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Ron Reagan Does Not Consider Himself an Activist
Photoshop # White Escaping from my Top winners named ‘Nothing Fails father’s Westboro in People of Color Like Prayer’ contest Baptist Church student essay contest winners announced PAGES 10-11 PAGE 12-16 PAGE 18 Vol. 37 No. 9 Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. November 2020 Supreme Court now taken over by Christian Nationalists President Trump’s newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is going to be a disaster for the constitutional prin- ciple of separation between state and church and will complete the Christian Nationalist takeover of the high court for more than a generation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation asserts. Barrett’s biography and writings reveal a startling, life-long allegiance to religion over the law. The 48-year-old Roman Catholic at- tended a Catholic high school and a Presby- terian-affiliated college and then graduated from Notre Dame Law School, where she Photo by David Ryder taught for 15 years. She clerked for archcon- Amy Coney Barrett Despite his many public statements on atheism, Ron Reagan does not consider himself an activist. servative Justice Antonin Scalia, and signifi- cantly, like the late justice, is considered an “originalist” or “textual- ist” who insists on applying what is claimed to be the “original intent” of the framers. She and her parents have belonged to a fringe con- servative Christian group, People of Praise, which teaches that hus- Ron Reagan — A leading bands are the heads of household. Barrett’s nomination hearing for a judgeship on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where she has served for less than three years, documented her many controversial figure of nonbelievers and disturbing positions on religion vis-à-vis the law. -
Chapter 15: Resources This Is by No Means an Exhaustive List. It's Just
Chapter 15: Resources This is by no means an exhaustive list. It's just meant to get you started. ORGANIZATIONS African Americans for Humanism Supports skeptics, doubters, humanists, and atheists in the African American community, provides forums for communication and education, and facilitates coordinated action to achieve shared objectives. <a href="http://aahumanism.net">aahumanism.net</a> American Atheists The premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of atheists and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. <a href="http://atheists.org">atheists.org</a> American Humanist Association Advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers. <a href="http://americanhumanist.org">americanhumanist.org</a> Americans United for Separation of Church and State A nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving church-state separation to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. <a href="http://au.org">au.org</a> Atheist Alliance International A global federation of atheist and freethought groups and individuals, committed to educating its members and the public about atheism, secularism and related issues. <a href="http://atheistalliance.org">atheistalliance.org</a> Atheist Alliance of America The umbrella organization of atheist groups and individuals around the world committed to promoting and defending reason and the atheist worldview. <a href="http://atheistallianceamerica.org">atheistallianceamerica.org< /a> Atheist Ireland Building a rational, ethical and secular society free from superstition and supernaturalism. <a href="http://atheist.ie">atheist.ie</a> Black Atheists of America Dedicated to bridging the gap between atheism and the black community. <a href="http://blackatheistsofamerica.org">blackatheistsofamerica.org </a> The Brights' Net A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview. -
Portrait of Jesus Won't Resurrect in Jackson Schools
Complimentary Copy Join FFRF Now! Vo1. 30 No. 5 Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. August 2013 Last Call to Photo: Andrew Seidel FFRF Convention Dan Savage Juan Mendez Hemant Mehta, math teacher, freethought activist and author of The Friendly Atheist blog, visited FFRF in July and treated the staff and summer interns to pizza. From left (back) are Andrew Seidel, Lisa Strand, Dan Barker, Josh Turn to back page for details. Glasgow, Ryan Dwyer, Katie Daniel, Dayna Long, (front) Scott Colson, Rebecca Markert, Hemant Mehta, Liz Cavell, Lauryn Seering, Sarah Eucalano, Annie Laurie Gaylor and Aaron Loudenslager. Not pictured: Bill Dunn, Patrick Elliott. FFRF, ACLU prevail, to settle with Ohio school Portrait of Jesus won’t resurrect in Jackson schools The Freedom From Religion Foun- lawsuit against the public school dis- district, which had previously removed dation, the American Civil Liberties trict in Jackson, Ohio, for displaying the portrait, has agreed to permanent Inside This Issue Union of Ohio and individual plain- a large portrait of Jesus above the en- removal. tiffs in mid-July agreed to settle their trance to Jackson Middle School. The Details of the global settlement of the issues will be released once they are approved by U.S. District Judge Al- genon Marbley and by a probate court. Two of the plaintiffs are minors. The parties must file their settlement agree- ment with the district court within 90 days. Defendants are the Jackson City Meet our interns Page 2 School District and Board of Educa- tion and Superintendent Phil Howard. Announcing FFRF and the Ohio ACLU first sued ‘Memorable on behalf of students and parents Moments in over a display in a middle school. -
