"Religious atheism" might seem like an oxymoron, but if you take "religion" in the more communal sense (rather than the epistemology-centered sense), it's hard to tell it apart from humanism. Though personally, I think it's clearest for humanists to avoid religious terminology rather than try to reclaim it.
That hasn't stopped me, however, from participating in the Quaker community (yes, Quakers still exist), where in some quarters it's acceptable not to believe in God. On our website nontheistfriends.org I recently posted the audio of a sort of debate between a prominent British nontheist Quaker and humanist by the name of David Boulton, and a prominent theistic Quaker named Chuck Fager, who directs a draft counseling center in North Carolina. This took place last month before a packed room at Friends General Conference, the annual North American gathering for theologically "liberal" Quakers.
The audio and a little context are found here.
Non-Quaker listeners might listen to the first few minutes and then skip to halfway though when the conversation turns to theism and atheism. (Most of the first half is about the question "Are Quakers a chosen people?" which comes from a Biblical frame of reference and may be less interesting to humanists.)
By the way, in case you're scratching your head over the term "nontheist," we use it mainly to avoid the negative connotations of the term atheist, though I personally am not bothered by them.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Law as Cruelty: Torture as an International Crime
Can torture ever be justified? This is just one of the issues tackled in the recent special issue of the Journal of International Criminal Justice entitled ‘Law as Cruelty: Torture as an International Crime’ (table of content).
Guest edited by Dr Jens David Ohlin and Prof George P. Fletcher, the sequence of articles in the special issue proceeds from the general definition of torture, then to defences for the crime of torture, and finally remedies under US and international law.
"Although there is already much work on the subject previously published, the Journal recognizes a need for unique approaches, with broad disciplinary foundations, to enrich the current legal analysis... the legal community is badly in need of serious research on the topic that is both international in scope and sophisticated in tenor. It is for this reason that the Journal has dedicated a special issue to the topic, in recognition of both the moral urgency of the topic and its legal complexity."
Guest edited by Dr Jens David Ohlin and Prof George P. Fletcher, the sequence of articles in the special issue proceeds from the general definition of torture, then to defences for the crime of torture, and finally remedies under US and international law.
"Although there is already much work on the subject previously published, the Journal recognizes a need for unique approaches, with broad disciplinary foundations, to enrich the current legal analysis... the legal community is badly in need of serious research on the topic that is both international in scope and sophisticated in tenor. It is for this reason that the Journal has dedicated a special issue to the topic, in recognition of both the moral urgency of the topic and its legal complexity."
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.
A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.
Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".
Monday, May 12, 2008
Five people attended the meeting at the Harvard Club on May 10, 2008. We discussed in what ways and to what effect we “closet” ourselves as non-theists, i.e., fail to disclose or assert our humanist stances when the issue of religious faith arises. Other parallels were drawn between non-theism and minority sexual orientations, including the liberation of “coming out” as non-theists. We also discussed humanism (or the paucity thereof) in ethnic minority communities, especially African-American ones. The existence of a Black Humanists of Boston Meetup was announced, and relatedly, we discussed Anthony Pinn. The idea of showing DVDs about humanist topics and then discussing them, was presented. We considered various participants’ homes as venues.
In the course of describing our various religious (or non-religious) upbringings, one person posited that there are three types of non-theists: i) people who were indoctrinated successfully growing up and then became disillusioned, ii) people who grew up with religious instruction, but never believed it, and iii) people who were never burdened with the baggage of religious instruction or religious social groups. The first type is often still struggling to recover from indoctrination and disillusionment and identifies strongly with the “atheist” label, is wary of any discussion of spirituality because it recalls the dogmatic religious settings of their upbringing, and sees atheist groups as an unfortunate outgrowth of, and reaction against, religiosity in the broader society. The second type is less scarred than the first, but still quite concerned about defending against the social aggressions of religious people, and both the first two types are quite concerned about the political activities of religious people. The third type is less likely to identify with the atheist label, less concerned about traditional religions, and more interested in “humanist” spirituality and ethical discussion. The three types have different needs for humanist community.
