Comment

Comment by Brian Magee on June 21, 2012 at 2:41pm

A Reinvigorated Feminist Caucus

This year’s American Humanist Association 71^stAnnual Conference saw a lot of wonderful things come to fruition, one of them being the tireless efforts of Feminist Caucus Chair Stephanie Downs Hughes and newly appointed Feminist Caucus Co-Chair Zelda Gatuskin to get the AHA Feminist Caucus back to action. Zelda Gatuskin, president of the Humanist Society of New Mexico and editor-in-chief of Amador Publishers LLC, contacted Stephanie Downs Hughes about mobilizing activity for the Feminist Caucus at the annual conference.

Stephanie, unable to attend, appointed Zelda co-chair, and members in attendance at the Feminist Caucus Business Meeting unanimously affirmed her leadership.  Zelda had the support of her chapter's newly formed Feminist Caucus HSNM in preparing the agenda, handouts and displays for the AHA Feminist Caucus’s presence at the conference. Members of her HSNM delegation kept FC events running smoothly. 

The business luncheon saw a turnout of 28 Feminist Caucus members, including 3 AHA board members, to discuss action items such as state level FC organizations, rotating chapter leadership, “Pass the ERA” campaign activity, and mentorship and colleagueship programs. Ideas were also fielded about restarting the Feminist Caucus newsletter, which has been dormant since 2007. 

In addition to hosting the Feminist Caucus Business Meeting, the Feminist Caucus also helped host and support the screening of Miss Representation, a film by Jennifer Seibel Newsom about the way women are treated in modern media, and how these limited portrayals of women are negatively impacting women in leadership. The Feminist Caucus was also active at a table hosting an Equal Rights Amendment petition for AHA members to sign and show support for the renewed efforts to “Pass the ERA.”  More on that at www.united4equality.com.

 

To read the rest of this Humanist Network News article, click here.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 20, 2012 at 2:04pm

June 21: Happy World Humanist Day

By James A. Haught

People sometimes ask me whether I'm an agnostic, an atheist, a skeptic–or what. I have a standard reply: I don't think about labels; I just think about being honest and truthful.

Honest people don't claim to know supernatural stuff that nobody can know. Truthful people don't say they're sure of gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, saviors and the like, when there's no actual evidence.  Ministers who proclaim certainty about invisible, magical things are dishonest, I think.

Years ago, when I was a young news reporter, my city editor was an H.L. Mencken-style cynic who laughed at hillbilly preachers, and I joined him. But as a naïve seeker of wisdom, I worried--so  I told him, "OK, you're right that they're spouting fairy tales and mumbo-jumbo, but what's the actual truth? Why are we here? Why is the world here? Why do we live and die?  What answer can an honest, sincere, thinking person give?"

He eyed me and replied, "You can say: I don't know." Bingo. That rang a bell in my psyche that I've never forgotten. Admitting that you don't know is truthful. It's just about the only honest stand you can take. Confessing that you cannot answer is moral and honorable.

Later, I realized that an honest person can go further to reach rational conclusions about whether supernatural claims are plausible. You can't really prove that invisible fairies don't dance in the darkness, or that the Virgin Mary doesn't miraculously appear to believers, or that witches don't copulate with Satan, or that the Angel Moroni didn't reveal golden plates and later take them back to heaven, but your intelligence can conclude that such claims are so far-fetched that they should rank with children's fantasy stories.

 

To read the rest of this article from the latest edition of Humanist Network News, click here.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 19, 2012 at 2:07pm

Author Nikki Stern brings us Hope in Small Doses

Her new book shares a version of hope that accepts uncertainty and embraces possibility

Contact:
Humanist Press: Brian Magee, 202-238-9088 bmagee@americanhumanist.org
Author: nikki@nikkistern.com

In Nikki Stern’s first book, Because I Say So: the Dangerous Appeal of Moral Authority, she used her experiences as a 9/11 widow to examine a culture that supports unequivocal moral certainty. Hope in Small Doses, released May 31 by Humanist Press, takes a natural next step in exploring how hope might be sustained, even in the wake of tragedy and uncertainty.

Hope in Small Dosesembarks on a journey to find meaning, purpose and a measure of happiness. Rejecting hope that relies on divine providence or the infallibility of the human mind, Stern ultimately embraces a version driven not by expectation but by possibility, grounded in reason and fueled by faith in our capacity to learn and change. Feisty, erudite and deeply moving, this is an uplifting book offering a workable blueprint for a reasonably happy life.

“We could all use hope right now,” Stern suggests. “The notion of hope in small doses may seem unnecessarily cautious, but we can always ask for seconds.”

Following the death of her husband on 9/11, Stern served as executive director of Families of September 11 (FOS11) and shared an award from the conflict transformation group Search for Common Ground. She has written for the New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, Humanist Magazine, Princeton Magazine, and a number of online publications. She’s also appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and CBS’s Sunday Morning, among other outlets.

Hope in Small Doses is available in print and ebook versions. The latter takes full advantage of many available features, including interactive reader commentary, author videos, and useful web links. Information on the book and where to buy either the print or ebook version is included on the website HopeInSmallDoses.com.

Fun and insightful videos related to the book can be found on our Vimeo channel.

Excerpts from Hope In Small Doses can be found here: http://www.americanhumanist.org/system/storage/63/74/9/3124/Hope_In...

Upcoming Humanist Press titles will include Damned Good Company by lawyer Luis Granados; and Make the Break (If You Can)by retired NASA scientist Reginald J. Exton.

