This is a summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN), the weekly e-zine of the Institute for Humanist Studies.

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August 17, 2006

Humanist Network News
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1. The Hasidim: The Future of Judaism?
   
2. IHS in the News
   
3. Spotlight on IHS Grantees: International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organization
   
4. Freethought Community to Honor Paulson
   
5. Seeking Reader Comments: 30 Days
   
6. The Responsibility of Revealed Morality
   
7. Sweet Reason: How Do I Comfort My Religious Sister?
   
8. Agnostic Mom: Educational Evolution Activities for Children
   
9. Sexual Intelligence: When The Oppressed Oppress
   
10. Australian Youth Follow the Secular Trend
    
11. Letters to the Editor
    
12. Media Roundup
    
13. Strange Times
    
14. Cathartic Comics
    
15. Humanist Humor

Summaries and links across the break.

This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN).

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August 9, 2006

1. International Youth Day
   
2. Suffer the Children: The U.S. and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child
   
3. An Atheist Among Evangelicals: Watch 30 Days Tonight
   
4. The State of Secular Singles
   
5. Rejuvenating the Humanist Movement
   
6. Spotlight on IHS Grantees: "Sin Free" Sunday School
   
7. IHS in the News: Religious freedom must be lawful
   
8. If We Turn the Other Cheek... Understanding the motives of terrorists
   
9. Mr. Bush's Respect for Human Embryos
   
10. Entrapped by Tolerance: Humanism in the Netherlands
    
11. Paris Mosque Sues Satirists over Cartoons
    
12. Sweet Reason: Fishbowl Exercises
    
13. Film Review: The Descent
    
14. Letters to the Editor
    
15. Media Roundup
    
16. Strange Times
    
17. Cathartic Comics
    
18. Humanist Humor

Summaries and links across the break.

This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN). The HNN is published every Wednesday via e-mail and on the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) Web site. This diary is a slightly reformatted copy of the weekly email they send me, which I post here every Thursday (Yes, I have permission from the IHS).

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August 2, 2006

Humanist Network News
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1. Good News and Bad News for Reproductive Rights
   
2. HNN Readers Share Stories of Morality without God
   
3. Double Jeopardy for the First Amendment -- Congress Mulls Scheme to Save Mt. Soledad Cross, Discourage State-Church Litigation
   
4. What's Wrong with Being an Old Mother?
   
5. Stephen Harper at the G8
   
6. Homo-Chimp Hybrids?
   
7. Council of Europe Comes Out For Free Speech; Catholic Church Meddles in World Affairs
   
8. Sweet Reason: Facing Challenges to Evolution Education
   
9. Film Review: A Scanner Darkly
   
10. Letters to the Editor
    
11. Media Roundup
    
12. Strange Times
    
13. Cathartic Comics
    
14. Humanist Humor

Summaries and links across the break.

This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN). The HNN is published every Wednesday via e-mail and on the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) Web site. This diary is a slightly reformatted copy of the weekly email they send me, which I post here every Thursday (Yes, I have permission from the IHS).

July 26, 2006
Humanist Network News
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This week's HNN is the once-a-month HNN Podcast. I have never listened to the HNN Podcast, but I might this week.

1. HNN Podcast #9: The Republican War on Science
   
2. Transcript: HNN Podcast #8

Summaries and links across the break.

Think Progress had a recent thread about the absurdity of thinking that all of the frozen blastocysts could or should be adopted.

The thread had a troll named Jason M. Hendler posting the standard holier-than-thou "pro-life" lines. So, I tackled the morality question in one of my comments:

With global population already at the bursting point, I would argue that insisting that every frozen embryo be given a chance to develop into a person is the immoral position. With millions of living, breathing, thinking children already waiting for adoptions that may never come, I believe that the insistance that these blastocysts be adopted is the immoral position.

I expected Hendler would attack my moral argument, but my comment elicited a sickening response beyond anything I could have anticipated:

Yes, global population is skyrocketing, and we keep sending free food to non-viable cultures, so that they may one day arm themselves to take what we have. Let us hope that regional wars, genocides, famines and pandemics solve population growth for us.

Holy SH*T!! I guess the mask has come off... or maybe the sheet has gone on...

This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN). The HNN is published every Wednesday via e-mail and on the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) Web site. This diary is a slightly reformatted copy of the weekly email they send me, which I post here every Thursday (Yes, I have permission from the IHS).

