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HUMANISM Religious Practices
HUMANISM Religious Practices . Required Daily Observances . Required Weekly Observances . Required Occasional Observances/Holy Days Religious Items . Personal Religious Items . Congregate Religious Items . Searches Requirements for Membership . Requirements (Includes Rites of Conversion) . Total Membership Medical Prohibitions Dietary Standards Burial Rituals . Death . Autopsies . Mourning Practices Sacred Writings Organizational Structure . Headquarters Location . Contact Office/Person History Theology 1 Religious Practices Required Daily Observance No required daily observances. Required Weekly Observance No required weekly observances, but many Humanists find fulfillment in congregating with other Humanists on a weekly basis (especially those who characterize themselves as Religious Humanists) or other regular basis for social and intellectual engagement, discussions, book talks, lectures, and similar activities. Required Occasional Observances No required occasional observances, but some Humanists (especially those who characterize themselves as Religious Humanists) celebrate life-cycle events with baby naming, coming of age, and marriage ceremonies as well as memorial services. Even though there are no required observances, there are several days throughout the calendar year that many Humanists consider holidays. They include (but are not limited to) the following: February 12. Darwin Day: This marks the birthday of Charles Darwin, whose research and findings in the field of biology, particularly his theory of evolution by natural selection, represent a breakthrough in human knowledge that Humanists celebrate. First Thursday in May. National Day of Reason: This day acknowledges the importance of reason, as opposed to blind faith, as the best method for determining valid conclusions. June 21 - Summer Solstice. This day is also known as World Humanist Day and is a celebration of the longest day of the year. -
Communicating Skepticism Science Based Healthcare Conspiracy Theories a New Chair-Entity Skeptical Desiderata the Kardashian Index Good Germs and Bad Germs
Communicating skepticism Science Based Healthcare Conspiracy theories A new Chair-entity Skeptical Desiderata The Kardashian Index Good germs and bad germs number 113 – spring 2014 content editorial Communicating skepticism or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Media 3 Thanks for all the fish Society for Science Based Healthcare – up and running 8 T’S about 25 years since I joined the NZ Skeptics, and eight years since I took on the editorship of this magazine. It’s been fun, Book Review: The Orphan I Conspiracies 10 but it’s time I handed the NZ Skeptic on to other hands, so this will be my last issue as editor. Thank-you to all who have contributed Newsfront 12 over the years; together we’ve covered a lot of ground. I thought Skeptical Desiderata 15 I’d indulge myself a little here by looking back over past issues and some of the material in them. Interview with the entity 16 Yet another science metric Some topics never go away. Alternative medicine remains as – the Kardashian Index 18 popular as ever, and mediums are still fleecing the vulnerable and the grieving. Others, such as crop circles, may emerge, prosper for a Forum 20 time and then fade. A few may morph in unexpected and occasion- From the vaults: Group wants ally alarming directions. Hypnotic regression started out as a means cash to fight ritual abuse 21 of ‘discovering’ a person’s past lives or alien abduction experiences Survival in a bacterial (see p 5) but became more sinister when subjects began to report world 22 instances of satanic ritual abuse and, later (coupled with flawed inter- rogations of children), more conventional forms of sexual abuse (see NZ Skeptic 50, this issue p 21). -
Darwins-Corrosive-Idea.Pdf
This report was prepared and published by Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, a non-profit, non-partisan educational and research organization. The Center’s mission is to advance the understanding that human beings and nature are the result of intelligent design rather than a blind and undirected process. We seek long-term scientific and cultural change through cutting-edge scientific research and scholarship; education and training of young leaders; communication to the general public; and advocacy of academic freedom and free speech for scientists, teachers, and students. For more information about the Center, visit www.discovery.org/id. FOR FREE RESOURCES ABOUT SCIENCE AND FAITH, VISIT WWW.SCIENCEANDGOD.ORG/RESOURCES. PUBLISHED NOVEMBER, 2016. © 2016 BY DISCOVERY INSTITUTE. DARWIN’S CORROSIVE IDEA The Impact of Evolution on Attitudes about Faith, Ethics, and Human Uniqueness John G. West, PhD* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In his influential book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, have asked about the impact of science on a person’s philosopher Daniel Dennett praised Darwinian religious faith typically have not explored the evolution for being a “universal acid” that dissolves impact of specific scientific ideas such as Darwinian traditional religious and moral beliefs.1 Evolution- evolution.5 ary biologist Richard Dawkins has similarly praised In order to gain insights into the impact of Darwin for making “it possible to be an intellect- specific scientific ideas on popular beliefs about ually fulfilled atheist.”2 Although numerous studies God and ethics, Discovery Institute conducted a have documented the influence of Darwinian nationwide survey of a representative sample of theory and other scientific ideas on the views of 3,664 American adults. -
