Category: Humanism and Suicide: A Positive View
By My Own Hand: Suicide Can Be a Wise and Gentle Choice
It’s time to look beneath the stigma and see a socially-accepted role for suicide in a nation where our lives are our own. I will die. You will die. Death is not a question of if; it is only a question of when and how. Modern medicine has doubled American life expectancy over the past two centuries. At forty, …
Why So Much of the Bible is Poorly Written
Have you ever tried to read the Bible cover to cover? Even among Christians, a minority make it all the way through. According to the Barna Group, an evangelical Christian polling organization, the average American household contains 4.4 Bibles, but 57 percent of people say they read from it less than five times a year. …
The Incompatibility of Judeo-Christian Religion with Contemporary Human Rights
It is oftentimes claimed by Christians that the Bible is the main source of morality, and Christian organizations involved in humanitarian activities usually give copies of the Bible alongside their aid to give the impression that they are motivated by the Bible. This article challenges that notion and argues that the Bible is devoid of …
Why Are Secular Humanists So Afraid of Other People’s Identity Politics?
In the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of handwringing and lamentation from thinkers ostensibly “on my side”—individuals who identify as sitting primarily on the left half of the political line, especially nonreligious liberal public intellectuals—around the problem of “identity politics.” Many words have been spilled, online debates had, panels hosted, and books written …
The Social Forces Behind Trump’s War on Science
As you know well, the Trump Administration is ignoring or even censoring scientific evidence that enforces past federal regulations that protect the American people. It is eliminating federal regulations restricting toxic pollution of the air and water. It seeks to do away with restrictions on the purity of our food. It seeks to eliminate restrictions …
Principles of Scularism and Freedom of Religion Do Not Limit Teaching of Truth in Public Schools—The Real Limit is Political
In a review of our book Sharing Reality in Free Inquiry (April/May 2018), Ronald A. Lindsay disagreed with our views on the topic of what may be taught in public schools. Lindsay argued: “There’s no need for schools to address the God question. And if there’s no need for schools to address this issue from one side, there’s no …
Respect Freedom of Conscience: Teach Science, Not Metaphysics
What Haley and McGowan advocate seems less like the future of secularism than like a betrayal of it. Jeff Haley and Dale McGowan vigorously contend that public school educators should affirmatively teach there are “no gods, souls, or afterlife.” Of course, they recognize that their view of the appropriate curriculum for public schools has no …