Category: Secular Humanism with a Pulse: The New Activists

Every two months, subscribers to Free Inquiry magazine enjoy reading a new issue filled with enlightening articles about secular humanism and related topics. As the director of outreach for the Council for Secular Humanism’s supporting organization, the Center for Inquiry, I am fortunate to encounter people every day who are living the values of secular …

In 1877 at the age of twenty-six, Felix Adler founded the Ethical Culture Society, a humanistic congregational social movement dedicated to ethical practice. His founding address spoke of the need for communities dedicated to moral action and ethical improvement—congregations that, without reference to God, would work together to solve the social ills of the late …

Who cares? We do! “The happiest people I have known have been those who gave themselves no concern about their own souls, but did their uttermost to mitigate the miseries of others.” These words, spoken by social activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton around the turn of the twentieth century, still ring true today. It is exactly …

As atheists and skeptics, we face a unique problem in that we are among the least-liked and least-trusted minority groups in America. You’re probably familiar with the statistics, but it is worth reviewing a few of the more startling ones. A study from the University of British Columbia suggests that Americans find atheists less trustworthy …

I love the beauty of stained-glass cathedrals. They evoke fond memories of smiling family during my First Communion. Unlike many of my black friends who were Baptist, I don’t have the stories of revival and rebirth. I had ritual. It was tied to a repeated narrative of freedom through suffering, a familiar tale. Although I …

The key insight that comes from being an atheist is that this life is the only one we have. We don’t have religious people’s luxury of explaining away real-time misery as a test of eligibility for a comfortable afterlife or as just retribution for an ignoble previous incarnation. This life is all we have. From …

Caretaking, the most traditionally feminine of roles, was not the way I expected to enter a movement. I’ve been an activist my entire adult life. And yet, I find myself joining the uprising of unbelievers not as a firebrand or organizer but as founder of a community of comfort and compassion. Grief Beyond Belief (GBB) …

One of the greatest pleasures in life is to be able to help those we care about, even if it’s a stranger on the street or a stray cat. And conversely, one of the greatest torments is to be unable to help those we care about—we may lack the knowledge, talent, money, or opportunity to …

“I’m sorry, Your Honor, but I haven’t been sworn in yet.” As I stood in the courtroom in Bartow, Polk County, Florida, in August of 2011, the judge looked at me in utter confusion. His clerk had administered the typical religious oath to the mass of defendants awaiting their turn at the bench. My attorney …

Last October, the thirty-member-strong Mid Ohio Atheists decided to run a billboard campaign in the city of Mansfield in order to let other atheists know they weren’t alone. Director of Communications Michael Adams posted a message on both the group’s blog and Facebook page asking for design submissions but received no responses. While members were …