Why Might That Be?

Why might that be That the universe Needs A local habitation And a name? Why might that be That all that is Needs A pet name and A personality? Why might that be That mystery Needs Turned to our ends? To our purposes? Why might that be That our Needs Demand a personality And a name? Why might that be That we Need Gods when all That is is?

Fair Game

I remember a moment when I was 5 and peeing under a tree and thinking about life and about bodies– my body emptying itself under the body of that tree, the huge house of it as I looked up through the muscular branches which seemed as thick around as grown men, and I remember looking down and seeing directly across from me another body– a tiny black foraging body– I was still peeing as I followed it with my eyes … Read on…

Interview with Carol Wintermute

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Co-Dean of the Humanist Institute. Carol Wintermute’s undergraduate work was at Denison University in Ohio where she received a Bachelor or Fine Arts degree. She did post-graduate work in psychology at the University of Minnesota. Her graduate studies were in family social science at Minnesota where she completed the course work for a MA and Ph.D. degree. She is also a graduate of the Humanist Institute. Her passions are philosophy, psychology, art and literature. Over the years, she has been … Read on…

An Interview with Ronald Aronson

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Ronald Aronson is the author of Living Without God New Directions for Atheists, Agnostics, Secularists and the Undecided. Ronald Aronson is Distinguished Professor of the History of Ideas at Wayne State University and the author or editor of nine books, including Camus & Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel that Ended It, After Marxism, and “Stay out of Politics!” A Philosopher Views South Africa. He has published articles in The Nation, Bookforum, The Yale Review, The Chronicle … Read on…

Sin

How clever, he who thought to name a sin For many things to which we’re so inclined, Since after all, such things must be defined As devilish before we can begin To shed our natures like a serpent’s skin, And give our souls to God; but we’re designed To smile and nod and say that we don’t mind, While countless agonies recoil within. The faithful love to gluttonise their creed, While envying the ones who in their pride Can cast … Read on…