This is the weekly Humanist Network News summary. The HNN is the weekly e-zine of the Institute for Humanist Studies.
(cross posted at Daily Kos)
Week of May 30, 2005
Humanist Network News
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- Human rights and wrongs
- American humanist wins Oxford debate
- Heart of the Beholder gets British premiere
- Native-Americans seek Constitutional advice from IHS
- GE brings good humanists to life?
- A conscience clause for pharmacists?
- IHS in the News: human rights, 10 C, ID
- The Canadian Right is finally “outing” itself
- Film Review — Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
- Rationally Speaking: On Holy Books
- Letters to the Editor
- Media Roundup
- Cathartic Comics
- Humanist Humor
- Poll of the Week
See across the bump for summaries and links. As always, feel free to write an in-depth diary on any of these articles.
1. Human rights and wrongs
Matt Cherry, executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies, examines the recent allegations that the United States has bee violating fundamental human rights in its “War on Terror.” MORE
2. American humanist wins Oxford debate
Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America, recently participated in a debate at the Oxford Union in England. The topic was whether or not American religion undermines American values. MORE
3. Heart of the Beholder gets British premiere
The long-anticipated American film Heart of the Beholder is to be given a British premiere showing at a film event organized by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association. MORE
4. Native-Americans seek Constitutional advice from IHS
The Institute of Humanist Studies often receives constitutional inquiries concerning church/state separation issues. But one recent referral from a legal counsel representing a New York Native-American tribe caught the attention of our Public Policy Director Tim Gordinier. MORE
5. GE brings good humanists to life?
Last week Larry Jones, president of the Institute for Humanist Studies, joined another humanist president for lunch in New York City — Kurt Vonnegut. It turns out the two have more than humanism in common. They also both worked for General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y. MORE
6. A conscience clause for pharmacists?
Tim Gordinier, public policy director of the Institute for Humanist Studies, takes a look at the pharmacy conscience controversy regarding emergency contraception. MORE
7. IHS in the News: human rights, 10 C, ID
Matt Cherry, executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies, appeared on two radio programs over the weekend to discuss Amnesty International’s recent accusations that the United States is violating fundamental human rights in its war on terror. One of the programs was an hour-long call-in show on Chicago’s “Radio Islam.” MORE
8. The Canadian Right is finally “outing” itself
When Canadian Member of Parliament Belinda Stronach crossed the floor to become a Liberal, she acted as a catalyst for a change in the Conservative Party she left. Canadian columnist Doug Thomas examines what this means for humanists in Canada. MORE
9. Film Review — Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
Larry Jones, president of the Institute for Humanist Studies, reviews the new documentary about Enron. MORE
10. Rationally Speaking: On Holy Books
Columnist Massimo Pigliucci takes a look at the recent Newsweek reporting controversy. MORE
11. Letters to the Editor
Letters on intelligent design, the AU high school graduation lawsuit and IHS support for gay and lesbian rights. MORE
12. Media Roundup
“Smithsonian to Screen a Movie That Makes a Case Against Evolution”,”Abortion Award From University in Canada Proves Costly”,”Court upholds inmates’ religious rights law”. MORE
13. Cathartic Comics
…an assortment of cartoons and comic strips about humanism, atheism, religion, science and freethought. LINK
14. Humanist Humor
An argument over a donkey gets biblical. READ THE JOKE
15. Poll of the Week
The United States has been accused of violating fundamental human rights during its war on terror. How should the U.S. government respond to these accusations? CAST YOUR VOTE
About HNN
Questions, comments, concerns, got a better joke or a story? Send a letter to the editor: http://humaniststudies.org/letter_to_editor.html . The Humanist Network News (HNN) is published every Wednesday via e-mail and the IHS Web site (www.humaniststudies.org). This diary is a copy of the weekly email (slightly reformatted).
Learn about humanism interactively – explore the Continuum of Humanist Education
American humanist wins Oxford debate
Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America, recently participated in a debate at the Oxford Union in England. The topic was whether or not American religion undermines American values. MORE…
Do you know if that debate will be shown on CSPAN? I saw an Oxford debate on CSPAN, oh, over a year ago or so.
No idea about a C-Span showing… there is no mention of anything like that, so probably not.
Here is the full posting:
American humanist wins Oxford debate
By HERB SILVERMAN
For Humanist Network News
June 1, 2005
What do I have in common with Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Richard Nixon, and Mother Theresa? We have all been invited to speak at the Oxford Union, in England.
In my case, there was a debate on whether American religion undermines American values. Those who argued against were Rich Lowry (editor of National Review), Eric Metaxas (author of 40 books and writer for Charles Colson), and Joe Loconte (William E. Simon fellow in Religion at the Heritage Foundation). Michael Lind, from our side, cancelled, leaving Welton Gaddy (president of Interfaith Alliance) and me. Each side also had a student open the debate.
The debate was not set up American style, where each side makes an opening statement and then each side has an opportunity to respond to the opening statement on the other side. In the British parliamentary style, each person speaks one time (approx. 12 minutes) and the only interruptions are for points of order or points of information. During my presentation, I received one interruption from a member of the audience after I said: “I have in my hand a Godless document — the United States Constitution.”
Point of Information: Isn’t the “Creator” mentioned in the U.S. Constitution?
My response: No, not in the Constitution. It is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, which is not a governing document but a call for rebellion against the British Crown. The Declaration refers to a Creator endowing people with inalienable rights to distinguish us from an empire that asserted the divine right of kings. Many of our founders were deists, believing in a deity that created the universe and laws of nature, and then retired to “deity emeritus.”
Rich Lowry, who preceded me, spoke of the wonderful diversity and tolerance of Christianity in America. He cited Howard Dean as an example of a committed Christian leaving one sect to join another because of a dispute over a bicycle path. In my presentation, I said that Lowry might feel as I do, that Howard Dean is not a committed Christian at all, but has to pretend he is in order to get elected. I also said that I know of no open atheist who has ever been elected to public office anywhere in the United States. After the debate, Rich Lowry told me he agreed with me about Howard Dean.
Despite their side outnumbering ours by three to two, our side won. The way people voted in the debate was by leaving the hall through the “aye” or “nay” door.
__________
Herb Silverman is the president of the Secular Coalition for America, a national 501(c)(4) lobbying organization in Washington D.C. dedicated to promoting secularism and humanism on the federal level. Members of the SCA include the American Humanist Association, the Atheist Alliance International, the Internet Infidels, the Institute for Humanist Studies, the Secular Student Alliance. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is an honorary member of the SCA.
As always, thanks for the roundup. The articles are always interesting and did like the mule/donkey joke..
I’m hoping more people will start checking in on your weekly updates-so keep on with the diaries.
Thanks.
I guess people who are really interested probably sign up for the weekly email. Here is the URl if you want to subscribe: http://humaniststudies.org/lists/
I’ll keep doing the weekly diary, though, so hopefully more and more people will here about the HNN and subscribe.
yes, I have been meaning to sign up when I go to site to read the articles and have been too lazy to get around to it..will do so today sometime and as I said keep on posting. This would seem to be right up many people’s alley here so to speak. I would think any one of articles could generate some good discussions or action.
I’m also particularly interested in that idiot in NY and his wanting to introduce the two pieces of legislation about ten commandments and Intelligent Design(god(ha)I hate that name)and how that is going to come out.