We also touched on the influence of religious faith on policy decisions of elected officials. We considered both the possibilities that a) elected officials and politicians are as religious as they claim or b) elected officials refer to religious ideas merely to manipulate the public, without much personal faith. The second view was connected to the “neoconservative” assertion that the government should shore up religious faith to protect society against the corrupting effects of post-modernity. Those points led to an exchange about whether traditional religion is good for most people. Some took the view that religious faith alleviates suffering and provides meaning to most people, while others found such a perspective elitist and questioned the authenticity of religious belief for people with limited educational opportunity.
We closed with a challenge to provide an example of how our humanist principles affected a personal decision or situation. Some felt that their humanism had made it difficult to date people with religious beliefs or people who believed that social problems would solve themselves, without activism.
In the course of describing our various religious (or non-religious) upbringings, one person posited that there are three types of non-theists: i) people who were indoctrinated successfully growing up and then became disillusioned, ii) people who grew up with religious instruction, but never believed it, and iii) people who were never burdened with the baggage of religious instruction or religious social groups. The first type is often still struggling to recover from indoctrination and disillusionment and identifies strongly with the “atheist” label, is wary of any discussion of spirituality because it recalls the dogmatic religious settings of their upbringing, and sees atheist groups as an unfortunate outgrowth of, and reaction against, religiosity in the broader society. The second type is less scarred than the first, but still quite concerned about defending against the social aggressions of religious people, and both the first two types are quite concerned about the political activities of religious people. The third type is less likely to identify with the atheist label, less concerned about traditional religions, and more interested in “humanist” spirituality and ethical discussion. The three types have different needs for humanist community.
We also touched on the influence of religious faith on policy decisions of elected officials. We considered both the possibilities that a) elected officials and politicians are as religious as they claim or b) elected officials refer to religious ideas merely to manipulate the public, without much personal faith. The second view was connected to the “neoconservative” assertion that the government should shore up religious faith to protect society against the corrupting effects of post-modernity. Those points led to an exchange about whether traditional religion is good for most people. Some took the view that religious faith alleviates suffering and provides meaning to most people, while others found such a perspective elitist and questioned the authenticity of religious belief for people with limited educational opportunity.
We closed with a challenge to provide an example of how our humanist principles affected a personal decision or situation. Some felt that their humanism had made it difficult to date people with religious beliefs or people who believed that social problems would solve themselves, without activism.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Religion a figment of human imagination...
Humans alone practice religion because they're the only creatures to have evolved imagination.
That's the argument of anthropologist Maurice Bloch of the London School of Economics. Bloch challenges the popular notion that religion evolved and spread because it promoted social bonding, as has been argued by some anthropologists.
Instead, he argues that first, we had to evolve the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don't physically exist, and the possibility that people somehow live on after they've died.
Once we'd done that, we had access to a form of social interaction unavailable to any other creatures on the planet. Uniquely, humans could use what Bloch calls the "transcendental social" to unify with groups, such as nations and clans, or even with imaginary groups such as the dead. The transcendental social also allows humans to follow the idealised codes of conduct associated with religion.
"What the transcendental social requires is the ability to live very largely in the imagination," Bloch writes....
That's the argument of anthropologist Maurice Bloch of the London School of Economics. Bloch challenges the popular notion that religion evolved and spread because it promoted social bonding, as has been argued by some anthropologists.
Instead, he argues that first, we had to evolve the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don't physically exist, and the possibility that people somehow live on after they've died.
Once we'd done that, we had access to a form of social interaction unavailable to any other creatures on the planet. Uniquely, humans could use what Bloch calls the "transcendental social" to unify with groups, such as nations and clans, or even with imaginary groups such as the dead. The transcendental social also allows humans to follow the idealised codes of conduct associated with religion.