The Freedom of Thought Report 2018
THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT REPORT 2018 Key Countries Edition A Global report on the rights, legal status and discrimination against humanists, atheists and the non-religious THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT REPORT 2018 Key Countries Edition Freedom of Thought 2018: A Global Report on the Rights, Legal Status and Discrimination Against Humanists, Atheists and the Non-religious, was created by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). The International Humanist and Ethical Union is the global representative body of the humanist movement, uniting a diversity of non-religious organisations and individuals. Its mission is to represent and support the global Humanist movement, and to build a world in which human rights are respected and all can live a life of dignity. If you have updates, additions or corrections for the report please email [email protected] or visit the website at freethoughtreport.com. To receive updates and news from IHEU, or join as a supporter, visit iheu.org. Constitution & Government Education & Children’s Rights These maps depict the findings of the full Freedom of Thought Report which is available in a complete Online Edition at freethoughtreport.com. The maps correspond to each of the four thematic strands of the Report: Constitution & Government, Education & Children’s Rights, Society & Community, and Freedom of Expression & Advocacy of Humanist Values. Each map shows the highest severity level (see key, right) of any boundary condition applied in each thematic strand. 6 Freedom of Thought 2018 | Maps Society & Community Expression & Advocacy of Humanist Values Grave Violations Severe Discrimination Systemic Discrimination Mostly Satisfactory Free and Equal No Rating Maps | Freedom of Thought 2018 7 This map depicts the findings of the full Freedom of Thought Report Grave Violations which is available in a complete Online Edition at freethoughtreport.com. -
Qanon • 75 Years of the Bomb • Vaccine History • Raising
SQANON • K75 YEARS OF ETHE BOMB P• VACCINE HISTORYT • RAISINGI CTHE DEAD? Extraordinary Claims, Revolutionary Ideas & the Promotion of Science—Vol.25Science—Vol.25 No.4No.4 2020 $6.95 USA and Canada www.skeptic.com • WHAT IS QANON? • HOW QANON RECYCLES CENTURIES-OLD CONSPIRACY BELIEFS • HOW QANON HURTS THEIR OWN CAUSE • QANON IN CONSPIRATORIAL CONTEXT watch or listen for free Hear leading scientists, scholars, and thinkers discuss the most important issues of our time. Hosted by Michael Shermer. #146 Dr. DonalD Prothero— # 130 Dr. DeBra Soh—the end # 113 Dave ruBIn— # 106 Dr. DanIel ChIrot— Weird earth: Debunking Strange of Gender: Debunking the Myths Don’t Burn this Book: you Say you Want a revolution? Ideas about our Planet about Sex & Identity in our Society thinking for yourself in an radical Idealism and its tragic age of unreason Consequences #145 GreG lukIanoff—Mighty # 129 Dr. Mona Sue WeISSMark Ira: the aClu’s controversial involve- —the Science of Diversity # 112 ann Druyan—Cosmos: # 105 Dr. DIana PaSulka— ment in the Skokie case of 1977. Possible Worlds. how science and american Cosmic: ufos, # 128 MIChael ShellenBerGer civilization grew up together religion, and technology #144 Dr. aGuStIn fuenteS— —apocalypse never: Why environ- Why We Believe: evolution and the mental alarmism hurts us all human Way of Being # 127 Dr. WIllIaM Perry and #143 Dr. nICholaS ChrIStakIS— toM CollIna—the Button: the apollo’s arrow: the Profound and new nuclear arms race and Presi- enduring Impact of Coronavirus on dential Power from truman to trump the Way We live # 126 Sarah SColeS—they are #142 Dr. -
Darwin Day in Deep Time: Promoting Evolutionary Science Through Paleontology Sarah L
Shefeld and Bauer Evo Edu Outreach (2017) 10:10 DOI 10.1186/s12052-017-0073-3 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Darwin Day in deep time: promoting evolutionary science through paleontology Sarah L. Shefeld1,2* and Jennifer E. Bauer2 Abstract Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12th, is an international celebration coined Darwin Day. During the week of his birthday, universities, museums, and science-oriented organizations worldwide host events that celebrate Darwin’s scientifc achievements in evolutionary biology. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) has one of the longest running celebrations in the nation, with 2016 marking the 19th year. For 2016, the theme for our weeklong series of events was paleontology, chosen to celebrate new research in the feld and to highlight the specifc misconceptions of evolution within the context of geologic time. We provide insight into the workings of one of our largest and most successful Darwin Day celebration to date, so that other institutions might also be able to host their own rewarding Darwin Day events in the future. Keywords: Charles Darwin, Paleontology, Tennessee, Community, Evolutionary biology, Fossils Introduction event, was given by Dr. Neil Shubin, paleontologist and February 12th is an annual international celebration of author of popular science book Your Inner Fish, was the life and work of Charles Darwin, collectively termed attended by over 600 university and community members. “Darwin Day”. Tese global events have similar objec- Celebrating Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural tives: to educate and excite the public about evolutionary selection is particularly important in the United States, science. Although Darwin’s work is most often discussed where a nearly one-third of the adult population does not in terms of its incredible impact on evolutionary biol- accept the evidence for evolution (Miller et al. -