###

Humanist Press is the publishing house of the American Humanist Association, providing material for the humanist/freethought/atheist market since 1995. The American Humanist Association (www.americanhumanist.org) advocates for the rights and viewpoints of humanists and atheists in the United States. Founded in 1941 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., its work is extended through more than 140 local chapters and affiliates across America.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 14, 2012 at 10:41am

Michigan Residents: Tell Your State Senators To Oppose The Julea Ward Freedom Of Conscience Act!

Dear Friend,

Earlier this year, I informed you of a bill in the Michigan House of Representatives that would subvert the national standards of the counseling process and legalize discrimination in our nation’s higher education institutions. This bill, House Bill 5040, also known as the “Julea Ward Freedom of Conscience Act,” has now passed the Michigan House of Representatives and moves to the state Senate for approval.

The “Freedom of Conscience Act” was created following a tragic incident at Eastern Michigan University where a gay student was discriminated against by a fellow student named Julea Ward. Ms. Ward, who served as a graduate counselor in the university’s counseling program, was removed from her position and expelled from the university after she attempted to refer a client to another counselor because the client's file indicated a past gay relationship, a relationship Ms. Ward morally opposes as an evangelical Christian.

The Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association and the Ethical Standards of the American School Counselor Association, which student counselors are obliged to follow as a curricular requirement of the university, mandate that counselors are not to allow their personal values to intrude into their professional work. Since Ms. Ward broke these standards, the school was correct in terminating her from her position. Simply put, the passage of this misleading “Freedom of Conscience Act” would give students in the counseling, social work, or psychology programs free rein to discriminate against LGBT students or students who do not agree with their religious views.

If you are a Michigan Resident, this is your chance to stand up aga...”

The American Humanist Association is committed to defending the right of all people not to be discriminated against, and stands in favor of the rigorous standards that are present in the counseling profession. I ask you to help defeat the Julea Ward Freedom of Conscience Act b.... Thank you for standing up against religious discrimination.

Sincerely,

Roy Speckhardt
Executive Director

P.S. If you're not a Michigan resident, be sure to read about this controversy because it may be an issue in your state next.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 12, 2012 at 3:06pm

Below is a selection from our recently received "love" letters.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 5, 2012 at 12:55pm

The Humanist Hour #74: Bad Religion

A new episode of the Humanist Hour is available for listening!

In this month’s podcast, Todd Stiefel and guest co-host Scott Burdick interview Bad Religion lead vocalist Greg Graffin and bassist Jay Bentley backstage at the Reason Rally.

Thanks to Scott Burdick for capturing and providing the Humanist Hour with the audio content for this month!

 

For complete details on this podcast, click here.

 

Comment by Brian Magee on June 4, 2012 at 10:36am

Kathryn Joosten, humanist and actress on "Desperate Housewives," died on June 3. In 2007, she saw an advertisement the AHA ran in the New York Times soon after Rep. Pete Stark announced that he was a nontheist. She called the AHA office to say that she loved the ad and wanted to add her name and picture to it. Here is a copy of the ad that ran again soon after.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 1, 2012 at 3:12pm

Does Molly Hope?

Visit HopeInSmallDoses.com

Comment by Brian Magee on June 1, 2012 at 9:06am

Voting in North Carolina Churches Should Cease, Says American Humanist Association

For Immediate Release

Contact:

William J. Burgess, 202-238-9088, bburgess@americanhumanist.org
Brian Magee, 202-238-9088, mobile: (202) 681-2425, bmagee@americanhumanist.org

 

(Washington, DC – June 1, 2012) – Stating that “churches are an unconstitutionally hostile environment for nonreligious voters,” the North Carolina State Board of Elections has been asked by the American Humanist Association (AHA) to cease allowing the use of churches as polling places.

The AHA’s legal department, the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, sent a letter on May 31, 2012, to State Board of Elections Executive Director Gary O. Bartlett saying that state and federal law requires that “appropriate polling places must be neutral civic locations, welcoming to all voters,” and “the use of churches as polling places is, in addition to being a violation of state law, unconstitutional.”

When North Carolinians went to the polls on May 8 to vote on Amendment One, the amendment to the state’s Constitution banning equal marriage rights, news reports highlighted how signs outside of churches being used as polling places displayed messages supporting the amendment. This practice is just one example of a broader situation in the state and across the country in which voters encounter religious messages and influences in what should be neutral polling places.

“Citizens are forced to enter a religious structure and encounter religious messages simply to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” wrote Appignani Legal Center Director William J. Burgess in his letter. “This violates the Establishment Clause [of the U.S. Constitution], which requires the separation of church and state.”

In further support of the request to “take formal action to change the manner in which private polling places are selected and regulated,” Burgess cites scientific studies that show that “subtle environmental cues in a polling place can significantly, but unconsciously, affect citizens’ real-world votes” mainly due to what’s known as the “priming effect” which “nudges voters in a predictable direction [leading] to a systematic, non-random bias in individual’s decision-making.”

As a remedy, the election board is asked to use its authority to issue regulations barring the use of churches as polling places in favor of secular venues such as schools, libraries, fire stations, municipal government offices, courts and recreation centers.

A copy of the letter can be found online here: http://humanistlegalcenter.org/legal/legal-center-opposes-the-use-o...

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The Appignani Humanist Legal Center (humanistlegalcenter.org) is a project of the American Humanist Association that provides legal assistance to defend the constitutional rights of secular Americans by challenging violations of the separation of church and state guaranteed by the Establishment Clause and seeking equal rights for humanists, atheists and other freethinkers.

 

Comment by Brian Magee on May 31, 2012 at 11:01am

Matt Pozun, a member of AHA and past president of the James Madison University Freethinkers, just ordered new JMU license plates that declare his nonbelief! (Shared with permission.)

 

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