Comment by Brian Magee on September 27, 2012 at 10:21am

Take Action: Tell The State Department to Help Egyptian Atheist Alber Saber

Please join the AHA in asking the U.S. State Department to assist Egyptian atheist Alber Saber. He has been arrested after he and his mother were attacked by an angry mob for criticizing religion.

Details on how you can help can be found here.

 

Comment by Brian Magee on September 28, 2012 at 10:11am

Prominent Psychologist Jon Mills Pens First Novel

First Novel as an Ebook for Humanist Press

Tackling the issue of absence of meaning many people profess about their modern lives, psychologist, philosopher, and psychoanalyst Jon Mills uses the character of Dr. Owen Ross to explore the personal power of transcendence in When God Wept, the first novel by the award-winning author.

Living in a godless universe, Ross is a Chicago psychologist who realizes that his life has become empty and meaningless after enduring a lifetime of personal pain. The character is forced to come to terms with his mother’s suicide, his father’s religiosity, his daughter’s death, and the undisclosed love he has for a female co-worker. Afflicted by an insidious apathy, he no longer cares or feels compassion for others. Upon getting divorced, he reassesses the events that constitute his life, and throughout the course of one day, becomes horrified by his existence.

“Many people in contemporary society are secretly in search of spirituality without God, yet they are often a silent voice. That is one reason why I wrote this novel,” says Mills.

John Lacks, Centennial Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and author of In Love with Life, said of the book: “In a wonderfully perceptive account of human inadequacy, Mills reveals many of the most troubling ills of the modern world. This is a beautifully crafted, totally absorbing book.”

Depicting the toils of human existence within the decay of modern society, this novel is a journey into the human soul, examining the greater questions of authenticity, life and death, immortality, and the personal power of transcendence. Regardless of one’s background, the reader will identify with the universal themes that preoccupy us all.

M. Guy Thompson, author of The Death of Desire, said “Mills’ powerful and reflective novel is destined to have the same impact on twenty-first century readers that Sartre, Camus, and Kafka had on the twentieth. A splendid, contemporary achievement!”

The novel is the first title produced exclusively as a Ebook by Humanist Press and can be found online at HumanistPress.com, along with dozens of other titles. When God Wept is also available at major online Ebook retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Dr. Jon Mills is director of Mills Psychology Prof. Corp. in Pickering, Ontario, and Professor of Psychology & Psychoanalysis, Adler Graduate Professional School, Toronto. He is also the editor of two international book series, and author or editor of over 100 publications including 12 books. In 2006 & 2011, he was recognized with a Gradiva Award for his scholarship from the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis in New York City, and in 2008 was given a Significant Contribution to Canadian Psychology Award by the Section on Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association.

He lives with his wife and daughters in Ajax, ON.

A chapter excerpt can be found here: http://wdn.ipublishcentral.net/american_humanist_association/viewin...

Comment by Brian Magee on October 1, 2012 at 12:06pm

The Humanist Hour #78: Gloria Steinem, 2012 Humanist of the Year

A new episodeof the Humanist Hour is available for listening. Keep reading to find out about the guests on this month’s show.

In this month’s podcast, Jennifer Bardi, editor of the Humanist, interviews world famous author and activist Gloria Steinem. “It’s not about not believing,” says the 2012 Humanist of the Year. “It’s about rejecting a god who looks like the ruling class.”

You can read a transcript of this interview in the September / October edition of the Humanistmagazine online.

Gloria Steinem is a writer, lecturer, editor, and feminist activist. She travels in this and other countries as an organizer and lecturer and is a frequent media spokeswoman on issues of equality. She is particularly interested in the shared origins of sex and race caste systems, gender roles and child abuse as roots of violence, non-violent conflict resolution, the cultures of indigenous peoples, and organizing across boundaries for peace and justice. She now lives in New York City, and is currently at work on Road to the Heart: America As if Everyone Mattered, a book about her more than thirty years on the road as a feminist organizer.

For complete information on this episode of The Humanist Hour, click here: http://podcast.thehumanist.org/2012/09/the-humanist-hour-78-gloria-...

Comment by Brian Magee on October 3, 2012 at 1:06pm

The AHA and the Center For Inquiry are co-sponsoring "Critical Inquiry: The Appeal to Reason," an online course beginning Nov. 1 that will explore all of the various tools necessary not just to persuade, but to make logically valid and sound arguments.

Comment by Brian Magee on October 4, 2012 at 10:02pm

Everybody's talking about Big Bird today. Here's a Sesame Street clip of Big Bird understanding the concept of death ... with no references to a god or heaven. Instead, "we can all be happy that we had the chance to know and love [Mr. Hooper], and have memories of him." Sounds like humanism, no?

Comment by Natalie A Sera on October 4, 2012 at 11:59pm

Yeah, you're right, Brian. Sesame Street was a very culturally sensitive show -- I remember one episode where Mr. Hooper talked about his Jewish heritage, but didn't mention the religious part of it. They couldn't possibly have brought any specific religious beliefs into the discussion, because they knew that children of many different ethnic groups would be watching, and their purpose was to teach the alphabet and the numbers and nothing more. I LOVED watching Sesame Street with my son, and this clip is from that era (the 70's).

Comment by Steph S. on October 5, 2012 at 12:22am

I loved Sesame Street! Wonderful show!
It does sound like humanism - thanks for the video Brian.

Comment by Mriana on October 5, 2012 at 8:42am

I like Big Bird too.  If Rumnut gets into office he'll try to kill Big Bird, PBS, and education.  The only thing I didn't like about the video is when Gordon said, "Just because".  I think that could have been done better, like everything lives and dies and that's the way life is.  My older son once said, after we lost two of our cats that after the next three die, he's not getting anymore pets because they die.  It didn't make much sense to me and even though it was a bit late in his life to experience death (he was a teenager) I still had to explain it to him.  Seemed weird explaining death to a teenager, but I guess if it takes the long to experience one's first death, it's reasonable, but because he was older, explaining the psychological issues we go through was easier and his questions weren't as juvenile either.

Comment by Brian Magee on October 9, 2012 at 3:25pm

 

Here is the latest image in our Sounds Like Humanism campaign.

If you run across a quote that "sounds like humanism" from a surprising source, pass it along to us at hnn@americanhumanist.org.

Comment by Brian Magee on October 11, 2012 at 8:59am

Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Color Purple," received the AHA's Humanist of the Year award in 1997. Listen to her acceptance speech where she expresses her beautiful admiration for nature.

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