwin for the millions, who championed the disgraced Thomas Paine, and who kept alive the important tradition of American free thought during the last quarter of the 19th century.

“As soon as you say ‘non-theists,’ it’s a negative thing. We should call ourselves ‘people believers.’ We believe in the common sense and the good will of people.”

There is no justification; there is no larger logic, no theologically exposed silver lining. This misery is all too human—the imposition of an individual’s twisted will on others with deadly consequences. Appeal to God doesn’t fix this; it doesn’t explain it.