The Humanist Advocate

Secular Spirituality: A Misnomer?

It would be difficult to deny that many of our fellow humans have experienced a mental state in reaction to an event external to themselves that they would classify, for lack of another term, as spiritual. (It would be equally difficult to overlook that the word, and its derivation spirituality, are often overused, or exaggerate the actual mental state the user experiences—remember what happened to “awesome”?) But what is a spiritual experience, anyway? This mental state may also be described…

How Trumpism will Outlive Trump’s Presidency

How Trumpism will Outlive Trump’s Presidency

  It is not coincidental to assume that Donald Trump won the presidency by chance for being an outsider. This rhetoric of him being an anti-establishment person who managed to break the system in order to win over the White House isn’t by any means realistic. In fact, Donald J. Trump is part of the traditional establishment, the elitists,  who have been running the country for decades. And, regardless of the bogus methods he used accumulate his wealth, Trump is…

Two Crosses vs. The Lemon Test

The Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation has its hands full right about now. Not only is its staff busying itself with all types of proposals for religious-based legislation at both the state and national levels through a campaign dubbed Project Blitz, it is also active in monitoring and likely lobbying against secular challenges to existing laws and public displays of Christian faith in and on public buildings and public open spaces. Though not affiliated with the similarly named National Prayer Breakfast,…

BOOK REVIEW “Why Religion?: A Personal Story”

BOOK REVIEW “Why Religion?: A Personal Story”

When I first noticed Elaine Pagels’ recent book Why Religion? A Personal Story, I anticipated a scholarly analysis of what motivated humans to hold religious beliefs or engage in religious practices. I could not have been more wrong. This book is intensely personal, subjective, and emotional. Perhaps I should not have been so surprised. Religion is, after all, something personal, subjective, and emotional. Dr. Pagels is a professor of religion at Princeton University, and a scholar of Gnostic literature, works…

Why Do I Write?

.     “….no one is born to be anything but human.”—Eugene C. Thomas   Eugene C. Thomas—Baba Geno—has been  a recent guest on NOSHA’s cable access television program The Humanist Perspective. Insights into his life becoming  the consummate humanist, from student and soldier, to spiritualist, writer, community radio broadcaster, and attorney-at law, can be heard at the link above.  Here, he shares an introduction to his planned book compilation of essays and observations–edited, with permission from him.    …

The Self-Destructive Denial of Climate Change

The Self-Destructive Denial of Climate Change

    Denialism has always been synonymous with human nature; that is, any definition of “human nature” would need to include this frailty. We follow our confirmation bias to defy reality and challenge evidence  that is widely accepted by society.   The term climate change evolved before from what was known in the 1980s as “Global Warming.” The rise of an increasingly globalized economy spurred several multinational corporations— like Exxon—to undertake studies which yielded findings that there could be catastrophic…

The Cure That Wasn’t

The Cure That Wasn’t

  Walter Kaufmann (1921-1980) was a philosopher, translator, and poet. His translations and interpretations of Nietzsche’s work are considered by many of his contemporaries to be the standard; and the influence of Nietzsche’s and other 20th Century philosophers and psychological theorists of the early modern age—as well as his poetic bent—are evident in this excerpt from Critique of Religion and Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, fifth paperback printing, 1990) in a chapter titled “The Core of Religion.”     Man…

Health and Wellness at City Hall

Health and Wellness at City Hall

  Until a few months ago, NOSHA’ s relations with the public officials at City Hall have been cordial, if not completely chummy with everyone. A good example of this is President Emeritus Harry Greenberger gave secular invocations to begin city council meetings on eight occasions, which began sometime between 2001 and 2003—the last in 2015. A recent action in October by the new administration, however, led by Mayor Latoya Cantrell brought to the attention of  NOSHA member Glenn Pearl…

The Futile Future Awaiting America’s Polarized Right

The Futile Future Awaiting America’s Polarized Right

The Futile Future Awaiting America’s Polarized Right The politics of the United States has always been on unstable and shifting grounds because this instability is heavily influenced by societal changes depending on the era. Political centrism started declining in the late 1970s when conservatism was redefining itself as a core identity within the American politics to resist  the escalating influence of socialism by the Soviets. This turning point debunks the standard rule that societies evolve in a linear direction, and…

1 … 8 9 10 … 27