20 Ways to Live Artfully Without Religion
What an artful life looks like of course varies from person to person, but I found it helpful to listwhat I wanted my life to look like, especially as a person who formally looked for much of herdirection within religion. I made my list, and since then have tweaked it and fleshed itout. Feel free […]
Secular Normalization – Holiday Edition
‘Tis the season to be secular. Fa la la la la la la la la! That may sound counterproductive to the idea of a religious holiday. But, upon further reflection, it makes a lot of sense since it really is the secular component of Christmas which elicits more excitement. As a secular humanist, I am […]
Moral Development Through a Secular Lens
A common question that secular humanists are asked is “where do you get your morals from”? This is often in response to someone saying they do not necessarily rely upon a holy text for acquisition of their morals. On a macro societal level, our development is the result of tens of millions of years of […]
When Arbitrary Avoidance Becomes a Substitute for Identity
As the hookah smoking caterpillar once asked Alice prior to his transformation into an angry butterfly, “who are you?” This is, of course, an enduring question. Who are any of us? From an existential philosophy perspective, one would turn to the “Pinocchio Problem”. Which is to answer the question what makes for a “real” human? […]
“Sacred”
If Nothing is Sacred If there’s a word I miss from my religious life it’s “sacred.” In my religious upbringing, God was the answer to every human need and every human joy. So when I left religion, it took some untangling to see that transcendence wasn’t something I had given up when I walked away […]
Secular Solidarity
A while back I was on a train and listening to my music at a low volume so I could payattention to my stop. On the commute, I overheard a couple of people mentioning the musicalSomething Rotten. I got a smile on my face. This is one of my favorite musicals of all time andit […]