DOCSLIB.ORG

Freethought Volume 2 No

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Freethought Volume 2 No The Tampa Bay Coalition of Reason Freethought Volume 2 No. 4 April 2013 Jim Peterson, Editor News Organization for Progress and Equality) in What’s Inside? Compassionate Humanists? Hillsborough County. Both organizations have When most people think of humanists, they think: been very effective in influencing public Intellectual? Atheist? Godless? Anti-religion? Anti- policy in areas of job creation, literacy, Unified Calendar… ... ... 2 establishment? Self-centered? Mean spirited? ...and healthcare and affordable housing. Humanist Society…... 3 * on ad-infinitum. The fact is that sometimes they are I don't think that we would have to look very far to quite right. However, the humanists I know, besides find other organizations where we could become Tampa Humanists…. 5 * being very independent thinkers, are also some of the effective. I believe that it is time to stop Atheists of FL ……. 6 * most kind, caring, altruistic and considerate people I relinquishing matters of injustice and caring to Clr.UU-Humanists… 7 * have ever met. Where is the disconnect? I believe faith communities, after all, as humanists, we are Post Carbon Council..8 that the disconnect is only a matter of perception. committed to improving the earth and its Many, if not all of us, have had a tendency to live inhabitants here and now. That is our only reward. Freethought Films…..9 mostly in our heads and pursue our own definitions We are compassionate, not because we fear the of truth, sometimes courageously and publicly, but “loss of heaven or the pains of hell”, but because it Humanist Families…. 10 * most of the time anonymously or in our small group is the right thing to do. Americans United..… 10 of humanist acquaintances. However, we are also Bruce Gotts individuals who believe that we must act in this Military Atheists.….10 * world, not in some future “world to come”. The fact Ω Ctr. For Inquiry.......12 * remains that, in general, we are not understood, or Tampa Bay Skeptics.13 even worse, misunderstood. We need to let the world know that we have much more in common with all Coalition News……..14 of them that what separates us from them; after all, we are sharing the same planet and the same * Member organizations environment. It is in this light that I am suggesting a few ideas that would enhance our public perception Directory without compromising our principles. We become signatories on religious historian, Karen Tampa Bay Armstrong's “Charter for Compassion”, which Coalition of Reason came about as a result of a Ted Talk presented Calendar by Armstrong, and resulted in her being presented with the “Ted” award, which enabled Rick O’Keefe her to initiate the Charter. While, at first it was Web site conceived as a means to get religions to find a Jim Peterson “common denominator” for agreement, now whole cities have become signatories and I don't Newsletter think that there is anything in the Charter that Jim Peterson Author, speaks of the price we, as humanists, couldn't endorse. You can find Luis Granados of courage at a recent Tampa Humanist Assoc. Special Projects more about the organization and the full Charter at The Charter for Compassion's web site: meeting. Mark Brandt charterforcompassion.org. She also has written a Bruce Gott’s call for more social responsibility is book called “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate addressed to the Humanist Society, but its Life”. important message applies with equal urgency to Our food bank donations are very worthwhile, if not all freethought organizations. publicly known. However, I believe that we As our movement grows stronger each day, it is should become publicly involved, as humanists, important to emphasize our