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

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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 personal 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

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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

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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

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WHERE TO BUY FREE INQUIRY • Islam. Many (though not all) seculars “. . . By the time the FREE INQUIRY is available from selected book and magazine view so-called “political Islamism,” Berlin Wall had fallen, most sellers nationwide. even Islam itself, as threats to American thinkers recognized ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS humanist values. (See the articles by Complete submission guidelines can be found on the web at that Sidney Hook had been www.secularhumanism.org/fi/details.html. Madeline Weld and James Snell in Requests for mailed guidelines and article submissions should our previous issue.) This has made ahead of his time.” be addressed to: Article Submissions, ATTN: Tom Flynn, FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. them the ultimate “strange bedfel- lows” on this issue with many con- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send submissions to Letters Editor, FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box servatives. Meanwhile, leftists accuse 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664 or e-mail aszalanski@center both camps of Islamophobia. forinquiry.net. policy. Secularists are divided. Some For letters intended for publication, please include name, address • Overpopulation, long an emblem- argue (with progressives) that open (including city and state), and daytime telephone number (for verification purposes only). Letters should be 300 words or fewer atic secularist concern, was origi- immigration benefits the nation and pertain to previous FREE INQUIRY articles. nally a cause of the Left. One by and that fairness demands a path The mission of the Council for Secular Humanism is to advocate one, liberal-leaning champions (the toward citizenship for the millions and defend a nonreligious life stance rooted in science, natural- Rockefeller Foundation, the Sierra who entered the United States ille- istic philosophy, and humanist ethics and to serve and support adherents of that life stance. Club) abandoned the issue. Today, gally. Others worry that given typi- population concerns are articulated cal American consumption patterns, mostly from the Right, largely because the nation’s population is already contemporary population-activism unsustainable. Since immigration is leans conservative on immigration now the principal engine of U.S. pop-

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 5 ulation growth, they support strict the Enlightenment, if you understand could be universal, objectively true, or immigration policies solely as a pop- science as universal across cultures above the influence of cultural norms. ulation curb. (Full disclosure: I’m in and morality as objective—core secu- For the Marxists, science and “all cul- this camp, as is Council for Secular lar humanist positions, all—then some ture”—by extension, truth itself—were Humanism Chair Eddie Tabash. Free of the ideas that shaped social-jus- subordinate to the ideologies charac- Inquiry’s most recent overpopulation tice movements during the last four teristic of each nation or class. One cover features [August/September decades may excite your skepticism. truth for Soviets, a different truth for 2004 and April/May 2009] show that Americans; one truth for workers, we’re not alone.) another for capitalists; and so on. • The libertarian-progressive divide In other words, Hook had identi- among secularists is of course fied in Marxist-Leninist writings of the long-standing—as new as the dueling 1940s a seed of what the late twen- essays in this issue, and as venerable tieth century would come to know as † as a Fall 1989 cover feature and a postmodernism. (Exasperated after arguing with people who throw up memorable libertarian-altruist debate “. . . Unbelievers have often at the Council’s 1990 conference. their hands at an outrage like female leaned Left-liberal on a broad genital mutilation in the Muslim world The Council’s 2012 conference in range of issues—often, and say “Who are we to judge?” Thank Orlando focused on our movement’s a postmodernist.) political diversity. Participants included but not always.” Between the object of Hook’s criti- progressive legislator Patricia Schroeder, cism and the relativistic fad that swept radical-Left blogger Greg Laden, liber- the humanities and social sciences in tarian author Ron Bailey, and secular the eighties and nineties, here’s a very conservative Razib Khan. (Highlights brief sketch of how postmodernist appeared in our October/November thinking evolved. Sartre’s sympathies hat do I mean? Buckle in while I 2012 cover feature, “Does Secular have been noted; he influenced the squash a surfeit of intellectual his- Humanism Have a Political Agenda?”) W Marxist psychiatrist/philosopher Frantz tory into a few paragraphs. I return to So while unbelievers often lean Fanon, whose seminal anticolonial * Hook’s 1949 speech at the Sorbonne, left, secular humanism clearly has no book The Wretched of the Earth (1961) necessary link between it and any par- the speech whose second part (about the Marshall Plan) so angered Sartre. justified the brutality of Algerian guer- ticular social, economic, or political pol- rillas battling the French, arguing that icy prescription. For us, the Left isn’t In his autobiography, Hook recounts what he contended in its first part: the guerrillas’ actions must be mor- always right. ally evaluated on a scale applicable Still, there’s no denying that for I took as my foil a sentence from solely to them. (At least, that’s how a recent issue of the Soviet official about a century and a quarter—start- Fanon was understood after his book ing with the rise of mass-movement journal, Problems of Philosophy, that declared: “Marxism-Leninism appeared in English translation in 1963 abolitionism and the earliest woman’s shatters into bits the cosmopoli- with a militant introduction by—you rights conventions and lasting well into tan fictions concerning supra-class, guessed it—Sartre.) the 1970s—the Left was repeatedly non-national ‘universal’ science, and Fanon’s legacy influenced revolu- vindicated on issues such as race and definitely proves that science, like all culture in modern society, is national tionary movements around the world. gender. Many unbelievers feel that this in form and class in content.” I Meanwhile, it underwent further elab- momentum has continued. argued that the statement was false, oration, especially by three French But other secularists and skep- based on a misconception of the thinkers: psychiatrist Jacques Lacan tics discern currents in more recent nature of science and on confusions (1901–1981), who also influenced social-justice activism that fail their sniff concerning the meanings of class and truth. Further, I maintained that Fanon; literary theorist Jean Francois tests. In my view, if you’re modernist, the most serious consequence of this † not postmodernist, if you still revere doctrine was that it made the quest Free Inquiry consistently opposed post­ for objectivity altogether impossible. modernism. Paul Kurtz famously debated *In a 2010 telephone survey, 75 percent Dutch philosopher Fons Elders on the topic of responding Free Inquiry subscribers de­ Let’s translate that Soviet-speak at the 1993 Congress of the European scribed themselves as liberal, progressive, Humanist Federation in Berlin. In FI’s Fall 1998 into more contemporary terms. Hook or socialist. (Still, 25 percent claimed labels issue, then-editor Lewis Vaughn presented a including moderate, centrist, libertarian, or attacked the view that neither science muscular cover feature rebuking principal conservative.) nor any other branch of knowledge postmodernist claims.

6 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Lyotard (1924–1998); and philoso- victions that certain oppressed groups Sincere unbelievers are all over the pher Michel Foucault (1926–1984). By have special or demonstrably superior map on these matters. That’s why, on the late 1970s, the label “postmod- “ways of knowing,” and a radical inter- balance, I think it is unwise for human- ern” had become attached to a clus- pretation of “privilege” that claims to ist, secular humanist, atheist, or free- ter of ideologies that repudiated the empower the oppressed to silence their thought organizations to blend specific * Enlightenment, rejected the possibility oppressors. social-justice commitments directly into of universal knowledge not colored by their core missions (other than those ideological or class biases, advanced an inseparable from their stances on reli- idiosyncratic understanding of power gion). Doing so pressures their support- relations among social groups, pro- ers to line up on just one side of a roster moted a divisive model of identity pol- itics, and lionized an approach to mul- “. . . Secular humanism clearly of issues about which those supporters may hold wildly diverse views. ticulturalism that would disempower has no necessary link between any one group to form legitimate judg- On my view, the wisest—indeed, the ments about another’s traditions. This it and any particular social, most secular—course is for unbeliever conceptual stew would simmer yet fur- economic, or political policy organizations to commit themselves ther among political, literary, cultural, prescription. For us, the Left solely to “life-stance–central” issues and feminist theorists. To name one, (nontheism, free critique of all religions, feminist philosopher Nancy Hartsock isn’t always right.” church-state separation, civil rights of helped to develop standpoint theory, unbelievers, and the like). Membership the basis of contemporary rhetoric in a humanist or atheist group addresses about “privilege,” from Marxist ideas one’s life stance; it was never meant about the unique social perspective of to define one’s whole life. National the proletariat—the very notion that To take an example from gender organizations need to understand that Sidney Hook had reproached in 1949. activism, it’s possible to greatly admire their members will hold diverse posi- Postmodernism did a lot of dam- first- and second-wave feminism— tions on other issues and pursue other age. Among other things, it reduced and to revile religion’s innumerable civic, cultural, political, and economic much of literary theory and broad offenses against the rights and dignity swaths of sociology to pseudoscience. of women—yet decline on principle commitments based on their individual Fortunately, since its faddish height, to embrace all that third-wave femi- preferences. Some will send checks to its influence has declined greatly. nism has become. (Full disclosure: here I the World Federalist Society, others to Unfortunately, one of the arenas where stand.) Similar disagreements divide sec- the Cato Institute; some to Negative it has remained influential is in social-jus- ularists in domains ranging from racial Population Growth, others to the Immi­ tice activism. justice and economic equality to, say, grant Solidarity Network. Some will vol- With this background in mind, it’s the rights of higher primates and the unteer at soup kitchens while others easier to understand another deep use of genetically modified organisms. will support projects designed to make Left-Right divide among unbelievers: The larger questions are, first, if contem- the poor less reliant on charity, and so the divide over how much (if at all) porary justice movements rely so heav- on. Those decisions properly belong in their life-stance organizations should ily on “woo,” how far can unbelievers their personal lives. commit themselves formally to various committed to the Enlightenment sup- Let’s all acknowledge our diversity, social-justice agendas. Some unbeliev- port them? And second, how much can then learn from the debates that are ers passionately embrace social-justice movements shot through with pseudo- sure to follow—after we concede that causes as a direct component of their science and relativistic cant truly benefit being secular humanists doesn’t mean secularist activism. the disadvantaged groups on whose that you and I have to agree about Others recoil from the postmodern behalf they campaign? elements inflecting today’s social-jus- All of this, of course, everything. tice movements. Conspicuous among is hugely controversial these are the vocabulary of “other- among unbelievers, Tom Flynn is the editor of Free Inquiry, the executive director ing” (appropriated directly from Lacan but that’s the point. of the Council for Secular Humanism, the director of the Robert and Foucault), a sweeping multicul- *If this even could be Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum, and the editor of The New turalism that denies the possibility of done, who would be Encyclopedia of Unbelief (Prometheus Books, 2007). objective values, pseudoscientific con- oppressing whom?

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 7 Greta Christina OP-ED

Can We Rationally Accept Our Irrationality?

ere’s the conundrum: on the one counterbalance them or set them aside. This is entirely irrational. So do I hand, as rationalists, we’re striving That’s usually what we advocate and say to myself, “My gym membership is Hto be rational to the best of our what we strive for, including me. But can irrational, so I’m going to cancel it and ability. On the other hand, as rational- it ever be more rational to just accept just make myself work out at home ists, we’re striving to accept reality to our irrationality, work around it or with somehow”? Or do I accept the reality the best of our ability. And the real- it, and even use it to our advantage? that, irrational as it is, as costly of time ity is that our brains are not rational. Let me give a couple of examples. and money as it is, my gym membership Our brains are a hot mess. Our brains When it comes to exercise, the rational keeps me exercising? Do I accept the are loaded with quirks and kluges and thing for me to do would be to exercise fact that my brain is easily distracted eighty kajillion cognitive biases that at home. My gym membership costs and choose to exercise in a place that are there for good evolutionary rea- money, and it takes time to get to the keeps me focused? Do I not only accept sons but can make for some seriously gym and back—time and money that the fact that my brain is wired with the crummy thinking. And they always will I’d love to spend in other ways. I have sunk-cost fallacy but actually use it to be. I suppose it’s possible that human- exercise equipment at home; it’s not my advantage? Which is the rational quite as good as what I use at the gym, choice? but I can get a perfectly good work- Here’s another example: There’s a out with it. But I don’t. I almost never computer app that lets you voluntarily work out at home. And when I do, I block your own access to the Internet. don’t keep up a routine for very long. At the cost of $10, this app will let “. . . Reality is that our brains When I’m at home, it’s too easy to get you preset a stretch of time during distracted and be enticed by a dozen which you won’t be able to get on the are not rational. Our brains are a other things—including the sofa. Internet—so that you won’t be lured by hot mess . . . loaded with quirks When I go to the gym, on the other the essentially infinite distractions the and kluges and eighty kajillion hand, I do actually work out. The only Internet has to offer and can get some real willpower involved is getting work done. (In a branding effort so cognitive biases.” myself there in the first place. Once I’m ironic it’s almost Orwellian, the app is there, what else am I going to do? After named “Freedom.”) If you’re thinking, all, I’ve already spent the time getting “But I need access to the Internet to do myself to the gym. I’m not about to my work!” there’s another app, “Anti- turn around and go home again. It’s Social,” that blocks access only to social the “sunk cost fallacy” in action. And media such as Facebook and Twitter, in once I start working out at the gym, case you need the Internet for research ity will eventually evolve to a state it’s easier to stay in a groove and just and just want to cut off the more dis- in which all our cognitive biases will keep exercising until I’m done. It’s not tracting regions of it. If Freedom’s cre- have vanished and we’ve become per- like there’s anything else to do at the ators are to be believed, it has over four fectly calibrated thinking machines, but gym: there are no kittens to play with, hundred thousand users. I doubt it. If that does happen, it won’t no snacks to eat, no Internet, and not It’s totally irrational: why pay a com- be while any of us are alive. even any TV sets except the ones that pany ten bucks for the privilege of not So how do we deal with this? As you can only watch when you’re on the going on the Internet? Why not just, rationalists, the most obvious way to exercise equipment. A typical home you know, not go on the Internet? But cope with our cognitive biases is to workout for me lasts fifteen minutes I’m buying the apps right now, even learn about them, understand them, at best: at the gym, I usually spend at as I write this. Both of them. Because recognize them, and do our best to least an hour. (Continued on page 47)

8 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Arthur L. Caplan OP-ED

Transplantation and the Ten-Year-Old

an the United States ration implemented a rule in 2008 that gave cal expertise about the optimal use of health care? This question looms children under twelve priority for lungs scarce donor lungs, refused to overrule Clarge as the nation moves to donated by the families of deceased the UNOS policy, the family sought the expand access to health insurance. children but reserved lungs from adults assistance of a prominent Philadelphia Some say rationing will never happen for people age twelve or older. Those law firm. With Sarah intubated and in the United States because we cannot over the age of twelve were given an dying, an emergency hearing was held even say the word without charges of allocation score by UNOS based on how before a federal judge in Philadelphia. death panels filling the air. But America urgently they needed a transplant and On June 7, 2013, the judge ordered has been rationing care according the severity of their medical condition. Sebelius to allow Sarah to be transferred to patients’ ability to pay for many For children under twelve, lungs from to the adult lung-transplant list. The decades. children who died were to be allocated One area in which money alone does based on length of time spent on the not rule the day in America is transplan- waiting list. tation. Since 1984, the nation’s system Child lung donors are very rare. for deciding who gets scarce organs for In 2012, just ten transplants were “The evidence-based UNOS transplant has relied both on the ability attempted for those in Sarah’s age system has done a good job of to pay and a rule-based, physician-de- group. More than 1,700 were done in termined rationing system. It is about adults. As of July 22, 2013, 1,692 per- distributing scarce organs with- as close as the country has ever come to sons were awaiting lung transplants— out favoritism for decades.” making tough decisions about who gets twenty-two under the age of twelve life-saving therapy. A young girl recently and forty-two ages twelve to eighteen. put that system to its most severe test Sarah’s parents were not willing ever. to accept their child’s exclusion from This past May, ten-year-old Sarah access to adult cadaver lungs. They Murnaghan began suffering acute launched a publicity campaign that appeal led to an emergency meeting lung failure. Sarah, who grew up in drew wide media attention world- of a key UNOS committee charged with Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, was wide. This in turn elicited attention rationing lungs. They granted a route born with cystic fibrosis. When her from members of Congress, including for children like Sarah to appeal their lungs began to fail, she was moved Senator Patrick Toomey (R–PA); Rep. exclusion from the adult list and added to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Tom Price (R–GA); and Rep. Charles her. On June 14, 2013, Sarah received (CHOP), where she was placed on a W. Boustany (R–LA). Congressman transplant lungs from an adult donor. ventilator. She had been on a waiting Lou Barleta (R–PA) asked Secretary of They did not work. She received another list for a lung transplant for eighteen Health and Human Services Kathleen set three days later. months, but no suitable organ had Sebelius to void the ban on adult lungs Never in the history of UNOS has a become available. for children under twelve. He noted federal judge intervened to void the Shortly after her admission to the that “with the stroke of a pen [you] rationing rules. The basis for the rule hospital, Sarah’s parents told members could have granted Sarah a waiver” excluding children under twelve from of the media that they had learned that would have given her a chance adult lungs was that nearly all donor that their daughter was not eligible to live. lungs come from adults and there is to receive adult lungs from cadaver What Rep. Barletta failed to note some evidence that children fared bet- donors. The system of rules for rationing was that if Sarah received an adult ter when they received complete juve- scarce organs run by the United lung, someone else might not. When nile lungs rather than partial lobes of Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) had Secretary Sebelius, deferring to medi- (Continued on page 48)

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 9 Take action with us.

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Whose Pattern?

o people still talk about feminist not the local. passing as men are a good deal more epistemology? I haven’t kept up. I You can’t have purely local knowl- common than Huck Finns or Priscillas of Dused to be interested in it, starting edge (or truth or epistemology)— the Desert passing as women. Getting back in the late nineties, along with knowledge that ceases to be knowl- more and larger freedoms is more fun various other forms of what some wags edge when you leave the locality. You than getting fewer and smaller ones. call “the hermeneutics of suspicion.” can have local knowledge in the sense However thorny the whole ques- There was the “strong programme” in of knowledge about the local, but that tion is, it’s not completely intractable. the sociology of science, for instance, kind of knowledge is universalizable: it Different kinds of people do tend to that scorned the moderation of socio- can be shared with anyone who wants have different kinds of experiences, and logical research on the priorities and it, including people on the far side of it can be useful to pay attention to their funding and similar externalities of the planet. stories. In the wake of the verdict in science in favor of much more radi- But knowledge isn’t all there is. cal claims about sociology’s power to There are looser, sloppier categories explain the content of scientific find- with more relaxed rules. There is under- ings themselves. standing, which can make sense as This move from reasonable, defen- purely local or personal. There’s expe- sible claims to obviously absurd ones rience, which is inherently personal. is often summed up with the umbrella Understanding and experience overlap “. . . I want nothing to do with term postmodernism (although less with knowledge and are important for ‘feminist’ epistemology. I want playful postmodernists say that’s a certain kinds of knowledge: knowing the same epistemology that calumny). The central idea is that all what it’s like to live through a particu- knowledge is political and that there- lar kind of experience, for instance, or everyone else gets. I want the fore “truth” is just an honorific used for to be a particular kind of person. universal, not the local.” political advantage. If this were true (or That gets you into the weeds in a “true”) then it would make sense to hurry, though. Am I entitled to say I have various different flavors of epis- know what it’s like to be a woman? In temology, based on identity or politics one sense, sure, obviously—I am one, or religion or who-knows-what. You so I do know. But in another sense, might have Chinese epistemology and no. I don’t know what it’s like to be a Brazilian epistemology, gay truth and generic or universal woman (and nei- the Zimmerman trial, President Obama straight truth, black knowledge and ther does anyone else); I don’t know told us about some kinds of experience white knowledge. what it’s like to be all women; I don’t that black men and boys tend to have You might, but then you would be know how typical my experience of in common. In Laura Bates’s Everyday in la-la land. You can’t modify those being a woman is—I could go on all day Sexism project, women have shared words and concepts without rendering about what I don’t know. thousands of stories about casual, brief, them worthless or nonsensical. I’m a Nevertheless, I know I don’t know “normal” insults, come-ons, and threats feminist and have been as far back as what it’s like to be a man, and I assume that women encounter. I can remember, but I want nothing men know the converse. We love sto- This isn’t adjectival epistemology. to do with “feminist” epistemology. ries about trying to find out what it’s The plural of anecdote is not evidence; I want the same epistemology that like to be the other sex by cross-dress- everyone else gets. I want the universal, ing … although Rosalinds and Violas (Continued on page 48)

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 11 Nat Hentoff OP-ED

How Many Americans Will Remember Edward Snowden?

n 1975, I reported for the first of However, surely today’s explo- who continually merits a Pulitzer Prize many times that Senator Frank Church sive disclosures of the NSA’s cease- for preserving the Constitution—sur- I(D–ID) had discovered that both the lessly growing invasions of the Fourth prised many by fingering the chief jus- Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Amendment—as revealed by former tice of the United States as the sole secret National Security Agency (NSA) NSA contractor Edward Snowden—will selector of judges appointed to the were so repeatedly and effectively vio- not fade away amid the floods of dis- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court lating our Fourth Amendment right to tractions in this digital age. Or will they? (FISA Court). Since this selection process personal constitutional privacy, along Members of Congress from both began in 2005, “86 percent of [the] with our First Amendment speech sides of the aisle are organizing investi- choices have been Republican appoin- rights, that he declared: “The American gative committees to demand account- tees and 50 percent have been former people need to be assured that never ability. For its part, the Obama adminis- executive branch officials,” Savage tration seems to regard the NSA as its reported. Moreover, all of the select- favorite weapon with which to deprive ing chief justices since then have been “We the People” of the benefits of the placed on high by Republican presidents. Fourth Amendment. So the current defiler of the Fourth “For its part, the Obama Moreover, thanks to other spread- Amendment’s guarantee of your per- administration seems to regard ers of Snowden’s “leaks,” more citizens sonal confidential privacy is conserva- the NSA as its favorite weapon are realizing what Senator Ron Wyden tive Chief Justice John Roberts. (D–OR), one of the Frank Churches of with which to deprive ‘We the To further cement the huge secret our time, describes as the reach of the surveillance powers of the NSA, Savage People’ of the benefits of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance informs us (emphasis added): “The rul- Fourth Amendment.” Court. It permits the NSA and other ings are classified and based on theories intelligence agencies to disregard the submitted by the Justice Department Constitution by creating “a body of law without participation (in these deci- separate from the one on the books— sions) of any lawyers offering contrary one that gives U.S. spy agencies the arguments or appealing a ruling if the again will an agency of government authority to collect bulk information government wins.” be permitted to conduct a secret war about Americans’ medical care, fire- No president in our history has been against those citizens it considers a arms purchases, credit card usage and as continually contemptuous of the sep- * threat to the established order.” other transactions with business and aration of powers as President Barack But this emergency warning went commerce” (Peter Wallsten, Carol D. Obama. But now, thanks in large part unheeded, despite Senator Church’s Leonnig, and Alice Crites, “For Secretive to Edward Snowden (whatever his final additional warning that our failure to Surveillance Court, Rare Scrutiny in fate) exercising his First Amendment act against this secret war against us Wake of NSA Leaks.” Washington Post, right to expose massive, secret govern- would “leave us no place to hide.” June 22, 2013). Said Wyden: “The gov- ment surveillance, I dared to hope the The citizenry paid little attention. ernment can get virtually anything.” Constitution might be restored. Among How many of you today remember Only now are we finding out how the positive signs: a slowly growing Frank Church? thoroughly partisan this high court of bipartisan movement in Congress to limitless government surveillance has reduce the scope and impact of the *The quote comes from my book, The War on become. In a front-page July 26 New the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance (Continued on page 49) (Seven Stories Press, 2003). York Times report, Charlie Savage—

12 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Shadia B. Drury OP-ED

On Lewis, Mice, and Witches

n a desperate effort to whitewash an advance in knowledge. But surely neighbors deserve to be punished. the Christian burning of witches, C. S. there is a connection between what A rational person would point out ILewis argued that the triumph of rea- we believe is real and what we believe that all the “crimes” attributed to son over the Dark Ages is not necessar- is right. In other words, there is a con- witches are acts of nature. Bad weather ily a triumph of a superior morality over nection between facts and values. A and male impotence are not the result an inferior one. In Mere Christianity, he culture that inspires people to believe of human agency. But this observa- claimed that the burning of witches all sorts of nonsense that makes them tion would not count in a world that was not a moral failure at all. It was rash, violent, and vengeful is an infe- believed in witches. So, let us grant not a failure in the domain of values; rior one, not only in the domain of it was not the result of having a bad or facts but in the moral domain as well. inferior morality. It was simply a factual How we see the world will invariably error. At the time, people believed that determine how we behave in it. Insofar there were witches; and if there were as religion promotes ignorance and witches, they definitely deserved death. superstition, it makes people more evil “C. S. Lewis argued that the . . . The only reason that we are no longer than they would be otherwise. The only reason that we are no burning witches is that we no longer belief in demons, witches, and wizards longer burning witches is that believe that they exist. So the fact that is an integral part of Christianity that we are no longer killing witches is no explains why that religion has inspired we no longer believe that they indication of moral progress. It is no the zealously devout to behave so exist.” indication that modern secular moral- badly. A society that undermines such ity is superior to medieval Christian falsehood is bound to be not only fac- morality. If we thought that there were tually but also morally superior. women who Second, by any standard, in any age, the witch trials were a travesty of sold themselves to the devil and justice—even for those who believed that witches cause what we know to received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these in witches. Lewis is wrong in thinking be natural disasters. This still leaves the powers to kill their neighbors or drive that it was ever just to burn witches, medieval moralist, who is interested in them mad or bring bad weather, even though he is right in thinking that justice, with a dreadful quandary. How surely we would all agree that if justice is not a relative matter. Let us can guilt be ascertained? How can the anyone deserved the death pen- assume, for the sake of argument, that guilty be distinguished from the inno- alty, then these filthy quislings did. There is no difference in moral prin- there are witches. In other words, there cent? Unless there is some way of distin- ciple here: the difference is simply are women who consort with the Devil, guishing between the innocent and the about matters of fact. It may be an and in exchange for their sexual favors, guilty, burning witches cannot count as advance in knowledge not to believe the Devil gives them supernatural pow- justice, even in medieval times. in witches: there is no moral advance ers, which they use to torment their in not executing them when you do In their infamous Malleus Maleficarum not think they are there. neighbors by causing miscarriages, still- (1484), also known as the The Hammer births, impotence, crop failures, floods, of Witches, two Dominican Inquisitors, There are three arguments I wish and hurricanes. Lewis is saying that if Heinrich Krämer and Jacob Sprenger, to make against this outlandish bit of such women existed, then these “filthy sophistry. First, I am grateful that Lewis quislings” would deserve the death (Continued on page 49) admits that not believing in witches is penalty because those who harm their

