World Humanist Day
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People sometimes ask me whether I’m an agnostic, an atheist, a skeptic – or what. I have a standard reply: I don’t think about labels; I just think about being honest and truthful. Read on…
Category Archives: Essays
Fading Faith
A historic transition is occurring, barely noticed. Slowly, quietly, imperceptibly, religion is shriveling in America, as it has done in Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan and other advanced societies. Supernatural faith increasingly belongs to the Third World. The First World is entering the long-predicted Secular Age, when science and knowledge dominate. The change promises to be another shift of civilization, like past departures of the era of kings, the time of slavery, the Agricultural Age, the epoch of colonialism, and the like. Such cultural transformations are partly invisible to contemporary people, but become obvious in retrospect. Read on…
Apple Pie with Pork Gravy
Yes, that’s what is says. Apple pie with pork gravy. Let’s look at those two things to make sure we understand them.
Apple pie: An apple pie is a fruit pie (or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples.
Read on…
Humanist Ethical Values
This third value espoused by the 2003 Humanist Manifesto is perhaps more complex than the first two, and requires what I see as a divorcement between the concept of ethics and the concept of morals. In its entirety, this third item reads: Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Read on…
Those That Died to Give Us Life
The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today. – Lawrence Krauss Read on…
Humanist Values- Nature and Evolution
I suppose suppose it could be said that the second item in the list of the six mentioned in the Humanist Manifesto 3 is an extension of the first. In full, this item reads “Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of evolutionary change, an unguided process.” If you remember that first item, it had to do with empiricism, including observation, experimentation, and rational analysis. You know, the scientific method, critical thinking, pragmatism, etc. Read on…
Humanist Values- Observation, experimentation, and rational analysis
When Humanists last endeavored to define themselves, the did it in the Humanist Manifest III, released in 2003. It is not so much a statement of what is wrong with the world, as was much of the first two Manifestos, but a statement of what could be right. There is so much in the world that is negative; it can mire one in society’s mud. And examination of the basic principles of humanism should be a positive experience, one that I need. Read on…
Christian Science and rationality
I view religion and rationality as very separate. But with most religious ideas, I can at least grasp why people believe them. However, when it comes to Christian Science, I just don’t get it no-how. Read on…
Where should tolerance end?
Tolerance is often discussed as one of the grand issues, of which there could never be too much. That opinion speaks both of very little critical thought and too much “What would jebus do?” Tolerance may seem bland, like water, but regardless of how many times doctors tell us that water is good for us, no water at all is bad and 40 gallons a day is just as dangerous, if not more so. As with most things in life, tolerance needs a little balance. Read on…
No Place in Europe for Islam
In stark contrast to the British and American attempts to push back the march of Secularism, France’s rhetoric against Islam has strengthened. The French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, is now fighting a desperate battle against the French Socialists and the far right to keep his job, and maintain the powerful Franco-German union at the reigns of power in the EU. Read on…