by Chris Highland
One sunny Bay Area afternoon I was walking down a sidewalk under shade trees with my class of developmentally disabled adults.
Collaborative Compassion: A Secular Perspective
From the Shared Love of Justice and Humanity
by Kathleen A. Green
Three years ago, I shared my idea for a doctorate of ministry dissertation – bringing humanists and religious adherents together in interfaith engagement – and received some blank stares, a few shaking heads, and even a couple of flat out discouraging declarations such as “What’s the point?
Dogma is a Danger to Us All
by Ruth Broyde Sharone
“Religion is dead.” I winced as if I had experienced a body blow when I heard these words, delivered by one of the keynote speakers at an interspiritual conference on the East Coast three years ago.The keynote speaker happened to be a friend of mine, a cable show producer who for decades has extoled and promoted the “spiritual-but-not-religious” movement, a growing phenomena that has challenged the value and significance of traditional religions in our times.
New Theists: Knowers, Not Believers
Religious Freedom, Meet Secularism — Your Best Ally
In what could go down as one of its most notable reckonings of the era, the Supreme Court heard arguments next week in two major gay marriage cases. As the advocates and justices prepare to spar over California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, important constitutional principles had a much-needed day in the sun.
The Case for Atheist Chaplains
Because words like ‘chaplain’ and ‘chaplaincy’ have religious connotations, some atheists and non-believers prefer not to use the terms. Nonetheless, a need for atheist chaplains exists, and a growing number of people are stepping into the role. Atheists, a significant portion of the public, have needs like anyone else, seek out mentors and counselors who can advise them, and care for them. But the issue is bigger than being acknowledged and represented in the healing community, important as those matters are.
Are Atheists the New Campus Crusaders?
This month at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a select group of students will show their humanitarian spirit by participating in the Bleedin’ Heathens Blood Drive. On February 12, they will eat cake to celebrate Darwin Day, and earlier this year, they performed “de-baptism” ceremonies to celebrate Blasphemy Day, attended a War on Christmas Party, and set up Hug An Atheist and Ask An Atheist booths in the campus quad.