SECULAR HUMANISM with a PULSE: the New Activism from Confrontation to Community Service, Finding Ways to Engage
FI AS C1_Layout 1 6/28/12 10:45 AM Page 1 RONALD A. LINDSAY: Humanism and Politics CELEBRATING REASON AND HUMANITY August/September 2012 Vol. 32 No.5 SECULAR HUMANISM WITH A PULSE: The New Activism From Confrontation to Community Service, Finding Ways to Engage CHRIS MOONEY | ARTHUR CAPLAN | KATRINA VOSS P Z MYERS | SIKIVU HUTCHINSON 09 TOM FLYNN: Are LGBTs Saving Marriage? Published by the Council for Secular Humanism 7725274 74957 FI Aug Sept CUT_FI 6/27/12 4:54 PM Page 3 August/September 2012 Vol. 32 No. 5 CELEBRATING REASON AND HUMANITY 20 Secular Humanism With A Pulse: 30 Grief Beyond Belief The New Activists Rebecca Hensler Introduction Lauren Becker 32 Humanists Care about Humans! Bob Stevenson 22 Sparking a Fire in the Humanist Heart James Croft 34 Not Enough Marthas Reba Boyd Wooden 24 Secular Service in Michigan Mindy Miner 35 The Making of an Angry Atheist Advocate EllenBeth Wachs 25 Campus Service Work Franklin Kramer and Derek Miller 37 Taking Care of Our Own Hemant Mehta 27 Diversity and Secular Activism Alix Jules 39 A Tale of Two Tomes Michael B. Paulkovich 29 Live Well and Help Others Live Well Bill Cooke EDITORIAL 15 Who Cares What Happens 56 The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: 4 Humanism and Politics to Dropouts? Enjoying Life without Illusions Ronald A. Lindsay Nat Hentoff by Alex Rosenberg Reviewed by Jean Kazez LEADING QUESTIONS 16 CFI Gives Women a Voice with 7 The Rise of Islamic Creationism, Part 1 ‘Women in Secularism’ Conference 58 What Jesus Didn’t Say A Conversation with Johan Braeckman Julia Lavarnway by Gerd Lüdemann Reviewed by Robert M. -
September 12Th, 2021 at 1:00Pm
Vol. XXXV No.9 September 2021 September 12th, 2021 at 1:00pm Laurie McNeil —-Good Vibrations: The Interplay of Music and Physics Scholars and musicians from the ancient Greeks to modern times have asked questions about music: Why do we find the combination of certain pitches pleasing? Why do two different instruments playing the same note sound different? Can musical instruments be improved (and what would that mean)? The answers to these questions arise from the profound connections be- tween music and physics. This talk will elucidate some principles of musical acoustics and explore how they affect the way instruments work and how we experience musical sound. In doing so it will draw on Dr. McNeil’s background as a physicist and a musician, and on her experience co-teaching a course on the subject with a professional musician, promises an entertaining and informative presentation. Dr. McNeil is the Bernard Gray Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned an A.B. in Chemistry & Physics from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Current paid CDHS members will automatically receive an invite to the meeting via e-mail. Anyone who is not a current paid member of CDHS can request an invitation by sending an e-mail request to: [email protected]. The CDHS September social will be an afternoon at the Annual Tugboat Roundup in Waterford on Saturday, September 11th. We will gather at 11:00 AM at the visitor’s center (Hurst Harbor Ctr.). -
Clever Hans's Successors Testing Indian Astrology Believers' Cognitive Dissonance Csicon Nashville Highlights
SI March April 13 cover_SI JF 10 V1 1/31/13 10:54 AM Page 2 Scotland Mysteries | Herbs Are Drugs | The Pseudoscience Wars | Psi Replication Failure | Morality Innate? the Magazine for Science and Reason Vol. 37 No. 2 | March/April 2013 ON INVISIBLE BEINGS Clever Hans’s Successors Testing Indian Astrology Believers’ Cognitive Dissonance CSICon Nashville Highlights Published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry March April 13 *_SI new design masters 1/31/13 9:52 AM Page 2 AT THE CEN TERFOR IN QUIRY –TRANSNATIONAL Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Bar ry Karr, Ex ec u tive Di rect or Benjamin Radford, Research Fellow Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow www.csicop.org James E. Al cock*, psy chol o gist, York Univ., Tor on to Thom as Gi lov ich, psy chol o gist, Cor nell Univ. Robert L. Park,professor of physics, Univ. of Maryland Mar cia An gell, MD, former ed i tor-in-chief, David H. Gorski, cancer surgeon and re searcher at Jay M. Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor of New Eng land Jour nal of Med i cine Barbara Ann Kar manos Cancer Institute and chief Astronomy and director of the Hopkins Kimball Atwood IV, MD, physician; author; of breast surgery section, Wayne State University Observatory, Williams College Newton, MA School of Medicine. John Pau los, math e ma ti cian, Tem ple Univ. Steph en Bar rett, MD, psy chi a trist; au thor; con sum er Wendy M. Grossman, writer; founder and first editor, Clifford A. -
From the Editor Skep Ti Cal Inq Uir E R™ the MAG a ZINE for SCI ENCE and REA SON
