Congregational Humanism: Throwing out James Croft and Greg Epstein the Bad and Keeping the Good Jennifer Kalmanson 29 F
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TOM FLYNN: The Left Is Not Always Right CELEBRATING REASON AND HUMANITY October/November 2013 Vol. 33 No.6 RELIGIOUS HUMANISM: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating? GREG EPSTEIN | JAMES CROFT | HUGH P. MCDONALD JOHN SHOOK | WILLIAM R. MURRY | JENNIFER KALMANSON SHADIA B. DRURY | GRETA CHRISTINA | ARTHUR L. CAPLAN 80% 1.5 BWR PD OPHELIA BENSON | NAT HENTOFF O/N 08 Introductory Price $4.95 U.S. / $4.95 Can. 11 FREETHOUGHT UNDER ATTACK IN BANGLADESH Published by the Council 7725274 74957 for Secular Humanism We are committed to the application of reason and sci- We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence. ence to the understanding of the universe and to the solving We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be of human problems. allowed to fulfi ll their aspirations, to express their sexual We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, access to comprehensive and informed health care, and to look outside nature for salvation. and to die with dignity. We believe that scientifi c discovery and technology We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, can contribute to the betterment of human life. integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that normative standards that we discover together. Moral princi- democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights ples are from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. tested by their consequences. We are committed to the principle of the We are deeply concerned with the moral education separation of church and state. of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences. as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and intolerance. and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking. We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the disabled so that they will be able to help themselves. We affi rm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based source of rich per sonal signifi cance and genuine satisfaction on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual in the service to others. orientation, or ethnicity and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of We want to protect and enhance Earth, to preserve ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place it for future generations, and to avoid infl icting needless of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfi shness, suffering on other species. beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind We believe in enjoying life here and now and in faith or irrationality. developing our creative talents to their fullest. We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings. *by Paul Kurtz .95 For a parchment copy of this page, suitable for framing, please send $4 to FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, New York 14226-0664 October/November 2013 Vol. 33 No. 6 CELEBRATING REASON AND HUMANITY Religious Humanism: 35 John Dewey and the Fighting Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating? ‘Faith’ of Humanism John Shook 18 Introduction Tom Flynn 38 Religious Humanism Today William R. Murry 23 The Godless Congregation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come 41 Congregational Humanism: Throwing Out James Croft and Greg Epstein the Bad and Keeping the Good Jennifer Kalmanson 29 F. C. S. Schiller’s Idealistic Humanism and Personalism 45 Casualty TV: How CSI and NCIS Hugh P. McDonald Have Helped America Face Its War Dead Steven Doloff EDITORIAL LETTERS 60 Bad Samaritans: The ACLU’s 4 The Left Is Not Always Right 16 Relentless Campaign to Erase Tom Flynn Faith from the Public Square, by Jerome R. Corsi DEPARTMENTS OP-EDS 52 Church-State Update Reviewed by Edd Doerr 8 Can We Rationally Accept Charters and Vouchers Our Irrationality? vs. Public Schools 61 Heaven on Earth: A Journey Greta Christina Edd Doerr Through Shari’a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the 9 Transplantation and 54 Faith and Reason Modern Muslim World, the Ten-Year-Old Undermining Democracy by Sadakat Kadri Arthur L. Caplan and Protecting Religion Ryan Shaffer Reviewed by Michael B. Schub 11 Whose Pattern? Ophelia Benson 57 Humanism at Large Teaching Tolerance to the 62 Deliverance at Hand!: The Redemption 12 How Many Americans Will Texas Textbook Committee of a Devout Jehovah’s Witness Remember Edward Snowden? Joel Kirschbaum by James Zimmerman Nat Hentoff Reviewed by Becca Challman OBITUARY 13 On Lewis, Mice, and Witches 58 Margherita