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 13 James A. Haught OP-ED

No Qualms

am quite aware that my turn is surrounded by angels or demons. That’s of our lives, will imprison ourselves approaching. The realization hovers in fairy-tale stuff. I think my personality, my in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, my mind like a frequent companion. identity—me—is created by my brain, I armies, flags, nations, in order to My wife died five years ago. Dozens— and when the brain dies, so does the psy- deny the fact of death, which is the hundreds—of my longtime friends and che. It is gone forever into oblivion. only fact we have. colleagues likewise came to the end of I will admit that some reports of “near- Legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow wrote: their journeys, so many that I keep a death experiences” raise tantalizing spec- “Gone” list on my computer to help me ulation about a hereafter. But, in the When we fully understand the brevity of life, its fleeting joys and remember them all. Before long, it will end, I assume that those blinding lights unavoidable pains; when we accept be my turn to join them. and out-of-body flotations are just final the fact that all men and women are I am eighty-one and still work full- glimmers induced by oxygen deprivation. approaching an inevitable doom; the time. I feel keen and eager for life. My I guess I’ll find out soon enough. consciousness of it should make us more kindly and considerate of each hair is still dark (mostly). I have a passel It takes courage to look death in the other. This feeling should make men of children, grandchildren, and ram- eye and feel ready for it. So be it. Bring it and women use their best efforts bunctious great-grandchildren. I love on. I won’t flinch. Do your damnedest. I’ll to help their fellow travelers on the never whimper. However, maybe this is road, to make the path brighter and easier . . . for the wayfarers who must bluster and bravado, an attempt to feel live a common life and die a com- strong in the face of what will happen mon death. regardless of how I react. “It takes courage to look death My journey on the road has been Unlike Dylan Thomas, I won’t rage, proceeding for eight decades. Actuarial in the eye and feel ready for it. rage against the dying of the light. tables make my future so obvious that So be it. Bring it on.” Instead I plan to live as intensely as I I can’t shut my eyes to it. Life proceeds can, while I can, and then accept the through stages, and I’m in the last scene inevitable. I find solace in wisdom I’ve of the last act. heard from other departees. Just before I have a pantheon of my favorite sailing my beloved dinghy on our small she died of ovarian cancer, one of my heroes: Einstein, Jefferson, Voltaire, Lin­ private lake, hiking in shady forests longtime friends, Marty Wilson, wrote: with my three-legged dog, taking a coln, Carl Sagan, Shakespeare, Martin I often think of humankind as a long gifted grandson to the symphony, and Luther King Jr., Tolstoy, FDR, Beethoven, procession whose beginning and Epicurus, Gandhi, and more. They make seeking wisdom in our long-running end are out of sight. We the living Unitarian philosophy-and-science cir- . . . have no control over when or up a different “Gone” list. They uplifted cle. I now live with an adorable woman where we enter the procession, or humanity, even transformed humanity, even how long we are part of it, but in their day—but their day ended, and in her seventies, and we relish our we do get to choose our marching life moved on. togetherness. But her health is fragile. companions. And we can all exercise My day was the 1960s and ‘70s, ‘80s, Her turn looms on the horizon too. some control over what direction the and even the ’90s. I was a whirling der- I have no dread. Why worry about the procession takes, what part we play, vish in the thick of everything. Life was a inescapable, the utterly unavoidable, the and how we play it. fascinating carnival, but it slides into the sure destiny of today’s seven billion peo- In The Fire Next Time, the brilliant writer past so deftly you hardly notice. ple? However, sometimes I feel annoyed James Baldwin said: While my clock ticks away, I’ll pursue because I will have no choice. I’m accus- Life is tragic simply because the earth every minute. Carpe diem. Make hay while tomed to determining whatever course turns and the sun inexorably rises the sun shines. And then I’m ready for I want to take—but I won’t get to decide and sets, and one day, for each of us, nature’s blackout, with no regrets. when or where I will take my final step. the sun will go down for Damn! the last, last time. Perhaps the root of our trouble, the James A. Haught is editor of West Virginia’s largest newspaper, I have no supernatural beliefs. I don’t human trouble, is that we The Charleston Gazette, and a senior editor of Free Inquiry. expect to wake up in Paradise or Hades will sacrifice all the beauty

14 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Trisha Ahmed and Avijit Roy OP-ED

Freethought Under Attack in Bangladesh

n April 1, 2013, the Bangladeshi for the bloggers’ “blasphemy.” kill her for her criticisms of the Qur’an. government played the fool in a It is worth noting that Bangladesh Although Nasrin denied the accusa- Odisgraceful affair that we only wish has no blasphemy laws. Though it is a tion, she was forced into hiding when had been an April Fool’s Day prank. Muslim country, the nation’s constitu- an Islamist leader offered a bounty for On that day, several bloggers were put tion proclaims “freedom of thought, her beheading. Eventually she fled the behind bars in Bangladesh on the sole conscience and expression” as a fun- country. [Taslima Nasrin is now a senior basis that they were openly atheist. damental right. Nevertheless, the gov- editor of Free Inquiry.—Eds.] When we say “openly atheist,” we do ernment disregarded this right and Many other socially conscious, pro- not mean that the bloggers denounced attempted to appease the Islamists gressive writers—including Aroj Ali religion in public squares or emphati- by arresting three popular bloggers— Ma­tubbar (a peasant philosopher of cally condemned theists to the ugliest Subrata Adhikari Shuvo, Rasel Parvez, Bangladesh); Daud Haider (a distin- patches of ground after death. Instead, and Mashiur Rahman Biplob—on the government criminalized these April 1. The very next day, police also four men for simply voicing their ratio- arrested Asif Mohiuddin, another one nal, skeptic, and scientific thoughts on of the country’s most outspoken “athe- blogging forums—sites that exist for ist” bloggers. The men were paraded “. . . Several bloggers were put free inquiry, self-expression, and, most in handcuffs at a news conference as if important, free speech. they had committed a heinous crime. behind bars in Bangladesh on The tension began when the Shah­ By arresting these four bloggers—and the sole basis that they were bag Protest in Bangladesh reached threatening dozens more bloggers with openly atheist.” peak this past January. This protest potential charges—Bangladesh’s gov- was a major event organized by univer- ernment demonstrated that it regards sity students, cyber writers, and young freedom of speech as a constitutional bloggers; the aim of the protest was to formality, not a fundamental right. guished Bangladeshi forced to flee demand justice for the victims of noto- Of course, attacks against atheist and after writing a satirical poem about rious war criminals during Bangladesh’s secular-minded writers are hardly a new Muhammad); Shamsur Rahman (another Liberation War of 1971. (The war was a phenomenon in Bangladesh. Humayun renowned poet who was attacked by bloody battle between Bangladesh and Azad was a renowned Bangladeshi athe- fundamentalists); Dr. Ahmed Sharif (a Pakistan. Three million Bangladeshis ist, writer, and linguistic scholar pop- linguistic scholar and outspoken athe- were killed and two hundred thousand ular among younger and more progres- ist intellectual); and Professor Kabir Bangladeshi women were raped by the sive readers. When Azad was returning Chowdhury (a well-known academic, Pakistani army and its collaborators in home from a book fair, he was attacked essayist, and secular humanist of the just nine months.) by a group of radical Islamists who country)—have faced lifelong troubles Although the bloggers had a large attempted to slit his throat. Although for expressing even moderate secular online following, that did not deter a Azad was able to reach the hospital views. Asif Mohiuddin was arrested the few radical Islamic groups from chal- quickly enough to survive the imme- day after the three aforementioned lenging them. Following the Shahbag diate effects of the assault, he never bloggers were brutally stabbed in a Protest, members of one Islamist fac- fully recovered from the trauma of Dhaka street by religious fundamental- tion waged a disinformation campaign the attack and ended up dying in ists in January 2013. In a society where to defame the bloggers. They claimed Germany—where he fled after realiz- simple, legitimate inquiry is restricted, that the young bloggers had offended ing his life was in peril—several months how can there be any hope of progress? Islam and Muhammad and published a later. A similar case unfolded in 1994, Although freethinkers have long list of nearly eighty bloggers and forum when Taslima Nasrin—a feminist been suppressed and vilified by rel- participants whom they labeled athe- writer well known for her critical views i​gious communities worldwide, Bang- ists and attackers of Islam. The group toward Islam—had to flee Bangladesh (Continued on page 51) publicly demanded capital punishment after Islamic extremists threatened to

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 15 LETTERS

DSM-5 Blues and in the people’s best interest, the nation’s businesses, and have while respecting their fundamen- the highest rates of employment, This is in regard to Arthur Caplan’s tal freedoms.” As a free citizen dominating industries such as article “Singing the DSM-5 Blues” committed to free Inquiry within education and health care, while (FI, August/September 2013). the secular humanist community, minorities’ standing is actually Psychiatrists invariably tend to I gladly take the pledge. declining in some areas. What encourage patients to conform Jim Valentine is commonly termed “feminist to accepted social mores. As Woodland Hills, California revolution” is really not a revolu- Caplan points out, these things tion at all but simply a redistribu- are always changing. A problem tion of power between genders with mores is that they are artifi- within the dominant culture. cial creations. Greta Christina’s article is a tem- As an American Indian male Hugh Nicholson per tantrum that never should who studied at a liberal arts have been published, at least not Madison, Alabama college in the early 2000s, I am in Free Inquiry. Her claim to repre- acutely aware of feminists’ pro- sent “feminists fighting against a pensity for ethnocentrism and world steeped in sexism, a world Celebrating Separation intolerance. Although I gradu- largely controlled by men” is seri- ated magna cum laude, was an Re “Celebrating Fifty Years of ously degraded through her use Fighting Sexism officer in two honor societies and Separation” by Tom Flynn (FI, of terminology and expressions the student veterans’ group, and August/September 2013): I am Greta Cristina assaults read- that are themselves degrading was already being compensated in deepest sympathy with Tom ers with a shrieking harangue to women. for writing freelance columns Flynn’s ordeal in growing up in “Why We Need to Keep R.V. Bailey and stories before graduating, all with school-sponsored religion. Fighting” (FI, August/September Castle Rock, Colorado the grad-school scholarships, ref- I grew up a staunch Southern 2013). What at first seems raging erence letters, and choice intern- Baptist in Houston, Texas. In incoherence can be understood ships went to white middle- and 1955, when I was seven years old, better in context by visiting her upper-class feminist ideologues. my second-grade teacher was a blogsite and related links. Here Greta Christina expresses indig- Contrary to popular opinion, “dyed-in-the-wool” Christian the internecine war she defines, nation at the maltreatment and academe is intent not on recog- fundamentalist. She had us say polarized too neatly between marginalization of feminists nizing and rewarding excellence the Lord’s Prayer every day at radical-feminist atheists and sex- within the atheist community. but on agenda-setting, which the beginning of class. Then ist-misogynist atheists, can be She correctly argues that athe- for the last couple of decades she would say her own prayer explored throughout its sordid, ists should be more enlightened has meant exclusively empower- followed by a scripture reading hateful, and often silly history. and progressive, especially with ing nonminority feminists. Sadly, from the Old Testament, usually Christina assures us that “the regard to respecting and esteem- feminism is not about equality the Psalms. She would always status quo is wrong. It is wrong ing the voices of women. After and justice, but more about cre- pray for deliverance from godless in the sense that it is literally, fac- all, we are ipso facto attempting ating a female version of white Communism and the looming tually mistaken about questions to abolish pernicious, antiquated privilege. threat of nuclear war. of objective reality and harms institutions. Indeed, the Judeo- With the dawn of the 1960s, people in real practical, terrible Christian scourge so many of us Dave Stephenson the U.S. Supreme Court finally ways.” Presuming that objective decry is primarily responsible Sterling, Colorado enforced separation of church reality settles the matter before for the historical oppression of and state, and all one could hear coming into the public square for women. It would be a tragic irony Greta Christina responds: on the Christian radio stations open discussion and debate, she if we succeeded in rolling back religiosity while maintaining one Dave Stephenson makes some were sermons against “taking nullifies the practices and aspira- of its most repugnant practices. valid points. I agree that feminism god out of our schools” and, of tions of free inquiry. Dissenters, no matter how they may actually Yet Christina’s piece, like so has not done nearly enough to course, “putting a Catholic in support the women’s movement, many regarding feminism, fails address racial injustice, but it is the White House.” Even during will be bullied and banished as to notice the proverbial eight- simply not the case that feminism the Cuban Missile Crisis with the enemies. hundred-pound gorilla in the liv- “has never been inclusive of ethnic world fixing to roast in nuclear Seven pages before Greta ing room. Despite the rhetoric, minorities or the poor.” In con- war, all I could hear from my Cristina launches her call to arms, feminism has never been inclu- temporary feminism, a focus on Southern Baptist pulpit was how Ronald A. Lindsay frames a sec- sive of ethnic minorities or the the intersections between sexism President John F. Kennedy was ond vision for civil society in an poor, and statistics evince that and racism, classism, homopho- going to force us all to be good unrelated article, “The Looming white women are the sole demo- bia, transphobia, and other Catholics and live with the Afro- Supreme Court Showdowns.” graphic to have benefited from oppression is very common—as is Americans. How wonderful it is Herein he suggests an alterna- the movement. According to the alliance-building with other social- that we have passed those sickly tive secular “solemn opening Census Bureau, non-Hispanic change movements. Feminism days. for any government body” to white females have the highest does often fall short of this ideal, John L. Indo replace the traditional prayer: rates of education of any group, however, and I can’t decide for Houston, Texas “We pledge to act responsibly own a significant percentage of you whether it’s close enough to

16 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org that ideal or moving enough in the the insufferable misogynist who, Foundation of Ethics and Morals do unto others as you would not right direction for you to be able in 1 Timothy 2:11–12, wrote: “A in America,” FI, August/September have them do unto you.” To be to work with. But I would hope woman should learn in quietness 2013) ended with concrete exam- surprised that a Korean does not that you would support the basic and full submission. I do not per- ples of solutions to two of America’s follow the Western Golden Rule goals of feminism, simply because mit a woman to teach or to have problems. The one of interest to is to demonstrate an abysmal it’s the right thing to do—just as authority over a man; she must be me was how to correct the 99 per- lack of understanding of Eastern I support antiracism work, even silent.” cent/1 percent wealth division in thought. though some antiracism activists the United States. His suggestion Spector’s principal source of are sexist jerks. Keep fighting, Greta! I’m sure to limit the compensation to cor- understanding morality is appar- there are many atheists who are porate executives would not put ently his mother, a lawyer, whose What Greta Christina is men of broad mind and sound a dent in the corporate money advice to him was that in order to describing is the argument I’ve reason and who support your pool. Reducing executive pay understand moral issues, under- heard ever since I was a teenager views. You can count me among would likely just add to stock- stand the law. This is like trying protesting the Vietnam War; that them. holder returns. According to cor- to gain an understanding of the somehow feminism (but never David Quintero porate law, corporate leadership intricate biology of an egg by sexism, racism, homophobia, or Monrovia, California has an overriding fiduciary duty analyzing an omelet. The law of pervasive class bias) is responsible to maximize stockholder value. every country is and has always for “dividing the movement.” It The Council for Secular Humanism’s All considerations are aimed at been based largely on the partic- escapes me how those who call most obvious political agenda is meeting that duty to the share- ular moral foundations of the cul- women “cunts,” threaten rape, feminism: the support for more holder. I suggest two changes. ture in which the law is enacted, or actually commit sexual assault power for women, on a world- First, the leadership of the corpo- not the other way around. are not considered to have any wide basis, in the name of equal- ration must have a fiduciary duty Spector defines “morality” as responsibility for “dividing the ity. It is deeply embedded in your to the employees of the business “the distinction between right movement” but only those pro- organization, as illustrated by the and therefore must consider the and wrong behavior.” Actually, testing this behavior, or why recent Michael Shermer/Ophelia well-being of the employee in making a distinction between women are told to be polite and Benson debate (FI, December its actions. Second, I believe that right and wrong behavior is “ladylike” but no demand is made 2012/January 2013, February/ the (not unlimited) resources of something most vertebrate ani- for misogynists to show good march 2013, and April/May Earth belong to Homo sapiens. mals and all mammals can do. manners. 2013): although they disagree Therefore, the corporation must Morality is in fact a cognitively All I would add to Christina’s on specifics, both still support pay (to Homo sapiens) for the created (as opposed to evolu- excellent commentary is that I more women in humanism. The resources it uses in its business. tionarily imposed) system to dis- have no desire for unity with last (and only?) time you seri- A more just division of wealth tinguish and consciously justify male secularists (I cannot call ously questioned your faith (“The would result. right and wrong behaviors. them humanists) who would Many Faces of Feminism,” FI, Jim Throgmorton His “four generally accepted force every woman to carry every Spring 1995) the antifeminists Seal Beach, California facts about human nature” are pregnancy to term under every were drummed out of town. In not in fact generally accepted. circumstance, regardless of her contrast, I myself believe that We are not “born with intelli- needs, and are joining with the feminism has now gone too far gence, behavior from autis- Reynold Spector’s article is replete worst enemies of secularism in in the West and so would like tic to social, psychopathic to with non sequiturs and inaccura- order to force their will on wom- you to reconsider your position. hyper-conscientious, or clumsy to cies, plus his arguments are pains- en’s bodies. You know who you How about switching to promot- unbelievably physically skillful.” takingly convoluted and illogical. are, male secularists. ing men? I don’t think the sex In actuality, all of these traits are His article evidences little, if any, Carol Sholin ratio in humanism matters much, a combination of nature (genes) useful or accurate understanding and it would illustrate your inde- and nurture (environment), a fact Castro Valley, California of either law or moral analysis. pendence from the modern fad taught in every Psychology 101 The following comments concern of almost exclusively promoting course in America. There is not “a but a few of the many problems. women. Women dominate both very strong tendency toward irra- He states that as a conse- Reading Greta Christina literally staff and students in Women’s tional behavior and toward crime quence of 11 percent of the had me spinning. All I could Studies, for example, and yet including murder.” For one thing, population being psychopathic think of was, “Go girl go!” She this does not prevent them from what is considered criminal is not or having psychopathic “tenden- is so right on target. Put a few doing good work. Why should common to all cultures. Also, our cies,” society needs rules to func- more like her (and I’m sure there humanism suffer if men are in brains are constantly thrashing tion smoothly. Not so. Because are many out there) on your staff, the majority? If you continue to out which side of our brain plus of their mental condition, psy- and I just might increase your champion women in the third the amygdala is going to prevail chopaths ignore societal rules. membership. world, while championing men on any given behavioral choice. Society needs rules because nor- Teresa Ali-Livas in the first, this would make for The only time we completely turn mal people are antisocial and Medina, Ohio a much more nuanced and bal- off both sides of our brains is selfish. anced approach to sexism, one of when the flight or fight system He expresses surprise that our most urgent problems. takes over. Koreans, as “Neo-Confucians,” Duncan M. Butlin Toward the end he tells us I have to blame my naiveté for do not hold in esteem the Good that his mother was right after believing that all men who are Chichester, West Sussex, Samaritan concept (the so-called all: look to the law to find uni- atheist behave better toward United Kingdom Golden Rule). First, all major East versal, sound morals and practi- women, and hold them in higher Asian cultures (including China’s) cal ethics. He then proceeds to regard, than their religious are neo-Confucian because all are cite example after example of counterparts. What a pity that Ethics and Morals a mixture of Buddhism, pagan- those atheists described by Greta ism, and Confucianism. Second, (Continued on page 65) Christina are no better than Paul, Reynold Spector’s article (“The the Asian Golden Rule is “Do not

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 17 Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

Introduction Tom Flynn

he world of religious Humanism can move with stately slow- ing that religious Humanism was dying—or at least that it was in ness. In Free Inquiry’s premier issue (1980), Paul Beattie, then a very bad way. Today, we can see that the humanist movement’s Tpresident of the Fellowship of Religious Humanists, wrote: religious wing was actually busy bifurcating. In their essay in this Secular and religious Humanists . . . differ on the definition feature section, James Croft and Greg Epstein assert that “We are of the word “religion”; they differ on the worth of a partic- one movement, reaching toward one humanism,” but I suspect ular institutional form; and they assign a different value to it’s more accurate to recognize that the larger movement now the study of religious traditions. Their initial disagreement is comprises not two major strands—secular and religious—but semantic: what does the word “religion” mean and can it be a rather three: part of the humanist orientation?

Twenty-two years later, when I penned a feature probing • Secular humanists reject supernaturalism and spirituality of the divide between secular and religious humanisms, not much any type. They tend to be strong individualists animated by had changed—though I addressed one of Beattie’s questions Enlightenment principles. Often, they disdain traditional by offering a rough-and-ready definition of religion: congregational practices, cherishing their emancipation from any former faith community. . . . Common—that is, pre-Deweyan—usage holds that the • Religious Humanists—humanists whose views embrace a genuinely religious necessarily involves the supernatural or transcendent. Common usage has its advantages, not least metaphysical or transcendent element—form a distinct sub- that it sustains discrete meanings for terms like philosophy group, if one less influential than in the salad days of pio- and ethics. I still stand by [this] definition of religion . . . : neers including William James, F. C. S. Schiller, John Dewey, Religion is a “life stance that includes at minimum a belief in and Felix Adler. the existence and fundamental importance of a realm tran- • Congregational humanists are the newcomers. Following scending that of ordinary experience.” . . . It follows that in order to be a genuine religious the usage of activists James Croft and Jennifer Kalmanson humanist, one must believe in something that is unprovable (both of whom contributed to this special feature sec- in this world. One needn’t believe in a deity or a spiritual sub- tion), I define “congregational humanists” as persons who stance (though some religious humanists do)—one might sim- unconditionally reject supernaturalism, yet enthusiastically ply cling to some historical or social proposition in which one’s faith outruns the available evidence . . . optimists who believe embrace forms and rituals drawn from the community life in the inevitable perfectibility or triumph of humankind would of the church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. qualify as religious humanists. So would dedicated Marxists, ironically enough. And of course, there are human-centered It’s easy to dismiss congregational humanism as just a thinkers who nonetheless believe in a fairly literal kind of fancy name for giving up religion without giving up church. spirit, in the human soul or elan vital, or in a disembodied But as I will argue in this essay—and as I think all of the arti- system of karma: their claim to the term religious humanist is cles in this section demonstrate—congregational humanism uncontroversial. is more than the new kid on the block. For one thing, it has “If my definition of religion is correct,” I concluded, “then a a long history: many past naturalists with a taste for ritual great many self-declared religious humanists . . . just aren’t ” who called themselves religious Humanists were really con- truly religious, making religious Humanism “seem a more gregational humanists all along. Perhaps more important, popular option than it actually is.” congregational humanism is growing strongly; in future years Eleven years later, the semantic argument that Beattie decried it seems likely to outgrow or even eclipse religious Humanism may be nearing resolution in a surprising way. Just a couple of as we have known it. years ago, an objective observer might be forgiven for conclud- Arguably, religious Humanism and the newer congrega-

18 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org tional humanism represent competing ways to satisfy the The preference gap extends beyond humanism or even same body of preferences. They center similarly on commu- unbelief generally; it also appears among the religious. nity life and on one’s local life-stance association as a primary Consider the former evangelical-turned-wistful New York vehicle for meeting social needs and channeling service com- Times columnist T. M. Luhrmann. In a May 29, 2013, essay mitments. On that basis, congregational humanism’s growth titled “Belief Is the Least Part of Faith,” Luhrmann offered a can be seen as taking place partly at the expense of the older myopic view of small-c congregationalism among evangelical religious Humanist tradition. Christians: Secular humanism, meanwhile, satisfies a different body . . . Secular Americans often think that the most important of preferences. It takes a more atomistic view of the individ- thing to understand about religion is why people believe ual, who interfaces directly with the larger society and relies in God, because we think that belief precedes action and only minimally on local, intermediary institutions. It rejects explains choice. That’s part of our folk model of the mind: that religion not only in the sense of supernaturalism but in the belief comes first. . . . [T]hat was not really what I saw after my years spending time in evangelical churches. I saw that people sense of the word’s Latin root (religare: to tie back or tie went to church to experience joy and to learn how to have fast). Secular humanism is emancipatory; where religion would tie more of it. us back, secular humanism seeks explicitly to disentangle, to de-bundle many things traditional Western religions have tended to tie together, from supernat- “Just a couple of years ago, an objective observer might be forgiven ural concepts to a local community’s for concluding that religious Humanism was dying—or at least that glutinous hold over the free individual. Secular humanists tend to see no nec- it was in a very bad way. Today, we can see that the humanist essary connection between their life- movement’s religious wing was actually busy bifurcating.” stance affiliation and the social, eco- nomic, political, or charitable aspects of their lives, which they regard as private; In suggesting that belief is the least part of everyone’s faith, in addition, many find ritual and ceremony inherently objec- Luhrmann overreached. While that is clearly true for some tionable. religionists, for others belief remains stubbornly primary—the The Nature of the ‘Preference Gap’ same preference gap in a new guise. Luhrmann overlooked When C. P. Snow famously (or tiresomely) introduced the con- the many believers for whom beliefs about God and his cept of the “two cultures,” he meant the gap between scien- alleged commandments genuinely undergird their faith—to tific and artistic ways of looking at the world. I submit that a say nothing of countless unbelievers who left their churches similarly fundamental “preference gap” exists within human- precisely because they could no longer assent to outmoded ism, namely, the gap between secular humanism on one side doctrines, discovering only later that for them, no vestige of and religious/congregational humanism on the other. congregational practice still held the power to compel. Of course, the two-cultures metaphor is imperfect. One Who Are the Congregational Humanists? can appreciate both the arts and the sciences; Snow was For the first time, we have numbers. Among the “nones,” those complaining about an artificial division that didn’t need to who tell pollsters they have no preferred religious identity, only exist. In contrast, the gap between secular and religious/con- 28 percent responding to a July 2012 Pew Research Center gregational humanism appears to be genuine, necessary, and mutually exclusive. To offer a lighthearted example, imagine survey said that “belonging to a community of people who prodding a roomful of humanists to sing “Amazing Grace” in share your values and beliefs” was very important to them. No unison. Those who lean religious or congregational will have group surveyed answered this question with less enthusiasm. a grand old time; those who lean secular will feel sullied. It’s Of course, the “nones” are a broad group of which atheists and hard to imagine anyone having both reactions at once.* humanists compose only a minority. An online survey of athe- ists by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga revealed an * At a 2010 symposium at the Center for Inquiry–Transnational, psy- unexpected subgroup that researchers Christopher F. Silver and chiatrist James Thomson invited a diverse roomful of seculars to sing “Amazing Grace.” I was there; I felt sullied. I wrote about it in “Why Thomas J. Coleman III dubbed the “ritual atheists.” Members of Seculars Don’t Sing,” FI, April/May 2012.

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 19 this subgroup rejected supernaturalism while embracing rituals traditional churches.* Congregational humanism should ben- borrowed from congregational life. If Silver and Coleman’s ritual efit from their numbers. atheists are equivalent to my congregational humanists, they’re Three Humanisms, One Narrative a fairly select fellowship (just 12.5 percent of survey respondents). Varied evidence suggests that congregational humanism Given these developments—and the articles comprising this appeals strongly to younger unbelievers. First, as Greg Epstein special feature section—can we construct a coherent nar- and James Croft describe in this special feature section, inter- rative of humanism’s secular, religious, and congregational est in on-campus humanist chaplaincies has mushroomed. threads? I think we can. (Secular humanists find the very idea of humanist chaplains In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an absurd—the preference gap again.) As Croft and Epstein doc- approach we would recognize today as religious Humanism ument in their article, there’s robust interest in new humanist was clearly ascendant. Those were heady times when no congregations with little connection to the existing move- lesser light than Ralph Waldo Emerson could proclaim: ment, most of which borrow freely from the “Sunday meet- There will be a new church founded on moral science, at first cold and naked, a babe in a manger again, the algebra and mathematics of ethical law, the church of men [sic] to come … but it will have heaven and earth for its beams and rafters; science for symbol and illustration; it will fast “. . . Congregational humanism is growing strongly; enough gather beauty, music, picture, poetry. in future years it seems likely to outgrow or even eclipse religious Humanism as we have known it.” In this section, Hugh McDonald pro- files the German-British philosopher F. C. S. Schiller. As early as 1903, Schiller presented Humanism (so named) as an alternative to both supernaturalism and a naturalism he considered sterile. inghouse” playbook. Then there’s the hypothesis advanced He rejected gods and dogmas but held that human conscious- by Atheist Nexus founder and former evangelical preacher ness possessed an immaterial essence that raised it above the Richard Haynes. In a June 2013 blog post, Haynes argued that realm of the merely material. This position is clearly transcen- the “newer atheists”—young people abandoning today’s dentalist and hence genuinely religious despite its rejection of churches and moving toward atheism—differ markedly from traditional supernaturalism. the youth our movement recruited in the past. On a more popular level, reformists on the liberal fron- While their predecessors may have attended churches or syn- tiers of Christian and Jewish tradition had long been blend- agogues associated with a traditional denomination … these ing theological skepticism with congregational practice. “newer atheists” were … involved in nontraditional evangel- Exemplars include the Transcendentalist Unitarian Theodore ical churches. … It was at their church’s rock-and-roll youth Parker, Ethical Culture founder Felix Adler, and “freethought group, that these “newer atheists” walked down the aisle (or raised their hands) to accept Jesus into their heart. … It was at preacher” John Emerson Roberts. these churches where they felt love and acceptance in a very Organized religious Humanism budded from religious powerful way. liberalism near the turn of the twentieth century. It crystal- lized with the first Humanist Manifesto (1933), signed by thir- Haynes has counseled no small number of these young peo- ty-three humanist ministers and the philosopher John Dewey, ple whose background so parallels his own. He reports that which explicitly characterized humanism as a “new religion.” they complain of But Dewey had a dark side, at least from the secular feelings of great loss associated with leaving their church humanist point of view. In his 1934 book, A Common Faith, families. They speak of the vacuum created when the feelings he regrettably split the meanings of religion and religious. of love and acceptance were lost (regardless of the many strings attached) . . . someone from church was always there He continued to associate religion with the transcendent or prepared to provide arms to hug, a shoulder to cry on, and an *Admittedly, in all of this I am giving short shrift to humanists who did ear to listen. not break from some faith tradition in the course of their own lives. In defense, I can only offer that the distinction between religious and If Haynes is correct, these individuals have higher expecta- secular humanists seems to matter more to individuals concerned with tions regarding community support than those who fled more how far to distance themselves from their own previous faith traditions.