July 19, 2006
Humanist Network News
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1. Humanist Philanthropy
   
2. Put HNN Headlines on Your Website
   
3. Freedom of Speech and the Harm Principle
   
4. Meet Our New Webmaster
   
5. World Population Day
   
6. Secular and Single?
   
7. And What Do We Do With Bullies?
   
8. Rationally Speaking: How Stupid is Bush, Really?
   
9. Use Your Humanist Charms to Be on TV and Make Money!
   
10. Sweet Reason: I'm Sick of Religious Ceremonies!
    
11. Film Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest
    
12. The Vatican Rolling in Cash
    
13. Letters to the Editor
    
14. Media Roundup
    
15. Strange Times
    
16. Cathartic Comics
    
17. Humanist Humor

Summaries, links, and MY TAKE across the break.

At Pastor Dan's request, I am writing a detailed response to Barack Obama's Call to Renewal Keynote Address. I must be honest and reveal that my previous comments and posts about his speech were based on excerpts, and not the full speech. Senator Obama told PD that many of the criticisms of his speech have come from people like me who have not read or heard the entire speech. So I went back and watched the speech a few times and read the full text to see what I was missing. I am actually more critical of the speech now than I was before, and taken as a whole I found it to be a self-contradictory mess.

I go into agonizing detail across the break... follow if you dare.

This is the weekly summary of the Humanist Network News (HNN).

July 12, 2006
Humanist Network News
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1. Religious Criticism Is Not Religious Hatred
   
2. Meet IHS at MySpace: Taking Humanism to Youth
   
3. The Dilemma Called Afghanistan
   
4. Since When Did Marriage Become a Christian Institution?
   
5. Forced Prayer in Somalia and... England?
   
6. What do you think about the eBay atheist?
   
7. Agnostic Mom: The Line
   
8. Sweet Reason: A Reason for Living
   
9. Sexual Intelligence: America Survives Three Years of Sodomy
   
10. NY Legislative Roundup
    
11. One "Converted" Atheist We Won't Miss
    
12. Letters to the Editor
    
13. Media Roundup
    
14. Strange Times
    
15. Cathartic Comics
    
16. Humanist Humor

Summaries, links, and MY TAKE across the break.

The Washington Post reports on the case of Patrick D. Stewart, a Wiccan killed in Afghanistan who has been denied a memorial plaque featuring a pentacle by the VA.

At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nev., there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart.

That's because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion -- a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle -- to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers.

More after the break.

[editor's note, by its simple IF you ignore the complexity] hope folks have checked this out - seems to me an important antidote to many of the stories we've been discussing. Things, sadly, don't seem to have changed much in the last 6 decades - time to stop building walls and repair the bridges instead.

In 1944, two leaders of the Jewish and Christian communities approached Pulitzer Prize winning philosopher Will Durant about creating a movement to raise moral standards. What emerged from this meeting was...

I know there is a book club here now and the books for the next few months have been selected already, but I wanted to recommend a book to everyone: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.

The book is extremely funny, but also quite touching. The four (canonical) Gospels basically begin with Jesus' ministry, which began around the age of 30. The Gospels contain nothing of Jesus' childhood beyond his birth (mentioned in 2 of the Gospels) and his teaching at the Temple of Jerusalem as a 12 year old (mentioned in only one of the Gospels). The rest of his formative years are a total blank.

Moore asks, "What would those years have been like? How, exactly, does one prepare to be the Messiah? What training would be required for such an occupation? And what if Jesus knew kung-fu?" Yes, kung-fu. To tell the story, Moore creates the character Levi who is called Biff, who meets Joshua of Nazareth at age 6 and is his constant companion right up until the crucifixion (Jesus is the Greek translation of Joshua, Biff tells us).

Follow me across the break for more (WARNING: minor spoilers).

Today is World Humanist Day! What does that mean? According to Secular Seasons, "World Humanist Day is celebrated annually on June 21 as a way to spread information -- and combat misinformation -- about the positive aspects of humanism as a philosophical life stance and means to affect change in the world."

Why is this necessary? Check out my diary I Am The Boogeyman for info about the demonization of secular humanism. I also explain what a "philosophical life stance" is and how it is both similar to, but distinct from, religion. In fact, it is possible to be both religious and a humanist at the same time.