5 days agoMember-onlyThe Identity Politics of Right-Wing ReligionListen for a few moments to US media (at least some US media) and you are likely to hear the bashing of something called “identity politics.” Why, some ask, do you want to force . . . well . . . everything from race to gender to sexual orientation …Christian Nationalism3 min read
Jul 29Member-onlyAn Obvious Observation (or: Whatever Happened to Calvinism?)It’s obvious, but I forget: religion and philosophy are about self-improvement. Nowhere is this more apparent than in what happened to Calvinism in the United States. What? Yes, that Calvin. And that Arminius. No, I’m not one of those who thinks that the United States was in any way a…Calvinism2 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jul 23Member-onlyBut Who Is Hate?“God is love.” Yes, I know that the phrase is biblical. The words appear in 1 John 4:8, to be precise. I had those three words underlined in a pocket New Testament (plus Psalms) I carried everywhere as a kid. Leather cover. I also know the rest of the verse: …Humanism3 min read
Jul 17Member-onlyHistoricism: On Knowing That We Are Making It UpMany of us of a liberal theological bent consider religions in the category of stuff human beings in our communal groupings have made up over the millennia in order to survive and thrive on this planet. Human ideas are socially and historically “conditioned.” Philosophies and religions — and the truths…Historicism3 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jul 11Member-onlyNature, Naturalism, and Doing the Right ThingIn his Meditations, Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote: Consider your every word and deed, how each accords with nature and is right for you. Don’t be diverted by the complaints or blame of others. If saying or doing a thing is good, don’t consider it unworthy of yourself. Blamers have…Humanism3 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jul 4Member-onlyConstructing Democracy (Calmly)The American philosopher John Dewey was one of the signers of Humanist Manifesto I back in 1933. Most people know a little something about Dewey because of his theories of education. Like the nowadays more famous Maria Montessori, Dewey was a constructivist. Constructivism is complex idea that boils down to…Democracy2 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jun 25Member-onlyLet Suffering SpeakFrankfort School philosopher Theodor Adorno wrote: The need to let suffering speak is a condition of all truth. For suffering is objectivity that weighs upon the subject. (Negative Dialectics) Adorno was one of the creators of what is known as critical theory. Yes, look it up in a reputable source…Critical Race Theory2 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jun 17Member-onlyThe First Humanist Manifesto: a foundation in conversationThe media spectacle of the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes in the summer of 1925 underlined for many religious liberals that Charles Darwin’s natural selection would be the wedge that permanently split Western religious thinking into two broad camps. The question became what position the most protesting of…Humanism4 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jun 11Member-onlyDecolonizing the Mind: The First Step is Knowing You’re CaughtI have loved what are called “the liberal arts” for most of my life. I can truthfully say that I moved from biblical fundamentalism to a lover of literary Modernism in the wink of an eye. I took one look at T.S. Eliot’s poetry and Allen Ginsberg’s poetry and I…Decolonise Your Life3 min read
Published in Humanism Now·Jun 4Member-onlyBroader HorizonsThe Taoist Zhuangzi (4th century BCE) told this tale: Once there was a frog that lived in a deep, narrow well. He had never seen anything else. One day, a sea turtle came upon the well and shouted down the deep, narrow hole: “Hello! Anybody down there?” “Yes,” said the…Humanism2 min read