The HSSB Secular Circular – April 2021 1 Newsletter of the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara www.SBHumanists.org APRIL 2021 Please join us for our April Speaker Event on Zoom… Proud Boys and White Nationalists: Christian Terrorists? Our Speaker: Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer is a distinguished professor of sociology and global studies, and an affiliate professor of religious studies, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies. He is a pioneer in the global studies field, focusing on global religion, religious violence, conflict resolution, and South Asian religion and politics. He has published more than three hundred articles and thirty books, including the recent God at War (Oxford 2020), the award-winning Terror in the Mind of God (University of California Press, 4th ed, 2017), and his co-edited Oxford Handbook of Global Studies (Oxford 2018). Saturday April 17, 2021 at 3:00pm PST. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88163951335 Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer April COVID-19 Update Dave Flattery will present his monthly update on the State of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic When: Sunday April 25 at 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern. All are welcome. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82598900099 Check out the family tree of ~ 4000 known COVID variants on Page 7. Dave Flattery 2 The HSSB Secular Circular – April 2021 Darrel Ray: medical and social services support, and Recovering From Religion regulations for safety and public health. 3/20/21 By Robert Bernstein What is considered "moral" and legal in the U.S. is largely driven by Church beliefs. And, conversely, Darrel Ray spoke to HSSB about his organization what is considered moral in Church teachings is "Recovering From Religion" just after Robert affected by societal standards enshrined in law. Aaron Long committed the horrific murders at the Perhaps if sex work was a respected legal Atlanta massage parlors. profession (as in these other countries) these problems would be reduced? HSSB President Judy Flattery gave a timely introduction that raised an important question. Darrel Ray thanked Judy for her introduction and Immediate news coverage emphasized the race validated that the murders and comments were, aspect, connecting the murders with increased indeed, relevant to his talk. "Too often, religion gets attacks on Asian-Americans throughout the U.S. a pass,” he said. Judy, however, cited a valuable piece in the New The focus of Dr. Ray's York Times entitled: Suspect’s Church Calls Spa talk was: How do we Attacks ‘the Result of a Sinful Heart.’ help people in their journey out of religion? Perhaps the mass murder in Atlanta was driven by religion, sex, and guilt rather than race. The killer His book The God Virus said he was just trying to remove temptation and talked about how race was not the issue for him. religious ideologies “infect” peoples' brains Long's former roommate, Tyler Bayless, described and spreads from person a "religious mania" that gripped the killer. to person. It makes it difficult for infected Another New York Times article gave even more people to view reality detail. Bayless said that Long's Crabapple Baptist objectively. Church forbids sex outside of marriage and that Long "was distraught by his failed attempts to curb They end up with cognitive dissonance. They are his sexual urges." He had attended a church holding two contradictory beliefs in mind at the sponsored treatment program to curb these urges same time. This causes concern and discomfort and later lived in a half-way house with others who which can be as powerful as pain. Notably, there were dealing with similar concerns. will likely be a conflict between the person's religion and their sexuality. They are told that they Bayless noted: "Nearly once a month, Mr. Long can't masturbate or have sex outside of marriage or would admit he had again relapsed by visiting a that they can't eat certain foods that they desire. massage parlor for sex." At some point the conflicted person will realize I will add that U.S. laws involving sex are largely their religion is really a cult; however, separating based on religion rather than on public health or the from the religion and its community still causes rights of sex workers. The U.S. is an outlier among pain. industrialized countries. Most other industrialized countries treat sex work as legal, often receiving Some of us have experienced long lasting pain. Perhaps from disease or from an accidental injury. We might have nerve damage and we try to The HSSB Secular Circular – April 2021 3 alleviate it. We can end up in a cycle of pain and Perhaps the most important point Ray made is that relief. people don't need advice. They need emotional support for the journey they are on. Cognitive dissonance does the same thing. The result can be even more pain. A person leaving RfR directs people to resources including therapy. their religion may be shunned by their spouse, The main thing is dealing with that immediate pain, children, and extended family. They might lose in particular, the pain of being shunned. The pain their job and, in some parts of the world, they may can be quite literal as in when a parent beats a child even lose their life. because they no longer believe. Approximately 300-500 people communicate with RfR by chat or phone each month. You can see how this works at their web site. The volunteer agents have access to a vast library of online resources. There are 275 volunteers in 16 different time zones. Many volunteer for 10-20 hours per week. Australian volunteers handle a lot of chats and calls from Americans up late at night! There are direct phone numbers in the U.S., Cognitive Dissonance. Source: Laboratory for Canada, the U.K., Australia, and South Africa. Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies RfR is not trying to convert or de-convert people. It is all about asking good questions based on In 2009 Ray started Recovering From Religion "Street Epistemology" which he talked about (RfR). He had no idea what he was getting himself before. By asking the right questions, a person is into. It started from seeing people in pain. They able to reflect on their own beliefs and change on didn't know what to do. Their spouse was leaving their own if they want to. 9 out of 10 who come to them. They might want to come out as gay. There RfR move further from religion. Some move from were no resources to deal with the consequences of one religion to another, perhaps from being a leaving one’s religion. Muslim to being a Buddhist or from Baptist to Unitarian. It started as a local support group similar to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) but without the focus Dr. Ray noted that giving advice is damaging. It is on a higher power, without the need to “keep usually based on your life without truly coming back”, and without the label “addiction”. understanding what the other person is going through. What can be very helpful is connecting RfR will celebrate its 12th anniversary in April. with others who are going through the same thing. Ray described the psychology behind what they do When a person joins a chat, the volunteer can invite and why they do it in a certain way. He was trained them to join one of a wide variety of "channels". as a psychologist, originally as a clinical Some channels are by region. Others are by the psychologist and later as an organizational religion being questioned. Others are by specific psychologist. challenges like coming out as gay or trans or being black, or even being a member of the clergy! Almost everyone in RfR is a volunteer. They are systematically trained. About 80% of people who log in to chat have some type of sexual problem. Darrel Ray has published a The HSSB Secular Circular – April 2021 4 book, Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality. Religion creates major guilt and pain over normal desires and fantasies. RfR vets people before they can join a channel which reduces the types of conflict seen in social media. Once vetted, they are free to join as many channels as they want. He noted that few of us listening to his talk will need these services, but we likely know someone who does. RfR volunteers’ most common phrase: "You are not alone." People often think they are the only atheist or doubter of religion in their area. It may be Montana. Or Bangladesh. Or Pakistan. RfR goes through protocols to protect their privacy and safety, by using a VPN, for example. At this point, Judy Flattery recalled that Darrel Ray grew up with religion. Ray said he indeed grew up in a very religious household. His parents even Christian." That is when he came out to his parents became missionaries when they retired. He went to that he no longer believed in Christianity. He stayed a Quaker college and then to a very liberal close with them. They knew he was an atheist. They Methodist Seminary. After age 12 he didn't buy continued their missionary work. into it, but he didn't know how to get out of it. He even thought he would become a minister, though RfR has Monday night Zoom meetings with 100- he hoped he would be a liberal one! 150 people. People coming from different religions learn from each other. An ex-Scientologist might He enjoyed outings where he collected fossil shark realize how similar their experience is to that of an teeth.