Regression to Fundamentalist Religion As an Inadequate Defense Against Growing Environmental Complexity
Paper prepared for the sessions of the Research Committee on Sociocybernetics at the 16th World Congress of Sociology, July 23-29, 2006 in Durban, South Africa THE "WAR ON TERROR" AND "THE FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION": REGRESSION TO FUNDAMENTALIST RELIGION AS AN INADEQUATE DEFENSE AGAINST GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEXITY FELIX GEYER, [email protected] DRAFT VERSION, NOT YET TO BE QUOTED! 1. INTRODUCTION: In this paper we will argue that the present period of rapidly increasing environmental complexity and interdependence tends to increase feelings of insecurity caused by a lack of environment mastery, in both the developed Western world and the largely underdeveloped Muslim world. This will be the case especially in the less educated parts of the population, where it will stimulate an upsurge of religion, especially its fundamentalist versions. In my last few papers I have dealt, directly or indirectly, with the overwhelming political and economic1 reasons for the war on terror 2 and the leading role of the US in that war 3, in this paper attention will therefore be directed to these religious aspects, both on the Muslim side and on the US-Christian side, and to the functions of religion as such in the 21st-century world. For a thorough understanding of the following, nearly all you might ever want to know about terrorism from the Muslim side can be found by thoroughly looking at the PowerPoint presentations – and if you are interested in the subject also the papers - of the participants in a 2004 Suicide Terrorism Conference in Washington. 4 A recent MIT study complements these findings.5 The main points of these presentations will be discussed later. -
Teaching the Theories of Evolution and Scientific Creationism in the Public Schools: the First Amendment Religion Clauses and Permissible Relief
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 15 1982 Teaching the Theories of Evolution and Scientific Creationism in the Public Schools: The First Amendment Religion Clauses and Permissible Relief J. Greg Whitehair University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Education Law Commons, First Amendment Commons, Religion Law Commons, and the Science and Technology Law Commons Recommended Citation J. G. Whitehair, Teaching the Theories of Evolution and Scientific Creationism in the Public Schools: The First Amendment Religion Clauses and Permissible Relief, 15 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 421 (1982). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol15/iss2/10 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TEACHING THE THEORIES OF EVOLUTION AND SCIENTIFIC CREATIONISM IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: THE FIRST AMENDMENT RELIGION CLAUSES AND PERMISSIBLE RELIEF Traditional methods of religious training and transmission of moral values have been irreversibly altered by the changing role of the family, the church, and the public school.1 The expanding role of the public school in this training triggers concern that these traditional moral and religious values are being displaced.1 As a result, the appropriate role of religion in the public schools has become the subject of ongoing, heated debate. -
The Darwin Show (Print Version)
LRB · Steven Shapin · The Darwin Show (print version) http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n01/steven-shapin/the-darwin-show/print Back to Article page Steven Shapin It has been history’s biggest birthday party. On or around 12 February 2009 alone – the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, ‘Darwin Day’ – there were more than 750 commemorative events in at least 45 countries, and, on or around 24 November, there was another spate of celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. In Mysore, Darwin Day was observed by an exhibition ‘proclaiming the importance of the day and the greatness of the scientist’. In Charlotte, North Carolina, there were performances of a one-man musical, Charles Darwin: Live & in Concert (‘Twas adaptive radiation that produced the mighty whale;/His hands have grown to flippers/And he has a fishy tail’). At Harvard, the celebrations included ‘free drinks, science-themed rock bands, cake, decor and a dancing gorilla’ (stuffed with a relay of biology students). Circulating around the university, student and faculty volunteers declaimed the entire text of the Origin. On the Galapagos Islands, tourists making scientific haj were treated to ‘an active, life-seeing account of the life of this magnificent scientist’, and a party of Stanford alumni retraced the circumnavigating voyage of HMS Beagle in a well-appointed private Boeing 757, intellectually chaperoned by Darwin’s most distinguished academic biographer. The Darwin anniversaries were celebrated round the world: in Bogotá, Mexico City, Montevideo, Toronto, Toulouse, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Bangalore, Singapore, Seoul, Osaka, Cape Town, Rome (where it was sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture, part of a Vatican hatchet-burying initiative), and in all the metropolitan and scientific settings you might expect. -
How Religiously Neutral Are the Anti-Creationist Organisations?