social consciousness, in Tampa Bay social justice organizations. A and the imperative it creates to make ourselves couple of examples where we might start are more involved in the well being of the entire FAST (Faith and Action for Strength Together) community. If you have thoughts or ideas on this Click to connect! in Pinellas County and HOPE (Hillsborough question, please send a letter or essay to the News. 2 Tampa Bay Coalition of Reason – February, 2013 Calendar This is produced from preliminary information. Check to insure the event is being held, when and where …. We are not liable for errors or omissions. Compiled by Rick O'Keefe, & Jim Peterson. Check for more events + details on the Coalition of Reason Web site at: http://tampabay.unitedcor.org/tampabay/ 04 -01 Monday, Humanists of See our website for more information “Drones” w/ Skip Parish at the Roskamp Center 6:30 PM Sarasota Bay on the many activities scheduled 1226 N. Tamiami Trail Sarasota. Lecture series. http://sarasota.humanists.net/ throughout the month.. 04-06, Saturday, CLEARWATER– Countryside Library Program: Humanism gone to the Dogs with 2 PM The Humanist Society of the 2741 S.R 580 Tampa Museum of Art curator, Seth Pevnick Suncoast Clearwater, FL MAP Monthly Humanist Families of Tampa Orlando For more information, see our Facebook page 04, Thursday, S. PINELLAS– To be determined. See the website. Monthly skeptical dinner 7 PM PCS Pinellas County Skeptics 04-14, Sunday, BRANDON– See Meetup for the venue. RSVP to Kathryn before noon of the Friday, 7 PM Joint CFI & Brandon Atheists preceeding the social. http://www.meetup.com/cfi-tampa-bay 04-14, Sunday, TAMPA– Atheists of Florida Office Details & RSVP at our Meetup site: 1:00 PM Atheists of Florida–Tampa Chapter 5103 South Westshore Blvd http://www.meetup.com/Atheists-of-Florida- Web: http://atheistsoffloridainc.org Tampa, FL (just four blocks south of Tampabay/ Blog: http://aofla.wordpress.com Gandy Blvd., west side.) 04-20, Saturday, TAMPA– Jimmie B. Keele Library Program: Evolve with Gin Kohl. See page 7. 11:00 AM Tampa Humanist Association 2902 W. Bearss Ave http://www.meetup.com/Tampa-Humanist- Tampa, FL MAP Association/ 04, New Tampa Film Event Jimmie B. Keele Library See for details: 1:00 PM Tampa Bay Humanist Film freaks 2902 W. Bearss Ave “Las Malas Intenciones” Tampa, FL MAP Cancelled for now. Sorry! 04-15, Monday, CARROLLWOOD– Carrollwood Cultural Center “Philosophy and the Brutes” 6:30 PM Tampa Bay Thinkers Discussion 4537 Lowell Rd, RSVP at Web site. Group Carrollwood, FL 33618 MAP 04, Thursday, N. PINELLAS– For details & to RSVP, see the Monthly skeptical dinner 7 PM PCS Pinellas County Skeptics website. Every 2 weeks Café Philo Check website for current times & Philosophical discussion group in Tampa in North Tampa locations 04, BRANDON– See the Meetup for details & the Click to RSVP 3 PM CFI Skeptic/Humanist Mixer RSVP (required). 04-21 Sunday, CLEARWATER– Unitarian-Universalist Congregation 12:30 PM UU Humanists of Clearwater http://www.uuclearwater.org/newindex.htm 2470 Nursery Road Clearwater, FL 33764 MAP 04-22, Thursday, North Pinellas CFI Skeptics/ See the Meetup for details & the RSVP is required if you are coming. Seating is 7:00 PM, Humanists Social RSVP (required) before noon of the limited to 12! Click here before noon, xxx Sunday preceeding the social.. (Sunday). Click HERE. 04-TBA NW Hillsborough / West Chase Upper Tampa Bay Regional Library A group of us like minded book lovers will CFI Share 11211 Countryway Blvvd. gather monthly to discuss we’ve all read. Readers Book Discussion Tampa, FL 33626 MAP RSV & details: www.meetup.com/cfi-tampa- 03-30 Saturday Tampa Bay Skeptics Jan Platt Regional Library on 3910 Details: See page 13! 