SI Sept/Oct pgs_SI MJ 2010 7/23/10 12:41 PM Page 4 From the Editor Skep ti cal In quir e r™ THE MAG A ZINE FOR SCI ENCE AND REA SON ED I TOR Kend rick Fra zi er ED I TO RI AL BOARD James E. Al cock Martin Gardner and the Skeptical Movement Today Thom as Cas ten Ray Hy man Joe Nick ell Am ar deo Sar ma artin Gardner’s passing and the latest successful skeptic’s conference are both causes for Benjamin Wolozin Mreflection on where the skeptical movement Gardner helped found stands now. CON SULT ING ED I TORS I begin these comments as I depart The Amazing Meeting 8 (TAM8), the James Randi Sus an J. Black more Ken neth L. Fed er Educational Foundation’s big skeptics conference in Las Vegas. Martin Gardner’s legacy was much Barry Karr in evidence, and indeed Gardner received a moving tribute from Randi at the beginning of a late- E. C. Krupp Scott O. Lil i en feld afternoon panel on the origin of the skeptics movement. Randi, Ray Hyman, and Paul Kurtz— Da vid F. Marks three giants who, with Gardner, were present at the beginning—and I talked about the events that Jay M. Pasachoff Eu ge nie Scott led to the creation of CSICOP (now our Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) in 1976. Ray’s, Randi’s, Rich ard Wis e man and Paul’s reminiscences also lead off this special Martin Gardner Tribute Issue of the SKEPTICAL CON TRIB UT ING ED I TORS INQUIRER , pp. -
1 in the United States District Court
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA BRIAN FIELDS, PAUL TUCKER, DEANA WEAVER, SCOTT RHOADES, JOSHUA NEIDERHISER, PENNSYLVANIA Civil Action NONBELIEVERS, INC., No. ________________________ DILLSBURG AREA FREETHINKERS, and COMPLAINT LANCASTER FREETHOUGHT SOCIETY, Plaintiffs, v. SPEAKER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, PARLIAMENTARIAN OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, and REPRESENTATIVES FOR PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE DISTRICTS 92, 95, 97, 193, and 196, all solely in their official capacities, Defendants. Introduction 1. In Town of Greece v. Galloway, 134 S. Ct. 1811 (2014), the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that governmental entities may open their meetings with invocations that typically have theistic content. But the Court also ruled that 1 governmental bodies must “maintain[] a policy of nondiscrimination” in deciding who may present invocations, and that the relevant policies or practices must not “reflect an aversion or bias . against minority faiths.” Id. at 1824. Thus, in upholding the invocation practice of the town at issue, the Court emphasized that the town’s “leaders maintained that a minister or layperson of any persuasion, including an atheist, could give the invocation.” Id. at 1816. 2. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, numerous governmental bodies across America have allowed nontheists—atheists, agnostics, Secular Humanists, and others who do not believe in a deity—to give opening invocations at governmental meetings. Yet the defendant officials of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have repeatedly rejected requests from nontheists to give opening invocations at the House’s daily legislative sessions. The defendants have implemented a policy that permits only people who hold theistic religious beliefs to give the opening invocations. -
Jennifer Forester, Faculty Mentor
Pics or It Didn’t Happen: Sexist Hyperskepticism in the Modern Skeptical Movement Author: Jennifer Forester, Faculty Mentor: Clark Pomerleau, Ph.D., Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences Department and College Affiliation: Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences Pics or It Didn’t Happen 2 Bio: Jennifer Forester graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in English with a specialization in writing and rhetoric. Jennifer was a member of the Honors College. She presented her research at University Scholars Day in April 19, 2013. She is proud of her service in the United States Marine Corps where she was a Corporal (Bandsman, Armorer) in Cherry Point, North Carolina. She is a mother of two brilliant, if often unruly, children. Her current plan is to find gainful employment, but promises that she will eventually return to college and obtain her doctorate in rhetoric with a particular focus on the ways that rhetorical studies can be applied to social justice. Pics or It Didn’t Happen 3 Abstract: In the skeptical community, there is an ongoing conflict over what—if any—actions are necessary to make the movement more welcoming to the growing numbers of women in its ranks. This conflict has brought a great deal of antifeminist sentiment to the surface, to include rape and death threats against prominent women who speak affirmatively on feminist issues within organized skepticism. The origins of this problem can be found in the grounding of skeptical dialogue on the superiority of a traditionally masculinized ideal of science and reason, which excludes the feminized personal narratives that serve as evidence for mistreatment of women within the community. -
Bruce Gleason - Examining “Woo”
