Already influential, secular voters will soon be the dominant voice in US elections, says political analyst Juhem Navarro-Rivera.
The Secular
Posted inThe Secular
What is an atheist, really?
In ages past, an ‘atheist’ was the one unsure of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman pantheons. He doubted the fairies and the forest elves too. No matter the time period, the atheist’s theological suspicions were aroused. And time after time, time proved the atheist right. Suppose an ancient Egyptian doubted the existence of his […]
Posted inEthics, History, The Secular
20 secular moral beacons
Mother Teresa. The Dalai Lama. Martin Luther King. Gandhi. If you ask most people to think of prominent individuals who represent the highest of moral activism, the apex of humanitarianism, the aspirational essence of care, compassion, and justice —these are the names that will spring quickest from their lips. It’s a fine list. Aside from […]
Posted inDeep Dive, Free Expression, Religion, The Secular
Salman Rushdie and America’s free speech ambivalence
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own. Fourth Tenet of The Satanic Temple Less than a week after literary giant Salman Rushdie was attacked and repeatedly stabbed on stage in upstate New York, sales of […]
Posted inThe Secular
The challenge of being an agnostic chaplain in the US government
I remember the first time I saw the enemy. They weren’t anything like what I expected. I think I was picturing an Al-Qaeda version of a Navy SEAL, bulging muscles, armed to the teeth, all-around intimidating warfighters. But what I saw were young men hardly old enough to grow a beard, with a skinny physique and wearing […]
Posted inBooks, The Secular
The weirdness of being secular
Is organized atheism too much like a religion? Is it okay for secular people to participate in rituals? If a humanist holds beliefs, is this dogmatic? Can a nonreligious person say “bless you” after someone sneezes? Probably every atheist or nonreligious person has, at some point in their lives, asked themselves or been asked questions […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, The Secular
Secular grief: How I learned to cope without heaven
Shortly before my mother went in for surgery to correct an issue with her bowels, I drove up to her rural northern California home to help her prepare. I sat on the piano bench in her living room and waited for her to retrieve something she just had to show me. She returned from her […]
Posted inGen Z Rising, The Secular
Less grey, less white: How to reach younger, more diverse seculars
We are a social species, and we do our best work together. But without a church, synagogue, or mosque in which to congregate, secular people must depend on local, state, and national organizations to create opportunities to network. National conferences occupy an especially large role in fostering engagement. I attended the 2021 Freedom From Religion […]
Posted inReligion, The Secular
The secular corner of South America
In recent years, international scholars have been developing new methods to understand two challenging belief categories: religious believers without affiliation to any religious institution, and those who define themselves as unbelievers—the “nones.” Several quantitative studies have reported clear disparities among the countries in Latin America. This article explores the characteristics of these two groups based […]
Posted inBooks, The Secular
Mark Twain sums up the absurdity of God in a single quote
As I meander along the sometimes remote byways of the nonreligious environment, I frequently come across some lovely sunlit glens. I recently found one in the form of a quote posted by someone named u/Lazy_boa in Reddit’s r/atheism tributary, titled “Mark Twain summed up the absurdity of God over a century ago.” This quote submitted […]