11 AM Quarterly meeting South Manhattan Ave, Tampa FL 3 News A Socratic society dedicated to the proposition that the fully examined life is well worth living. Associate organization of the Humanists of Florida, the AHA, COR, and CSH. Find us at www.suncoasthumanist.com Volume 21 No. 4 April, 2013 Humanism goes to the Dogs Latest books from the Matt Cooper Some of our best Friends; Good & Bad! Humanist Library. Simply select the number of the book you wish to borrow, and Our experience of the world can often lead to a fine send it to Marios Psomas at: veneer of cynicism toward the pillars of our erstwhile [email protected]. Then pick it civilization. Famous for his laudatory mention by up at the next meeting. Be sure to return it! Alexander the Great, the surly, lantern-toting Diogenes TITLE AUTHOR of Sinope was called Kynos -- Greek for dog -- for his lifestyle and contrariness. 1. The Expanding Circle Peter Singer 2. In Gods we Trust Scott Atran It was from this word for dog that we get the word Cynicism. Diogenes of 3. Why Evolution is True Jerry Coyne Sinope is also known for his cosmopolitanism, literally. When asked where he 4. The Second World Panag Khanna 5. Denialism Michael Specter was from he said he was a citizen of the kosmos (world). Perhaps it is time to 6.The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins 7. Democracy Incorporated Sheldon Wolin explore the relationship between our precursors and our canine companions in 8.The Upside Irrationality Dan Ariely this consideration by Seth D. Pevnick, Ph.D. Chief Curator/Richard E. 9. The End of Growth Richard Heinberg 10. The God Delusion Richard Dawkins Perry Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Tampa Museum of Art. 11. All That We Share Jay Wallgasper 12. Sex, Time, and Power Leonard Shlain This lecture begins with an introduction to the three main 13. Sex at Dawn C. Ryan, & C. Jetha 14. What liberal Media Eric Alderman types of dogs distinguishable in ancient Greek and 15. The End of Faith Sam Harris 16. Plan B Lester Brown Roman art—lap dogs, hunting dogs, and guard dogs, 17. The Portable Atheist Christopher Hitchens 18 Open Society George Soros respectively.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Susan Jacoby God Bless America
    SICK AND TIRED OF « GOD BLESS AMERICA » By Susan Jacoby - New York Times Feb. 5, 2016 - THE population of nonreligious Americans — including atheists, agnostics and those who call themselves “nothing in particular” — stands at an all-time high this election year. Americans who say religion is not important in their lives and who do not belong to a religious group, according to the Pew Research Center, have risen in numbers from an estimated 21 million in 2008 to more than 36 million now. Despite the extraordinary swiftness and magnitude of this shift, our political campaigns are still conducted as if all potential voters were among the faithful. The presumption is that candidates have everything to gain and nothing to lose by continuing their obsequious attitude toward orthodox religion and ignoring the growing population of those who make up a more secular America. Ted Cruz won in Iowa by expanding Republican voter turnout among the evangelical base. Donald J. Trump placed second after promising “to protect Christians” from enemies foreign and domestic. The third-place finisher Marco Rubio’s line “I don’t think you can go to church too often” might well have been the campaign mantra. Mr. Rubio was first christened a Roman Catholic, baptized again at the age of 8 into the Mormon Church, and now attends a Southern Baptist megachurch with his wife on Saturdays and Catholic Mass on Sundays. Democrats are only a trifle more secular in their appeals. Hillary Clinton repeatedly refers to her Methodist upbringing, and even Bernie Sanders — a cultural Jew not known to belong to a synagogue — squirms when asked whether he believes in God.