20 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

supernatural, while religious was held to subsume any com- In contrast, the article by AHA Vice President Jennifer mitment of deep significance. (John Shook’s essay in this sec- Kalmanson describes a vigorous effort to retool a “legacy” tion views Dewey’s stratagem with approval. Yet it ably cap- religious-Humanist organization along congregational lines. tures the tensions between Dewey’s stated naturalism and Some readers will object to her emphasis on weaving chari- the idealism implicit in his view of “religious” moral energy table work into the life of the humanist congregation, some- as a force in human affairs.) Again, from the secular humanist thing many secular humanists prefer to approach as individu- viewpoint, Dewey’s definition of religious sowed confusion, als—just one more example of the preference gap. leading many twentieth-century humanists who weren’t Historically, congregational humanism grew from the same religious at all to go on claiming the label religious humanist. soil as religious Humanism before it. Its history is sometimes In this connection, it’s worth remembering that much as he difficult to tease out because many early adherents, eager not is admired in the movement today, Dewey was at best a reluc- to be seen as atheists, mislabeled their commitment as “reli- tant humanist. Corresponding with activist Corliss Lamont gious.” Still, by the turn of the twenty-first century, individuals seven years after he signed the Humanist Manifesto, Dewey had emerged who advocated an unmistakably non-super- confided that he signed because “the humanistic manifesto natural, post-religious, “congregational” approach. Today, as … had a religious context, and my signature was a sign of noted, congregational humanism burgeons. sympathy on that score, and not a commitment to every As for secular humanism, it arose as the hybrid offspring of reli- clause in it.” He then explained why he described himself as a gious Humanism and the long-established atheist/freethought naturalist and not as a humanist, object- ing specifically to Schiller’s treatment of humanism, which he viewed as “unduly subjective.”* In the mid-twentieth century, some “I submit that a . . . fundamental ‘preference gap’ exists within initiatives we would now recognize as humanism, namely, the gap between secular humanism on one congregational were instead pursued side and religious/congregational humanism on the other.” under religious auspices. In 1968, the American Humanist Association (AHA), formerly an educational organization for tax purposes, obtained a religious tax-exemption from the Internal Revenue Service. This made movement. The term appeared in writings as early as the 1950s; AHA legally a church, so that counselors it credentialed could in 1961, Justice Hugo Black misdescribed secular humanism as a enjoy privileges of clergy, including the right to solemnize religion in a footnote to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Torcaso binding marriages in all fifty states. (More on that later.) v. Watkins. Throughout the 1970s, secular humanism served as Today, of course, the quest to expand opportunities for the mute “whipping boy” of fundamentalist critics such as Jerry congregational humanist leaders to officiate at weddings, Falwell and Pat Robertson. No organization existed specifically memorials, and other rites of passage is a centerpiece of con- to defend and advocate secular humanism until the Council for gregational humanist activism. Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH) was launched in Religious Humanism has arguably lost much of its former 1980. Its founding document, A Secular Humanist Declaration, influence, yet it speaks eloquently to some. In his essay in received front-page coverage in The New York Times and was this section, retired Unitarian Universalist minister William R. printed in full in the premier issue of Free Inquiry. Murry presents religious Humanism as a “third way” between A dynamic emerged in which CODESH and the AHA religion and cold atheism. Some will find this approach focused on serving opposite sides of the preference gap. inspiring; some will challenge its casually assumed Left-liberal CODESH (after 1996 the Council for Secular Humanism) social-justice agenda (see my editorial in this issue); and some became the organizational home for humanists who viewed will wonder whether the religious Humanism Murry champi- their life stance as explicitly nonreligious, as more individu- ons truly believes anything “unprovable in this world.” If not, alistic than communal, and as more secular in the sense of we are left to ask whether Dr. Murry’s religious Humanism maintaining firm boundaries between one’s life-stance com- might not already be more accurately described as congrega- mitment and one’s private life. Officially politically agnostic, tional humanism. the Council became an organizational home for nontheists * Corliss Lamont, “New Light on Dewey’s Common Faith, Journal of hailing from a variety of political perspectives, from anarchist Philosophy 1, 1961. to Left-liberal, libertarian to conservative. (As noted in my edi-

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 21 torial, this diversity was explored in our October/November 2012 cover feature, “Does Secular Humanism Have a Political A Note on Capitalization Agenda?”) Because humanism generically and secular humanism specifically For its part, the AHA catered to a broader range of human- are not religions, and because that distinction has considerable ists, including religious Humanists. At the same time (is there importance, Free Inquiry does not capitalize those terms. At least on a connection?) AHA came to be identified with a rather strait- its own authority, religious Humanism is a religious life-stance, and so we capitalize the H there only.—The Editors ened Left-liberal agenda. In the 2000s this situation began to shift; AHA shed its religious identity effective in 2003, spin- ning off its religious celebrant program to an adjunct called they jettisoned the baby of religious dogma. “The Humanist Society” (Kalmanson’s article provides more I expect that religious, congregational, and secular human- background on this). At the same time, AHA’s leadership has ism will continue to evolve and to coexist. But religious and striven with varying success to foster wider political inclusive- congregational humanism will likely go on appealing to an ness and has reached out to young atheists, notably through audience significantly different from that most drawn to a “Good without God” billboard campaign whose thrust secular humanism. That preference gap seems no likelier to seems as much atheist as humanist. disappear from humanism than from the domain of religion. For its part, the Council for Secular Humanism remains Still, from my admittedly secular humanist perspective, there is something tragic in the rising popularity of congrega- committed to (surprise!) secular humanism, a comprehensive, tional humanism among the young. If Richard Haynes is right, nonreligious life stance incorporating (1) a naturalistic philos- we are seeing the human cost of Christian literalism’s ophy, (2) a cosmic outlook rooted in science, and (3) a conse- late-twentieth-century ghost dance. Young atheists escaping quentialist ethical system—all in a matrix of Enlightenment from the mega-churches and other pillowy evangelical set- individualism and an exuberant appetite for living. tings have been victimized by infantilizing institutions. Croft and Epstein observe that “religious congregations Consider that many in the generation of these youngsters’ frequently offer much of value to their members, and . great-grandparents strode free from demanding Protestant the needs those congregations meet are often not met by and Catholic churches, moving confidently into life stances existing secular organizations.” A quick way to distinguish that rejected both religion and the authoritarian trappings of the triple strands of today’s humanist movement might be to congregational life. (For example, among German freidenkers say that congregational humanism and religious Humanism who streamed to America following Europe’s failed revolu- both accept that statement unreservedly (though one seeks tions of 1848, it was common to direct that one’s death be to implement it without—and the other with—transcenden- marked by no ceremony or memorial of any sort.) For today’s talist content). Secular humanists are those who, by contrast, young atheists, damaged as they were by their evangelical feel no unmet need for experiences their former religious upbringings, such a radical redefinition seems to lie outside community provided that their present secular organization their range. How sad that the most energetic sects of does not. They know (in the words of—of all people—Ross Christianity’s last few decades are now disgorging refugees so Douthat) that “community can imprison as well as sustain.” wounded that real secularism is more than many of them can For them, the need for “congregational” experiences—much grasp for. like the need to, say, believe that their souls will survive into etenity—is just another facet of all they gladly left behind References when they left behind religion. Beattie, Paul. “Humanism: Secular or Religious?” Free Inquiry, Winter Summing Up 1980/81. Douthat, Ross. “All the Lonely People.” The New York Times, May 19, Religious Humanism is not dead. But it has lent much of its 2013. energy to an emerging congregational humanist movement Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Worship,” from The Conduct of Life. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1860. that revels in shared ritual and community service without Ferguson, David. “Atheism Study Authors: Congratulations, Non- diverting energy into semantic arguments over the mean- believers, You’re Just Like Everybody Else.” The Raw Story, July 2, ing of religious. Of course, that’s not for everyone. In the 2013. Flynn, Tom. “A Secular Humanist Definition Setting the Record Chattanooga survey, the group apparently equivalent to Straight.” FREE INQUIRY Summer 2002. congregational humanism claimed fewer than 13 percent Haynes, Richard. “Understanding Newer Atheists.” Brother Richard’s of respondents. Given congregational humanism’s apparent Life without Faith blog, June 19, 2013. appeal to the young, that number will increase. It remains to be seen whether congregational humanists will ever Tom Flynn is the editor of Free Inquiry and the executive director of outnumber secular humanists, most of whom threw out the the Council for Secular Humanism. Special thanks to Judith Walker for bathwater of communalism and congregational life when research assistance.

22 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org The Godless Congregation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come James Croft and Greg Epstein

At the Houston Godless Oasis “Understanding, I think, brings healing,” he reflects, before t 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday in September, in a sparsely finishing his address and inviting Dr. Futhermucker to close appointed room in Houston, Texas, a trained pastor the session with some more blues. Aconvenes a meeting. The babble of babies can be So far, so churchy. But this isn’t a church at all: it is a gath- heard in the background, but they are soon drowned out by ering of atheists and humanists. God, once the center of wor- the tones of musician Dr. Otis Futhermucker. Futhermucker, ship at such meetings all over the world, draws only passing a leathery baby-boomer with a raspy voice and a self-styled mention —as a literary character. “reverend of the blues,” twangs his guitar and blows his The inspirational reading is from atheist philosopher Daniel harmonica for a couple of soulful tunes before handing the C. Dennett, and the extended exploration of humankind’s program back off to the pastor, who welcomes everyone to place in the universe is filled with insights drawn from evolu- this, the first gathering of a new community. After an aw-shucks apology to the crowded room (“they have bigger rooms available” for the future), the pastor, Mike, promises that at next week’s meeting someone will be able to handle children’s programming. Then he “. . . This isn’t a church at all: it is a gathering of reminds everyone that this is intended to be atheists and humanists. God, once the center of worship a welcoming place for all people, whatever at such meetings all over the world, draws only their baggage, and that he hopes visitors will feel better about life when they leave. Mike passing mention—as a literary character.” encourages those gathered to share their jour- ney: the story of how they came to be in the room. One member, a black former Baptist deacon and an engineer, weaves an affecting tale of the deep searching that led to the development of tion, neuroscience, and social psychology. The references are to his religious views as the audience listens closely, rapt with Thomas Paine and Charles Darwin rather than Luke and John. attention. The “pastor” is Mike Aus, a former Lutheran who “came out” Mike then delivers a message from the podium on his cho- as an atheist on MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes immediately sen “theme of the day”: the importance of awe and wonder following the Reason Rally in March 2012, and he disavows the in life. He starts with an inspirational reading, then, moving role of authority figure. He says he’s not giving a “sermon” and to a whiteboard, begins outlining humankind’s history on that his purpose is to engage the audience in discussion and the planet—our place in the big scheme of things. He talks of common human experiences and emotions, peppering spark questions rather than to dispense wisdom from on-high. his remarks with personal anecdotes, quotes, and jokes that This is Houston Oasis, a community “grounded in reason help the audience grapple with some of the biggest—and rather than revelation, celebrating the human experience,” a the smallest—questions of life, from “How should I deal with growing community founded to serve a civic need that most someone who cuts me off on the road?” to “How can I deal don’t yet realize exists. It is a community for people who with existential angst?” believe in congregating but don’t believe in God.

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 23 The Rise of the Godless Congregation including a chaplain and assistant chaplain. Both leaders of Something interesting is happening: across the United States The Sunday Assembly, a wildly popular monthly godless con- and increasingly even the world, atheists are coming together gregation in London, are self-employed professional come- dians and performers who have devoted themselves to their not to debate but to celebrate. Moving beyond discussions of new “godless congregation” nearly full-time since inventing the existence of God and the evils of religion, groups of non- it several months ago. Other humanist and atheist groups are believers are meeting to ask the big questions that animate looking to hire part-time community organizers to assist in human life: Who are we? Why are we here? How should we their own growth. live? They listen, discuss, and exchange ideas. They share the As coauthors of an upcoming book, The Godless Congregation joys and struggles of their lives. They deepen their relation- (Simon and Schuster, 2015), we are not “starting a new ships. They affirm existence as they listen to poetry or music; religion,” “turning atheism into a religion,” or attempting to “ape reli- gion.” We strenuously reject the neg- ative aspects of many religious faiths and would be horrified to replicate “. . . Across the United States and increasingly even the world, them. Yet we also understand that atheists are coming together not to debate but to celebrate.” the human animal has a yearning for meaningful community that, for many, was satisfied to some degree in church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. We recognize that just because we choose not to worship a deity does not mean some even sing together. But most of all they seek, together, everything that happens within the walls of a house of wor- to live fuller, richer, more meaningful lives: lives informed by ship is irredeemably awful. Reasonably, rationally, we leaders reason, infused with compassion, and guided by hope for the of godless congregations are sifting the bad in religion from future of humankind. the good, and seeking, in a way entirely consistent with the These groups of atheists—these communities, assemblies, highest humanist values, to meet real human needs. congregations (call them what you will: we use the provoc- ative term godless congregations)—are different from stan- Is This ‘Religious Humanism’? dard atheist discussion groups. They are consciously designed Of course, those of us working to build godless congregations communities based on shared humanist values that supple- today are not the first to have attempted such a thing: in fact, ment discussion with a wide variety of communal activities it is worth noting, especially while writing for Free Inquiry, the to bring people closer to each other. They recognize that flagship publication of the Council for Secular Humanism, that religious congregations frequently offer much of value to the roots of today’s “secular humanism” were to a great degree, their members and that the needs those congregations meet religious. Unitarian and liberal Christian ministers were among are often not met by existing secular organizations. They try, the strongest supporters of the first Humanist Manifesto, and mindful of potential pitfalls, to provide spaces for existential religious Humanists were among the most prominent founders, reflection, moral development, and healthy personal growth in 1961, of the new religion of Unitarian Universalism. Unitarian similar to those often found within religions—but to provide Universalist congregations often harbor many humanists, and them for people who have left God behind. some congregations are primarily humanist. One prominent example, the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, is a “Unitarian Increasingly—and unlike most local humanist groups in Universalist Humanist Congregation” with a big and beautiful recent generations—these groups call upon professional building in the heart of its city, dedicated to the belief that leaders who seek to make a living from their efforts. Mike “human problems can only be solved through human efforts.” Aus of the Houston Oasis and Jerry DeWitt of Joie De Vivre It’s a thriving community of atheists, skeptics, humanists, and (Louisiana’s First Secular Service) are ex-clergy, graduates others who seek to make themselves and the world better—they of the Clergy Project, seeking to take their community-de- just do so in a way that resembles a church service. Though they velopment skills and put them to good use in the service of sing hymns and listen to a sermon from a reverend, it’s far from freethinkers. The Humanist Community at Harvard manages a cult and shows no danger of becoming one—it is an entirely a full-time staff of three to five people in any given year, healthy development.

24 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

Ethical Culture, a movement of Humanist congregations movement—the centrality of humanism to participants’ lives, founded some 140 years ago by the son of a prominent New its status as an organizing framework for addressing great York rabbi, was founded as a religion. Numerous Progressive- existential questions, its position as a source of moral guid- era causes would have slowed were it not for the influence ance—it also carries undesirable connotations that godless of founder Felix Adler who, as well as a professor and orator congregations hope to avoid. To name one example, tradi- (categories today’s humanists and atheists are more com- tional religion’s tendency toward dogmatism, authoritari- fortable with) was most centrally a congregational leader anism, groupthink, and rigid hierarchies are all things the who established numerous religious-Humanist congregations godless congregation seeks strenuously to counter, and asso- (Ethical Societies) throughout the United States in his life- ciation with those tendencies is unhelpful. time. He saw these Societies as the primary engine of social For many atheists, the term religious is simply too loaded betterment and as critical to his essentially humanist cause. with negative baggage to be a friendly descriptor for this lat- Over two dozen Ethical Societies still exist today, the largest est wave of broadly humanist communities. In our travels, we of which—the Ethical Society of St. Louis—is a Humanist con- have met countless atheists who reject out-of-hand common, gregation with hundreds of members who meet in their own life-affirming human practices such as communal singing and beautiful building and enjoy a high profile in their city, all while showing no sign of dogmatism or authoritarianism whatsoever. Rabbi Sherwin Wine, one of the most “. . . Godless congregations . . . are consciously designed influential Humanist leaders of the twen- tieth century, founded the movement of communities based on shared humanist values that supplement Humanistic Judaism fifty years ago and built discussion with a wide variety of communal activities to bring a large synagogue—the Birmingham Temple people closer to each other.” in suburban Detroit—where members cele- brate Jewish culture, history, and literature but where the Torah scroll resides in the library and children enrolled in the Hebrew School learn to the use of symbolism (lighting a candle, say) simply because, recite Hebrew and Yiddish poetry that describes God as a for them, they are “too religious.” This points to the difficul- man-made concept and human reason and love as the high- ties of using the term religious to describe this new move- est ideals toward which to strive. The Society for Humanistic ment, and similar problems are attached to the term atheist Judaism still boasts dozens of congregations and communi- church—understandably popular with the media though it ties across North America and Israel, and like Ethical Culture is (reporters are trained to love human-bites-dog stories, at members and Unitarian Universalist Humanists then and now, least at first). many of its completely atheistic members still think of what Furthermore, the attempt to distinguish between reli- they do as “religious Humanism.” gious Humanism and secular humanism—an effort to draw The idea of the godless congregation has existed for a long a distinction between forms of humanism rooted in the early time and in some cases has been extremely successful. This is twentieth century and forms that first took shape in the not a new concept, and “religious Humanists” have been— 1970s and 1980s—perpetuates the idea that there is some- and are still—doing much that newer godless congregations thing substantively different in the humanism that these two can learn from. groups seek to promote. Yet this has been proven over time Nonetheless, we find the term religious Humanism unhelp- to not be the case: today, the values of the First Unitarian ful in describing the renewed enthusiasm surrounding con- Society of Minneapolis (a bastion of religious humanism) are gregational humanism that we are witnessing today. With hardly distinguishable from those of the Center for Inquiry respect to our religious Humanist forebears and our secular (the most prominent proponent of secular humanism). The humanist allies, we feel the distinction between “religious” American Humanist Association shares most of its goals with and “secular” humanism to be about as relevant today as the American Ethical Union (the umbrella group uniting the choice between music on cassette or vinyl. Times have the remaining Ethical Culture Societies). We are one move- changed, the culture has moved on, and old categories no ment, reaching toward one humanism, and for this reason longer fit the current reality of our lives. we prefer to avoid the term religious and move on from an The term religious confuses because, although it holds old, unhelpful dichotomy between “religious” and “secular” up certain valuable aspects of this emerging congregational humanism.” Ultimately, our understanding of religion—what

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 25 it is, and what it might be—has become so tangled and con- experimenting with practices that may make stalwarts of the fused as to necessitate a new framework for understanding humanist movement uncomfortable but which seem intrigu- what is going on within the larger humanist movement and ing to the public at large: meditation, moments of silence, what these new godless congregations represent. singing, and interfaith discussion and collaboration. While So the new groups led by Clergy Project graduates and not all of the practices may stick with these communities in humanist chaplains and even by professional comedians the long run, the willingness to experiment—to try some- aren’t churches, and they’re not religious Humanism. But thing out, even if it makes some atheists squirm—shows a what are they, and what might the humanist movement learn risk-taking spirit that has evaded many established humanist from them? We suggest there are three critical characteristics groups for some time. of these emerging communities that can inform the humanist This fast-moving, risk-taking, outward-looking attitude is movement at large. First, these emerging humanist commu- a contrast and a challenge to existing humanist-movement nities represent an entrepreneurial social project, born of organizations. Although in recent years the major humanist, creative individuals willing to take risks and rethink old ideas. atheist, and freethought organizations have begun work- Second, they represent the efforts of a new generation of ing more closely together (the Reason Rally is one excellent humanist activists, mostly untethered to existing institutions, example of what we can achieve when we pull in one direc- who are reimagining what it means to be a secular person in tion), the pace of change has been slow and the focus has been mostly inward, toward existing movement members or those most likely to immediately join up. These ”Unlike most local humanist groups in recent new godless congregations, how- ever, in offering something mark- generations . . . these groups call upon professional leaders edly different from most Center for who seek to make a living from their efforts.” Inquiry branches, Council for Secular Humanism local groups, or American Humanist Association chapters, are reaching far beyond the boundaries the twenty-first century. And third, they hold the potential, of the freethought movement and bringing in people who in our view, to secure the future of humanism, offering a might never have considered joining an atheist group before. structure and set of institutions that will help the humanist A New Generation of Activists movement become more successful in a more lasting way. Also significant is that these innovations are coming from a Entrepreneurial, Outward-Looking Humanism new generation of humanist activists who, until recently, were Mirroring the energy of the rising secular student movement, not part of the organized humanist movement at all. Mike these new humanist communities display an entrepreneurial Aus, Jerry DeWitt, and Teresa MacBain (a third graduate of spirit that recalls the dynamism of Center for Inquiry founder the Clergy Project making waves in Florida) were not known Paul Kurtz. The founders of these new humanist communities to the movement until recently (though they have been par- are bravely venturing into unknown waters and experiment- ticipating in the Clergy Project for a couple of years), but they ing with community structures, taking some things from tra- have already made a big splash. It is still an open question as ditional religious gatherings (Houston Oasis offers an atheist to whether Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans of the Sunday variation on Bible study, while Jerry DeWitt’s style is heavily Assembly are even part of the humanist movement: they are influenced by charismatic preachers) and other things from hardly connected with the United Kingdom’s major humanist more thoroughly secular community gatherings (speeches at organizations, and they have certainly created an exciting, the Sunday Assembly resemble TED talks more than sermons). innovative community space for the nonreligious without Instead of looking inward—into the existing freethought much reference to the humanist tradition. movement—these innovators are looking out to the com- Furthermore, these leaders are not part of the main- munities that surround them and asking how they can effect stream atheist blogging culture or even the secular student change. Encouraging service and community engagement, movement. They are removed from discussions of count- they are going far beyond philosophical discussions and a er-apologetics, intra-movement wrangling over territory and focus on science and skepticism and asking more challeng- resources, and endless debates over terminology and lan- ing questions of their participants like “How can we live a guage (“Should we capitalize the H in Humanist?”—a ques- good life?” and “How can we make real connections with tion that once threatened to derail a presentation at the those around us?” In pursuit of these questions, they are American Humanist Association’s annual conference).

26 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

Such new leaders bring new skills and a new outlook to degree it has not hitherto achieved. If we build these institu- the movement: skills that are desperately needed if we are to tions, we will end the longtime curse of humanism—that it grow. Most obviously, former pastors like Aus, DeWitt, and looks great on paper but in most places doesn’t really exist MacBain bring years of experience as congregational guides in practice. honed in pulpits around the country (MacBain was even an But let’s pretend for a moment that you’re a skeptic of this expert in “Church planting”) and are now turning those skills project. Perhaps you are worried this is all too “churchy” and to the task of building godless congregations. Jones and think atheists shouldn’t go in for this sort of stuff. Perhaps you Evans bring the energy, enthusiasm, and contacts of expe- are opposed to the idea of professional leadership, thinking it rienced comedians, which lends their assemblies a raucous sounds too hierarchical. Perhaps, for you, the idea of human- energy that would shock many American humanist gather- ist communities is simply one step too far in the direction of ings—along with great music! And emerging leaders such as cultishness. We want to ask you a simple question: What are Chris Stedman, the assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard, all the enthusiastic, talented, dedicated secular student lead- bring years of experience facilitating interfaith dialogue and ers going to do to promote the freethought movement after discussion, which improves our small movement’s ability to they graduate from college? engage in meaningful dialogue with our religious neighbors. This influx of new leaders with new skills is revealing some of the gaps in the repertoire of existing organizations. “We recognize that just because we choose not to worship a While we’ve become rather good at fil- deity does not mean everything that happens within the walls of ing lawsuits, provoking public discus- sion with highway billboards, and writ- a house of worship is irredeemably awful.” ing best-selling books and major blogs, we have done little, as a movement, to engage and connect with local commu- nities. Since most of us don’t live in the courtroom, in our cars, For instance: Amanda Brown is one of our most passion- or on the Internet (OK, some of us live on the Internet, but ate, accomplished secular community activists in the country. that may not always be in our best interest!), the humanist She’s an obviously brilliant, fast-talking, ambitious twen- message has been able to reach people in only a small portion ty-something from Kansas who also happens to be tattooed, of their lives. The leaders of emerging godless congregations pierced, married, and a mom. Brown created the website seek to make humanism a routine part of everyday life for their We Are Atheism, which features videos of dozens of atheists members and neighbors, increasing our impact dramatically. describing what inspires them to do good in their lives and The Future of Humanism communities and that has over twelve thousand “Likes” on In our minds, godless congregations represent the best Facebook. But she is much more than just an Internet activist chance for humanism to grow into a mass movement able for atheist pride. Brown was the founding chair of the philan- to have an impact on the broader culture. By building local thropic committee of the Kansas City Atheist Coalition (KCAC), communities that fulfill real human needs that no other secu- which began performing significant acts of community service lar space so comprehensively manages to meet, we will bring on a regular basis when she led fifteen atheist members out more people into the humanist movement and ramp up the to deliver meals to those in need one Thanksgiving morning commitment of those already engaged with it. We will make and found that they had one of the largest constituencies of humanism more visible, more connected to the wider society, volunteers at that food pantry that day. and more relevant to people’s daily lives. And we will ensure, Brown’s work has continued to grow: in late 2012, We Are through the building of countless local humanist institutions, Atheism formed a spin-off group, Atheists Giving Aid, which that the humanists of today can pass their values onto the has raised over $70,000 for victims of the Sandy Hook shoot- next generation. ings, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the May 2013 tor- In his book Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton argues nado in Moore, Oklahoma, among other tragic events. Brown that “Thinkers must learn to master the power of institutions and other group members even recently got a meeting with for their ideas to have any chance of achieving a pervasive Kansas Governor Sam Brownback—not usually known for influence on the world.” We agree. Godless congregations recognizing the achievements of atheists—as a reward for could be the institutions that enable humanism, at last, to their tireless community work. become pervasive and influential in American culture to a Although Brown and her local colleagues should indeed

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 27 get all kinds of credit for their efforts, it is also true that she The Role of the Movement learned how to plan and execute projects and events when So far, all this has happened without significant support she was part of a student movement. Although she was an from the major humanist movement organizations—none activist for liberal causes since age fourteen, she’d never have put large amounts of resources or a concerted effort thought to get active in building a godless philanthropic into building and supporting local community organizations community until she joined SOMA—The Kansas University for humanists. But existing movement organizations could (KU) Society for Open Minded Atheists and Agnostics, “the certainly play a big role. They have the resources and the Best God-Damned Group on Campus.” SOMA is a well-estab- organizational expertise, as well as the connections, to help lished presence at KU, first having won the Secular Student these new communities grow and develop in a healthy way. Alliance’s Best Group Award back in 2006, years before Major organizations are beginning to get involved, how- Brown had ever heard of organized atheism. And it was her ever. When American Humanist Association (AHA) Executive experience hearing the speakers at SOMA’s student-run con- Director Roy Speckhardt was negotiating with us to have the ferences—conferences that were partly a result of ground AHA (non-monetarily) sponsor and endorse our Humanist that was well and intentionally paved in the hopes that Community Project, we were pleased that he specifically talented young people such as her would one day come requested that our mutual work should be done “for the along—that inspired her to go out and make a difference benefit of the movement,” not just for the AHA. AHA leaders in her unique, positive, community-oriented way. Now that like Jennifer Kalmanson (whose article appears in this sec- she’s graduated from college, what Brown most wants to tion) are, even today, meeting to plan for a future movement do is put her energy into building and leading a professional that will be much bigger and much more influential because atheist organization that exemplifies the KCAC’s slogan of it will enjoy a network of congregations. Together, we’re not “Positively Godless” values—“activism, philanthropy, educa- just growing the humanist pie: we’re building a pie-making tion, and community”—in other words, something quite like factory—or rather, a network of artisanal bakeries using the a congregation. finest ingredients and recipes. And really, what are we to do with secular student activists As new organizations come on board, we hope they will such as Amanda Brown if not build godless congregations? support the emergence of godless congregations without The impressive success and astonishing growth of the Secular trying to take credit or dominate their development. We can Student Alliance, which has grown to nearly four hundred and should invest in godless congregations now; the rewards campus chapters as of this writing despite having limited may eventually be greater than any of us anticipate. resources—nearly half as many as the billion-dollar-budget Campus Crusade for Christ—has been the cause of much rejoicing in the freethought movement of late, and we cele- brate its success too. But much as we might wish otherwise, James Croft is a Humanist activist and public speaker and works on college is only a small part of our lives (and many people the Humanist Community Project, helping build communities for non- do not attend college). At some point we must move on. religious people. He is a graduate of the universities of Cambridge and Without secular communities that provide the range of activ- Harvard and is currently studying for his doctorate in the philosophy of ities and intensity of commitment offered by many secular education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education while training to student groups, we risk losing these passionate young new- become a leader in the Ethical Culture movement. His upcoming book comers to our movement. Only a fraction can be employed The Godless Congregation, coauthored with Greg Epstein, is being by existing organizations, and it’s a lucky few who can stay published by Simon & Schuster. engaged with the movement by blogging or writing. These students are, literally, our movement’s future, and it is our Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and author responsibility—and it is in our interest—to enable them to of The New York Times best-selling book Good Without God: What a stay engaged with humanism throughout their lives. Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. He serves as the vice president Creating godless congregations in every town and city— of the forty-member corps of Harvard Chaplains, and his work has welcoming havens for atheists, skeptics, freethinkers, and been covered by The New York Times, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, humanists, places where they can raise their children to and numerous other media outlets. Under Epstein’s leadership, the respect humanist values, and are beacons of humanism— Humanist Community at Harvard has grown to feature a 3,200-square- would be a huge step toward ensuring that the young foot Humanist center in the heart of Harvard Square and a professional humanist leaders of today become the established humanist staff of ten as of fall 2013. He holds graduate degrees from Harvard leaders of tomorrow. It would give humanism an enduring, Divinity School and the University of Michigan and was ordained as a powerful place in U.S. culture. It is one of the best ways we secular humanist rabbi in 2005. can secure the future of our movement.