"What the transcendental social requires is the ability to live very largely in the imagination," Bloch writes....
Friday, April 25, 2008
If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?
The fastest-growing faith in America is no faith at all. And now some atheists think they need a church.
Atheism’s great awakening is in need of a doctrine. “People perceive us as only rejecting things,” says Ken Bronstein, the president of a local group called New York City Atheists. “Everybody wants to know, ‘Okay, you’re an atheist, now what?’ ”...some atheists are taking seriously the idea that atheism needs to stand for things, like evolution and ethics, not just against things, like God. The most successful movements in history, after all—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.—all have creeds, cathedrals, schools, hierarchies, rituals, money, clerics, and some version of a heavenly afterlife. Churches fill needs, goes the argument—they inculcate ethics, give meaning, build communities. “Science and reason are important,” says Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain of Harvard University. “But science and reason won’t visit you in the hospital.”...
Atheism’s great awakening is in need of a doctrine. “People perceive us as only rejecting things,” says Ken Bronstein, the president of a local group called New York City Atheists. “Everybody wants to know, ‘Okay, you’re an atheist, now what?’ ”...some atheists are taking seriously the idea that atheism needs to stand for things, like evolution and ethics, not just against things, like God. The most successful movements in history, after all—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.—all have creeds, cathedrals, schools, hierarchies, rituals, money, clerics, and some version of a heavenly afterlife. Churches fill needs, goes the argument—they inculcate ethics, give meaning, build communities. “Science and reason are important,” says Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain of Harvard University. “But science and reason won’t visit you in the hospital.”...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
What Are The Odds Of Finding Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life?
ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2008) — Is there anybody out there? Probably not, according to a scientist from the University of East Anglia. A mathematical model produced by Prof Andrew Watson suggests that the odds of finding new life on other Earth-like planets are low, given the time it has taken for beings such as humans to evolve and the remaining life span of Earth...
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Aimé Césaire (1913 - 2008)
To go away.As there are hyena-men and panther-men, I would be a jew-man
A Kaffir-man
A Hindu-man-from-Calcutta
A Harlem-man-who-doesn't-vote
The famine-man, the insult-man, the torture-man you can grab
anytime, beat up, kill -- no joke, kill -- without having to account
to anyone, without having to make excuses to anyone
A jew-man
A pogrom-man
A Kaffir-man
A Hindu-man-from-Calcutta
A Harlem-man-who-doesn't-vote
The famine-man, the insult-man, the torture-man you can grab
anytime, beat up, kill -- no joke, kill -- without having to account
to anyone, without having to make excuses to anyone
A jew-man
A pogrom-man
Aimé Césaire died (June 25, 1913 - April 17, 2008). He was born in Martinique, a small overseas department of France, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Most famous for his poems about the identity of the black people, he was also a politician (elected mayor of Fort-De-France from 1945 to 2001), an author and a humanist to heart.
More about Aimé Césaire:
More about Aimé Césaire:
- http://www.cesaire.org/
- http://books.google.com/books?&q=aime+cesaire
- Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (http://books.google.com/books?id=JzFt9S2RBakC)
More evidence showing elephants were aquatic
A brand new article in the renowned, peer-reviewed, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science provides more evidence for the fact that elephants were once aquatic. Our readers probably remember our previous article earlier this month on the same topic. There gotta be some greater design, I'm telling you! ;)
As explained by Greg Laden (biological anthropologist, Harvard alumn) here, the new study showed that the (stable) isotopes contained in the teeth of the elephants wandering around today, resemble those of aquatic and semiaquatic mammals once rulling the oceans.
En passant, Greg's reminds us of that earlier study (1999), investigating the ontogeny of the kidneys in elephants, during which the kidneys take on the characteristics that are found in aquatic mammals generally (which we elusively referred to in our earlier post).
As explained by Greg Laden (biological anthropologist, Harvard alumn) here, the new study showed that the (stable) isotopes contained in the teeth of the elephants wandering around today, resemble those of aquatic and semiaquatic mammals once rulling the oceans.