    [Show full text]
  • Nonreligious Cultures and Communities in the United States 3000/4000 Level Course in Sociology
    Nonreligious Cultures and Communities in the United States 3000/4000 Level Course in Sociology Jacqui Frost **This is an updated version of a course I helped develop and teach in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota with Penny Edgell in 2016. This course was developed to be an upper-division course for juniors and seniors and could easily be cross-listed with religious studies or American studies.** Course Description What does it mean to be nonreligious in the United States today? There has been a rapid rise in those who identify as nonreligious over the past 30 years, and atheists, agnostics, and other “Nones” now comprise over 20% of the U.S. population. What are the various types of nonreligious identities and reasons for being nonreligious in the U.S. context? How do nonreligious individuals organize into groups oriented toward identity-formation, social connection, and political action? What are Americans' attitudes toward atheists, atheism, and non-belief, and are these attitudes changing? This course will promote a critical examination of the changing landscape of religious nonbelief in the United States, placing contemporary American atheism, agnosticism, and humanism in sociological and historical context. Throughout the course, we will focus on the varieties of religious and non-religious experience and engage with sociological debates about secularization in the late-modern context. Learning Outcomes 1. Demonstrate an understanding of the causes and consequences of increased religious disaffiliation in the United States. 2. Demonstrate an understanding of key sociological concepts, terms, and theories related to religious and nonreligious identities, beliefs, and practices.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • What the Founding Fathers Really
    FI Feb-Mar 07 Pages 12/26/06 1:04 PM Page 58 REVIEWS as the wolverines (Gulo gulo, some- for it is a human attitude and quality that other species from extinction, as far as times called the devil bear because of has moral and aesthetic dimensions. we can. What is rather noteworthy their ferocious and cunning capacity as Wilson is not simply a “nonbeliever.” about this book is Wilson’s plea to fellow predators or skunk bear because they He rejects the idea that God created the humans on this planet—whether reli- look like a hybrid of the two species). universe and states that there is no evi- gious or not—“that we set aside our dif- Pitchfork ants (Thaumatomyrmex) are dence for life after death and that ethics ferences in order to save the creation. masterpiece rare forms that are distrib- is not derived from theology but comes The defense of living nature is a univer- uted across the tropics. They have a from human experience. On the con- sal value,” he affirms, “it serves without bizarre exotic anatomy, which lends trary, he holds that the theory of natural discrimination all of humanity.” them their title as the “porcupine selection explains the evolution of This book makes important recom- huntresses” of millipedes. All of these species from lower forms; that morality mendations not only for secular human- diverse species are wonders to behold. is related to human needs and interests, ists (atheists, rationalists, skeptics), Wilson quotes Charles Darwin’s rever- biologically grounded and socially func- given the damage to our global habitat, ence for life.
    [Show full text]
  • Reclaiming the Intellectual Emily Houh University of Cincinnati College of Law, [email protected]
    University of Cincinnati College of Law University of Cincinnati College of Law Scholarship and Publications Faculty Articles and Other Publications College of Law Faculty Scholarship 2018 Reclaiming the Intellectual Emily Houh University of Cincinnati College of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/fac_pubs Part of the Law and Society Commons, and the Legal Profession Commons Recommended Citation Houh, Emily, "Reclaiming the Intellectual" (2018). Faculty Articles and Other Publications. 371. https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/fac_pubs/371 This Response or Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law Faculty Scholarship at University of Cincinnati College of Law Scholarship and Publications. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Articles and Other Publications by an authorized administrator of University of Cincinnati College of Law Scholarship and Publications. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ohio Aortbern ntberttp latu Rebteb lBean'o lecture beries Reclaiming the Intellectual EMILY M.S. HOUH* INTRODUCTION I was invited to deliver the September 2017 Dean's Lecture, on which this essay is based, in March of 2017, shortly after the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 4 5 th president of the United States. I had originally planned to present on one of my longstanding research areas, the intersections of contract law and critical race theory, but as the spring wore on, I began to feel an urgency about using my expertise to comment more directly on the increasingly overt but trenchant race, gender, sex, and class inequalities and conflicts that have plagued our nation for centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Atheism Course Syllabus for Young Scholars in American Religion (Fall 2019)
    Atheism Course Syllabus for Young Scholars in American Religion (Fall 2019) Joseph Blankholm Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara Institutional and Curricular Setting: The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is a public research university and one of 10 campuses comprising the University of California system. As of 2019, the school enrolled just over 23,000 undergraduates and just under 3,000 graduate students. 85% of those undergraduates are from California, and more than 40% will be the first in their family to graduate from a 4-year college; 36% are white, 30% Latinx, 28% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 5% black. The school is officially designated a Hispanic Serving Institution, which means that at least 25% of its student body is Hispanic. With strong departments across the sciences, humanities, and fine arts, UCSB ranked as the 5th-best public university in the country in 2019 according to US News & World Report. The university is on the quarter system, with three 10-week quarters stretching from late September through early June. Geographically, the university is located on the Pacific coast, 10 miles outside of downtown Santa Barbara. Formed in 1964, UCSB’s Department of Religious Studies has been among the pioneers of the secular study of religion and has built its reputation on its theoretical rigor, its wide range of specializations, its diverse language offerings, and its focus on the fringes of what is traditionally considered religious. It offers Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees, and with 25 tenure-track faculty, is the largest Religious Studies department in the University of California system.