28 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

F. C. S. Schiller’s Idealistic Humanism and Personalism Hugh P. McDonald

umanism” has different definitions and distinct humans were incorporated into the larger machine that was meanings in different disciplines. In philosophy, nature. Darwinism echoed this view in his evolutionary model “Hhumanism is best conceived as a perspective that of human origins. stands alongside naturalism and supernaturalism. From a naturalistic perspective, humans are basically part of nature; n this context, Schiller’s form of pragmatism was recognized from a supernatural perspective, we are part of the divine Ias unique from the beginning. Charles S. Peirce, the founder creation. While the relationship of humans with nature and of pragmatism, believed that Schiller had worked out his God may be themes for humanist-oriented philosophers, own position between that of Dewey and himself. (Peirce there is a distinct view of humans apart from either of these was more of an idealist than Schiller; John Dewey was a that dates to ancient times. Protagoras (whom the nine- naturalist.) However, Schiller ( 1864–1937) had a somewhat teenth- and twentieth-century German-British philosopher detached view and preferred, like Dewey, to distinguish his Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller much admired) declared position from the mainline of pragmatism. Pragmatism was that “man is the measure, of what is, that it is, of what is not, that it is not.” Protagoras thereby bracketed the greatest previous riddle of Greek philosophy—the question of being—by conditioning it upon human “Schiller viewed pragmatism as a theory of truth with a judgment. His philosophy initiated a new special application to epistemological issues (that is, issues of era of Hellenic thought in which humans knowledge), incorporating that into his more idealistic philosophy, instead of the gods or nature held the cen- tral place, making Protagoras arguably the which he explicitly named humanism.” West’s first humanist. Similarly, in China, Kong fu-tse (Confucius) wrote exclusively of human affairs in his Analects, scarcely mentioning heaven and mentioning nature not at all. William James’s adaptation of Peirce’s philosophy, which con- In the West, philosophical humanism had a checkered centrated on issues of knowledge. Peirce used the test of con- development after the fall of Greece. The Stoic and Epicurean sequences to determine the meanings of terms or concepts: schools held a naturalistic perspective in theory, but they none- meaning is determined by the “conceivable practical conse- theless concentrated on human affairs—especially the late quences.” James extended this to issues of truth, arguing that Stoics such as Marcus Aurelius. During the Middle Ages, the we test the truth of some proposition by its consequences: we supernatural perspective held exclusive domain. Afterward, know an idea is true if it works out in practice. (I am oversim- the Renaissance heralded a rebirth not only of learning but of plifying for sake of explication.) Schiller viewed pragmatism the humanistic perspective—for example, in the work of Pico as a theory of truth with a special application to epistemolog- della Mirandola. However, the rise of modern science sent ical issues (that is, issues of knowledge), incorporating that philosophers back to naturalism, particularly in the revival into his more idealistic philosophy, which he explicitly named of materialism in Britain (Thomas Hobbes) and France. One humanism. Schiller defined it as an “ethical” humanism; thus Enlightenment author adjudged man as “a machine,” and ethics was seen as the highest aspiration of humans, who by

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 29 making reality have, as Peirce noted, a part in the creation. In conclusion that philosophy must aim at, that philosophy shall other words, Schiller viewed pragmatism as a part of a larger not cut itself loose from the real problems of life by making whole—namely, humanism. But Schiller also shared the more initial abstractions which are false . . .” (Studies in Humanism). idealistic view of Pierce that “the lower cannot explain the Knowledge and logic are for human use; the problems of higher.” For him, humans could not be explained in terms of human life are central. matter (materialism) or other naturalistic perspectives, like As for “natural values,” values and ends that are beyond that of Dewey. nature distinguish humans from the other animals: For Schiller, humanism consisted in a threefold reform: a It is only with beings that aim at ends, conceive goods and reform of ethics, logic, and philosophy as an ethical human- frame ideals of better living, that there begins that funding ism. The reform of ethics was at the same time a reform of of the power over life which renders possible the pursuit, not philosophy and the fields of philosophy. Schiller would say of mere life, but of good life, and transfigures the struggle for existence by the ethical ideal. (Humanism) that the values that form the basis of philosophy have a humanistic basis; it is human values, not natural or supernat- While other animals exhibit a kind of rationality and may ural values, that are the basis for philosophy. Values have a display species norms that resemble morality, none does so humanistic sanction, not a divine one. They are not ordained to the extent of humans. Human rationality has transformed the world with artificial creations that go beyond nature. Moreover, animals seem to have limits to their vocabulary, even when trained, that separate them deci- “[Schiller’s] philosophy involved the recognition sively from humans. For Schiller, humans that the good, the true, and even the real are not comprise a community of like-minded lan- guage and tool users that goes beyond preexistent things waiting for us to trip over them but anything in the animal world, for better are instead the result of human effort and thought.” or worse. Human nature is complex. Like the other pragmatists, Schiller acknowledged the truth of evolution—that humans evolved from primate ancestors; human- by God but have proven valuable for human purposes. ism does not imply a nonnatural origin (in Logic for Use and Schiller paid tribute to the wide variety of human valua- other works). However, like Peirce, he did not accept the natu- tions—moral, economic, scientific, even religious—by putting ralistic view that the lower could explain the higher (“Axioms them at the center of his thinking. His philosophy involved as Postulates,” in Riddles of the Sphinx). While human nature the recognition that the good, the true, and even the real are was originally biological, naturalistic processes alone cannot not preexistent things waiting for us to trip over them but explain later developments in human history. Human nature are instead the result of human effort and thought. “It is the has risen above mere nature (Humanism). The rise of con- true for us, the true for us as practical beings, just as the good sciousness is a development distinct from the rise of biological is the good for us,” he wrote in his book Humanism (1903). life, indeed its “culmination.” Thus there are multiple layers or Schiller evaluated his own philosophy as a “more hopeful and plural elements in human nature: chemical and organic pro- humaner view of metaphysics. . . .” It was more hopeful in the cesses, subconscious and conscious thought, and the active sense of being anti-fatalistic, because on his view humans can pursuit of ideals. and do go beyond nature to make their own destiny. His view Many contemporary thinkers view the mind as more or was also melioristic, in that it recognized that we can and do less equivalent to brain and the brain as material or physical. improve our lives. Humanism “is content to take human value This view is a form of naturalism, in which the mind is either as the clue to the world of human experience, content to take an “epiphenomenon” of the material brain or a “state” of the Man on his own merits.” brain at a point in time. An alternative view is that the mind A practical result of Schiller’s philosophy is to harmonize has an intimate relationship with the brain or the central human experiences by attenuating the distinction of fact nervous system, but it has emerged out of mere materiality to and value, “pure” and practical, natural and man-made. form a distinct area of life: experience. This latter, emergent “[Humanism] demands that man’s integral nature shall be view was held by the more idealistic wing of pragmatism, used as the whole premise which philosophy must argue from including James and Schiller. In this view, mind cannot be wholeheartedly, that man’s complete satisfaction shall be the reduced to brain. Rocks, which are material objects, do not

30 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

have minds: mind is not simply material. Schiller might argue explain natural phenomena do not arise simply from experi- that humans have gone beyond nature, just as their minds ence. Rather, they are “suggested” by actively inquiring minds have emerged out of natural processes but are not material. as postulates, rooted in the demands of human inquirers. The entire artificial world is the creation of our minds, which Thus “our whole purposive nature” may generate concep- humans created by aiming at valued results that were not tions as demands (“Why humanism?”). Although they may part of nature—that rather go beyond nature. For Schiller, have a subjective origin, they can acquire the status of laws. ethical humanism is not only an alternative view of human Humanistic voluntarism, then, recognizes that knowledge life; it is more exact, for it is closer to the facts. We do not live is the result of interaction of the knower with the world and in “nature,” and as Nietzsche put it, “there never was a natu- is a joint product of humans working together. Schiller con- ral human.” Indeed, strictly speaking, materialistic or natural- trasted “humanist voluntarism” with narrow intellectualism, istic humanism is an oxymoron. Schiller’s “ethical idealism” is which only considers one side of human nature. However, a teleological philosophy in which reality is subject to human like other idealists, he believed that knowledge is mediated good. We aim at future ends that we evaluate as to whether by mind—that mind is essential to knowledge. What he they are worth bringing about and thereby can transform added are the contentions that the mind is larger than the “nature.”

hile humanism is taken to mean WSchiller’s whole philosophy in his middle period (1900–1920)—he once described it as a “final theory of life” “Schiller’s ‘ethical idealism’ is a teleological philosophy in which (Humanism)—there is a seeming change in his late period. Concerned to distin- reality is subject to human good. We aim at future ends guish his own views from what he called that we evaluate as to whether they are worth bringing “religious humanism,” which was super- about and thereby can transform ‘nature.’” natural in orientation, he narrowed the description of his own form. In the late work Must Philosophers Disagree (MPD), he distinguished “religious humanism” from humanism in the “epistemological sense.” Humanism in Schiller’s sense recognized “the central intellect and that there are other human factors essential to position of man . . . in the theory of knowledge” (MPD). He knowledge, including desire and will, the source of human also denied that humanism had any direct bearing on reli- purposes. Schiller’s humanistic coloring of idealism provided a gion, although he did not reject the idea of God or design; middle way between naturalism, especially reductionist forms nor did he reject that humanism as he understood it was a in which humans are reduced to a pile of atoms, and more metaphysic. This late view involves a reduction from his earlier absolute idealisms that leave out the human element. view—or at least a qualification or refinement. The emphasis on the centrality of humans in theory of Schiller’s earlier and later views are connected by a focus knowledge separates Schiller from “naturalistic” humanism, on the human agent as the condition of all knowledge—and a more common view in contemporary philosophy. As noted, thus a kind of idealism. It is idealistic because knowledge is Schiller thought human life and values could not be explained constructed through human effort and faculties alone: no in terms of nature and that humans have largely surpassed humans, no knowledge. Moreover, human values guide these natural processes. Thus, Schiller’s view is not a study in the processes and provide the ideals that are goals of practice: “essence” or nature of humans: it is not an implicit form the “ethical ideal.” Schiller critically evaluated the standard of naturalism. We may ask if there would be any “laws of of pure “objectivity,” which he regarded as involving a false nature” without human formulation. Science is as much a dichotomy with subjectivity. Science serves human purposes, creation of humans as are buildings, automobiles, and other and these purposes cannot be ignored in a full account of creations of technology. In other words, Schiller provided a science (“Why Humanism?”). He dismissed the attempt by view of humans, including human science, that offered an intellectualists and others to eliminate the human aspects alternative to that of reductionist materialism. For him, the of knowing as artificial. Moreover, he held that knowledge view of humans as material objects is incomplete, requiring a involves an active pursuit, including making “demands” upon separate account of the mind and the especial talents pecu- nature through experimentation. Even the concepts used to liar to the human species. It is a perspective that requires the

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 31 mind and could not be possible were there not a mind inde- thought always issues from the personality of some thinker pendent of matter. and that “all truth seeking is personal.” Indeed, Schiller tied In terms of biology, Schiller viewed humans as the “culmi- humanism to personalism throughout his writings. “We may nation” of the process of evolutionary development from life define Humanism as the systematic and methodical working to consciousness, to which their bigger brains are testimony out of the perception that every thought is a personal act of (MPD). This biological outlook was to slowly modify the more which some thinker is the author and for which he may be idealistic view of his early period, in which his middle period held responsible” (MPD). may be viewed as a transition. While in the early and middle Schiller’s personalist views were so tightly interconnected periods he sharply separated humanism from naturalistic with his humanism that it is difficult to separate them. For philosophy, Schiller’s later views reveal a steady erosion of him, humanism was personalistic, because it is the man of his anti-naturalism. Although he never explicitly abandoned “flesh and blood,” the individual person who thinks, experi- humanism in his late period and still considered himself a ences, acts, and lives. These views, as Reuben Abel has noted, humanist (MPD), there is an interesting passage in the essay connect Schiller to existentialist forms of humanism. They “Man’s Future on Earth.” In it he states that one goal of state were perhaps also the basis for the accusations of “subjectiv- planning should be “a selection of what is judged to be the ism” leveled against Schiller by, among others, some figures in the naturalistic school of pragmatism: the followers of Dewey. However, while the per- sonal experience of living humans is central to his philosophy, Schiller was no Cartesian. “[Schiller’s] personalism recognized the individual and He attempted, like the other pragmatists, to idiosyncratic quality of thought but also that its value advance beyond Cartesian categories of sub- ject and object. His personalism recognized lies in its consequences both for oneself and others, the individual and idiosyncratic quality of the larger community.” thought but also that its value lies in its con- sequences both for oneself and others, the larger community. Schiller’s arguments for personalism best in order to grow a superman” (MPD). Evolutionary—even entailed a critique of the abstract model of human psychol- eugenical—views seem here to have superseded Schiller’s ogy developed both by absolute idealists and naturalistic humanism, perhaps under the influence of Nietzsche and psychologists. He criticized both the “substance” view of the George Bernard Shaw. The evolution beyond humans to a soul in Descartes and the view of mind as merely the “product superman means that the humanist perspective will ulti- of sensations.” Neither of these, he thought, could account mately be superceded. The perfecting of humans, the eugen- for the personal aspect of experience. Indeed, he argued ical project, has its own elimination as an ultimate goal. for the irreducibly private element of experience that could Yet it is not clear from this passage whether he viewed the not be encompassed by any view of “universal mind” while superman as a human with superlative endowments or, like arguing against any view of consciousness in general except Nietzsche, as the next step in evolution beyond humans. as an abstraction. People’s minds are private and personal, not part of some all-inclusive absolute. Judging is a personal chiller associated with figures in the personalist movement process, relative to a situation. Thought and logic depend on Sin philosophy from its inception, and he noted his “favor- personal experience. However, he did believe in conscious able” evaluation of the “personal idealism” of John McTaggart persons and personal experience. His view was that the mind and others. He contrasted personal idealism approvingly with is active, and thus that any assimilation of the methods of psy- the absolute idealism of, for example, Francis H. Bradley and chology to that of physics—that is, representing introspection Bernard Bosanquet. Schiller also published numerous arti- as an “object, rather than as the reflective return of an active cles in the Personalist, a now-defunct journal. He argued in being. . .” (his essay “The Meaning of Self”)—would be a Humanism that all philosophical systems are “a unique and mistake. A person includes, among other capabilities, a mind personal achievement.” For him, philosophy was the personal with feelings, desires, volitions, and the capacity to reason. statement of the individual thinker, and thus its diversity Schiller also recognized the subconscious—at that time a new should not be a source of despair but of wonder. He held this idea in psychology— and the possibility of multiple personal- outlook to the end; in one of his last works, he argued that ities (Studies in Humanism).

32 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

There is more than just matter in the universe. Schiller led Humanism-Philosophical Essays. London and New York: Macmillan, the way in arguing for pluralism in philosophy, the idea that 1903. Logic for Use: An Introduction to the Voluntarist Theory of the universe contains diverse kinds. Knowledge. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1929; New York: Ultimately it is humans who stand at the center of Schiller’s Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1930. philosophy. But it is not humans as a detached mental entity, Must Philosophers Disagree? And Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. London and New York: Macmillan, 1934. a doubting subject or ego, as in Descartes and his empiricist Riddles of the Sphinx: A Study in the Philosophy of Evolution, “by counterparts. It is not the existential human authentically a Troglodyte,” London: Swan, Sonnenschein and Co., 1891, confronting an absurd universe, as in Sartre, who rejected, esp. the third edition, 1910. Studies in Humanism. London and New York: Macmillan, 1907. along with the “philosophical anthropology” movement, any In his work Plato or Protagoras? (Oxford: Blackwell, 1908), Schiller attempt to characterize humans based on ethics. It is neither acknowledges his debt to Protagoras, the first known humanist. the human of supernatural creation, nor the human who is a Most of the essays referred to can be found in: F. C. S. Schiller on Pragmatism and Humanism: Selected Writings, total product of natural determination, as in naturalism. Nor 1891-1937. Prometheus Books, 2007 and Abel, R., ed., Humanistic is human life like a machine, as in LaMettrie and behaviorism. Pragmatism, The Philosophy of F.C.S. Schiller. New York: The Free Although all these models are elements of human nature, Press, 1966. Schiller held that humans stand in the world of concrete prac- tice with needs and values. Humans are the measurers of Hugh P. McDonald is professor of philosophy at the New York City nature, not nature the measure of humans. College of Technology (CUNY). He is the author or editor of numerous journal articles and books, including F. C. S. Schiller on Pragmatism References and Humanism: Selected Writings , 1891–1937 (coedited with John The following works are by Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller: Shook, Prometheus Books, 2007) and, most recently, Pragmatism “Axioms as Postulates,” in Personal Idealism, edited by Henry and Environmentalism (editor, Rodopi, 2012). Sturt. London and New York: Macmillan, 1902.

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secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 33 Experience the Most Amazing History You Never Heard Of! In the nineteenth century, West-Central New York was a hotbed of social, political, and religious innovation. Fayetteville suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage called religion the enemy of women. Writing from Elmira, Mark Twain raised irreverence to an American art form. At Ithaca, Andrew Dickson White cofounded Cornell University, the nation’s first secular institution of higher learning. In 1848 reformers and freethinkers of every stripe thronged Seneca Falls to demand new roles for women. Corning native Margaret Sanger led the twentieth-century birth control movement. The birthplace museum of the famous orator, political speechmaker, and outspoken agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll is an anchor of West-Central New York’s “Freethought Trail.” And this is just the beginning!

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34 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

John Dewey and the Fighting ‘Faith’ of Humanism John Shook

any people who don’t feel they belong to any religion while supernaturalism leaves everyone dependent on a god say that they are “spiritual but not religious.” For them, or gods. On his view, individualism yielded a base equality— Mbeing “religious” means being a faithful member of a the shared fate of abandonment when you’re no longer use- church or a loyal partisan to one religion or another. When ful or productive—and enough liberty to do just what you can polls ask these people about God, a large majority say that manage on your own. Meanwhile, supernaturalism treated all they still believe in a god or a universal spirit. A person who as base sinners, equally guilty and humbled before God, with believes in something more than the material world with its just enough individual liberty for each person to freely submit materialistic priorities can find the label “spiritual” helpful. to this tyrant. No, Dewey did not see true justice in either of Some actually believe in spirits visiting this world, some cos- these schemes because guarantees of unconditional moral mic mind or love force, or a divine power that made the uni- dignity and worth were missing. But where in the material verse. Others use the word spiritual to capture their personal world were those unconditional guarantees to be found? sense of purpose and meaning that they feel materialism alone cannot provide. On this continuum, there was never any doubt about where John Dewey stood: he “If Dewey were around today, he would probably find the was a godforsaken and unrepentant atheist. Yet if he were around today, he would prob- notion of ‘spiritual but not religious’ attractive.” ably find the notion of “spiritual but not reli- gious” attractive. The idea of being “spiritual” would confuse him at first—he personally knew some spiritualists in his day, back when he was a pro- Religion thinks it knows the answer: if you want ideals to fessor of philosophy (from the 1880s to the 1930s). His good be real, only a divine realm can guarantee them. Dewey had friend and fellow pragmatist William James had half-believed a different answer. His pragmatism held thatsomething is real the strange things that would happen at spiritualist meetings where it makes a difference. Accordingly, ideals are real where and séances, where mediums tried to communicate with the and when they make a difference in the world of human dead. Dewey didn’t think there was an afterlife or angels, affairs. Dewey also knew that religion, too, has real effects in demons, or anything else from beyond this world—and surely the world and that belief in belief has a way of doing far more not a god governing it all. work than anything godly. Dewey was well aware of clever Dewey had a philosophy called “naturalism” that was in ways that theology could defend faith in the name of what opposition to supernaturalism and other dualistic and ide- is good for humanity. Without faith, what would happen to alistic philosophies separating mind and body. But he didn’t ethics? Perhaps religion and ethics were essentially linked, consider himself a materialist. He believed there must be or maybe they were the same thing viewed from different more to life than just cold practicalities and narrow self-inter- angles. ests. In some sense, Dewey thought that inspiring ideals were real. For him, ethical ideals of equal dignity, equal protection, y the time of the European Enlightenment, Christian intel- equal freedoms and opportunities for all, and social and Blectuals were noticing how the erosion of the medieval political justice had to be more real than mere dreams of the worldview and religious hatred was allowing an idealistic imagination or contracts among bargainers. That is why he moral hope to rise. Christianity wasn’t the first religion to rejected individualism as harshly as supernaturalism: individ- prioritize an ethic of compassion and justice for all humanity ualism leaves people reliant on just their personal resources, (Buddhists and the Roman Stoics had been there first), but

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 35 that ethic took over the religion remarkably quickly. Christians zations solely devoted to secular progress sprang into action, increasingly understood Jesus as a supremely ethical person such as the National Association for the Advancement of to imitate in this life. They expected religious experiences to Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union. make a person more ethical, and they explained away any- Dewey participated in all of these and many more. He thing unethical in the Bible. Liberal theology was inaugurated tried to diagnose philosophically what he saw happening with the insistence that religion must serve ethics, ethics must as all of this progressive momentum unfolded outside of serve humanity, and God must answer to human reasonable- the denominations, effectively circumventing religions. He ness. Liberal theology henceforth focused on the intellectual wrote his short but powerful book, A Common Faith, in and social liberation of peoples everywhere. Only funda- 1934, calling people away from religion and toward genuine mentalists clinging to their traditions and scriptures lagged ethics. What ultimately matters, he held, is the philosophical behind, a portrait of close-minded stubbornness. spirit behind this direction of moral energy and whether Liberal theology was alive and well during Dewey’s day, that spirit is unobstructed and sincere. Religion can’t pass as it is today. Belong to a religion, its advertising says, so that that test, no matter how liberal any theology may become. your faith can keep you ethical and the church can fight for Religion always demands conformity to the one “right” faith progress and social justice. This theology is so liberal that you for living ethically, tempting people to putting more energy never have to worry about worshipping an unethical god—its into fighting with those of other faiths instead of advancing theologians update what God thinks is righteous to match ethical ideals. Why not drop the notion of one correct faith for living ethically? Dewey suggested that we pragmatically simplify everything: just faithfully follow the best way for living “Dewey thought that inspiring ideals were real. ethically. He proudly championed what he For him, ethical ideals of equal dignity, equal protection, equal called “humanist ethics,” and he was the freedoms and opportunities for all, and social and political most prominent philosopher to sign the first Humanist Manifesto in 1933, although justice had to be more real than mere dreams of the Corliss Lamont couldn’t persuade Dewey imagination or contracts among bargainers.” to label his philosophy as “humanism.” (In philosophy back then, “humanism” implied an exaggerated idealism about the creative the next fight for equality or justice. (Don’t worry if the con- ego; see Hugh P. McDonald’s article in this section.) tent of the updates conflict—there’s no single correct way to know God anyway.) Why would people walk away from this o what could we call this philosophical spirit of fidelity flexible and generous theology? Sand devotion to humanist ethical ideals? Religion would Yet people were walking away from liberal theology in say that this devotion equates with faith in God—a god who Dewey’s day, just as millions are abandoning both conser- makes those ideals real, so that their reality is conditional vative and liberal churches today. Church membership and upon God’s subjective will and what God finds expedient. But attendance is at an all-time low in America and Europe, and suppose you are a scientific-minded thinker dubious of any- that trend is accelerating among people under the age of thing supernatural. According to materialism, ethical ideals thirty. A century ago, a smaller but no less potent number of aren’t real: they can’t be because science cannot detect them; people found the receptive label of “humanist” to capture they lack physical force; and they aren’t built into nature’s their freethinking ways and ethical convictions, especially laws or organic brains. Materialism regards ethical ideals as because no membership in a religion was required. Religion, merely the result of social conventions among self-interested no matter how “liberal,” still implied tradition, authority, and people setting rules for their societies, so that, for exam- loyalty to one’s fellow congregants. Churches didn’t seem as ple, “All people are created equal” translates downward to committed to the progressive welfare of humanity as they “We can agree how it is in our self-interest to provisionally could or should be. Some humanists congregated together treat each other as if we have the same political status.” and imbued traditional heart-warming rituals with ethical Unfortunately, materialism also makes ethical ideals condi- and secular meaning. Other humanists put their energies tional upon the subjective wills of whomever is around at the directly into the secular world of progressive politics and time and whatever they find expedient. In contrast, Dewey fighting for civil rights and liberties. The Ethical Society held that genuine ethics is about unconditional guarantees of and Ethical Culture movements, a humanistic segment of moral dignity and the equal justice that is due to every human Unitarianism, and many smaller organizations surged in being. No amount of free will or liberty guarantees anything popularity during the early twentieth century. Other organi- if any person can fall into misfortune and lose everything;

36 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

under that system, each person has only the free will to beg ewey would happily observe today’s mass movement out churches for charity or gods for a miracle and the liberty and Dof churches and away from religion. He would hope that the right to crawl into a ditch and die. this movement wouldn’t walk straight into proud self-sat- Neither tyrannical supernaturalism nor individualistic isfaction and placid individualism. He would suspect—and materialism really knows what to do with unconditional he’d be right—that unaffiliated people are walking toward ethical ideals. Putting one’s faithful convictions in some fickle more meaning and purpose in life, toward making a valuable god or placing one’s trust in calculations of personal welfare difference in the world. These people aren’t automatically is a resignation to fatalism and powerlessness. Dewey again nonreligious, because many of them think a god exists or offered his pragmatic suggestion: ideals can be real in the at least feel “spiritually” connected to real ideals that they world if they can have real effects there. Ethical ideals have to consider irreducible to material matters. That’s hardly as big an issue as rigid atheists want to think. After two hundred be at least ideas, but they must be something more as well— years of liberal theology casting doubt on rational proofs of the real power lies in how they are used. There is a world of God, the newly unaffiliated aren’t shocked to discover that difference between someone who hopefully contemplates god-belief is a matter of personal inclination. But ethics has an ethical ideal and someone else who puts years of his or never been about private choice. So long as their priorities her life into reorganizing the world according to that ideal. are consistent with humanist ideals, Dewey would welcome Where is the difference? The second person is prioritizing the unaffiliated into faithful humanism as worthy equals. that ethical ideal among contending duties, committing Why create new creedal tests of non-faith among humanists so strongly that it controls how he or she spends time and when all that really matters is how well someone proves their energy. He or she is willing to keep sacrificing for that ideal fidelity to humanist ethics? There is no sense whatsoever in despite personal loss and frustrating failure. People devoted greeting people tired of churchly divisiveness with fresh tests to an ethical ideal commit themselves unconditionally to intended to root out atheist heresy. restructuring society and creating a future according to that Dewey was convinced that any humanism worthy of the ideal. Personal devotion on that scale is far more than just name would be a fighting faith, a devout commitment to entertaining an idea in your imagination. For Dewey, per- securing unconditional equality for all and the fundamental sonal devotion is the very real and all-natural energy that can right of every person to exist. Idealistically, humanists work to truly change the world—and as the saying goes, it’s the only establish a universal spirit across humanity united in support- thing that ever has. ing that common faith. Philosophically, humanism is about When one doesn’t feel that same devotion as another per- worthy ethical ideals that are far more than “objective”— son and one can’t see that person’s reasons for such extreme they are not only valid; they are very potent and most real. fidelity, that idealistic commitment looks like irrational faith. Practically, humanism is about real people empowered to Idealists are “unrealistic” and “foolish,” and they won’t be progressively change the world no matter what obstacles rise sensible by giving into the popular status quo. Idealists are against them. Spiritually, humanism is about irreducible and “radicals” and “disrupters” discontented with the rights and irreplaceable moral energy driving people to take personal laws enumerated in the law books. People who devoutly sus- responsibility for an ethical future. Only if humanism can tain fidelity to ethical ideals, who dictate unconditional moral continue to arouse and direct that faithful moral energy, treatment for everyone no matter who they are, are unusual wherever it may be found, toward a genuinely better world people who alarm the oblivious, aggravate individualists, for all, does humanism enjoy any right to exist. appall conservatives, and afflict the comfortable. References If humanism is to be more than simply a private lifestyle Dewey, John. A Common Faith. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University choice made by people already living comfortably—or an Press, 1934, 1960. Schulz, William F. Making the Manifesto: The Birth of Religious endorsement of rights already secured by past struggles— Humanism. Boston: Skinner House Books, 2002. then humanism must be about devout commitment to eth- ical ideals with unconditional force. Unable to use the term spiritual, Dewey separated religiously dynamic people apart from people resting in a religion. People are religious, in John Shook is an associate editor of Free Inquiry and director of educa- Dewey’s terminology, by being a worldly force for progres- tion and senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry. He has authored sive change through their faithful loyalty to ethical ideals. and edited more than a dozen books, is coeditor of three philosophy Humanists can therefore be just as religious, in this sense, journals, and travels for lectures and debates across the United States as any theistic believer—and by so being they can be just as and around the world. powerful a force for change.

