Reading Time: 15 minutes A Night at the Panto I’m sitting in the Dress Circle at the London Palladium, a historic theatre in London’s theatre district the West End. The building, now more than 100 years old, has a stately façade of white arches and columns topped with golden capitals. Inside, more than 2000 people are crammed into three […]
James Croft
James Croft is a philosopher, activist, and Humanist storyteller. As University Chaplain at the University of Sussex he is the first Humanist Lead Chaplain at any UK University. Formerly, he served as Senior Leader of the Ethical Society of St. Louis, one of the largest Humanist congregations in the world. A graduate of Cambridge and Harvard Universities, James lives in Brighton, UK with his fabulous drag queen husband Kolten and his darling puppy Ella. He was raised on William Shakespeare, Carl Sagan, and Star Trek.
Posted inPolitics
It’s not bigoted to criticize Kate Forbes. Sometimes, in politics, religion is fair game
Reading Time: 7 minutes On 20th February, Kate Forbes, a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Scottish National Party (the governing party in Scotland, and the third largest party in British politics), joined the race to become their new Leader and thus the Frist Minister of Scotland. Later that day, in an interview with The Scotsman newspaper, […]
Posted inPolitics
Living in a state with a Republican supermajority
Reading Time: 2 minutes On Tuesday, the Republican governor of Missouri, Mike Parson, failed to confirm his choice for director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Perhaps, during a highly politicized pandemic and at a time of intense political polarization, this might seem unsurprising to you. “Of course, the Democrats will try anything to thwart a […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
The resurrection of Ethical Culture
Reading Time: 5 minutes This one’s for my people. My Ethical Culture people, the people I spoke to in my last column declaring Ethical Culture “dead.” I have heard from a lot of you in the day since my column was published. Some of you are angry. Some of you are sad. Some of you are relieved that someone […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
Ethical Culture is dead. Long live congregational humanism!
Reading Time: 10 minutes I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized Ethical Culture was dead. I had just struggled through yet another virtual board meeting, the discussion dominated by an issue that had riven our tiny federation of humanist congregations for months. Once again, institutional dysfunction was getting in the way of progress. We had a clear opportunity […]
Posted inPolitics
Missouri Republicans try to ban teaching the American Revolution
Reading Time: 5 minutes Last week Republican lawmakers in Missouri tried to ban the teaching of the American Revolution in public schools. This is not what they thought they were doing, but this is what they did. In House Bill 1474, ostensibly an act designed to integrate a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” into existing legislation governing public schools, they […]
Posted inMusic
My moment with Meat Loaf, rock god and sweetheart
Reading Time: 4 minutes I once met Meat Loaf, the rock god who died last week. It was a fleeting encounter, no more than a minute or two, but it left an impression on me. I was a massive theater kid, always acting and singing in school productions, and when I was 11, a casting agent visited my middle […]
Posted inCritical thinking
Atheology is intellectual, respectful, and apolitical, but not perfect
Reading Time: 5 minutes A new generation is taking over the online discussion of god and faith, and mostly it’s a welcome change—improving the quality of atheist arguments. Many atheists, of course, have no interest in apologetics (aka the use of reasoned arguments to justify a religious view). To them, the non-existence of God is simply a given—an assumption […]
Posted inMeaning & Purpose
How can you be a humanist when you can’t stand humans?
Reading Time: 5 minutes OnlySky · How can you be a humanist when you can't stand humans? | James Croft I’m not feeling good right now. I feel sad, and tired, and lonely, and empty. It’s my spark. I’ve lost my spark—which is funny, because I never knew where it was to begin with. There’s an episode of The […]