    [Show full text]
  • RICHARD DAWKINS Ends All Debate
    RICHARD DAWKINS Ends All Debate Celebrating Reason and Humanity WINTER 2002/03 • VOL. 23 No. 1 f Susan HAACK • Christopher HITCHENS Nat HENTOFF Peter SINGER Paul KURTZ • • Introductory Price $5.95 U.S. / $6.95 Can. 24> John Dewey and Sidney Hook Remembered 7725274 74957 Published by The Council for Secular Humanism THE AFFIRMATIONS OF HUMANISM: A STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES* We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems. We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation. We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life. We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding. We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance. We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves. We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.
    [Show full text]
  • Susan Lynn Jacoby
    Susan Lynn Jacoby OHS Class of 1963 “Too many Americans have twisted the sensible right to pursue happiness into the delusion that we are entitled to a guarantee of happiness. If we don’t get exactly what we want, we assume someone must be violating our rights. We’re no longer willing to write off some of life’s disappointments to simple bad luck.” <Click the portrait for <Click the portrait for Susan in high school> Susan's career biography> Books Authored by Susan Jacoby <click for Susan’s Website and to order books> Moscow Conversations (1972) “The author, a journalist and wife of a Moscow correspondent, submits an indignant report on the difficulties of being a resident foreigner in that city, and the special dishonesties and disabilities of the foreign journalist's life in the Moscow ""ghetto."" (Source) The Friendship Barrier: Ten Russian Encounters (1972, British edition) Inside Soviet Schools (1974) The Possible She (1979) Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge (1983) Traces the history of Western attitudes towards revenge and justice, looks at sexual revenge, capital punishment, and the U.S. criminal justice system, and considers the portrayal of revenge in popular novels and movies. Soul to Soul: A Black Russian American Family, 1865-1992 (with Yelena Khanga) (1994) Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past (2000) “A journalist journeys back into her family's own hidden past…” Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004) "Jacoby accomplishes her task with clarity, thoroughness, and an engaging passion."
    [Show full text]
  • RLE 2012.11.09D Panel 3 Transcript
    BOSTON COLLEGE BOISI CENTER FOR RELIGION AND AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE Symposium on Religion and the Liberal Aims of Higher Education Transcription of Panel III: “Dynamic Tensions” Friday, November 9, 2012, 3:00pm The Heights Room of Corcoran Commons, Boston College featuring: Susan Jacoby Eboo Patel Author and Independent Scholar Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core Nicholas Wolterstorff Moderated by Mark Oppenheimer Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of New York Times columnist and Lecturer in Philosophical Theology, Yale University English at Yale University Introduced by Erik Owens Associate Director, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College OWENS: Thank you all. We are moving apace through the day, coming now to our final panel discussion of the afternoon. Directly after this panel, without break, will be the brief closing remarks by our president, Father Leahy. After that, more food and drink to celebrate and continue the conversations we have started here. So I invite you to take your seats now and join me for what promises to be a terrific conversation that we’re describing—perhaps euphemistically—as “dynamic tensions.” We’re delighted to have as our moderator Mark Oppenheimer, columnist from the New York Times as well as a lecturer in English at Yale University, and he’ll take over from here. Thank you, Mark. OPPENHEIMER: Okay, thank you. Welcome. It so happens, Erik, that I lost all the notes you gave me on the phone about what I’m supposed to do, which is great, because then I get to do what I want to do. Let me just say, first of all, that as ever you have these panelist biographies in your brochure.