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 37 Religious Humanism Today William R. Murry

ohn Dewey distinguished between “religion” and “reli- Humanist leaders who educate, inspire, and motivate them gious.” He identified “religion” with religious organizations and provide support in times of suffering, grief, and loss. Jand belief in creeds and the supernatural, whereas “reli- Unitarian Universalist congregations, Humanistic Judaism gious” referred to a quality of life involving devotion to an ideal congregations, and Ethical Societies provide institutional sup- that unifies the many aspects of the self. The religious dimension port for religious Humanists. is that which gives meaning, direction, and value to our lives. In Religious Humanists feel awe and wonder at the natural fact, the word religion derives from a word meaning “to bind world, finding “spiritual” or religious meaning in nature. together” or “to reconnect.” Humanism is religious when it binds Also, religious Humanists place high value on emotions and people together and helps people reconnect with the things that personal experience, whereas secular humanism tends to be are most important in life—human beings and human values. more rationalistic. I am a religious Humanist because I believe Religious Humanists agree with Dewey that the word life is best lived in community with those who share similar religious need not involve supernaturalism. Instead, religious values, purposes, and goals. I am a religious Humanist because Humanists find in humanism a life stance that (as mentioned I believe we need one another to help diminish our sorrows above) gives meaning, value, and direction to their lives and and increase our joys, and I find it especially meaningful to helps them reconnect with human beings and human values. celebrate life’s passages with people who believe as I do. Religious Humanism emphasizes reason and critical thinking, but it “. . . Religious Humanists find in humanism a life stance also holds a central place for love and compassion. It is a humanism of the that . . . gives meaning, value, and direction to their lives and helps heart as well as of the head and, as them reconnect with human beings and human values.” such, is deeply and firmly committed to social justice. Religious Humanists agree with the “new atheists” in their critiques Humanism is often divided into the religious and the of supernaturalism and traditional secular. Both share the basic values and beliefs of humanism religion, but in our view, those thinkers have failed to offer but differ in the way they practice it. Religious Humanists anything more positive. It is necessary to challenge traditional emphasize the importance of belonging to a community religion but even more important to offer something mean- where their beliefs and values are supported and encouraged ingful in its place. Atheism is negative; humanism is positive and where they can find friends who have similar views, work and affirming. We human beings seek meaning and pur- together with other Humanists for social justice, and cele- pose, and by emphasizing what religious Humanism affirms, brate together life’s passages of birth, marriage, and death. In not what it denies, it offers a pathway to fulfilling, morally a time when large urban centers foster anonymity and imper- responsible, and joyous lives. sonal contacts, many people hunger for deeper personal Religious Humanism is therefore not primarily about the relationships with friends who know and like them just as supernatural beliefs we reject; it is about the values we stand they are rather than because they are wealthy or influential. for: human worth and dignity, human well-being, human Religious Humanists also seek full-service communities with flourishing, social justice, and equity for all people.

38 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

hen it comes to religion, most people assume we have It refers to the quality of our lives in the here and now. It is a Wonly two alternatives: either accept traditional religion way of living an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. or reject it. But religious Humanism offers a third alterna- When we ask basic questions about life, such as why we tive. It includes the best values and principles of traditional are here, where the universe came from, and what will hap- religion without requiring belief in superstitions, irrational pen when we die, we are engaging in a spiritual quest. When beliefs, and dogmas. Yet it avoids leaving us adrift without we struggle to make our lives meaningful or comprehend meaningful convictions and a reason to live. For those of us how we fit into the larger scheme of things, when we expe- for whom the stories and myths of traditional religion have rience awe, wonder, reverence, love, beauty, or creativity, we lost their power as well as their believability, this third way are living in the realm of the spiritual. The astonishment and can make a lot of sense. amazement we feel when we contemplate the natural world Humanists are often called “unbelievers” because we do in its majesty and complexity is surely a spiritual experience. not affirm the existence of a supernatural deity. But religious This excerpt from a 1920 essay by Unitarian minister and Humanists have many important beliefs and moral values. pioneer Humanist Curtis Reese sums up a Humanist under- These include affirming the value and dignity of every human standing of spirituality: being and treating all persons not as means to our own ends but as ends in themselves. We believe in the importance of social justice and equal opportunity for all people. We believe that no one should be discriminated against because of race, skin color, beliefs, sexual “For religious Humanists, the meaning of life is not something orientation, nationality, or the language they given to us from a source outside us. It is something we do— speak. We believe in the importance of pre- we are the ones who make our own lives meaningful.” serving our natural environment and reducing the causes of global warming. We believe that people are born neither good nor evil but educable and that how they are brought up and socialized has much to do with the kind Humanistic liberalism understands spirituality to be man [sic] of persons they become. We believe that love, understood as at his best, sane in mind, healthy in body, dynamic in per- caring for oneself and for others and seeking the well-being sonality, honestly facing the hardest facts, conquering and of all, is essential to individual happiness and to a healthy not fleeing from his gravest troubles; committed to the most worthwhile causes, loyal to the best ideals, ever hoping, striv- society. We believe in the importance of democracy—that ing and achieving. To know one’s self as inherently worthful, every organization and institution should treat everyone actually to find fullest expression in the widest human service equally and include them in organizational decision-making. and consciously to become a co-worker with cosmic processes, We believe in the importance of education, with an emphasis is spiritual experience deep and abiding. on science and critical thinking. We believe that the way to happiness and fulfillment is to make positive contributions to the world in whatever ways we can. We believe that if this ost people assume that humanists are not moral because life is the only one we have, we ought to make the most of it. Mwe do not believe in God. Again, nothing could be fur- Many of us believe a lot of other things, but these are some of ther from the truth. Not only do most humanists lead per- the most important beliefs of us so-called unbelievers. sonal moral lives, but many are also leaders in efforts to make Many humanists reject the concept of spirituality because the world a better place for everyone. The problem is that of its supernaturalist implications. But I submit that there is a most people think ethical principles come from God, but that humanist spirituality that many religious Humanists affirm. Just is not true. Studies have shown that primitive religion had no as we can be good without God, so we can have spirituality ethical content and that ethical principles and values arose without spirits. I suggest that “spirituality” refers to the longing first and only later were attached to religion. Ethical principles for deeper and more meaningful relationships with others, come from social experience and from using reason to deter- with the natural world, and to that dimension of our lives that mine the best action in any situation. deals with values, truth, meaning, love, integrity, joy, and hap- Many humanists have done great things, but let me give piness. It has to do with why and how we live. It is an umbrella just one example. Tina Strobos, who died recently at the age term to signify all those things that make us more truly human. of ninety-one, saved over one hundred Jews from the Nazis in

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 39 Amsterdam during the Second World War. She saved them by soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, hiding them in her home and helping them escape to England is surely spiritual.” or Sweden at extreme risk to her own life. Why did she, then Critics of humanism say that it does not give adequate in her early twenties, take such risks? Here is what she said: “I answers to such basic questions as the meaning of life and never believed in God, but I believed in the sacredness of life.” how to cope with suffering and death. I disagree. For religious The fundamental ethical principle for religious Humanists, Humanists, the meaning of life is not something given to us in my view, is reverence for life. In the realm of personal rela- from a source outside us. It is something we do—we are the tionships reverence for life means love and compassion for ones who make our own lives meaningful. We do this by others meaning love as caring for another person enough to enjoying simple everyday things—the beauty of the natural seek that person’s well-being. Acts of love can include every- world, the pleasures of family life, the joys of friendship, and day things such as driving a neighbor to the doctor, visiting the companionship of those we love. We find meaning in cre- someone in the hospital, or paying the heating bill for some- ating things—painting, music, writing, in creating delicious one who is unable to do so. food, in tending beautiful gardens, in caring for our pets. And we find larger meaning in our efforts to make the world a better place and to change the unjust structures of society that cause suffering in the first place. We look upon suffering and death not “The fundamental ethical principle for religious Humanists, as God’s punishment for sin but as a natu- in my view, is reverence for life.” ral part of life. Some suffering we bring on ourselves or others through negligence or even malice, and some results from indif- ferent natural forces. Some of our pain and suffering is simply due to flaws in our own evolution. Such suffering is random and In the larger social realm, reverence for life means social without purpose, yet it can deepen us and make us better justice—working for racial justice, for LGBT rights, for better people—more sensitive and caring toward others whose lives health care for all, for economic justice, and for better educa- are full of pain. tional opportunities for everyone. And while most religious Humanists do not think humans Trusteeship is the same principle applied to the natural have conscious life beyond death, we believe that we live on world—treating it with reverence and serving as trustees to in the memories of those we love, in the positive influences see that its resources and beauty are here for future gen- we have had on others, and in the good work we have done. erations. It involves working for measures that would slow Religious Humanism offers a third way, one that includes down global warming and reduce the pollution of our air the best of critiques of traditional religion by people such as and water. Richard Dawkins and also the best of traditional religion Many religious Humanists, myself included, are religious itself. This is a perspective that makes sense today, in the naturalists as well, meaning that we find religious or spiritual twenty-first century, that speaks to our time in a meaningful value and meaning in the natural world. I am filled with awe and powerful way. It is a religious perspective grounded in and wonder when I look up at the night sky glittering with the natural, not the supernatural, that emphasizes the worth the lights of millions of stars, most of them larger than our and dignity of human beings rather than the glory of God and sun and at distances far beyond my ability to even imagine. I that understands living well and being socially responsible to am amazed at the vastness of the universe, at the complexity be of far greater importance than personal piety. of my own body, at the abilities of the human brain, at the beauty of trees and flowers, and at the abilities and beauty of nonhuman animals. We live in an amazing world, and to be filled with astonishment and wonder at it is a religious William R. Murry is minister emeritus of the River Road Unitarian Uni­ or spiritual experience. The late scientist and humanist Carl versalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland, past president of Meadville­ Sagan put it beautifully: “When we recognize our place in Lombard Theological School in Chicago, and the author of three books an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when on religious Humanism. we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that

40 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

Congregational Humanism: Throwing Out the Bad and Keeping the Good Jennifer Kalmanson

ne can scarcely read anything about the secular move- cessful models of Ethical Culture or Unitarian Universalism— ment these days without finding some news of devel- those wishing for the more-structured religious component Ooping humanist communities. More than just a ragtag of community already have these venues. But what about the collection of philosophically minded curmudgeons meeting rest of us? I contend that providing community is exactly the once a month at a library somewhere for what Fred Edwords business of congregational humanism. If community glue is of the United Coalition of Reason often fondly refers to as what religious people are getting out of their churches, then “good old-fashioned religion bashin’,” these communities we have an obligation as humanists to provide a similar— instead aim to fill the social void created when someone who albeit nontheistic—glue to our membership. grew up in a religious environment leaves his or her church, Here is my personal vision of some of the things a thriving synagogue, mosque, temple, or other religious community. humanist community might be capable of in fifty years: A modern Christian church community, for example, can provide outlets where its mem- bers not only pray together but engage with “. . . The need is clear for humanist communities each other socially, where its children can develop their values, and where its members to grow and develop to meet the needs of our can explore special interests and hobbies with humanist-movement members. There’s no need other people from their community. Those are to replicate the already-successful models important needs to meet. An even more important human need is of Ethical Culture or Unitarian Universalism. . . .” fulfilled by the service component of a religious community. Almost every growing religious community offers means by which its members can contribute to the greater • Have brick-and-mortar places in communities for members good of their community, either by volunteering their time or by to gather and hold events. donating their dollars—and there’s a very good reason for this. • Hold gatherings to celebrate our newcomers and mourn People derive immense satisfaction from the feeling that they’ve our losses. helped others in real, material ways. • Provide humanist parenting groups. It turns out we secular folks are no different in that respect. • Provide a humanist Sunday school that actively teaches the The nearly explosive growth of national humanist-movement principles of humanism. charities such as the Foundation Beyond Belief, the American • Host nontheistic substance-abuse recovery groups such as Humanist Association’s Humanist Charities, or the Center for SMART Recovery, Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS), Inquiry’s S.H.A.R.E. (Skeptics’ and Humanists’ Aid and Relief etc. Effort) is proof positive of our desire to give back under the • Provide a humanist singles dating group. aegis of our community, not just as individuals. Donating • Provide humanist grief groups. (Grief Beyond Belief has a through a secular-movement charity instead of, say, just giv- great online start on this!) ing directly to secular mainstream charities such as the Red • Offer coffee klatsches, picnics, potlucks, sports or theater Cross or Doctors Without Borders adds a layer of belonging outings, and other social events. on top of the layer of contributing. We are saying: “We have • Sponsor little league teams. a collective identity, and we want to help you.” • Provide a teen drop-in center offering more wholesome Like it or not, the need is clear for humanist communities to activities (dances, games, and the like). grow and develop to meet the needs of our humanist-move- • Organize volunteer opportunities for members (such as ment members. There’s no need to replicate the already-suc- trips to work with the Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 41 after disasters or getting a group of regular volunteers so forth. If anything, it would be more monstrous to expect together to work at a local food bank or other community public institutions to provide these sorts of services to the venue). secular-movement community than for us to provide them • Work with or operate local social-service establishments for ourselves. If we claim to value charitable activities, social (homeless shelters, soup kitchens, welfare-to-work programs, justice, and human welfare, then we should act like it. and the like) to identify people in need and integrate them Stepping up to provide these sorts of services represents with existing humanist and nontheist movement communities. a huge change from where we are now, but change comes • Set up our own soup kitchens and charitable operations when people work to make it possible. While there are many (in those handy brick-and-mortar establishments men- thriving secular groups currently out there—there are more tioned earlier). Drinking Skeptically groups just in the District of Columbia • Establish humanist candy-stripers to pay visits to those than I can keep track of—they’re often disjointed and lack finding themselves alone in a health-care facility without the cohesiveness one would expect from a religious commu- nity. If someone’s a Catholic, for example, and moves across anyone to talk to. the country, it usually isn’t very hard for that person to find • Provide trained and qualified chaplains to serve institutions a Catholic church community in the new area similar to the such as the military, hospitals, hospices, prisons, and schools. one left behind. A secular student on the other hand, grad- uating from his or her nice, familiar Secular Student Alliance group and then moving to a new city and joining up with the local Drinking Skeptically—or any other secular group in the new city—might be in for quite “If community glue is what religious people are getting out of a culture shock, depending on the personal- ities and social dynamics of the new group! their churches, then we have an obligation as humanists to What’s missing is the cultural glue that tra- provide a similar—albeit nontheistic—glue to our membership.” ditional religious institutions provide. ecause religion is so good at maintain- Bing traditions, why not capitalize on the religious roots we have right here in our secular movement? In addition to the long-established presence of Ethical Culture “That’s all well and good,” you might say, “but wouldn’t it and the more nontheistic wings of the Unitarian Universalist be nicer if we instead worked toward a society in which we Association, we humanist folk can also enrich our approach don’t need to resort to religious venues, in which the public by remembering the religious Humanist traditions of the social institutions were sufficiently capable to provide for Humanist Society. these community needs? Doesn’t this skirt dangerously close The Humanist Society’s roots go back to 1939 in California, to the sort of undermining of public social institutions that when a small group of former Quakers decided to incor- programs such as the White House’s Office of Faith-based porate the Humanist Society of Friends as a new religious and Neighborhood Partnerships represent?” institution chartered with endorsing Humanist clergy who While public institutions are the lifeblood of public life and would have the same rights, privileges, and obligations as need to be protected, the reason these services exist within traditional ordained clergy of theistic faiths. Known initially a religious context often has as much to do with recipients as the Cooperative Friends Society (today known as the desiring a sense of community belonging as much as anything Religious Society of Friends), the organization retains the else. It’s when public services—soup kitchens and the like— Quaker belief that individuals need no intercessor between become venues for proselytization that the line is crossed. themselves and their deity. Quaker religious services—Friends We as members of humanist communities should no more try meetings—are unstructured events in which participants sit to push our life stances on vulnerable people receiving our quietly reflecting, and if someone is moved to speak to the services than anyone else. However, many of these services group, he or she simply begins speaking. Quakers are also do not target the vulnerable: Humanist Sunday schools would known for their fierce devotion to community. A friend of target parents who want a little help normalizing their chil- mine once remarked that community to her meant that “if dren into humanist ethics; humanist coffee klatsches would your barn burns down, the whole town comes together to provide social connections between like-minded people; and help you build a new one.” This little community of former

42 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Religious Humanism: Is It Dead, Alive, or Bifurcating?

Quakers soon found itself surrounded by like-minded folks sition ceremonies. Senior Celebrants are Celebrants committed from all walks of life and all nontheistic life-stances. to continuing education, and Celebrant Leaders are Senior Fast forward to 1991, when the American Humanist Celebrants who additionally hold leadership positions within Associa­tion acquired the Humanist Society of Friends as an local Humanist communities. Celebrant Emeriti are distinguished adjunct organization. The main charter of the group became Celebrants who have retired from performing ceremonies but to certify celebrants for weddings and funerals—but mostly remain active within the Celebrant community, mentoring new weddings, because to bindingly solemnize a wedding in the Celebrants and generally helping to maintain the culture of the United States, one needs some sort of authority granted by Humanist Society. the states. All fifty states grant such authority to ordained Where we find truly new developments are in the Humanist ministers, and so the capability of the Humanist Society to Chaplain and the Lay Leader designations. These new types “ordain” clergy by endorsing celebrants meant that this legal of Celebrant exist to meet emerging needs in the modern test was met. In 2003, the Society’s board of directors voted Humanist community. Since official Humanist Chaplains are to drop the “of Friends” from the name because that no still not recognized in the military, the only recourse for service- longer reflected the membership being served. The focus of members to organize Humanist gatherings within the existing the Humanist Society had become clear: to provide compe- chaplaincy infrastructure is to have them led by Humanist Lay tent Humanist Celebrants to perform the normal functions Leaders. The Humanist Society can now endorse interested and of clergy at life-transition celebrations such as weddings, funerals, baby nam- ings, and so forth. This year, the Humanist Society decided that we could become much more than that if we recognized our “Because religion is so good at maintaining traditions, unique position with respect to bur- why not capitalize on the religious roots we geoning humanist communities. We can be the glue that holds our com- have right here in our secular movement?” munities together. By providing com- petent humanist leadership, we can ensure that humanists on the move seeking new communities such as the ones they left behind can be connected to the appropriate groups in their new locations. With leaders properly trained qualified people to perform this function. Likewise, a Humanist in community organizing, we can see humanist communities Chaplain serves all members of the institution to which he or coalesce into local forces for change. she belongs and must take an oath of nondiscrimination and In order to do that, a professional standard for this sort non-proselytization. This oath is required by the Humanist of competent leadership must be set and adhered to. But, in Society and is at the forefront, ethically, of the entire chaplain our diverse secular-movement community, how do we define profession. Additionally, Chaplains are often required by their such a one-size-fits-all standard? We don’t! The only standard hiring institutions to hold degrees and credentials in counseling that makes sense is one that’s flexible enough for individuals and other services. Chaplaincy may not be the right path for and communities to pick and choose what they need from us. all, but at least now it is an existing path where no path existed To that end, the Humanist Society has initially published stan- before. dards for the following different types of Celebrant: Associate In order to maintain the professionalism of our Celebrant Celebrant, Celebrant, Senior Celebrant, Celebrant Leader, population, specific guidelines have been put into place for Celebrant Emeritus, Chaplain, and Lay Leader. what credentials one needs, what continuing commitment Allow me to briefly describe this dizzying array of desig- is required, and how much experience is needed to hold a nations. An Associate Celebrant can be a humanist who is certain designation. This recognizes that some Celebrants are interested in exploring the Celebrant process for ninety days full-time, professional Celebrants while others are working before committing to full Celebrant status. For example, one this activity into the margins around their day jobs. With who has a friend who wants to be married might first become these guidelines in place, the Humanist Society can stand an Associate Celebrant in order to solemnize that marriage. behind the leaders we provide to growing humanist commu- Celebrants (including Associate Celebrants) are authorized to nities. Humanist celebrants—the “clergy” of a new human- perform weddings, funerals, baby namings, and other life-tran- ist community infrastructure—become the glue that keeps

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 43 members connected and community expectations met. excludes theists, charlatans, those who would cause harm or So, what’s to prevent these new humanist “clergy” from injury, and others who don’t identify as humanists. However, becoming a dogmatic clergy class, as has so often happened because humanism is essentially nondogmatic to begin with, before in theistic religions? The answer, ironically, is tradi- it would be a hard sell indeed to get people to apply and pay tion, or lack thereof. The traditional theistic clergy wield a for endorsement by an organization that attempted to judge self-assumed dogmatic and hierarchical authority. Until the dogmatically. Enlightenment, they were often the most learned (that is, lit- As secular life-stances such as congregational humanism erate) persons in their communities, and we see the lingerings move further into mainstream American culture, it will be of this tradition even with modern theistic clergy viewed by critical for us to provide the communities we social primates their congregations as possessing revealed wisdom. As intrin- so deeply need. Humanist communities are developing sically skeptical and often hyper-educated people, humanists because enough people need them to make them happen, don’t well tolerate self-conferring authority. For example, and religious Humanist organizations such as the Humanist despite our elaborate guidelines and professionalism cre- Society are uniquely poised to provide the glue to hold such dentials, the Humanist Society’s endorsement is just another communities together. way to standardize what the public can expect from people calling themselves by a certain title: we do not originate any dogma. One of the most central components of humanism Jennifer Kalmanson is the vice president of the American Humanist is the understanding that we don’t understand everything; Association and has spent the last four months heading up a committee hence, dogma is a dangerous arrogance. This isn’t to say charged with restructuring the Humanist Society to better position it for that “humanism” has no definition. The American Humanist growth and service to all humanists. She has worked the past fifteen years Association’s Humanist Manifesto III and the International as an engineer in the aerospace and defense industries and is committed Humanist and Ethical Union’s Minimum Statement on to creating a world that beckons us to reach beyond, together. Humanism provide a good explanation of our basic values. It

44 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Casualty TV: How CSI and NCIS Have Helped America Face Its War Dead Steven Doloff

he dramatization of violent death has long been a of Iraq, CSI moved to the number one Nielsen position and staple of prime-time television. In a New Yorker article in stayed in the first or second slot until 2005. In the initial three T2005, Jonathan Hayes, a former New York City medical years after September 11, 2001, the sustained top ratings of examiner, wrote: “Prime time on many nights is wall to wall CSI allowed it to successfully spin off bothCSI: Miami (in 2002) death. Increasingly . . . that death is mediated through the and CSI: NY (in 2004). lens of forensic science, a mediation that sanitizes and pro- NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service began airing tects.” The amount of prime-time television peering through six months after the start of the Iraq War in 2003. By 2007, that lens at fictional murder victims has only increased over NCIS broke into the Nielsen top ten. That was the same year the last eight years. Despite the fact that real homicide rates that President George W. Bush announced his controversial in the United States have fallen some 60 percent over the troop “surge” of twenty thousand additional personnel, past decade and a half, the graphic display of the brutally raising America’s commitment in Iraq to its peak deployment deceased on television dramas is at an all-time high. of 170,000 soldiers. It was also the year that witnessed the I looked at The New York Times listings for both prime- highest annual casualty figures for American servicemen and time broadcast and cable television in New York City for a women in the war, over nine hundred dead. complete week in May of 2011 (May 25 to 31) and discovered that every hour of the thirty-five hours (7 p.m. to midnight) con- “By 2007, NCIS broke into the Nielsen top ten. tained one (or two or three) law-enforce- ment dramas that regularly featured profes- That was the same year that President George W. Bush sional medical examiners studying corpses. announced his controversial troop ‘surge’ of twenty Repeating this same exercise a year later thousand additional personnel, raising America’s commitment in May of 2012 (May 16 to 22), I found the autopsy fest unabated, with again, every in Iraq to its peak deployment of 170,000 soldiers.” hour spoken for (by the dead). Some of these were syndicated reruns and even marathons of a few of these shows, but look at the It’s possible, of course, that NCIS’s success was merely sheer number of them: CSI, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, NCIS, NCIS: Los coincidental with the troop surge and higher body count. Angeles, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: But maybe it also had something to do with the fact that the Criminal Intent, Law and Order: Los Angeles, Bones, Criminal subject of every episode of NCIS is the investigation of the vio- Minds. This list doesn’t include the syndicated reruns in the lent death of an American military member. Here’s another afternoons of popular older shows such as Crossing Jordan coincidence: in 2009, President Barack Obama announced his and returning newer shows such as Castle, Rizzoli and Isles, own troop surge of seventeen thousand more soldiers to be and Body of Evidence. sent to Afghanistan, almost doubling American armed forces Where did all this viewer interest in nonstop close-ups of in that war. NCIS: Los Angeles successfully launched that same mutilated bodies come from? year, and it’s now number four in the Nielsen ratings. As of My guess is that it’s connected to America’s ongoing, summer 2013, NCIS is still the most-watched scripted televi- twelve-year involvement in two wars. It’s true that work- sion series in the United States. ing coroners had already been part of some well-received Today, America is ten years into its Iraq mission and twelve television shows in the 1990s such as Law and Order and its years into the Afghanistan War, with approximately 4,700 early spin-offs. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the first mega- military dead in the former and 2,300 in the latter. A Harris Poll hit to feature regular, eye-popping, follow-the-bullet tours in May 2011 reported that NCIS was Americans’ favorite televi- through splayed bodies, ranked a respectable number ten sion show “of all time,” with CSI second and reruns of M.A.S.H. in the Nielsen ratings after its first season in 2000. But in the (a 1972–1983 show about Korean War battlefield surgeons) following year, after September 11, 2001, it climbed to sec- third. (M.A.S.H. was also in the Nielsen top ten during the end ond place, and in 2003, the year after the American invasion of the Vietnam War in the early to mid-1970s.)

