Reading Time: 4 minutes “It’s the economy, stupid.” It was a memorable 1992 quip that quickly went viral—and it’s still popular today—after being uttered by then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s political guru, James Carville, the “ragin’ Cajun.” Turns out, that theory may not necessarily be quite right, though. Carville was saying that the state of the economy, more than any […]
Human Story
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The unexpected answer to the puzzle in my head | Tom Jump
Tom Jump is defined by a paradox. His autism and introversion make meeting people awkward and painful. Yet the one thing he wants from life is a relationship. After years of searching, he stumbles on a solution in the last place he expected.
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The shadows we live in | Casey Karaman
Casey Karaman never expected the biography of an urban planner to change the way he saw the world. But the nearly five years it took to work his way through that one massive biography changed his view of himself, those around him, and the way our lives are dictated by decisions made by people we […]
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Laughter is healing | Nathan Timmel
After comedian Nathan Timmel witnessed a ceremony for a US soldier killed in Afghanistan, he had to perform for that soldier’s friends.
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The one thing we miss most about religion
When Dale McGowan asked people at an atheist convention what they missed the most after leaving religion, one word came up more than any other.
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Sahra’s last message | Ashkan Mehr Roshan
Before the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, an Iranian activist, blogger, and translator who goes by the pseudonym Ashkan Mehr Roshan connected with an Afghan woman and freethinker. Together, they formed one of the biggest and most effective underground support communities for nonbelievers and religious minorities in the region. But shortly after the Taliban […]
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My tangled feelings at Ramadan | Eiynah
Raised in Saudi Arabia in a Muslim family of Pakistani background, and now an atheist living in Canada, Eiynah knows something about displacement, and disorientation, and the yearning for the lost familiar. Although she left Islam under her own power and is a strong critic of religion, her childhood and culture are intertwined in Islam. […]
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How an Indian film changed my son’s life | Jennifer Hancock
Learning that she didn’t know the name or work of the most famous actor in the world sent lifelong movie enthusiast Jennifer Hancock down a rabbit hole into the massive film industry of India. In the process, she found insights about love that are rarely touched in Western cinema—and solved a puzzle about her own […]
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The view from our only life
How does a secular perspective change the way you see the world and your life? OnlySky’s Dale McGowan asks this question of people attending the American Atheists conference in Atlanta. Special thanks to Nick Fish and American Atheists for making this episode possible.
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For which it stands | Adam Lee
Most Americans don’t give a lot of thought to the Pledge of Allegiance. You were taught to say it when you were four or five, and you said it, probably in a droning voice, surrounded by 20 other droning children who likewise hadn’t thought much about it. Whether or not he started off droning like […]