The HSSB Secular Circular – August 2020 1 Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBHumanists.org AUGUST 2020 Please join us for our August Speaker Meeting on Zoom… Bruce Gleason - Examining “Woo” Examining “Woo” is a presentation about all things magical, mystical, and absolutely, totally useless. Bruce will scrutinize many common non-scientific medical procedures, religion- based infomercial scams, homeopathy, GMOs, and gay conversion therapy. He will discuss how to tell what is more likely to be true and will examine the psychology of conspiracy theorists. He will also review why our species is so susceptible to confirmation bias and so often comfortable with cognitive dissonance. Bruce Gleason has been involved in the atheist, skeptic and humanist communities for 16 years. Founder of the Backyard Skeptics Meetup with over 1300 members, he has placed over 14 billboards supporting the secular community. He creates two annual conferences: LogiCal-LA, a scientific skeptics’ event, and the Freethought Alliance Conference, which is for atheists, agnostics, and church-state separatists. Both conferences are currently postponed due to Covid-19. Bruce is a professional videographer and supplies critical audio Bruce Gleason, Founder of visual equipment for conferences such as the American Backyard Skeptics; creator of Humanist and American Atheists conferences. He worked at LogiCal-LA and Freethought ABC Television in Hollywood for several years. Alliance Conference. When: Saturday, August 15, via Zoom. Log in as early as 2:45 pm. Program begins at 3pm. Where: Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84572611448. For those ONLY joining with phone audio, dial 1-669-900-9128 then enter meeting id 84572611448# COVID-19 Pandemic Models Update Dave Flattery will present his 7th update on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday August 23rd at 3pm. -
Australian Skeptics Celebrate Thirtieth Consecutive National Conference KENDRICK FRAZIER
[ NEWS AND COMMENT Australian Skeptics Celebrate Thirtieth Consecutive National Conference KENDRICK FRAZIER The Australian Skeptics (founded 1980) vironmental sustainability (see sidebar is the third oldest skeptical group in “The Planetary Adventures of Austra- the world, and its quarterly magazine, lia’s Dick Smith”). Dr. Karl, who has de- The Skeptic, is the world’s second oldest grees in physics and medicine, is Austra- skeptical publication (after the Skeptical lia’s best-known science communicator, Inquirer). So because the latest Australian a popular television and radio figure, and Skeptics National Convention, in Sydney, author of thirty-two books—most re- November 28–30, 2014, was the group’s cently Game of Knowns, which examines thirtieth consecutive national confer- the knowns, unknowns, and unknown ence—something no other group can unknowns of science. say—the event was quite a well-deserved Dick Smith’s keynote talk asked and celebration. I was invited to the festivities implicitly answered the question, “Is and happily flew south. the human power to self-delude un- Australian skeptic leaders such as limited?” as he surveyed instances of Richard Saunders and Barry Williams water diviners being dumbfounded by (past presidents), Eran Segev (current their not passing controlled tests and president), Tim Mendham (editor of promoters of “above-unity” machines The Skeptic and executive director), Ian advocating with a straight face for what Bryce (chief investigator), and Joanne would otherwise be called perpetual Benhamu were everywhere in evidence. motion machines. No amount of bad George Hrab (from the United States) evidence adds up to good evidence, he emceed, introduced all speakers, en- noted, while cautioning, “We all have tertained, and also gave a moving talk our self-delusions.” And he noted it during the conference on a subject would be boring if we were all rational skeptics usually ignore—dealing with all the time, mentioning love as a prime loss and grief. -
President's Report
December 2020 Newsletter of PA Nonbelievers, Inc., affiliated with American Atheists, Atheist Alliance International and the Council for Secular Humanism. Visit us on the web at panonbelievers.org or like us on Facebook at facebook.com/PennsylvaniaNonbelievers Follow us on Twitter @panonbelievers President’s Report Josh CruverKibi I am thankful for the election being over. And thank you to everyone who voted and helped with the election process. However, 2020 is not over yet and neither is the Corona virus. The number of cases has been going back up, just as the scientist’s predicted for the fall and winter, so please be careful and follow social distancing protocols whenever possible. PAN is still meeting weekly online. You can check the CDC website for information and guidelines on COVID-19 at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus. There is also information and guidance’s for COVID-19 on PAN’s newly designed website. If you have not checked out our new website’s look and design, please do: http://www.panonbelievers.org/ . The redesign of the PAN website was completed by one of our own PAN members who recently graduated from college. She used her graphic and website design skills and donated a lot of her time to changing the look of the PAN website. I think she did a great job! Now that the website has been redesigned, we can continue to add to the website and we are looking for suggestions from members for what they would like to see and use the website for. We would like for the PAN Website to be a resource of information and social engagement in our community.