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 45 I think that this constantly televised attention paid to “fic- ees more in the light of patriotic choice than the bloodying of tional” victims of violence, and increasingly military ones, is hapless draftees. Even the solemn daily body count factor has American popular culture’s veiled way of acknowledging and been politically attenuated by pro-war voices such as that of processing its collective dead from over a decade of foreign Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, who in 2005, as the chief spokesperson wars. Forty years ago during the Vietnam War, the main- for the U.S. military, told the Associated Press, “2000 service- stream news media assumed much more responsibility for this members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is complex and sorrowful civic ritual. But things have changed. not a milestone. It is an artificial mark on the wall set by indi- While we’ve seen spirited media debates over the political viduals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives.” motives, means, and possible outcomes of our two Middle So much for John Donne. Eastern wars, news coverage of U.S. military casualties has Finally, American news consumption of war, and of every- been significantly muted in contrast to that during the thing else for that matter, is nowhere near as “communal” Southeast Asian conflict. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as it was forty years ago. The experience of “news” has nightly news shows supplied the American public with photos been atomized into hundreds (thousands?) of proliferating from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware (since 1955 home of and simultaneously “popular” paper, broadcast, cable, and the largest military mortuary in the continental United States) Internet sources from which, 24/7, members of more and of row upon row of flag-draped coffins containing soldiers more fragmented American constituencies more and more killed in action. Grave, eminent anchormen such as Walter individually graze for more and more diverse content. Cronkite and Harry Reasoner pronounced the number of each But if Americans aren’t on the “same page” (or screen) day’s war dead like the temperature of a patient whose fever these days when it comes to war news, they still have favorite wouldn’t go down. television shows, and they are about society’s response to the Moreover, this nightly bad news was a substantially more violently dead or dying. One plausible psychological explana- communal experience for Americans then. Thirty-five to forty tion as to why this topic has always appealed to audiences is million viewers (almost 50 percent of American households in that we indirectly learn how to accept and process the gen- the late 1960s) tuned in at the same time to the same three uinely disturbing aspects of life by viewing nonthreatening, major television broadcast network (ABC, CBS, and NBC) fictional versions of the real thing. Such may be the case with evening news programs. However packaged or manipulated America’s current particular fascination with not the violent the news was, the mortal impact of the Vietnam War was act of homicide itself but with the contemplation of the being brought home nightly and heard, like the tolling of remains of its victims. Perhaps it is our collective, impersonal, John Donne’s bell, by whole families gathered around their “sanitized” way of acknowledging and brooding over the real living-room television sets. national loss experienced in a decade-plus of war. As a society, How are things different today? First, during most of we have accepted the media blackout on directly viewing the current wars, there has been an enforced federal ban our military dead, but we have reflexively flocked to solemnly prohibiting the publication of photographs of military cof- examining the remains of fictional stand-ins. fins (flag-draped or otherwise) returning from overseas to Anthony Zuiker, the creator/producer of the CSI franchise, Dover Air Force Base. An earlier ban of this kind had been has claimed that his shows are about “real CSI’s bringing imposed under the first President Bush in 1991 to minimize peace of mind to survivors, and doing it from a scientific negative imagery from the Persian Gulf War, and in 2003, point of view.” I think this applies in a broader social sense shortly before the Iraq invasion, the Pentagon reimposed this as well. When on NCIS we watch the Chief Medical Examiner restriction. Soon after taking office in 2009, President Obama Dr. Donald Mallard lean over the corpse of a dead marine responded to long-standing press objections to the ban by and benevolently ask, as he is wont to do, something like, rescinding most of it, allowing once again the publication of “Oh my boy, what has happened to you?,” is it that much of a photographs of coffins arriving at Dover, but only of individ- stretch to imagine he’s querying all the dead servicemen and ual coffins for whom the deceased’s next of kin gave specific women whose remains have returned home and that he’s permission (resulting in very few pictures being published). asking for all of us who ponder the cost in lives exacted by To further hide American casualties from the public eye, our protracted wars? even the return of wounded troops to the United States has NCIS audiences are always assured that Dr. Mallard will go to been made virtually invisible. Journalists since the start of work with his scalpel, find a satisfying answer to his question and, the Iraq War have observed (and complained) that the tens along with his NCIS colleagues, a quantum of solace for the fic- of thousands of maimed and crippled soldiers, all of whom tional family of the dead soldier on his table. We viewers, how- are flown into Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, come ever, may have to wait a while longer to find ours. back on military planes scheduled to land only at night. From there, the service personnel with the worst injuries are moved in unmarked buses to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Steven Doloff is a professor in the Department of Humanities and Media Washington, D.C., and the National Naval Medical Center in Studies at Pratt Institute. His essays on Culture and Education have Bethesda, where photos of their arrival are, again, prohibited. appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The It’s also fair to say that America’s move to an all-volunteer Washington Post, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. army seemed to cast the toll of injury and death for its enlist-

46 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Greta Christina Can We Rationally Accept Our Irrationality? continued from p. 8

I know myself. I know that I am eas- I was doing something to heal my knee preference: I just like working out at ily distracted. I know that I can easily made me feel all empowered and stuff. the gym more. This preference may not spend hours on Facebook and Twitter, But I couldn’t do it and live with myself be rational—okay, it’s definitely not and as a writer, I can easily rationalize as a skeptic. And when people say rational—but it’s not a denial of reality. this time as work. (“I’m not wasting things such as, “I know that my belief It’s actually a recognition of reality and time, I’m doing publicity/networking/ in God isn’t rational, but it makes me an acceptance of it. self-promotion!”) And I know that my happy, so what’s the harm?,” it drives On the other hand, “Glucosamine willpower is not infinite. I know about me up a tree. works” or “Glucosamine doesn’t work,” decision fatigue. I know that making I do think we have a moral obliga- “God exists” or “God does not exist”— one decision, once a day, to not go tion to be rational. these are not subjective statements. on the Internet for the next (say) four When we’re not rational, when we These are assertions about what is and hours will be a whole lot easier and less let ourselves think wrong things just is not true in the nonsubjective world, fatiguing to my brain than having to because we want to, we can do harm the world that doesn’t disappear when make that decision ten times a day, a to ourselves and others—because we we’re not here to perceive it. To hold hundred times a day, every single time have a faulty understanding of how on to the idea that glucosamine works I think “Ooh, Facebook!” and have to cause and effect actually works in the or that God exists simply because you world. (Look at parents who let their find the idea comforting and would sick children suffer or die because they like for it to be true—that is a denial believe that medical treatment will of reality. anger their god.) I think rationality is I care about reality. I think we have a discipline, one that requires a certain a moral obligation to care about reality, “I suppose it’s possible that amount of practice. I don’t think it’s so to understand it as best we can and to humanity will eventually easy to be rational in some areas of our prioritize it over wishful thinking. evolve to a state in which all lives, while consciously letting ourselves I don’t think that there is anything be irrational in others. I think that if inherently wrong with being irratio- our cognitive biases will have we do that, we’re likely to engage in nal in our personal, subjective choices: vanished and we’ve become self-delusion at the very times when we where we want to live, what work we perfectly calibrated thinking most need to be on our toes. want to do, what kind of art captivates So how do we parse that difference? us, who (if anyone) we want to marry. machines, but I doubt it.” How do we decide when the rational Our choices might be wrong—if we choice is to practice that discipline and abandon our partner and our family make ourselves not act irrationally . . . and run off to become the world’s and when the rational choice is to greatest macaroni artist, that hurts acknowledge the reality of our own people other than ourselves—but it’s force myself to stay away. irrationality, accept it, and work with the hurting-other-people part that So which is the rational choice? Is it it? What standards might we apply in makes those choices wrong, not the rational to try to make myself be more answering that question? irrationality part. Silly, frivolous, irratio- rational . . . or is it rational to accept I’m thinking out loud here, and I nal passions can be among the greatest the reality of my irrationality and work don’t really have an answer. (If others joys in our lives. around it and even with it? have ideas about this, I’d love to hear When it comes to questions of exter- I think this is a trickier question than them!) But I can tell you one I’m leaning nal, objective reality though, I think we at first it seems. On the one hand, toward: there’s a difference between have an obligation to act rationally. I obviously, if some mental work-around irrationality that denies reality and irra- think we can accept our irrationality, use gets me exercising or working more tionality that doesn’t. it to our advantage, even embrace it and efficiently, what’s the harm? But I don’t “I won’t work out at home no mat- love it. But I think this acceptance, this think this way about any and all con- ter how good my intentions are”; “I embrace, has to be part of our accep- sciously chosen irrationalities. I didn’t am easily distracted by shiny beads on tance of reality, not a denial of it. (for instance) keep taking glucosamine the Internet”—these for my bad knee once I found out that are subjective con- Greta Christina is a prominent atheist speaker and writer who it definitely didn’t work. A part of me clusions, conclusions blogs at Greta Christina’s Blog. She is the author of Why Are You wanted to—I even tried to rationalize about what is true for Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless (Pitchstone doing so on the grounds that it proba- me. Ultimately, it boils Publishing, 2012). bly didn’t do any harm and pretending down to a personal

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 47 Arthur L. Caplan Transplantation and the Ten-Year-Old continued from p. 9 adult lungs—required because adult With an aging population suffering ers of the current rationing system who lungs do not generally fit into children’s the consequences of lifestyle-based have an interest in promoting the wel- bodies. The judge deemed that rule chronic illnesses, the need for trans- fare of particular patients—and who to be arbitrary and ordered access for plants will only grow. The same is true have no alternative to offer except to Sarah. for other expensive medical interven- grant access to the highest bidder or the The evidence-based UNOS system tions. If transplant allocation is to con- most photogenic patient—will increas- has done a good job of distributing tinue to function well—and also to serve ingly have a hand in determining who scarce organs without favoritism for as a model for how other scarce resources lives and who dies in the health-care sys- decades. Sarah Murnaghan’s parents, might be responsibly rationed—it is tem for many years to come. in deciding to fight for their daughter’s important to understand that publicity chance for life, threaten to topple one and empathy focused of the few allocation schemes that is not on a single person ought Arthur L. Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty based solely on money or celebrity and not drive the apportion- Professor and head of the Division of Bioethics at New York that has secured public and governmen- ing of scarce resources. University Langone Medical Center in New York City. tal support. If they do, then attack-

Ophelia Benson Whose Pattern? continued from p. 11

stories are not exactly knowledge. On That’s the stumbling block. Seeing don’t see the pattern that the women the other hand, stories can contribute a pattern is political, and what kind of who send anecdotes to the Everyday to a kind of social knowledge, or at pattern one sees is political. Humans Sexism project see. Some antifeminists least social understanding. Stories and are a pattern-seeing species, and we’re see an opposite pattern of feminists accounts of experience are one way we prone to seeing patterns that aren’t making a fuss about trivia while ignor- build up and expand our capacity for there. Religions can be explained as a ing the nontrivial problems men face. empathy, and if there’s any doubt that matter of seeing patterns that aren’t There are also feminists who may or we need more and better empathy, a there. A lot of everyday homegrown may not see the pattern, but in any quick survey of human history should woo is also based on made-up patterns case think the right course for femi- fix that. imposed on random incidents—I found nists is stoical endurance of obstacles a parking space, therefore I have a combined with eyes-on-the-prize hard Parking Angel. The patterns detected work. To them, talking about patterns by a political view that is not yours can of sexist discrimination is victim femi- “The plural of anecdote is not seem just as irrational and fatuous and nism, and a terrible trap. evidence; stories are not exactly willful as the Parking Angel inference. So, how do we adjudicate between When Obama talked about being a different patterns and different ideas knowledge. On the other hand, black man and hearing car door locks about what to do about any patterns stories can contribute to a kind clicking and being followed around there may be? The usual, of course— of social knowledge, or at least department stores, conservative pun- keep talking, keep arguing, keep pre- dits poured scorn and rage on that pat- senting evidence (and stories), keep lis- social understanding.” tern detection; to them it wasn’t detec- tening. Rinse, repeat. tion but invention. They saw a different pattern: a pattern of black critics of racism All right, a skeptical observer might seeing examples of racism everywhere reply, stories about personal experience and maliciously “tear- may increase empathy, but empathy ing the nation apart” Ophelia Benson is the editor of the website Butterflies and about what? Personal empathy is one over them. Wheels and the coauthor (with Jeremy Stangroom) of Does God thing, and group empathy is another. The same thing Hate Women? (Continuum, 2009), The Dictionary of Fashionable It’s possible to hear stories and have happens (I’m detecting Nonsense (Souvenir, 2004), and Why Truth Matters (Continuum, fellow-feeling for the tellers without a pattern here) with 2006). seeing a pattern in the stories. feminism. Anti­feminists

48 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Nat Hentoff How Many Americans Will Remember Edward Snowden? continued from p. 12

FISA Court. On July 24, “the House on Americans thought Snowden did the downs where police and drug-sniffing Wednesday barely defeated an amend- wrong thing, 33 percent felt he did dogs enter the classroom, and zero-tol- ment to curtail the NSA’s collection the right thing, and 29 percent were erance policies that punish all offenses of every phone call, limiting it [only] undecided. equally and result in young people to people charged in investigations” I ask again: How many Americans being expelled for childish behavior . (New York Times editorial, “A Bipartisan remember Frank Church? . . young people find themselves in a Warning on Surveillance,” July 26, Clearly the Constitution needs to learning environment where they have 2103). The vote was 205 to 217. be defended and preserved, and not no true rights and government author- And there have been some rallies just on the surveillance front. Another ities have near total power over them around the country protesting what challenge “We the People” must over- and can violate their constitutional has been “leaked” about the NSA and come—for all of our children’s sake—is rights whenever they see fit.” other government muggings of our detailed in John Whitehead’s new book, Are they learning to be American? privacy. A Government of Wolves: The Emerging And to what extent will their president But how long will this momentum Police State (Select Books), for which be a replica of Barack Obama? last among the citizenry—much less I wrote the intro- among members of Congress who have duction. Whitehead Nat Hentoff is a Universal (UClick) syndicated columnist, a senior elections coming up? At first, many argues that we must fellow at the Cato Institute, and the author of, among other books, Americans saw Snowden as a patriot, move against the Living the Bill of Rights (University of California Press, 1999) and but now—dig this—“Edward Snowden way schools through- The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance (Seven Poll Finds More Americans Now Think out the nation now Stories Press, 2003). His latest book is At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty He Did the Wrong Thing” (huffing- condition students Years on the Jazz Scene (University of California Press, 2010). He tonpost.com/2013/0705/edward- to subservience. He is currently working on his next book, Is This Still America? snowden-poll). Some 38 percent of cites “school lock-

Shadia B. Drury On Lewis, Mice, and Witches continued from p. 13 provided the definitive manual on pros- Dominicans quote all sorts of saints and ecuting witches—a manual that was distinguished authorities, including the cited by Catholics and Protestants well Bible. Armed with so many unassail- “A culture that inspires into the eighteenth century. The man- able authorities against the female ual contains step-by-step instructions sex, the Dominican Inquisitors feel that people to believe all sorts of on how to track down witches, torture they have proven beyond a reasonable nonsense that makes them them until they confess, put them on doubt that the vices peculiar to women rash, violent, and vengeful is trial, convict them, and hand them over make them vulnerable to the machina- to the authorities to carry out the death tions of the Devil; so they thank God an inferior one, not only in sentence. What the manual does not profusely for being members of the the domain of facts but in the explain, and cannot explain, is how to superior sex. Apparently, women are moral domain as well.” identify witches. The only clue it pro- more gullible, carnal, and vain than vides is that witches are always women. men—which is particularly ironic com- The authors acknowledge that there ing from such conceited and credulous that a woman’s reputation for good- are wizards (the male counterparts of authors obsessed with witches’ sup- ness and virtue cannot be a means of witches), but they assure us that they posed sexual encounters with the Devil. escaping a guilty verdict, for witches are not as powerful. Any medieval moralist interested in also do good works with the powers The manual makes no effort to dis- justice would have to concede that given to them by the Devil. Krämer and tinguish between witches and innocent there must be some virtuous women. Sprenger warn us not to be deceived women. On the contrary, the book is a If forced to defend the system of papal by such goodness, because it is a mere diatribe against the whole female sex, “justice,” he must maintain that if façade that conceals collusion with the with the single exception of the Virgin good women were wrongly accused forces of darkness. Because goodness Mary (the “anomalous one”). In mak- their “trials” would exonerate them. inspired by God and goodness inspired ing their case against womanhood, the But Krämer and Sprenger assure us by the Devil cannot be distinguished,

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 49 Shadia B. Drury On Lewis, Mice, and Witches

witches cannot be distinguished from they were outside the jurisdiction of they are elusive because they have good women. As a result, anonymous local bishops and the civil law. Not supernatural powers that allow them accusations led to torture, confession, surprisingly, they were regarded with to transform themselves into women. and certain death. There are no cases of hatred and terror in medieval commun- He declares that to capture the mice, he anyone accused who was ever acquit- ities. Indeed, from the time that Pope must capture the women. When asked ted. If perchance a woman stubbornly Gregory IX established the Inquisition which women are mice in disguise, refused to confess under torture, she in 1232, it was met with resistance by he answers that all women are likely was nevertheless found guilty on the local authorities—ecclesiastical as well to be mice in disguise, so he kidnaps grounds that the Devil must have been as secular. So, even in the world of some unsuspecting women and tor- helping her to withstand the torture. medieval superstition, even in a world tures them until they confess that they Lewis’s claim that, despite their factual that believed in demons and witches, are mice in disguise. errors, the witch trials were based on people had enough sense to know that The Dominican Inquisitors are analo- an immutable “principle” of justice is the witch trials were a travesty of jus- gous to this mad and dangerous man. nonsense. tice and a savage abuse of power by Like him, they are criminally insane. the real forces of darkness—the pope Like him, they are not merely guilty of and his Inquisitors. factual errors; their delusional beliefs I am not suggesting that these trials are integral to their moral deprav- inspired only resistance. They also ity. Moral monsters such as Krämer, inspired mayhem and hysteria, as the Sprenger, and all the popes who pro- “. . . Even in the world of recent historical novel Falling for the moted and rewarded such fiends are medieval superstition . . . Devil by Britt Holmström illustrates. The the diabolical and irrational products people had enough sense to one thing they were not is a manifesta- of Christianity. In modern society, they tion of an eternal and immutable “prin- would be locked up or forced into ther- know that the witch trials ciple” of justice, as Lewis maintains. apy. But in the Dark Ages, these brutes were a travesty of justice and Third, to underscore his point that managed to attain terrifying power. a savage abuse of power by the modern secularist who does not It may be argued that every age has burn witches is not morally superior to its atrocities, so why are those of the the real forces of darkness— the medievalist who does, Lewis resorts medieval church any different from the pope and his Inquisitors.” to an analogy. He compares the two others—the French Revolution, the moralities, medieval and secular, with Russian Revolution, or the Nazis? I two men. The first man thinks that answer that they differ from all other there are mice in the house, so he sets atrocities in having intellectual defend- traps. The second man does not think ers. Rousseau, Marx, and Nietzsche In fact, the reason that Krämer there are any mice in the house, so he were long dead when the events they and Sprenger wrote their book, and does not set traps. Lewis’s point is that supposedly inspired occurred. But the reason that Pope Innocent VIII the second man is not more humane Thomas Aquinas was working as a included his papal edict Summis desid- than the first. Surely, this is a false papal legate when he defended the erantes (a.k.a. the Witch-Bull) as an analogy. Inquisition. And more than seven cen- introduction, is that the local eccle- Here is a more accurate analogy turies later, we find C. S. Lewis defend- siastical authorities (devout medieval that mirrors the historical reality. There ing the same atrocities. It is difficult not Catholics) refused to cooperate or are three men. The first one finds to conclude that Christianity invites the help the Dominicans in their quest to evidence of mice and sets traps. The defense of monstrous evils. find and capture witches. In his edict, second one finds no evidence of mice the pope ordered the removal of all and sets no traps. Both men behave obstacles hindering his representatives reasonably in view of the evidence at from carrying out his war against the hand. But the third man forces of darkness. In this way, the is not deterred by the Shadia B. Drury is Canada Research Chair at the University of pope endowed this manual with all lack of evidence for mice Regina in Canada. She is the author of several books, includ- the clout of his apostolic authority. The and sets traps anyway. ing Terror and Civilization (2004) and Aquinas and Modernity Inquisitors were the pope’s appointees When no mice appear (2008). She is currently working on two books, Socratic and were subject to no one but God day after day, he insists Mischief and Chauvinism of the West. and “his Holiness.” This meant that that there are mice, but

50 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Trisha Ahmed and Avijit Roy Freethought Under Attack in Bangladesh continued from p. 15 ladeshi freethinkers’ struggles reached Dora, director of the Center for Inquiry’s leaders. But in an age where all ideals a new level after the Shahbag Protest Office of Public Policy and the organi- are still not open to scrutiny, criticism, movement began. Ahmed Rajib Haider, zation’s representative to the United or discussion, we realize that we still a thirty-year-old architect and a mem- Nations, suggested a worldwide pro- have far to go before we can achieve ber of the Shahbag activist network, test rally complete with demonstrations a truly progressive society. It is true was brutally hacked to death by Islamic in Washington, D.C., London, Ottawa, that, unlike Bangladesh, America is not fundamentalists. Haider was well- Dhaka, and other cities around the world. throwing atheists in jail; nonetheless, known for criticizing Islam on various The demonstrations were held on April American society is not even close to Bengali blog sites under the pseud- accomplishing full social acceptance for onym Thaba Baba. In later months, it nonbelievers. (Just ask Jessica Ahlquist, was proven that fundamentalists were who faced widespread condemnation not the sole enemy of freethinking “. . . [The Islamists] published a and abuse after she sued successfully writers. The Awami League govern- to force removal of a prayer banner ment (Bangladesh’s ruling party, com- list of nearly eighty bloggers and from her Cranston, Rhode Island, public monly portrayed as one of the largest forum participants whom they school [See Ophelia Benson, “Who’s secular forces in the country), publicly labeled atheists and attackers Oppressing Whom?,” FI, June/July punished the atheist bloggers with 2012].) imprisonment. To many, the govern- of Islam. The group publicly All over the world, the nonreligious ment’s action was simply a strategic demanded capital punishment are growing in number faster than ever move intended to appease a handful for the bloggers’ ‘blasphemy.’” before. Nonbelievers are not only valu- of mullahs, whose support the party able contributors to society; they also needed to win the upcoming election. constitute a large fraction of the While appeasing the Islamists to world’s intellectual and academic com- win an election may be a consider- 25, 2013, and May 2, 2013, under the munity. Whether it is a courageous six- ation for a ruling political party, it is banner of “Worldwide Protests for teen-year-old from Rhode Island or a not even a second thought for apo- Free Expression in Bangladesh.” They group of individualistic bloggers on the litical freethinkers and activists inside succeeded in drawing global atten- other side of the world, we should or outside of Bangladesh. Many of us tion to this new threat to freedom of never belittle the endeavors of bold freethinkers decided to organize to belief and expression. More import- human beings to create rational, secu- protest the government’s violation of ant, the demonstrations put pressure lar, and freethinking communities. freedom of speech. For us, the cause is on the Bangladeshi government to highly personal. The imprisoned atheist release the freethinkers. As pressure bloggers have long been known to mounted, the govern- us as active writers on sites including ment responded and it Trisha Ahmed is a senior at Alpharetta High school in Atlanta, Mukto-Mona (an Internet site popular released the arrested Georgia, where she is the founding president of her school’s among freethinkers, rationalists, skep- bloggers on bail at the Science, Philosophy, and Freethinking Club. She has taken an tics, atheists, and humanists of mainly end of June 2013. Still, active role in spreading news of the Bangladeshi atheist blog- Bengali descent). We have created sev- the bloggers are await- gers to local and international communities. She is a blogger at eral Facebook pages, written individ- ing trial and face contin- Mukto-Mona, where she writes about science, culture, and social ual blogs, issued formal statements, ual death threats from issues. Her previous articles were published in various newspapers and penned articles for newspapers in fundamentalist groups. including, The News from Bangladesh, The Voice of Bangladesh, Bangladesh as well as for international Their names, pictures, and The Financial Express. media. We also worked closely with and even addresses have Dr. Avijit Roy is a Bangladeshi-American blogger, author, and the Center for Inquiry, the International been widely publicized, prominent defender of the freethought movement in Bangladesh. Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), and they are now easy He is an engineer by profession but well-known for his writings on Atheist Alliance International, American targets. his website, Mukto-Mona—an Internet congregation of freethink- Atheists, and other secular organizations. Twenty-first-century ers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists, and humanists of mainly Bengali They demonstrated immense concern, Americans like to believe and South Asian descent. As an advocate of atheism, science, and and some issued multiple statements that human civilization metaphysical naturalism, he has published seven Bangla books condemning the Bangladeshi govern- is forward-moving—that and many articles in magazines and journals. His latest book, ment for suppressing the voice of the it does not seek to limit Obisshahser Dorshon (The Philosophy of Disbelief ), has been criti- freethinking community. Michael De thinkers or artists or cally and popularly well-received. Roy writes from Atlanta, Georgia.

