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 […]
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 […]
Theocracy from the Supreme Court
In the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District which was decided in June 2022, this supreme court chose religion over secularism in a big departure from decades of precedent from both “lower” courts and previous Supreme Courts.