This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN). The HNN is a weekly publication of The Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS). The IHS promotes nonreligious perspectives on social, political, and ethical issues and serves as a resource for and about the humanist community.
Week of June 6, 2005
Humanist Network News
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- Secular Coalition to hire DC lobbyist, fall 2005 (You can read my diary about The Secular Coalition for America’s plan for a lobbyist HERE).
- Healthy Teens Act passes Assembly
- Canadian humanists rally to support abortion doctor
- Honorary degree with a considerable degree of honor
- Medical marijuana gets smoked by high court
- How many virgins? Eternity would be Hell
- The Karla Homolka problem
- Film Review: Layer Cake
- Sweet Reason, my cousin is gay, religious and conflicted
- Letters to the Editor
- Media Roundup
- Strange Times
- Cathartic Comics
- Humanist Humor
- Poll of the Week
Summaries and links across the bump. As always, feel free to write an in-depth diary on any of these stories.
1. Secular Coalition to hire DC lobbyist, fall 2005
Watch out fundamentalists! The Secular Coalition for America plans to have a lobbyist on Capitol Hill this fall. MORE
2. Healthy Teens Act passes Assembly
The New York State Assembly passed the “Healthy Teens Act” (A6300) on June 7 by the resounding margin of 123-18. The legislation, if signed into law, would provide local organizations with state funds so that they could teach age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education to young people instead of federally-funded abstinence-only programs. MORE
3. Canadian humanists rally to support abortion doctor
Katherine Meidell, 2nd vice president of the Humanist Association of Canada, lets HNN readers know about what Canadian humanists are doing to combat religious anti-choice forces working to prevent Dr. Henry Morgentaler from receiving an honary degree from the University of Western Ontario. Morgentaler is Canada’s leading advocate for women’s reproductive freedom. MORE
4. Honorary degree with a considerable degree of honor
Canadian columnist Doug Thomas provides a short biographical sketch of Dr. Morgentaler. MORE
5. Medical marijuana gets smoked by high court
The recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, giving the federal government authority to criminalize all personal use of marijuana, even to the point of overriding state laws that allow its consumption for medicinal purposes, may have more significance to the humanist community then one might first suppose. MORE
6. How many virgins? Eternity would be Hell
Syndicated columnist Martin Foreman explores the idea of heaven and eternity in this installment of his “God would be an atheist” column. MORE
7. The Karla Homolka problem
Canadian columnist Doug Thomas examines the death penalty and incarceration in Canada. MORE
8. Film Review: Layer Cake
Carolny Braunnius reviews Layer Cake, a sweet film about some unsavory characters. MORE
9. Sweet Reason, my cousin is gay, religious and conflicted
Sweet Reason give advice to a letter writer who has a gay cousin who is religiously conflicted. MORE
10. Letters to the Editor
This week’s letters tackle a variety of topics, including openly atheistic politicians. Did you know that California had an openly atheist assemblyman? MORE
11. Media Roundup
U.N.: Support Creation of Human Rights Council; Does Church threaten secular life in Russia?; Air Force Academy Embroiled in Religious Controversy; AP Poll: Religion Key in American Lives; Secular Europe confirmed by poll; Scotland takes UK lead in rejecting organised religion; Rushdie: Just give me that old-time atheism! MORE
12. Strange Times
Human flesh flavored tofu, 666 is not the mark of the beast — it’s really 601!; gay fruit flies? MORE
13. Cathartic Comics
This week HNN debuts a new freethought comic, “Big Fat Whale” by Brian McFadden. This week McFadden shows us “Atheism’s One Commandment.” MORE
14 Humanist Humor
We have a little quiz for you this week. Enjoy! READ THE JOKE
15. Poll of the Week
The Secular Coalition for America plans to hire a lobbyist in Washington D.C. this fall. What do you think will be the best thing to come from having a secular lobbyist on Capitol Hill? Take the Poll
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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. This diary is a copy of the weekly email, slightly reformatted.
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