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 51 Church-State Update

Charters and Vouchers vs. Public Schools Edd Doerr

n June, Stanford University’s Center the traditional rules that some believed think tanks (the Waltons, the Milton for Research on Education Outcomes were holding regular schools back. Friedman Foundation, and so on). They I(CREDO) released its second report That is but a dim memory. Today’s are accompanied by a blitz of efforts since 2009 on charter schools: nominally charter schools are generally run by in Congress and state legislatures to public schools that have expanded in foundations and assortments of nonlo- expand charter schools and augment recent years to enroll over 4 percent of cal nonprofit and for-profit interests far or start voucher or tax-credit (neo- K–12 students nationally. CREDO con- removed from parental or local-com- voucher) plans. cluded that fully three-fourths of char- munity control. Our nearly fourteen On July 30, Republican Senators ter schools are either worse than, or thousand regular public school districts Rand Paul (KY), Mitch McConnell (KY), no better than, regular public schools. are run by and responsible to locally Lamar Alexander (TN), and Tim Scott Charters have improved slightly since the elected school boards; charters are not (SC) hosted a “Roundtable Forum on CREDO 2009 study, the report shows, so responsible to voters. Their teaching School Choice” in the Russell Senate but this is probably due to the implosion staffs have less training than those of Office Building in Washington. All of regular public schools, and their staff the speakers were strong supporters of turnover is far higher. Republicans and charters or vouchers. In an interview in conservatives (is there a difference?) The Washington Post on July 30, Paul “. . . Fully three-fourths of like charters because their staffs are not airily dismissed the Stanford CREDO charter schools are either protected by unions. report as “lies” and “manipulated sta- Let me recommend the most dev- tistics.” With reference to vouchers, he worse than, or no better than, astating critique of charters that declared: “They’re not using govern- regular public schools.” I have read: social scientists Michael ment money. It’s our money. We’re Fabricant and Michelle Fine’s well-doc- getting back some of the money taken umented 2012 book, Charter Schools from us.” Paul evidently never heard and the Corporate Makeover of Public of James Madison’s 1785 Memorial or closing of some of the worst char- Education: What’s at Stake? (Teachers and Remonstrance Against Religious ters. All this despite the fact that char- College Press of Columbia Uni­versity). Assessments. And he and his gang ters enjoy the tremendous advantage Running commentary on charters, of public-school opponents blissfully of being selective in various subtle and vouchers, and other facets of the war ignore the fact that tens of millions not-so-subtle ways, such as the ability to on public education may be found of voters from coast to coast in twen- push out underperforming students who on the excellent Diane Ravitch’s Blog. ty-seven statewide referendum elec- must then be admitted to regular public Ravitch is the author of the important tions have rejected vouchers and all schools. 2010 book, The Death and Life of the other gimmicks to divert public funds A frequent commentator in Education Great American School System: How to private schools—the vast majority Week noted that charter schools gener- Testing and Choice are Undermining of them pervasively sectarian religious ally serve a larger percentage of children Education (Basic Books). schools—by greater than landslide of more “concerned/functional” parents Recent years have seen a sharp margins, most recently in Florida in than do regular public schools, thus giving increase in attacks on public schools, November of 2012. them a further “skimming” advantage. which serve about 90 percent of K–12 Charter schools, meanwhile, are the Charter schools were conceived a students in the United States. These favorites of pseudo-reformers such as quarter-century ago as a “reform” that attacks come from Republicans, con- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg would allow parents and local commu- servatives, the religious Right, the Tea and his former school chancellor Joel nity groups to set up alternative pub- Party movement, conservative media, Klein. New York pseudo-reformers licly supported schools free of some of and conservative foundations and have “co-located” charters in build-

52 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Poem ings with regular public schools, the nent of a democratic polity. We cannot upshot of which is all too often that the allow them to be subverted by either public-school kids are squeezed out of religious or corporate special interests. the gym, cafeteria, and library in favor The fragmentation of education along of the charter students. The Derrick religious, ideological, class, ethnic, and Mrs. Larkin Thomas Academy charter school in other lines is not only bad for our coun- Kansas City recently went belly-up and try but will also increase the costs of Reflects left its teachers with no paychecks. The education far beyond present levels. Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported Let’s also note that the school ques- Susan McLean recently that “two failed Imagine Inc. tion is closely related to that other charter schools in Fort Wayne are being supremely important controversy, that converted to voucher schools [thanks to the Republican legislature’s bra- zen thumbing its nose at the Indiana constitution]. The local charter board They set you up, your thankless brood, has been dismissed, loans forgiven, “Republicans and conservatives and Indiana taxpayers will be stuck to take the blame for all their flaws. with continuing to pay a huge string (is there a difference?) like of expenses incurred by the charter charters because their staffs Your inhibitions made them rude. schools, including obligations to an are not protected by unions.” out-of-state real estate investment They dodge commitment? You’re the cause. firm. In addition, public funds will now be channeled to a religious organiza- tion.” Such examples are multiple. In late July, Hart Research Associates of women’s rights and reproductive But that’s not your fault, they exclaim, released a new poll of parents of chil- choice, as the vast majority of private dren in public (92 percent) and charter schools seeking tax support are reli- for you were screwed up long ago, (8 percent) schools. Nearly two-thirds gious institutions strongly opposed to of the parents were satisfied with their women’s religious liberty and funda- instilled with hang-ups, fear, and shame children’s school, despite the epidemic mental rights of conscience. of slashed school budgets, the gov- It is not too much of a stretch to say in ways that you’re too thick to know. ernment-imposed mania for testing, that the school privatization movement the closing of public schools in cities can only worsen the problems of the such as Chicago and Philadelphia, and economy, overpopulation, and climate the endless conservative propaganda change. Think about it. It comforts them to have a mum assault on the very idea of public edu- Finally, I was pleased to see that The cation. Hart found even greater oppo- Progressive, published in Madison, Wis­ to blame when life is on the skids. sition to diversion of public funds to consin, has started a new website— private schools than was registered publicschoolshakedown.org—and The malice of it makes you glum, last year in the Florida voucher ref- de­voted nine pages of its August issue to erendum. Two-thirds of the respon- articles by Ruth Conniff, Rebecca Kemble, but you’ll get yours if they have kids. dents said that public schools were and Brendan Fischer covering the assaults more important than religious insti- on public education. Other journals and tutions, businesses, and the military organizations should get behind such in terms of providing important skills efforts. The clock is ticking. to children. Of the respon- dents, 38 percent identified Edd Doerr, president of Americans for Religious Liberty as Democrats, 33 percent as (arlinc.org) and former president of the American Humanist­ independents, and 29 per- Association, is the author of over 3,500 published books, cent as Republicans. Susan McLean is a professor of English sections of books, articles, columns, book and film reviews, The bottom line in all at Southwest Minnesota State University. translations, letters, short stories, and poems. He has made this is that religiously neu- Her poems have appeared recently in over two thousand speeches and radio and television appear­ ­ tral public schools are an Measure, Mezzo Cammin, Lucid Rhythms, ances. absolutely essential compo- and elsewhere.

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 53 Faith and Reason

Undermining Democracy and Protecting Religion Ryan Shaffer

ince 2001, Pakistan has faced an voked a massive rebellion that spread the two Pakistans became legally sep- increasing insurgency within its throughout North India and under- arated, and East Pakistan became Sown borders, much of it spawned mined British rule. After ending the Bangladesh, known as the “People’s by its cooperation with the United rebellion, the British government insti- Republic of Bangladesh,” while West States in its fight against religious ter- tuted reform in 1860 and proclaimed Pakistan became known simply as rorists. As Pakistan’s administration Section 298 of the Indian Penal Code, Pakistan. Its 1973 constitution offi- and social institutions have teetered prohibiting “the deliberate intention of cially named it the “Islamic Republic of toward collapse along its northwest wounding the religious feelings of any Pakistan.” Though Pakistan and Bangla­ border, extremists—and the Pakistani person.” In 1927, Britain went further desh were formally “republics,” they public—have encouraged the govern- remained influenced by colonial-era ment to limit religious freedom and laws. Events would further shape the move away from secularism. ways in which those laws evolved. Recently, Pakistan’s current ambas- After the 1978 military coup that sador to the United States, Shehrbano brought General Zia-ul Haq to power “Sherry” Rehman, has been accused “Pakistan’s current in Pakistan, a series of religious laws of committing blasphemy, highlight- was passed over an eight-year period. ing Pakistan’s current challenges with ambassador to the United States This happened, not coincidentally, as free speech and intimidation. The . . . has been accused Pakistan was using U.S. aid to sup- blasphemy claims are shocking given of committing blasphemy. . . .” port the mujahedeen against the Rehman’s long service in Pakistan’s Soviet Union in Afghanistan. These national government and the respect laws included parts of Section 295 of she has earned not only in Pakistan the Pakistan Penal Code, which states but in the United States and Europe in part: “Whoever willfully defiles, as well. The charges are just the lat- damages or desecrates a copy of the est examples of individual rights and by enacting Section 295A, making it Holy Quran or of an extract therefrom public religion in conflict in Pakistan. a crime “to outrage religious feelings or uses it in any derogatory manner Additionally, they demonstrate how or any class by insulting its religion or or for any unlawful purpose shall be Pakistan’s draconian laws may lead not religious beliefs.” punishable for imprisonment for life.” only to censorship but to the death of Britain formally granted indepen- Additionally, Section 295 provides: social opponents. dence to British India in 1947. There “Whoever by words, either spoken or Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are a car- followed the partition of the coun- written or by visible representation, or ryover from Victorian colonial rule, and try that created East Pakistan, West by any imputation, innuendo, or insin- they were expanded during the inter- Pakistan, and India. At no time during uation, directly or indirectly, defiles war period. The Great Mutiny of 1857 this process was the old British penal the sacred name of the Holy Prophet reshaped Britain’s relationship with code completely discarded. The two Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished Indians. Hindu and Muslim soldiers had Pakistans were founded ostensibly as with death, or imprisonment for life, heard a rumor (which was true) that Muslim states. Their division reflected and shall also be liable to [a] fine.” the tallow greasing the gun cartridges demands in the Lahore Resolution, There have been several notable they opened using their mouths came under Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim cases in recent years where ill-founded from cows and pigs. A violation of League, for independent Muslim lands. charges of blasphemy were brought or Hindu and Islamic doctrines, this pro- After the 1971 coup in East Pakistan, the law was used to silence people. In

54 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org 2005, hotel manager Younus Shaikh and Rehman were criticized for their In November, the Islamabad High Court was fined and sentenced to life in prison actions; Muhammad Faheem Akhtar dismissed the charges on account of for committing blasphemy for writing Gill, a local marble dealer, called for insufficient evidence. One of Masih’s and printing five thousand copies of “police to register a case against her accusers, Hafiz Mohammed Khalid his book Shaitan Maulvi (Satanic Cleric). [Rehman] for allegedly making blas- Chishti, was “arrested for desecrating According to Amnesty International, phemous remarks on a chat show in the Koran and tampering with evi- Shaikh was “charged with blasphemy late 2010.” dence.” for stating in the book that stoning to In January 2011, Governor Taseer Meanwhile Muhammad Faheem death (Rajam) as punishment for adul- was assassinated by Malik Mumtaz Akhtar Gill had pressed his case for the tery was not mentioned in the Quran.” Hussain Qadri, a member of his police to investigate Rehman over a He was also accused of describing four own security team. [See “Islam: A period of three years, during which she historical religious leaders as “Jews.” Totalitarian Package” by Madeline became her country’s ambassador to the Despite an international outcry for his Weld in FI, August/September 2013.] release, Shaikh has been in prison since Qadri told investigators he murdered 2005. the popular governor for his criticism In 2009, Asia Bibi, who worked as of the blasphemy law. While thou- a farmhand in a rural Pakistani village sands attended his burial, including in Punjab, was sent to collect water. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, When she returned with the water, some groups praised Taseer’s death. After 1978, a series of religious some of her Muslim coworkers said it For example, Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat was contaminated and refused to drink Pakistan, a small religious group, laws was passed over eight it, causing an argument witnessed by made a statement that “anyone who years during which Pakistan was several people. Later in the day, her expressed grief over the assassination using U.S. aid to support the coworkers said she had criticized the could suffer the same fate.” Just three Prophet Muhammad. A crowd went months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, the only mujahedeen against the Soviet to her house and assaulted her family. Christian member of Pakistan’s cabinet, Union in Afghanistan. Police rescued Bibi from the angry mob was assassinated. At the time of his and began investigating reports about murder, Bhatti was the Minority Affairs the alleged comments. She was then minister and had spoken against the charged with blasphemy. After a year blasphemy law, saying it was being in jail, she was convicted and sentenced used to persecute minorities. About to death in November 2010. a thousand people, including Yousuf Bibi’s sentence and trial prompted Raza Gilani, attended Bhatti’s Catholic United States. Criticism was nothing new national and international criticism. burial. to Rehman, who had been educated at Pakistan’s government was criticized The law made international news Smith College in Massachusetts and the by human rights groups; even Pope again in August 2012 when Rimsha University of Sussex in England. She had Benedict XVI called for her release. Masih, a young illiterate Christian served in the National Assembly, where Meanwhile, the governor of Punjab, Pakistani girl, was accused of blas- she was called “Democracy’s Hero” by Salman Taseer, criticized the trial phemy for allegedly burning pages the International Republican Institute and called for reforming the blas- from the Qur’an. The girl had collected and denounced by opponents. In phemy law. He denounced errors in paper from a local dump near her January 2013, when Rehman had been the investigation and campaigned for home in an Islamabad slum to use as ambassador for just more than one year, Bibi’s release. That same year, Sherry fuel. A medical report from the govern- Pakistan’s Supreme Court approved the Rehman, then a legislator in Pakistan’s ment estimated she was fourteen years admission of a blasphemy case against National Assembly for the Pakistan old; her defenders noted that she had her. Following the election of a new People’s Party, filed a bill “to abol- Down syndrome or a mental illness that parliament in May, Rehman resigned her ish the death penalty for blasphemy made her mental capacity significantly ambassadorship. after a Christian mother of five was below her actual age. Asif Ali Zardari, Soon after the court allowed the sentenced to death.” Rehman eventu- the president of Pakistan, called for accusation against Rehman to move ally dropped the issue following pres- an investigation, and even some reli- forward, another disagreement led to sure from her own party. Both Taseer gious leaders protested Masih’s arrest. civil destruction. Just weeks after the

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 55 ruling, rioting broke out in Lahore fol- when Pakistan prevented citizens from olic_newspaper_appeals_for_release_of_ lowing an argument between friends accessing Facebook on the interna- asia_bibi/in2-651916. “Christians Under Siege: Mob Rule in Lahore,” Sawan Masih, a Christian sanitation tionally observed “Everybody Draw The Express Tribune, March 10, 2013. worker, and Shahid Imran, a Muslim Muhammad Day.” Not only has the Crilly, Rob. “Rimsha Masih: Blasphemy Charges barber. On a Thursday, the Christian blasphemy law enabled officials to Dropped against Christian Girl.” The Tele­ graph, November 20, 2012. was accused of committing blasphemy, silence social and political opponents “Fear For Safety/Prisoner of Conscience.” and the next day police drafted charges. with imprisonment and death, web- Amnesty International, August 19, 2005. By that Saturday thousands of people, sites that might inspire political change Online at http://www.amnesty.org/ar/ library/asset/ASA33/023/2005/en/cc350 some of them armed, traveled to the in the Arab world have been shuttered a2b-fa18-11dd-999c-47605d4edc46/ Christian area and destroyed the neigh- for the Pakistanis. asa330232005en.pdf. borhood, shooting at police who tried Pakistan faces difficult choices as it Hayat, Ishrat. “France, Canada, Spain Con­ demn Bhatti’s Assassination.” The News to stop the violence. More than 150 grapples not only with its militants but International, March 4, 2011. houses and two churches in a Christian also with dilemmas in protecting the Maqbool, Aleem. “Salman Taseer: Thousands neighborhood were destroyed. rights of its citizens. The challenges before Mourn Pakistan Governor.” BBC, January 5, 2011. Online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ Pakistan are not unrelated. On the one news/world-south-asia-12116764. hough it is hard to gauge the future hand, Pakistan is trying to fend off Muslim “Pakistan Ambassador to U.S. Sherry Rehman of the blasphemy law, these events extremists, while on the other hand it is Faces Blasphemy Probe.” Times of India, T February 21, 2013. show how laws that forbid criticizing enforcing a fundamentalist expression of “Pakistan: Blasphemy Law Reform More religion are dangerous for the accused, religion that forbids critical commentary. Urgent One Year after Governor Killing.” accuser, government stability, and free Even if one could make a good argument Amnesty International, January 4, 2012. Online at http://www.amnesty.org/en/ expression. for preventing people from criticizing news/pakistan-blasphemy-law-reform- A democratic nation, by definition, religion, it is clear that the blasphemy even-more-urgent-year-after-governor- must protect expression and individ- law has served in practice as an instru- killing-2012-01-04. “Q&A: Pakistan’s Controversial Blasphemy ual beliefs. But as Pakistan has been ment to silence dissent rather than Laws.” BBC, November 20, 2012. Online pushed toward collapse, domestic mil- maintain order. That not only has a chill- at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world- itants have turned their ire against the ing effect for religious skeptics, but it south-asia-12621225. “Sherry Rehman Resigns as Ambassador to US,” government. This has helped make it also emboldens the religious fundamen- The Express Tribune, May 14, 2013. Online difficult for Pakistan to remain both talists who seek to undermine Pakistan’s at http://tribune.com.pk/story/549098/ a democracy and an Islamic repub- democracy. sherry-rehman-resigns-as-ambassa- dor-to-us/. lic. With the blasphemy law mandat- References Walsh, Declan, and Waqar Gillani. “Attack on ing imprisonment for criticizing Islam, Christians Follows Claim of Blasphemy in “Bhatti Knew About Threat to His Life from efforts to enforce it have resulted in new Pakistan.” The New York Times, March 9, Taliban, Qaeda.” Deccan Herald, March 2013. forms of censorship. As the Internet has 2, 2011. connected Pakistani citizens to critics “Catholic Newspaper Appeals for Release of Asia Bibi.” of Islam, the government has blocked Vatican Radio, December Ryan Shaffer is a writer and historian. He has a PhD in history access to social networking websites to 31, 2011. Online at http:// and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Global prevent Muslims from being offended. en.radiovaticana.va/ news/2012/12/31/cath Studies at Stony Brook University. A notable case occurred in May 2010,

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56 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Humanism at Large

Teaching Tolerance to the Texas Textbook Committee

Joel Kirschbaum

he Texas State Textbook Commit­ the newfangled fact that the Earth pre- ural gas, from the surface of the earth tee’s conservative recommen- cesses on its axis. down to the outer edge of hell. Tdations for textbooks for use in Biology. To graduate high school, Mathematics. All math problems Texas schools influence the nation. students must be able to describe and must be practical. Example: If a fif- (Due to printing costs, students across identify all fish, game, and trespassers ty-cartridge box of 9mm bullets costs the United States usually get the text- that are legal prey. Teachers trying to twenty dollars and a ten-bullet box books that pass muster in the Lone test the strength of tenure protection costs ten dollars, what is the most boxes Star State.) The Textbook Committee might mention the word evolution. of cartridges that can be bought for recently voted to partially rewrite pub- Chemistry. The emphasis will be on ninety dollars? With ninety dollars, how lic-school curriculum standards from metabolism; i.e., explaining why there is many seventeen-round clips can be fully a biblical-fundamentalist viewpoint. a sudden surge in energy after slurping filled? How many one-hundred-round It de-emphasized the role Thomas soda containing sugar or fructose, thus clips can be filled? Jefferson played in founding the Also, the biblical value of pi, the ratio nation, most likely because of his sup- of the circumference of a circle to the port for the “separation of church from radius (r) is 3. (Prohibited is use of the state.” Evolution was specially targeted, pagan value of 3.141592+.) as were objective, evidence-based sci- “One stated goal was to Example problem: The area of a cir- entific statements that the universe ‘balance’ the pages devoted to cle is 2 πr. If a lake is 100 feet in diam- apparently was formed in one “big Abraham Lincoln by saying more eter, how many sticks of dynamite are bang” about 13.4 billion years ago. One about the Confederate leader needed if one stick can effectively stun stated goal was to “balance” the pages all fish in a 10-foot radius? devoted to Abraham Lincoln by saying Jefferson Davis.” Health Education. How many gallons more about the Confederate leader of sweetened Concord grape Mani­ Jefferson Davis. schewitz kosher wine (alcohol content Mainstream Texas educators and of 11 percent) are needed to dilute a scientists have been ineffectual in enabling extra exertion so Texas teams forty-two-gallon drum of 94 percent persuading legislators, much less the can beat their opponents every time. alcohol, “White Lightning,” to 20 per- Textbook Committee’s majority, to Economics. All discussions of sav- cent alcohol? desist from “kidnapping” real history ings and investments for retirement Language. Required from classes K and science. Here, I add ridicule to try are unnecessary due to the imminent to 12: courses in “speaking in tongues.” inducing objectivity. Below are my Second Coming. Meteorology. The entire course satiric speculations on further possible English. Readings are restricted to can be encapsulated by memorizing curriculum changes: excerpts from the Bible, The Complete the sentence: “Tornadoes in Texas are Art. To graduate, a student must be Works of William Shakespeare, and the caused by cold air sweeping south from able to design a branding iron incorpo- Texas Driver’s Handbook. the Rocky Mountains colliding with rating his or her initials. Ethics. Jesus said, “Let he who hath warm, moisture-laden air from the Astronomy. Basic tenets to be taught not a sword sell his cloak to buy one.” Gulf.” Remaining class time is to be are: this year the universe is 6017 years Explain how this admonition justifies spent stopping storms by beseeching old (2013 + 4004, the year of creation). the Second Amendment “right to bear on bended knees that these accursed The fate of an individual depends on arms.” mountains sink back into the plains of his or her astrological sign of birth, Geology. Students must be able to the flat Earth. without any constellation correction for name all formations bearing oil or nat- Music. Students should sing uplift-

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 57 ing pre–Civil War spirituals praising the the speed of light and the grand total of have to labor underground in the dark, “Massa.” All forms of music, including the hundreds of billions of stars in each dangerous foreign Congo mines of King sonatas, fugues, rounds, and rondos of the hundreds of billions of galaxies. Leopold of Belgium. should be taught using the collected Sex Education. The syllabus consists discography of Lawrence Welk. The AP of teaching abstinence and the every- n conclusion, the twisted and distorted music course must include playing the day application of an amendment to Ifacts emanating from the Texas Text­ Texas two-step. Einstein’s theory of spacetime: i.e., teen- book Committee are simultaneously a source of consternation to truth-telling Physics. To graduate, high-school agers’ torsos are to be two feet apart at all times. teachers and an inspiration to satirists. students must be able to describe the World History. The Committee is Perhaps the Textbook Committee will theory and uses of all types of tools and proud to acknowledge that Texas was perceive that perverting the proven pro- machinery found in a typical pickup a member of the Confederacy, and it duces parodies of their positions. truck, such as the use of the tire iron as wants all students to learn a lever to tilt a beer barrel to drain the that slaves were fortu- Joel Kirschbaum is a retired chemist with some seventy peer-re- dregs. nate to plant cotton in viewed scholarly scientific publications. He has also had some Psychology. The unified theory of the U.S. soil under a sunny fifty science-humor papers printed, most recently in The Journal cause of all mental diseases is brain con- blue sky rather than to of Irreproducible Results and School Science and Mathematics. fusion created by big numbers, such as

Obituary Margherita Hack (1922–2013)

argherita Hack, a leading astrophys- Micist and political activist in Italy, died at age ninety-one in June 2013. Italy’s Foreign Minister Emma Bonino offered this tribute to her to the Italian news agency ANSA: “With her vanishes not only a great scientist but a free spirit, deeply intellectually honest.” Hack graduated from the University of Florence in 1945 with a degree in physics, and in the early 1950s she was an astronomer at that city’s observatory. She became a full professor of astronomy at the University of Trieste and taught there until her retirement in 1998. She was the director of the university’s astronomy department from 1985 to 1991 and from 1994 to 1997. From 1964 to 1987, she Over her career, she amassed a personal that she was “so great and so nice that administered the Trieste Astronomical library of twenty-four thousand books God will pretend not to exist so as not to Observatory, the first woman to do so. on astronomy, which she willed to the upset her.” In 1995, an asteroid was discovered city of Trieste. She was a member of several phys- that was named in her honor: 8558 Hack. Hack was also well known in Italy ics and astronomy associations and the for her political activism. Among other She was known for her ability to explain recipient of many awards. Hack was science and developments in astronomy causes, she championed rights for gays also a member of the Italian Union of and physics to the public. She was one of and animal protection. She was part of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics and the country’s greatest contributors to the a successful effort to legalize abortion a Laureate of the Council for Secular spectral classification of many stars. Hack in Italy but was unsuccessful in doing laid the groundwork for studying satel- the same for euthanasia. She was also Humanism’s International Academy of lites for use in astronomical observation, known for her atheism and was outspo- Humanism. and she regretted that she would prob- kenly critical of the Catholic Church’s ably die before the big bang and dark attempt to influence Italian society. But —Andrea Szalanski, Free Inquiry matter were completely understood. Hack was well-liked: one admirer noted Managing Editor

58 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Reviews Poem Helping Seculars Gain Traction in Government

Tom Flynn Received Wisdom The Citizen Lobbyist: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government, by Amanda Knief with a foreword by Barry W. Lynn (Durham, N.C.: Pitchstone Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978- Susan McLean 1939578013) 112 pp. Paper, $9.95.

Unpacking it, we wondered who had sent it

ccording to Edgar Allen Poe, liberal secularists, conservative prayer and why they felt we needed it. the essence of the short story is warriors, or activists whose causes are We thought Athat one thing happens. Amanda neutral regarding secular issues. But Knief brings that cognitive economy to Knief is a secularist and, probably rea- her debut book. The Citizen Lobbyist sonably, clearly expects liberals and we’d managed fine without it. teaches its reader how a private citi- secularists to compose her most avid Had they meant it zen can lobby effectively in the halls audience. So each time she reaches for of government. Period. And it does so an example to illustrate some lobbying without a wasted word. concept, she chooses one drawn from as tribute or rebuke? We had Knief, who now works at American atheist or progressive activism. On two been taught Atheists, is one of the secular move- levels, that choice might be unfortu- ment’s first full-time lobbyists. Even if nate. First, there are probably case his- you don’t recognize her name, you tories in which citizen lobbyists plump- to view unsought donations know who she is: it was Knief who, at ing for the Christian Right—or for, oh, a 2011 presidential town hall meeting, with suspicion. farmland preservation—have done bril- gobsmacked President Barack Obama liant work, and seculars could profit by with that “gotcha” question about why Inspecting it, we found a learning from their successes. Second, he hadn’t kept his campaign promise deep down this slender book is a lobby- to end religious discrimination in hir- hairline crack. ing manual for everyone, and I fear that ing by charities receiving federal funds. the author’s decision to limit examples Obama “fumbled for more than three It doesn’t suit our taste to her own ideological domain might minutes to answer,” she accurately artificially limit its appeal. reports. or disposition. But that’s a quibble. If you’ve ever With The Citizen Lobbyist, Knief has delivered a compact, sharply focused thought, “Oh, I’m just one person, I In short, we must insist guidebook—I read it in under an could never get my local/state/federal hour—that covers its single topic with elected official to pay any attention to they take it back. effortless authority. After reading it, me,” The Citizen Lobbyist is the book anyone can feel that he or she knows you need. Set aside an hour and devour the basics about lobbying. And I mean it. But also count the minutes until anyone—if this book has a defect, it’s an someone from Fox News writes the odd mismatch between the audience exact same book—only with examples it deserves and the audience toward all leaning to the right! which Knief has aimed it. At its heart, this is not a secular-movement book. Its Tom Flynn is the editor of Free Inquiry. lobbying advice is equally applicable to

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 59 Wrongly Accused Edd Doerr

hen a religion is good,” Ben­ jamin Franklin wrote more “Wthan two centuries ago, “I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does Bad Samaritans: The ACLU’s Relentless Campaign to Erase Faith not take care to support it so that its from the Public Square, by Jerome R. Corsi (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013, ISBN 978-5955-5474-1) 256 pp. Hardcover, $24.99. professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ’tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.” Jerome Corsi, whose claim to fame is being part of the “Swift Boat” smear campaign against presidential candi- date John Kerry in 2004, is of a different mind. A fanatic champion of clericalism Corsi nowhere acknowledges that thy closet, and when thou hast shut and Christian fundamentalism of both most Americans do not buy into his the door, pray to thy Father which is the evangelical and Vatican varieties, Far Right agenda, as evidenced by the in secret. . . . But when ye pray, use not Corsi wants public funds diverted to reli- fact that whenever voters have had vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for gious schools, wants public schools to the chance to express themselves on they think that they shall be heard for promote conservative religious positions, school vouchers or their variants (so their much speaking.” As for reproduc- and insists that government impose on far in twenty-seven statewide referen- tive choice, mainstream America has all women the fundamentalist ideology dum elections), they have voted them complex views on the matter, and there of “personhood at conception.” In other down by an average margin of two to is no consensus for outlawing abortion, words, he is inadvertently making the one, or that such diversions of public restricting access to contraception, or point that Franklin’s “bad” religion needs funds to sectarian private schools occur for instituting an unscientific and even to be propped up by “Big Brother” gov- only in states in which lawmakers pass unbiblical “theology of personhood at ernment. such legislation and deny voters the conception.” Even in the most conser- In Bad Samaritans: The ACLU’s Re­­ opportunity to say yea or nay, as in vative U.S. state, Mississippi, voters in lent­­less Campaign to Erase Faith from Indiana, Louisiana, Arizona, Ohio, and 2011 defeated a personhood constitu- the Public Square, Corsi claims that Wisconsin. tional amendment by 58 percent to 42 Christianity and Christian values, or at In the wake of the 1962 and 1963 percent. least his crabbed vision of them, are in Supreme Court rulings against govern- In sum, the fundamental freedoms grave danger of being destroyed by an of Americans have benefitted immea- all-out “War against God” being waged ment-sponsored prayer in public schools, by the “Bad Samaritan” American Civil conservative pressure on Congress surably from the nearly a century of Liberties Union (ACLU). This extremist to amend the Constitution to allow ACLU activism and legal work. Corsi’s paranoia is completely wrong, laugh- such practices has failed repeatedly. screed puts me in mind of humorist ably so. The ACLU is simply defend- It amazes, and amuses, that religious Darby Conley’s quip that “Facts are ing the principles of religious freedom conservatives want government-spon- for people who can’t create their own and church-state separation set up by sored prayer in public schools and tend truth.” It is useful that there are books this country’s constitutional founders, to take the Bible literally, yet pay no out there by the likes of Jerome Corsi principally Thomas Jefferson and James attention to what Jesus reportedly said and publisher Thomas Nelson, a major Madi­son, and that is only a small part of against public prayer at Matt. 6:5–8: producer of conservative religious lit- its overall program. Corsi fails to men- “And when thou prayest, thou shalt erature and Bibles, to remind us that tion the host of other mainstream reli- not be as the hypocrites are: for they there are still powerful reactionary gious, educational, civil rights, and civil love to pray standing in the . . . corners forces working to set back the progress liberties groups that share the ACLU’s of the streets, that they may be seen of of humankind and to return us to the concerns. men. . . . When thou prayest, enter into Dark Ages.