    [Show full text]
  • Atrium School Summer 2016 Reading List
    Atrium School Summer 2016 Reading List Welcome to Atrium's 2016 Summer Reading Suggestions! I hope you will find this a fun and useful resource as you look for great books to read this summer. The list is organized by categories, so that you can quickly and easily jump to your favorites: Picture Books/Early Readers: p.1 Animal Stories, p.4 Fantasy, Folk & Fairy Tales, and Science Fiction, p.5 Graphic Novels, p.13 Historical Fiction, p.15 Mystery, Suspense, and Adventure, p.16 Realistic Fiction, p.19 In a Category All By Itself, p.26 Within each category, there is also some color-coding, to help with age/grade recommendations. Note that, of course, no age/grade recommendations apply to everyone, all the time. So, use this color-coding system simply as a helpful guideline when looking through the list: Blue = PreK - 2nd Grade Green = 3rd - 6th Grades Maroon = Middle School Orange = Mature Middle School (Generally 8th Grade - High School) Gray = The Gray Areas -- where a book may either appeal to a broader age span or otherwise not fit neatly into the above categories. Many people have contributed to this diverse list; Atrium kids are by far the largest group of contributors this year -- a huge thank you to all those kids who shared book reviews! In addition, several Atrium teachers have contributed reviews, and scattered among all the categories are my own summer picks (listed as "Susan Picks"!). Enjoy the list and PLEASE feel free to share feedback with me and all readers of this list by commenting on the Blog! Happy Summer Reading! Susan
    [Show full text]
  • Faithless: the Politics of New Atheism
    SECULARISM & Kettell, S 2013 Faithless: The politics of new atheism. Secularism and ISSSC Nonreligion, 2: 61-72, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/snr.al NSRN NONRELIGION RESEARCH ARTICLE Faithless: The politics of new atheism Steven Kettell*1 The emergence of ‘new atheism’ during the course of the last decade helped fuel an upsurge of interest in issues around religion. But scholarly analysis of new atheism, particularly its political dimensions, remains embryonic. This paper addresses this lacuna by examining the politics of new atheism across a variety of themes related to politics. These include the causal factors underpinning its emergence and development, its organisational structure and composition, the political strategies pursued by its proponents, and the various internal tensions and conflicts that these dynamics have produced. Introduction One area that has been peculiarly absent from studies of The early years of the twenty-first century thrust issues new atheism, however, has been its political dimension). around religion to the forefront of public and political The point is exemplified by a recently edited volume on debate. One of the defining features of this was the emer- new atheism, purporting to offer a rounded examination gence of a more activist form of atheism, known as the of the topic, which includes work from “the fields of reli- ‘new atheism’, which sought to openly challenge and criti- gious studies, sociology of religion, sociology of science, cise religious beliefs and to promote the virtues of reason, philosophy, and theology” (Amarasingham, 2010: 2), but rationality and science. Fueled by a series of best-selling contains nothing in the way of political analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Progress Report
    PROGRESS 2016 REPORT Message from the President and CEO This aptly named Progress Report gives you a sense of the Cen- CFI’s efforts to stand up for secular people here and abroad were ter for Inquiry’s incredible ambition and range of endeavors to particularly active in 2016. As a multi-year project, we have been promote reason and science. From our two flagship magazines, Free challenging the exclusion of secular celebrants from those who Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer, to our work defending secular activists may solemnize marriages. In too many states, religious leaders are around the world at the United Nations Human Rights Council, automatically given the right to solemnize marriages alongside cer- CFI is working to bring the values of the Enlightenment—critical tain public officials, while secular celebrants are excluded. In 2014 thinking, scientific literacy, humanism, and individual freedom—to we won a lawsuit against Indiana’s exclusion, and just at the start the 21st century. of 2017, we heard the good news that an Illinois judge opened the way for secular celebrants there as well. The big news for CFI is that we have formally merged with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science (RDFRS). Another notable CFI victory was the crackdown by the Federal Throughout 2016, the two organizations worked hand-in-glove. Trade Commission on the marketing of homeopathy, something Now, we are one, with RDFRS becoming a division of CFI, CFI had urged in formal testimony. Hopefully this will put a dent and the RDFRS board, including Richard Dawkins, joining the in the $3 billion a year that Americans spend on this consumer CFI board.
    [Show full text]