Hack (1922–2013) Shadia B. Drury POEMS 14 No Qualms REVIEWS by Susan McLean James A. Haught 59 The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard 53 Mrs. Larkin Reflects 15 Freethought Under Attack in Government in Bangladesh by Amanda Knief with a Foreword 59 Received Wisdom Trisha Ahmed and Avijit Roy by Barry W. Lynn 66 Narcissus and Echo Reviewed by Tom Flynn Editor Thomas W. Flynn Associate Editors John R. Shook, Lauren Becker Managing Editor Andrea Szalanski Tom Flynn Editorial Columnists Ophelia Benson, Russell Blackford, Arthur Caplan, Greta Christina, Edd Doerr, Shadia B. Drury, Nat Hentoff, Tibor R. Machan Senior Editors Bill Cooke, Richard Dawkins, Edd Doerr, James A. Haught, Jim Herrick, Gerald A. Larue, Ronald A. Lindsay, Taslima Nasrin Contributing Editors Roy P. Fairfield, Charles Faulkner, Levi Fragell, The Left Is Not Always Right Adolf Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Lee Nisbet Literary Editor Austin MacRae Assistant Editors Julia Lavarnway Sean Lachut Permissions Editor Julia Lavarnway Art Director Christopher S. Fix Production Paul E. Loynes Sr. [A]ll of the philosophers present the Comintern (Soviet Communism’s regarded themselves as humanists, international arm) and sharply criti- but it was startling to observe how cized Stalin, whom many American Chair Edward Tabash great the differences were among Board of Directors R. Elisabeth Cornwell the humanists. leftists still admired. Eventually, Hook Kendrick Frazier abandoned Marxism altogether. Barry A. Kosmin —Sidney Hook* Jonathan Tobert The break culminated at a 1949 phil- Leonard Tramiel osophical conference at the Sorbonne umanist philosopher Sidney Hook Lawrence Krauss (Honorary) attended by Continental luminaries (1902–1989) was a principal men- Chief Executive Officer Ronald A. Lindsay including Simone de Beauvoir and Htor of FREE INQUIRY founder Paul Jean-Paul Sartre (Albert Camus was a Executive Director Thomas W. Flynn Kurtz. Hook was also among the earli- no-show). Hook delivered a two-part Associate Director Lauren Becker est American intellectuals to break with speech. In its second part, he voiced sup- Marxism. That’s saying a lot: Marxist Director, Campus and port for the Marshall Plan, the American Community Programs (CFI) Debbie Goddard revolutionary thought held enormous program to rebuild the economies of sway over American intellectuals during Director, Secular Organizations Europe along broadly capitalist lines. for Sobriety Jim Christopher much of the twentieth century. In the Sartre found this outrageous, withdrew Director, African Americans 1930s, many U.S. academics believed for Humanism Debbie Goddard from the conference, and proclaimed the Great Depression was capitalism’s his commitment to Stalinism. After this, Director of final crisis, after which it would almost Development (CFI) Alan Kinniburgh Hook “was denounced as a counterrev- surely be replaced by some form of Director of Libraries (CFI) Timothy Binga olutionary reptile by the Communist socialism. In this turbulent atmosphere, press.” He fared little better among his Communications Director Paul Fidalgo Marxism first failed Hook’s “sniff test.” American peers. Database Manager (CFI) Jacalyn Mohr By 1933, Hook realized that he’d Still, by the time the Berlin Wall Webmaster Matthew Licata judged “capitalism by its works and had fallen, most American thinkers rec- socialism by its literature”—“that work- Staff Pat Beauchamp, Ed Beck, ognized that Sidney Hook had been Melissa Braun, Shirley ers could be exploited in a collectivist ahead of his time. Brown, Cheryl Catania, economy as well as in a free market Eric Chinchón, Matt This historical digression carries a les- Cravatta, Roe Giambrone, economy.” In that year, he denounced Jason Gross, Lisa Nolan, son for contemporary secular human- Paul Paulin, Anthony Santa *Sidney Hook, Out of Step (New York: Harper ists. Over the decades, unbelievers have Lucia, Diane Tobin, & Row, 1987). Hook was recalling the Tenth often leaned Left-liberal on a broad Vance Vigrass International Congress of Philosophy at Executive Director Emerita Jean Millholland Amsterdam, August 11–18, 1948. All Hook range of issues—often, but not always. quotes in this essay are from this volume. Sometimes secularist opinion follows 4 FREE INQUIRY OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 secularhumanism.org FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published bimonthly by the Council for Secular Humanism, a nonprofit educational corporation, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. Phone (716) 636-7571. Fax (716) 636-1733. 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