Blog

Why the Secular Should Care About Religion

I am fairly middle of the road when it comes to my agnosticism. That being said, I’m not apathetic about religion or belief in God – what some have dubbed “apatheism.” I actually see the topic of God’s existence to be relevant and important...

Wondrous Strange: Confronting Our Ignorance

In his iconic and arguably best play, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Horatio are confronted by the ghost of the recently dead king. Horatio is understandably aghast, crying out, “O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!”

The Life of Pie

Life, as we know, is complicated. At the center of life is competition. All of life is a competitive process for success and sometimes for survival itself. This is why competitions are so popular.

But What about the "What-Abouts?"

Have you heard this? “But what about before the Big Bang?” “What about life coming from inorganic material?” “What about missing links?” “But what about consciousness?”

Old Enough to Die

This blog is in response to a call out for Oasiens to submit an article for our community blog post. It’s not often that I draw a blank when seeking topics to write about. However, with this week’s blog that appears to be the case.

Humanist Parenting: My Story

I was 8 years old, fidgeting in my seat, sandwiched between my father and my grandmother in Sunday morning church. It was hour two of a long Catholic service and I was regretting not going to the children's class with all the songs and snacks...

Grief without God

Conventional wisdom in the conservative, religious circles of my evangelical days is that dealing with death without the belief in a god and the corresponding afterlife is unbearable. In the early days after I walked away from religion without a backward glance, I often wondered what secular humanists and atheists offered to the grieving to replace that “comfort.”

The Ten Commandments: A Dialogue for Humanists and Christians

When an Alabama judge wanted to put a stone copy of the Ten Commandments in his courthouse he was asked to name them and could not. It reinforces my belief that we who do not believe in the Bible need to know it in order to have constructive conversations with those professing belief in its inerrancy. Here are a few of my thoughts on the Ten Commandments.

The Best of Times: Our Amazing Modern Lives

If there is one thing that you shouldn’t do as a teacher, it is belittle students. They are still learning to express themselves, to develop complex ideas and how to test them. Despite knowing that, I couldn’t help but laugh when Scott, a nice but lazy teen, complained about the essay I had assigned him.

Eating Nails: Hierarchical Humanism

“I’m your father - if I tell you to eat nails, you eat nails” – a close translation of a phrase my father would use on me time and time again during our disagreements...

Religion, Atheism and Science

I have always been intensely curious and from an early age read science books from the travelling library van that visited the farm where I grew up....