60 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Ochre Athena Michael B. Schub

So Jesus and his family and a bit of a crowd are standing around somewhere in Jerusalem, and Jesus tells them, “Whoever of you is free of sin, let that person cast the first Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari’a Law from the Deserts of stone.” Suddenly a pebble comes Ancient Arabia to the Streets of the Modern Muslim World, by Sadakat flying out of the crowd. Jesus says, “Maaaa. . . .” Kadri (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012, ISBN 9780374168728) 372 pp. Hardcover, $28. Also available in paperback and as an e-book. —Garrison Keillor

Ahmad ibn Hanbal reported, for example, that the prophet Isa (Jesus) once faced down a crowd that was baying for an adulterer’s blood with the words “Let no man stone him who has done what he has done.” In a twist on the familiar split into seventy-three sects, only one Kadri found Pakistan to be in a con- Gospel tale, all the assembled sin- of which will avoid the fires of hell, and stant state of crisis. “Everything I saw of ners dropped their rocks—except for John the Baptist (Yahya ibn purists have been trying ever since to Pakistan’s madrasas left me convinced, Zakariya), who impeccably dashed make sure they are on the winning team. however, that they were manifesta- out the sinner’s brains.” Communal strife has been the inevitable tions of a malaise rather than a signpost If men had been forbidden to make porridge out of camels’ dung, result. . . .” toward solutions. Their scholars focus they would have done it, saying The Salafis in their various incarna- unduly on moral controversies rather that [it] would not have been for- tions compose one such group. Their than social and economic problems . . . bidden unless there had been some patron saint is Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya and they often seem to acknowledge good in it. (1263–1328) “whose fatwas against the outside world only on their own very —Muhammad, on the authority of Mongols were intended to warn people rigid terms.” al-Ghazali that lip service to Islam is no proof of reli- To his surprise, Kadri finds Iran protec- gious sincerity and practical intentions. tive of its Christian and Jewish minorities, adakat Kadri’s book, Heaven on Earth: They are mouthed today to validate but, sadly, hopelessly oppressive toward A Journey Through Shari’a Law from S murder after murder in Islam’s name.” If the Baha’i (and Babi) population. the Deserts of Ancient Arabia to the one thing unites these Salafis, who live The Islamists’ preoccupation, nay, Streets of the Modern Muslim World, is in many countries, it is their firm belief obsession, with sex is here, as just wonderfully written, witty, and informa- that the shari’a must entail the Qur’anic about everywhere else, glossed over. tive. It is not only timely but prescient: principle (3.104) of enjoining the good Kadri’s mention of a twenty-seven-year- “In an age of online bomb recipes and exploding backpacks, a single extremist and eschewing evil. This has also been old woman who killed herself and an who has made his peace with violence is regarded as the ultimate form of jihad. eighty-one-year-old Jewish man outside one too many.” Many Salafis also believe in living in sepa- a shoe shop on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road Kadri is a practicing British barrister rate communities because all the others in January 2002—about which the only with a master’s degree from Harvard are literally going to hell. moral qualms expressed by an Egyptian Law School. He was present in New York Kadri first encountered the Barlevis, jurist concerned the propriety of a female on September 11, 2001, and in London founded by Syed Ahmed Barlevi, a mem- martyr traveling to her death unchap- on July 7, 2005. To research this book, ber of one of the first reform movements eroned—only hints at the sordid psy- Kadri journeyed through parts of India, in the 1700s and 1800s, in his father’s chopathology of Muslim thinking. He Pakistan, Iran, and England. He writes: hometown of Baduan, India. He then met a Deobandi teacher who claimed “The assumption of great truths can eas- met some of their opponent Deobandis, that all the women [in England] wore ily give rise to a belief that only liars whom he found generally sincere and short dresses. This perverted outlook on can oppose them. A well-known had- friendly but abysmally isolated and the Western world is also evinced in ith warns that Muslims are destined to totally closed-off to outside influence. omnipresent denial in the Islamic mind.

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 61 Traditions relate that the Prophet recom- The author “signed up in late 2007 aver daily, is meant to be imposed upon mended honey as a cure for diarrhea—“a to write an account of Islamic ideas of all of Allah’s creation. prescription he maintained even after it justice. . . . As we sat cross-legged on In the meantime, in the words of made a sufferer feel worse, because ‘God the threadbare mosque carpet, I out- Winston Churchill, we are now walking has uttered the truth, and his abdomen lined the nature of my project and told “step by step, to the gallows.” In 2008, in . . . has told a lie.’” When a video of a [Muhammad] Afshani, the director of Pakistan “dozens of health centers and seventeen-year-old girl being beaten by fatwas at a military Karachi madrasa girls’ schools were burned down on the men with leather lashes was shown on called the Jamia Farooqia that, insh’allah, basis that polio vaccines and female edu- Pakistani television, a madrasas’s chief I would fill the gaps in my own knowl- cation were un-Islamic innovations.” law lecturer exclaimed, “Fake! It is cre- edge by learning from scholars with dif- Like other sectarian courts, American ation [sic] of Western media.” ferent opinions—even conflicting ones. shari’a courts are currently doing brisk Kadri writes: “A leading Sufi in my He smiled sagely and murmured that I business in the United States (despite father’s hometown . . . simply denied had taken on a difficult project. I nodded, attempts to outlaw them in three states) point-blank that any learned Muslim with what I hoped was humility. ‘And no ruling in family- and child-related cases. had ever accepted the legend [the well one, he continued evenly, should ever Kadri states that “every faith community attested account in Islamic historiography embark on such a journey until they in the United States, from the Amish to of the ‘satanic verses’ in the Qu’ran]. I know their destination.’” In other words, the Zoroastrians, has equivalent ways of then took to equipping myself with pho- no objective analysis of any aspect of doing right by God. The only difference tocopies of the texts. . . .” And ignorance Islam is permitted. One must accept the is that Muslims call their quest ‘the is sometimes enjoined by Islamic law: Truth of Islam. Rejecting such a back- shari’a.’” “Any ambiguities that might exist in His ward intellectual stance is the first step in revelations and hadiths were His alone the West’s defense against to interpret, and insofar as uncertainties a totalitarian, fascist system Michael B. Schub has taught university-level Arabic, Hebrew, remained, Muslims were obliged simply (with an integral compo- Ethiopic, and comparative religions. He was a Senior Fulbright to believe in the words ‘without [know- nent of slavery for unbe- Scholar at the University of Saarland, Germany, from 1979 to 1980. ing] how (bi-la kayfa).’” lievers), which, as its leaders

Drowning in Doubt Becca Challman

any of us who have journeyed Mfrom belief to unbelief enjoy reading about the travails of our fellow travelers. One part memoir, one part Deliverance at Hand!: The Redemption of a Devout Jehovah’s Witness expose, religion-to-reason travelogues by James Zimmerman, (Minneapolis: Freethought House, 2013, ISBN: do more than satisfy our curiosity. They 9780988493803) 324 pp. Paperback, $22.00. remind us that whether we roll the boul- der of belief away slowly or shatter it with a single blow, we are not the first or the only ones to have done so. While one may make the case that all such stories are equally valid, it is impossible to find them equally compel- ling. Case in point: James Zimmerman’s claim they never believed it—only par- the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the first book, Deliverance at Hand!: The ticipating because their family members Watchtower Society.” For the next 320 Redemption of a Devout Jehovah’s were Witnesses. Some claim they left pages, including exhaustive and baffling Witness, in which he immediately identi- because fellow Witnesses were uncar- notes of Watch Tower source material, fies the problem with his own narrative: ing, rude, hypocritical, or even stupid. Zimmerman proceeds to document his “Claims of mistreatment abound among I claim none of these things. I claim to unremarkable life in and departure from many who have left the religion. Some be merely one who lived and breathed Jehovah’s Witnesses.

62 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Zimmerman, a Minnesota native and because his inappropriate phraseology the profile” and “isn’t going to win the third-generation Jehovah’s Witness, clouds the narrative. For example, he testosterone-of-the-year award,” whereas becomes a pioneer (full-time evange- describes a scene from his childhood a straight friend is “of superior hetero- list) while still in high school, serves at book of Bible stories in which a woman sexuality.” These offensive phrases stand Bethel (the Watch Tower, Bible and Tract struggles to survive the flood in ill-suited without apology or explanation. Such Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn, New terms: “Having clambered above the casual bigotry, however unintentional, York), and becomes a ministerial servant din and the deluge, [first use] she was cannot pass unchallenged. (deacon) in his congregation. In other serenely seated in a crevasse and faced A self-satisfied narrator, Zimmerman words, he enjoys all the advantages out toward her coming fate. She was spends a great deal of time disparag- bestowed upon devout young men in a enraptured in a crimson tunic. . . .” I have ing the appearances, sexual preferences, patriarchal religion. He becomes known seen the illustration, and the woman financial practices, and eating habits of as “Assembly Boy” because of his fre- does not appear calm and accepting, his friends. During most of his story, he quent appearances on stage at circuit nor does she appear to be experiencing abides by the Society’s rules, shunning and district assemblies. He bears his mon- intense pleasure. Later, he describes his his disfellowshipped (excommunicated) iker proudly. wife negotiating the crowds to find her friends and the occasional family mem- Fervently faithful to the religion his seat at a convention: “Having clambered ber while waxing superior. Later, when parents imposed upon him, Zimmerman above the din and the deluge [second fearing for their faith, fellow Witnesses recounts listening, as a child, to a use], Jennifer serenely seated back into shy away from him, he whines with brother speaking from the podium at place.” What can I say? a lack of self-awareness about losing his Kingdom Hall (church). He writes, his friends. The few times Zimmerman “I sat stoically, masking the uncomfort- comes close to acknowledging his cul- able combination of admiration and pability (his friends are simply treating confusion that bubbled in my belly. If I him the way he treated many others), listened closely, I thought, maybe one his unfortunate flair for the dramatic day I, too, could instill those same feel- serves to lessen the impact. An e-mail ings in my fellow Witnesses.” As a fellow from a friend, who wants to postpone former Jehovah’s Witness, I must grant helping him install carpet, prompts this that Zimmerman has succeeded in instill- “Despite his tendency to passage of panting prose: “I was stunned. ing that uncomfortable combination of Johnny’s email was at once both a bullet admiration and confusion. For, though I treat the mundane as between my eyes and a wrecking ball admire his effort, I am confused by what catastrophic—or maybe to my gut. My heart thrashed against it has produced. my ribs, and all the blood left my face. Zimmerman has been publicizing his because of it—Zimmerman Goosebumps covered me. My hands tin- tenure as a Jehovah’s Witness and his fails to convey genuine gled and grew numb. . . . I staggered subsequent shunning for many years. away from my computer, using my I enjoy his essays in which he includes suffering.” desk for support, and headed to the details oddly omitted from the book, restroom.” His description continues until such as how the elders develop a new he nears a moment of self-realization, form of expulsion in order to have him then, “I emptied myself of my breakfast, removed from the congregation. His and my lunch, and my faith. And I flushed book expands the idea established in it all away.” his essays that his faith falters when Besides regaling readers with unin- he questions the “Noachian Deluge.” tentionally comic bathroom visits, Unfortunately, without the constraints of Zimmerman subjects them to the minu- an essay format, Zimmerman gets mired Zimmerman continues misusing tia of his prayers: praying to be smart, in a morass of e-mail exchanges, tele- words and constructing awkward sen- praying to be dumb, and praying to undo phone calls, letters, and excerpts from tences. In one instance, a young classmate his previous prayers. He fills pages with Society publications until Deliverance is asks if he likes her essay about equal rights pathetic petitions as if they were poetry. more plod than plot. for gays. Zimmerman writes, “’I disagree,’ Moreover, he insists on treating ordi- Forcing his flood motif, Zimmerman was my tort response.” What? Worse still, nary occurrences as equally and overly grows quite fond of his own well-turned his juvenile descriptions seem to betray dramatic. For example, when the elders phrase, so much so that “having clam- certain prejudices and more than a hint in his new congregation prohibit a “Just bered above the din and the deluge” of sexism: ladies repeatedly “gossip,” and Married” sign on the back of his wedding appears three times. Furthermore, one his female therapist wears skirts that are limo, he daydreams that he is an irate can’t help but wish Zimmerman had “too short for my conscience.” The young archaeopteryx (another forced motif) reviewed connotation and denota- woman who becomes his wife “has a “not a weak, nervous, scrawny boy, but a tion before publishing his paperback, sweet ass.” A friend he suspects is gay “fits thing from another world. . . . I grabbed

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 63 the throats of Dick and Luther—one with parents’ divorce with relief and worry the deluge (third use), stood at the edge each claw— and allowed the momentum that they will fornicate, whereas a phone of doubt and, looking into the canyon, of my flight to flail them onto the floor. call informing him that his services as a witnessed a tiny speck of truth. With As they lay there, with blood oozing out ministerial servant are not required at his dogma and tradition and hypocrisy rush- from their tracheas and down betwixt my new congregation is met with overstate- ing down, I jumped into the canyon. I talons, I would speak.” ment: “I wanted the darkness to reach have been free falling in the world—the And speak he does; Zimmerman rev- out and embrace me. . . . I wished God Earth—ever since. And to quote my late els in his resentments. He resents not would let me die instead of living with mentor” (his mentor appears to be the having sex until after he married (his such humiliation and embarrassment. . . . aforementioned archaeopteryx or his therapist’s suggestion that he should In the morning, I cursed my own exis- dead bird Cosmo; the text reference is masturbate angers him). He resents that tence.” Later, he describes the death of convoluted) “are we of ‘this Earth’ and his wife refuses to recover from their his parakeet the same way he describes nothing more? Is there no respite from son’s botched birth. He resents that the the death of a friend, and neither pas- expectation; no relief from suffering? Is sage provokes a pang of sympathy. there no reward; no solution; no goal; no Zimmerman proves an unlikable pro- solace? Is there no Balsam in Gilead? Is tagonist in his own memoir. Faced with there no Deliverance at Hand?” his wife’s postpartum depression, made Dubious deliverance aside, jour- worse by her anxiety over the threat of neying beyond religion should not be armageddon, he refuses to allow her the only prerequisite for writing a reli- to see a therapist (although his own gion-to-reason memoir. All the standards premarital angst caused him to see one) of good writing still apply. An honest for four more months. He explains, “I memoir requires critical, even painful, detested the idea of lending credence self-examination, altogether different “An honest memoir requires to her depression by giving it an indus- from self-promotion and self-indulgence. critical, even painful, try-approved label.” After they decide While it may be amusing, it should not to leave the religion, he confesses to be accidentally funny. It should make self-examination, altogether his wife that he has not been a believer readers care, without being overly senti- different from self-promotion for six years (an admission not totally mental. Finally, it should not render the and self-indulgence.” supported by the text). When she rails monotonous details of day-to-day exis- against him for letting her suffer alone tence as if they are equally important as all that time, he excuses his dishonesty the life-altering events that motivate the with a disingenuous, “I thought you’d be memoir in the first place. To that end, mad at me.” Zimmerman’s memoir is premature. Eventually, Zimmerman leaves the In his essay The Future of an Illusion, Witnesses. He writes letters daring them Christopher Hitchens wrote, “the atheist to move against him, relying on their fear can expect to be free of the pervasive of legal action and negative publicity to solipsism that disfigures religious avoid being disfellowshipped. The petty thought.” Deliverance at Hand! reveals elders won’t let him officiate at his sister’s back-and-forth between Zimmerman Zimmerman’s solipsism still clinging. wedding. He resents that he can’t have a and the elders as he attempts to escape One hopes that it won’t disfigure his Society-sanctioned birthday party for his official punishment numbs the mind. atheism. son because Jehovah’s Witnesses do not When no one from the organization con- celebrate birthdays. Finally, he resents the tacts him for two months, he finally pro- elders’ photographic proof that he hosted claims himself an ex–Jehovah’s Witness. the forbidden party (his wife posted pho- The ending of his book is so ambig- tos on the Internet). Zimmerman’s tone uous however, that one borders on apocalyptic. has difficulty discerning Despite his tendency to treat the mun- whether Zimmerman is Becca Challman is a former journalist and television news dane as catastrophic—or maybe because happy with his choice: “I producer on the education beat. She freelances from her of it—Zimmerman fails to convey genu- am only a mortal who has home in Delaware. ine suffering. He greets the news of his climbed above the din and

64 Free Inquiry October/November 2013 secularhumanism.org Letters continued from p.17

how the law fails in this regard. settled these issues. Lindsay of the “demon of relativism.” The writer is confused about Again, “the law” simply embod- doesn’t seem to understand He thinks it threatens America’s basic definitions of objectivity ies in written code the collective this when he calls for “moral ability to defend itself against (realist and irrealist). My recom- prejudices and predilections of reasoning.” Whose morals and enemies, because it fails to take mendation: learn these defini- the ruling class. Does Spector ethics does he have in mind? seriously the idea that moral tions from various credible phi- really want us to rely on a sys- Finally, I am pleased that values are real, and that “if we losophy lexicons and then read tem that at any given point in Darrell W. Landrum basically ever hope to reach a global con- the article again. time can say that slavery is fine, agrees with my analysis. He sensus on matters of ethics— abortion is illegal, or liability raises an important issue if we would say, for instance, for criminal behavior can be about behavior and free will. that stoning women for adul- Islam Reconsidered trumped by a corporate shield? However, in my view, he under- tery is really wrong, in some James Luce estimates the power of society absolute sense—we must find The articles “Islam and Its Text” and the law, if practiced wisely, Peralada, Spain deep reasons to reject prag- by James Snell and “Islam: A to inculcate rules of behavior matism.” Pragmatists hold that Totalitarian Package of Religion that can minimize destructive, “our ideas cannot be placed on and Politics” by Madeline Weld impulsive actions. Hume cen- the gold standard of correspon- (FI, August/September 2013) turies ago and, more recently, Reynold Spector states: “It is dence with reality,” and for that both make valid observations Searle pointed this out. I com- obvious we must have some reason, pragmatism is “a rec- but employ some questionable mend Searle’s superb book understanding of human ipe for the End of Days chaos assumptions. Both seek to dis- Making of the Social World nature . . . if we are to develop envisioned by Yeats.” Given this tinguish Islam from other world (2010) to Landrum. practical, ethical, and moral negative critique, it is difficult religions on an almost qualita- principles and rules.” He later to take seriously the claim that tive level, rather than placing Amir E. Salehi (“In Defense of Sam says we now know that many, Harris is a secret pragmatist. it at one extreme end of a con- Harris’s ‘Science of Morality,’” (FI, tinuum if not most human behaviors Second, Salehi claims that August/September 2013) tries Snell rests his case on the are due to unconscious mech- pragmatists are “entitled to to resuscitate Sam Harris’s pro- infallibility of the Qur’an. That anisms. If this is true (and fMRI equate the instrumental or posal in The Moral Landscape for Islam officially proclaims its studies verify that it is), doesn’t prudential value of ‘good’ with a “science of morality” by “reclas- infallibility is less important than this suggest that laws currently moral goodness.” But no one sifying” its realist metaphysical the percentage of Muslims who assume compliance through is entitled for any reason to assumptions. Harris not only con- believe it. Many Orthodox Jews free-will decisions by each rea- conflate widely recognized and fesses to being a moral realist, he are content to accept Leviticus, soning mind despite the fact perfectly legitimate distinc- talks like one. Salehi, however, which advocates killing homo- that unconscious emotions can tions. Words such as good can claims that he “is no objectiv- sexuals, ostracizing women hijack the behaviors? be used to make moral value ist realist [since] his account of judgments as well as pruden- in menstruation, and slavery. Darrell W. Landrum objectivity is developed irrealis- tial value judgments. When we Most Jews don’t buy this. The Sequim, Washington tically.” If well-being is under- assert or presuppose that there Catholic Church insists (among stood “irrelistically,” he says, we are values and duties that are other dubious notions) that can hold that “human flourish- not the outcomes of our deci- birth control is unholy, which ing is good [but] only insofar sions, desires, and agreements, most Catholics reject. Many Reynold Spector responds: as it is instrumental for human we make a moral value judg- Muslims do reject the infalli- happiness.” He identifies this ment. We state or imply that bility of the Qur’an. Whether I am pleased that Jim position with pragmatism, moral values, such as goodness some American evangelical and Throgmorton agrees with argues that “Harris is a pragma- Catholic leaders claim the Bible or evil, are objective features of my notion that we need “a tist” although “he fails to recog- is infallible is less relevant than reality woven into the very fab- more just division of wealth in nize it” and further speculates the shocking percentage of ric of the world. Unlike moral America.” I welcome his ideas that “were Harris aware of the Americans who reject the theory judgments, pragmatic value on how to achieve that goal, a pragmatist side of his proposal, of evolution, a decent proxy for judgments carry no “metaphys- conviction believed by the vast he would have been able to infallibility. At best, a larger per- ical commitments.” Because majority of Americans not with- explain on what grounds his centage of Muslims sign up for moral value judgments state or standing Ronald A. Lindsay’s proposal is entitled to equate infallibility than other religions, assume that there are objective lack of understanding of the the prudential value of human but it’s a quantitative, not qual- values; therefore, they cannot reasons for this in his “Response well-being with its moral good- itative leap. be identical with pragmatic to Reynold Spector” published ness.” But these claims—that Weld’s analysis claims value judgments, which neither in the same issue. Does Lindsay Harris is a closet pragmatist and Islam is in “a league by itself” state nor presuppose the exis- really believe that CEO’s of that pragmatism entitles us to by overtly incorporating total- tence of intrinsic or objective failed companies are entitled “equate” prudential and moral itarianism. It does this more values. to tens of millions of dollars as values—are absurd. than other religions, but this they go out the door? First, in The End of Faith Wayne Alt remains a difference in degree. As is well known, the laws Harris draws the unfriendly con- Baltimore, Maryland Mearsheimer and Walt’s The as interpreted by the courts clusion that pragmatism is only Israel Lobby (2007) convinc- have generally ( but not always) “a more sophisticated version” Amir E. Salehi responds: ingly documents the sophisti-

secularhumanism.org October/November 2013 Free Inquiry 65 Letters Poem

cated political apparatus and While Jesus’s words “Render FI. I can only conclude that the machinations of Zionist/Jewish unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s article went to press without fundamentalists. Democracy in and unto God that which is that word, and the Almighty Narcissus Israel is a highly limited con- God’s” can be interpreted as reached down to alter the digi- cept. The intersection of the endorsing the separation of tal copy and insert a hint of the Christian right and the Tea church and state, there is nothing author’s possible acceptance of and Echo Party inescapably shows the comparable in Islamic theology. the Adam and Eve myth, albeit Christian Right would be happy The concept of separation of a guarded acceptance. Susan McLean to alienate our inalienable mosque and state never gained Michael Paulkovich rights if possible. Again, Islam traction in any Muslim country. Severna Park, Maryland is more extreme than other To state the facts about Islam Your form, the hue You religions but not qualitatively is not unfairly singling it out for different. vilification. Maybe Muslims aren’t In short, singling out Islam the only religious fanatics who Gary J. Whittenberger responds: of your cheek undo do for vilification may create an would like to kill us, but they To Ernst Kallenbach: yes,Theod- unwarranted acceptabil- me. I cannot not seem far more willing to put their icy #11 is floating around in the ity standard for other reli- wishes into action than anyone world of the religious, and like gions. Islam may be the worst else. Since September 11, 2001, the other theodicies, it doesn’t resist this ecstasy. see offender, but it’s not alone. I’m over twenty-one thousand fatal work. Most of us humans do confident that Muslims are not terrorist attacks have been carried prevent cruelty and oppression My other self, my enemy, me. the only religious fanatics who out around the world in the name when we anticipate it (know would like to kill me. of Islam. about it) and have the power to you are sublime. I’m Andrew Richter preclude it, but unfortunately Armonk, New York this is often not the case. If Why do you avoid a void Mass Shootings and God did exist, and if he were Theodicy all-knowing, all-powerful, and my touch? I am delayed laid Madeline Weld responds: perfectly “good and wise,” as is Re Gary J. Whittenberger’s article implied by Rabbi Gelman, then Andrew Richter challenges my more than I can bear. bare, “Mass Shootings and Theodicy” he would prevent cruelty and assertion that Islam is in a league (FI, August/September 2013): oppression in the remainder of by itself in overtly incorporating here is Theodicy #11, courtesy cases. He wouldn’t just sit back I swear I’d know no- totalitarianism. As evidence he of Rabbi Mark Gelman (The and let us take care of every- offers the existence of Zionist/ Gainsville Sun, March 14, 2009): thing. He wouldn’t be an apa- you anywhere. where. Jewish fundamentalist and “Imagine a world in which God thetic, insensitive, or lazy god. Christian Right lobby groups. intervened and stopped every Sorry, Mr. Paulkovich, but How does the existence of lobby act of cruelty and oppression. in reference to Adam and Eve, groups refute the facts I cited We human beings would almost I did intend to write “who are about the theology of Islam? certainly learn from these divine probably fictional characters The most ardent Zionists do not interventions that we didn’t anyway.” There was almost WRITE TO propose to force the whole world certainly no divine interven- to become Jewish and live under need to do anything on our own tion in my choice of words. In Jewish law. In fact, it’s not easy to fight evil. We’d just sit back for would-be converts to become and let God take care of every- retrospect, I wish I had written thing. This is not what a good “very probably” or “almost cer- Jewish. Christianity and Islam, in Send submissions to and wise God would want. . . .” tainly” rather than “probably.” contrast, both seek converts. But Andrea Szalanski, Letters Editor, Gelman has written several col- However, I am not a “certain nowhere in the actions of Jesus FREE INQUIRY, atheist” but a probabalistic one, Christ as reported in the New umns expressing similar senti- P.O. Box 664, Amherst, Testament or in Christian theology ments in the past. which I think is required by NY 14226-0664. does one find justification for kill- Ernst Kallenbach humanity’s current epistemolog- Fax: (716) 636-1733. ing people who refuse to convert Gainesville, Florida ical position, openness to new E-mail: (which is not to say that Christian evidence, and humility. [email protected]. zealots never killed unbelievers In letters intended for publication, I have but one objection to or heretics). Muhammad, whom please include name, address,­ Gary Whittenberger’s excel- Muslims consider as the supreme Erratum city and state, ZIP code, lent article: in the parenthetic model to emulate, engaged in and daytime phone number Mark Rubinstein’s bio on page jihad against infidels during the regarding Adam and Eve, “who (for verification purposes only). last ten years of his life and killed are probably fictional char- 42 incorrectly stated that thousands of people. Infidels acters anyway,” what is the his previous article, “Twenty Letters should be either converted or were killed, or word probably doing there? Christian Questions,” appeared 300 words or fewer sometimes could live as dhimmis, I suspect that it was not in in the June/July 2013 issue. and pertain to previous with distinctly inferior status to Whittenberger’s original, nor It was published in the April/ Free Inquiry articles. Muslims. was it added by any editor at May issue.

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