Reading Time: 4 minutes Religious conservatives want to impose heavy-handed censorship on public schools. We should reject this, but how much control should parents have over what is taught?
Arts
What’s happening in arts and entertainment, shared through a secular lens at OnlySky, a secular community for nonreligious Americans.
Posted inFree Expression
That which must not be seen
Reading Time: 6 minutes Religious people all over the world insist that their beliefs should control what everyone else can say, look at, or know about. The bargain of civilization means that these taboos can’t be enforceable.
Posted inFilm/TV
True cosmic horror: Three bleak stories search for meaning in the void of space
Reading Time: 7 minutes Some of the best science fiction illuminates our stark reality: We are here now, in this present moment, and we have a choice to live, and grow, and learn, and love. Or to give up on all that and destroy ourselves and each other. The scenario is not great, but the choice seems obvious.
Posted inIdentity
(Literally) finding my voice as a trans woman
Reading Time: 6 minutes I had a complicated relationship with my voice even before I figured out I was trans. When I was small I loved singing, but then my voice broke. That’s what we call it in the UK when testosterone makes a voice change at puberty—we say your voice “breaks.” As a trans woman, I find that term especially apt. Because my voice was still unpredictable, the choir teacher put me in the bass section where no one would hear me. Singing became something I was afraid to do.
Posted inArt
Secular freedom, compassion, and controversial spiritual symbols
Reading Time: 4 minutes A recent controversy over Islamic art raises the question of how we ought to deal with art and images in a world of deep diversity. At Hamline University in Minnesota, Erika López Prater lost her job teaching art history because she showed students artistic representations of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. A Muslim student took offense. The University’s […]
Posted inFilm/TV
‘Hilda’ captures the magic and wonder of childhood
Reading Time: 3 minutes The rare kids’ show that hits the trifecta: it’s gorgeous but has rich depths of story, imaginative yet grounded, and handles heavy themes deftly.
Posted inPsychology
Peter Weir’s ‘Fearless’: Grief, the superpower nobody wants
Reading Time: 5 minutes Jamie Raskin’s got it. Nick Cave, too. I’ve got it. And in Peter Weir’s 1993 classic, Fearless, Max Klein has it. Thanks to trauma and loss, we are, like the movie title says, fearless. But we’d relinquish this superpower in a heartbeat, if our lives could rewind. When US Representative Jamie Raskin was in the […]
Posted inNews
Dr. Dre drops the hammer on Marjorie Taylor Greene
Reading Time: 3 minutes Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is once again in the news and this time she’s on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter from Dr. Dre and his legal team. As you would expect, the Representative from Georgia’s 14th district responded with the maturity of a *middle schooler. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s shenanigans Professing to be a […]
Posted inMusic
The Christians behind that ‘Eye of the Tiger’ cover know you think it’s cringy
Reading Time: 4 minutes Despite all the drama occurring on Capitol Hill right now, the new year has also reminded us that some things will never change, like Christians rewriting old songs like “Eye of the Tiger” to spread the Gospel message: That’s the sort of “Christianized” song you might hear in a lot of modern evangelical services. Or […]
Posted inNews
Mel Gibson gets fired
Reading Time: 4 minutes Mel Gibson was fired Sunday night. The noted actor and antisemite was scheduled to be one of the grand marshals of one of the yearly Mardi Gras parades. And the fact that he was even slated to be one of the two grand marshals will strike many of you odd because, well, Mel Gibson is […]