En passant, Greg's reminds us of that earlier study (1999), investigating the ontogeny of the kidneys in elephants, during which the kidneys take on the characteristics that are found in aquatic mammals generally (which we elusively referred to in our earlier post).
Friday, April 11, 2008
Retrospective: Sir Arthur C Clarke (1917-2008)
Retrospective, published in Science, about one of the greatest Sci Fi writer, a great humanistJoseph N. Pelton, John Logsdon
"Scientific giants give us powerful understanding of how nature works. Newton identified gravity; Curie provided knowledge of radioactivity; Einstein, the space-time continuum; Hubble, a yardstick to measure the size of the "Big Bang universe." Other powerful figures in human history contribute primarily by their insights into what might be. They span an incredibly broad range of art, literature, invention, and scientific inquiry. Leonardo Da Vinci is an obvious prototype, whose work and thoughts have transcended time. Sir Arthur C. Clarke was clearly one of these 'others.'" ...
"Scientific giants give us powerful understanding of how nature works. Newton identified gravity; Curie provided knowledge of radioactivity; Einstein, the space-time continuum; Hubble, a yardstick to measure the size of the "Big Bang universe." Other powerful figures in human history contribute primarily by their insights into what might be. They span an incredibly broad range of art, literature, invention, and scientific inquiry. Leonardo Da Vinci is an obvious prototype, whose work and thoughts have transcended time. Sir Arthur C. Clarke was clearly one of these 'others.'" ...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Scientists witnessed Darwin's theory of evolution
Elephant testes signal an aquatic past? By Jake Young speaking about scientific peer-reviewed journal article: Sexual differentiation in three unconventional mammals: spotted hyenas, elephants and tammar (2005). Hormones and Behavior, 48(4):403-417.
Jake is a PhD candidate in neuroscience, studying maternal behavior. In his research, he came across several articles of most interest for Darwin's afficionados:
a) There is evidence that elephants and sea cows share a common semi-aquatic ancestor.
b) Male elephants don't have scrotal bags to hold the family jewels cosy, as show by the article in Horm & Beh. This finding reflects a major adaptation with evolutionary significance, as it is shown that the cool temperatures of aquatic habitats threaten spermatogenesis. Evolution hacked around a little, and managed to keep the jewels warm by placing them inside the body.
conclusion) As the author of the article in Horm & Behav. summarize: elephant testes "were adapted to its aquatic environment and... some of these unusual anatomical adaptation have persisted in present-day terrestrial elephants."
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
I and My Brother Against My Cousin
Stanley Kurtz reviews Philip Salzman's new book, Culture and Conflict in the Middle East on the history of tribalism and how it manifests in the modern Middle East.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Martin Luther King Jr.'s death anniversary
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)"I have a dream" (youtube). Speech delivered on 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!"
Friday, April 4, 2008
Nature: Online Video Streaming Archive
The Allegory of the Cave, by Plato, after William Blake.William Blake (28 Nov 1757 - 12 Aug 1827), humanist, most known for his seminal work as a poet, and painter. Only recognized years after his death, Blake depicted the forever burning questions in the human souls.
The philosophical profoundness of his work brings whoever experiences his work on a journey towards a better understanding of the world. Far from suggesting answers to these questions, Blake attempted to have his contemporaries realize themselves, by initiating them to the old mysteries.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
New Drug May Help Rescue The Aging Brain!
As people age, their brains pay the price — inflammation goes up, levels of certain neurotransmitters go down, and the result is a plethora of ailments ranging from memory impairment and depression to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. But in a long-term study with implications to treat these and other conditions, researchers have found that an experimental drug, taken chronically, has the ability to stem the effects of aging in the rat brain.
Love stops partners from sleeping around
Romantic thoughts about a regular partner help to keep us from straying into illicit sexual liaisons...
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
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