Reading Time: 4 minutes My longtime best pal, Paul Sauser, a recent conservative-Republican-turned-Democrat and an evangelical Christian now uneasily reassessing his faith (without chucking it altogether), has, like many, Americans experienced somewhat of a religious and political transformation in the past few years. He and I have always been a bit of an odd couple, as it were—him long […]
Ethics and Morality
Posted inReligion
Stop using the ‘not very Christ-like’ argument with right wing Christians
Reading Time: 13 minutes Humanists know that there is so much to do in our hurting world. It’s frustrating when a given cultural moment nevertheless compels us to dwell on toxic religious turf instead. Every time we do? We’re not working together to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Not grappling with rising environmental and war refugeeism, and reshaping […]
Posted inFilm/TV
Can any civilization ‘Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach’?
Reading Time: 9 minutes There are many useful narrative structures for humanist stories, and all tend to get airtime in classic Star Trek series. Some involve a juxtaposition of multiple storylines, to hold different crises and outlooks in tension. Others present the full problem early on, allowing different perspectives and conflicts to emerge as characters struggle to find a […]
Posted inEthics
Morality is a technology
Reading Time: 5 minutes Just as inventions like metal forging and glass-making improve our physical capabilities, morality is a technology that gives us the ability to achieve what no one individual could do alone.
Posted inFilm/TV
‘Memento Mori’: To live with the prospect of death (Strange New Worlds)
Reading Time: 9 minutes Like any self-respecting Trekkie, I learned the basics of gunpower from Star Trek: The Original Series. One of TOS‘s most memorable scenes comes from “Arena” (Season 1, Episode 18), when Captain Kirk, trapped on a planet with minimal resources, has to use his wits to survive an encounter with a brutish reptilian species called the […]
Posted inEthics
If we don’t own ourselves, we own nothing
Reading Time: 5 minutes Bodily autonomy is the most fundamental human right. The more diligently we protect it, the freer and better society is, but theocrats want to pull us in the other direction.
Posted inIt Kills Me to Admit This
There are still monsters: The limits of nonviolence
Reading Time: 4 minutes I hate to say it, but there are still monsters in the world. They’re not the supernatural beasts that myth and imagination have populated the night with. They aren’t ghouls who want to devour our flesh. They don’t have fangs or talons by which to identify them. The real monsters take human shape. If you […]
Posted inCulture
In defense of fair-weather fans
Reading Time: 6 minutes OnlySky · In defense of fair weather fans | Jack Bowen The Fair-Weather Fan (FWF) is considered one of the most morally depraved individuals in (and out of) the sporting realm. They shift from team to team, demonstrating no sense of loyalty or allegiance, supporting whoever’s winning at the time, and ditching the loser they’d […]
Posted inRacial justice
It’s tough to be a white supremacist leader these days
Reading Time: 3 minutes The white supremacist group we’re discussing today, Patriot Front, utilized RocketChat to maintain their secrecy and privacy. It didn’t work.
Posted inCulture
No room at the inn for Djokovic: On rules, sports, and exceptions
Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s an old adage of a traveler seeking a room at an inn. The innkeeper informs him they’re booked for the evening. The traveler responds, “But if I were the king, would you be able to find a room for me?” “Well, yes,” the innkeeper responds, “but you are not the king.” “Agreed. But since […]