This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN). The Humanist Network News (HNN) is published every Wednesday via e-mail and on the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) Web site. This diary is a slightly reformatted copy of the weekly email they send me, which I post here every Thursday (Yes, I have permission from the IHS). (CP @ MLW, BT, SP)
November 30, 2005
Humanist Network News
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- Teacher fired for non-immaculate conception
- Secular lobbyist challenges O’Reilly’s X-mas campaign
- Humanist Podcasting vs. Godcasting
- Number of non-believers in Northern Ireland increases
- Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief at the UN
- Skepchicks, International
- Rationally Speaking: Plato, Freud, and the roots of our discontent
- God would be an atheist: Why can’t we all be Japanese?
- When is it no longer personal?
- Sweet Reason, how can I prevent humanist burnout?
- Media Roundup
- Cathartic Comics
- Humanist Humor
Summaries, links, and MY TAKE across the break.
1. Teacher fired for non-immaculate conception
A Catholic school in Queens, N.Y. recently fired an unmarried 26-year-old teacher for becoming pregnant. Dr. Tim Gordinier, public policy director of the Institute for Humanist Studies, remarks on this issue. MORE
MY TAKE: An interesting case, and a an excellent analysis by Gordinier.
2. Secular lobbyist challenges O’Reilly’s X-mas campaign
Lori Lipman Brown, director and lobbyist of the Secular Coalition for America made her second appearance on The O’Reilly Factor last night. This time she was there to speak to the Fox News talk show host about how secularists view Christmas. As with her first two appearances on Fox the hate mail flowed into the SCA. But so did the positive messages. MORE
MY TAKE: I’m still not sure why Lipman Brown even bothers to go on O’Reilly’s show. No doubt she can kick his ass in a fair debate, but his show tilts the playing field so far to his advantage that it hardly seems worth it. Even if she does do well, it will never make it on the air. And O’Reilly is wrong to think none of the Founders anticipated non-Christians. If he read some Thomas Jefferson, he would know that.
3. Humanist Podcasting vs. Godcasting
Last week the Institute for Humanist Studies releasted the first-ever audio version of Humanist Network News. There’s still time to listen. MORE
MY TAKE: I still haven’t listened… and don’t know if or when I will. Maybe if I had an MP3 player…
4. Number of non-believers in Northern Ireland increases
A new report has revealed a significant increase in the number of people in Northern Ireland who now see themselves as having no religion. The National Secular Society Newsline (U.K.) reports. MORE
MY TAKE: Seeing so much death and destruction over minor religious differences might just drive the faith out of a person.
5. Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief at the UN
Matt Cherry, executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies, will chair the 2005 Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief at the United Nations on Thursday, Dec. 1. Cherry will be overseeing the event in his capacity as president of the United Nations NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. HNN readers are welcome to attend. MORE
MY TAKE: Happy International Freedom of Religion or Belief Day. Nice that the UN recognizes non-religious beliefs and places them on par with religion.
6. Skepchicks, International
Rebecca Watson describes Skepchicks, an organization of smart, skeptical women who are dedicated to the promotion of critical thinking. By sponsoring initiatives, funding scholarships, and encouraging discussion and debate, they hope to increase the number of women in the community of skeptics. This column is reprinted from eSkeptic. MORE
MY TAKE: Love the name, love the goals, love the initiative. The calendar is a bit pricey, but I love a woman who is not afraid to show off her… um… brains.
7. Rationally Speaking: Plato, Freud, and the roots of our discontent
Rationally Speaking columnist Massimo Pigliucci just “happened to be mulling over the fairly well known relationship between Plato’s idea of the tripartite soul and Freud’s theoretical framework for understanding our mind.” SEE WHAT HE CAME UP WITH
8. God would be an atheist: Why can’t we all be Japanese?
Columnist Martin Foreman writes: “Top of the class, in both atheism and good behavior, come the Japanese.” MORE
MY TAKE: This story reports on a study showing that more secular nations have less violent crime and teen pregnancy than more religious nations. Anyone who has studied history knows that religion has always been a major source of conflict. But this study shows correlations aside from religious conflict. Of course, correlation is not the same as causation, and other cultural factors no doubt play some role in the findings. But religiosity may be playing a role in those other cultural factors as well, so maybe there is some causation at work here.
9. When is it no longer personal?
Canadian columnist Doug Thomas writes: “…the crosses worn by some students have been becoming larger and male students often wear them hanging outside their sweaters or shirts. Given that there have been incidents in our school of Christian students challenging students of other faiths and as well as non-believers about their personal philosophies, I wonder if there is a connection. When does a simple expression of personal faith become a symbol of intense loyalty to a group and when does the group become a gang?” MORE
MY TAKE: As I stated above, anyone who has studied history knows that religion has always been a major source of conflict. I’m sure most would not consider bullying behavior to be very Christian, but Christian gangs are not such a new thing.
10. Sweet Reason, how can I prevent humanist burnout?
A reader states: “I’ve always tried to be involved and do what I can to support humanistic causes and organizations but I’m afraid of becoming burned out.” READ SWEET REASON’S ADVICE
MY TAKE: This is good advice for any kind of activism burnout.
11. Media Roundup
Penn Jillette reads his essay “There Is No God” on NPR’s “This I Believe” series. The Pope plans to abandon idea of unbaptised babies forever in limbo. A school runs a contest for best anti-gay essay. A 15 year old girl is suspended from high school for not praying. And a Darwin exhibition is frightening off corporate sponsors. DETAILS
MY TAKE: As always, good stuff in the media round-up
12. Cathartic Comics
…an assortment of cartoons and comic strips about humanism, atheism, religion, science and freethought. READ THEM
13. Humanist Humor
The Discovery Institute has announced its public policy agenda for 2006. It will now be promoting a few more not-so-intelligent ideas along with “intelligent design”. MORE
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If anything here interests you, or if you are one of those people who doesn’t “get” humanism, you may also be interested in my diary on what secular humanism is and what it is like to be a secular humanist in today’s political climate: I Am The Boogeyman.