How Religiously Neutral are the Anti‐Creationist Organisations? Two case studies by Don Batten and Jonathan Sarfati 1) USA’s so‐called ‘National Center for Science Education’ In NCSE Reports 15(2):9, 1995, the Executive director, Eugenie C. Scott, protests against Dr John Morris of the Institute for Creation Research saying the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is ‘an offshoot of the American Humanist Association’. Scott claims confusion could possibly be due to NCSE's journal, Creation/Evolution, being started by the American Humanist Association (AHA) and initially edited by the executive director of the AHA, Frederick Edwords (a philosopher, not a scientist). The journal ‘was later sold by AHA to NCSE’, says Scott. Although humanism is an atheistic religious belief, Scott claims that NCSE was intended from the start to ‘be a religiously‐neutral organization focusing on science and education’. Scott says that NCSE has members from all sorts of religious persuasions, including ‘conservative evangelical Christians’. NCSE is supposedly just interested in ‘science education’. However, it seems strange that the only ‘science education’ NCSE seems interested in is evolution; not chemistry, physics, astronomy, or even experimental biology. ‘Science’ seems to be a euphemism for ‘evolution’, certainly nothing to do with the operational science that put men on the moon, cured diseases, etc. In NCSE Reports 16(1):7, 1996, readers are directed to an article ‘on our web site at http://www.csicop.org’. This is the Skeptics' (USA) web site, the ‘Science and Reason Site’, as the Skeptics claim, which overtly espouses materialism (atheism) with direct links to the Council for Secular Humanism and other atheistic / anti‐Christian sites. -
Philip M. Gottshall
PHILIP M. NOVACK-GOTTSHALL DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES BENEDICTINE UNIVERSITY 5700 COLLEGE ROAD LISLE, IL 60532 (630) 829-6514 [email protected] www1.ben.edu/faculty/pnovack-gottshall RESEARCH INTERESTS Comparative paleoecology and ecology of invertebrate animals and marine communities; body size evolution; quantitative methods and null models in ecological diversification and macroevolution; morphometrics, digital imaging, and photomacrography PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT 2009–present Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Benedictine University, Lisle, IL Tenure awarded September 2013 2005–2009 Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA March 2008: Unanimously promoted at third-year review 2004–2005 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS 2009–present Research Associate, Department of Geology, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 2006–present Participant / Data Contributor, Paleobiology Database (www.paleodb.org) EDUCATION September 2004 Ph.D., Biology, Program in Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC Dissertation: Ecology and evolution of deep-subtidal, soft-substrate communities during the Cambrian through Devonian; Advisor: Dr. Daniel W. McShea June 1999 M.S., Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH Thesis: Comparative geographic and environmental diversity dynamics of gastropods and bivalves during the Ordovician Radiation; Advisor: Dr. Arnold I. Miller May 1996 B.S., Summa cum laude with Honors, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA Double major in Biology and Music Performance (Organ); minor in Chemistry PUBLICATIONS Undergraduate students are in bold 1. Novack-Gottshall, P. and K. Burton. In press (2013/2014). Morphometrics indicates giant Ordovician macluritid gastropods switched life habit during ontogeny. Journal of Paleontology. 2. Payne, J.L., F.A. -
"Goodness Without Godness", with Professor Phil Zuckerman
Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.santabarbarahumanists.org JULY 2019 Join Us for the July Speaker Meeting at Valle Verde: Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis The tragic problem of gun violence is not a political issue but a public health concern of epidemic proportions. Nearly 40,000 people died from gun violence in the U.S. in 2018, two thirds of them from suicide. This was the highest level of gun violence in 20 years. The Coalition Against Gun Violence (CAGV) has been working for over 24 years to create a safer community, to raise the awareness of the potential dangers of firearms through education and awareness. CAGV supports reasonable gun violence prevention legislation to ensure gun safety at the local, state, and national Toni Wellen, Chair, Coalition Against Gun Violence. Photo provided by Toni Wellen. levels. CAGV focuses on keeping firearms away from irresponsible people. Our Speaker: Toni Wellen is the Chair and co-founder of the Coalition Against Gun Violence, a Santa Barbara County Coalition with over 40 partner organizations. Toni, a resident of Carpinteria, is a Marriage & Family Therapist. She previously worked for The National Council on Alcoholism and as an elementary school teacher. Toni earned degrees from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, UCLA, UCI, and Chapman University. She and her husband Larry have four children and seven grandchildren. When: Saturday, July 20, 2019 Where: Valle Verde. 900 Calle De Los Amigos, Santa Barbara, CA. Parking: Please park at Veronica Springs Church, 949 Veronica Springs Road. Free shuttle to and from meeting.