Comment

Comment by Brian Magee on July 6, 2012 at 4:08pm

Five Recommendations for a New Politeness

by Roy Speckhardt, executive director, American Humanist Association

For many of us, the first and most important lesson from our childhood is the Golden Rule. In a graduation speechat the University of Notre Dame, even President Obama made reference to it when he said, "For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule -- the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated."

This is a universal concept that anyone can understand and apply to their own life.

For a time, there was a concerted attempt to apply this reasoning to the language we use in everyday conversations. A close look at our language choices revealed that the prejudices within our society were being reflected and reinforced in common speech. It was pointed out that referring to women as girls was belittling, calling something gay because it appeared effeminate was offensive, and referring to recent immigrants as foreigners was disparaging. This positively motivated movement was eventually stymied by occasional excesses and pushback from the conservative and religious right.

Engaging in insensitive speech is unnecessary and should receive society's condemnation, but it is also unnecessary for speech to be made illegal or result in top down censorship; excesses that tend toward censorship are real concerns. Remember Nipplegate? The Federal Communications Commission tried to fine CBS for politically incorrect indecency when Janet Jackson's right breast was partially exposed during a Super Bowl half-time show. Instead of being an example of how our bodies aren't something to be ashamed of, the fine per indecency violation was hiked from $27,000 to $325,000 after this incident. Additionally, as this movement progressed, an idea gained traction that critique of religion was automatically offensive.

To read the rest of the Huffington Post article from AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt, click here.

(Image can be found here)

Comment by Brian Magee on July 5, 2012 at 4:35pm

The Ten Commitments: Guiding Principles for Teaching Values in Public Schools

These principles -- without any specific religious creed -- form a strong basis on which character development can be delivered to the nation's public school students.

By Roy Speckhardt, July 03, 2012

Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1980 that declared posting the Ten Commandments in public schools unconstitutional (Stone v. Graham), attempts to violate the law are still rampant. The New Kensington-Arnold School District in Pennsylvania is being sued for a Ten Commandments monument on school property. In Giles County, Virginia, school administrators recently decided to stop their legal battle to keep the Ten Commandments on a wall in a public high school there. And in other places the Decalogue remains unchallenged.

It is a common assertion among many proponents of displaying the Ten Commandments in schools or on other government property that their motivations aren't religious. They claim that America's legal system is based on these ancient Hebrew tenets (from which they have to choose a version) and that displaying them would be the same as displaying any other historical manuscript. Of course, such claims are easily shownto be sham reasoning, since promotion of their particular religion is their true aim and the Ten Commandments have very little to do with our English Common Law-based legal system.

 

To read the rest of the Patheos article from AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt, click here.

To read the Ten Commitments, click here.

Comment by Brian Magee on July 3, 2012 at 2:58pm

The Parade of Privilege: How Government Favors Religion

Luis Granados, director of the AHA’s publishing house, Humanist Press, responds to the Catholic bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a 14-day campaign which, according to the Washington Post, “purports to champion religious freedom, but in actuality distorts it by promoting the use of religion as a license to discriminate.”

Religious Privilege #8: Second Class Marriage

One of the main drivers behind the bishops’ “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign is the church’s visceral opposition to same-sex marriage. Now, if the government were to force people to marry others of their same sex, that would certainly violate religious (and other) liberty. But how does broadening freedom for a minority take away from the religious or other liberty of anyone else? For the simple reason, says the church, that “religious liberty” requires the freedom to discriminate in myriad ways against those in lawful marriages of which the church disapproves. A freedom which it already has, even in the handful of states like New York that have legalized same-sex marriage.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Visit the American Humanist Association’s Facebook page every day through July 4 where we counter the Catholic Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom by posting a special privilege experienced only by churches in the United States.

Comment by Brian Magee on July 3, 2012 at 1:08pm

Help Victims of the Colorado Wildfires

A raging wildfire in Colorado has forced tens of thousands to flee and destroyed over 340 homes. Officials are calling it the most destructive fire in the state's history, and President Obama has declared Colorado a federal disaster area. Those who have been affected by the fires include members of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

AHA Vice President and co-owner of the Colorado Springs-based company EvolveFISH.com, Rebecca Hale, will be organizing a food and water drive for the brave Colorado firefighters and employees of the U.S. Forest Service that have worked to contain the fires and help keep people safe.

Humanist Charities will be raising money to support the Colorado firefighters and those who have lost their homes. If you'd like to make a donation, please click here.

Comment by Brian Magee on July 2, 2012 at 2:21pm

The Parade of Privilege: How Government Favors Religion

Luis Granados, director of the AHA’s publishing house, Humanist Press, responds to the Catholic bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a 14-day campaign which, according to the Washington Post, “purports to champion religious freedom, but in actuality distorts it by promoting the use of religion as a license to discriminate.”

Religious Privilege #7: Prisons

The most ludicrous examples of government special privilege for religion can be found in our prisons, which are supposed to be places where ordinary freedoms are left at the door. Thanks to the efforts of Watergate jailbird Charles Colson, the same RLUIPA law that gives churches an unfair advantage in routine zoning matters also gives prisoners incredible power to ignore ordinary prison rules, just by claiming that God (or even the devil) said so.

Senators as diverse as Harry Reid and Strom Thurmond expressed misgivings about the change. Thurmond, not ordinarily considered a humanist here, sagely warned that “Inmates have used religion as a cover to organize prison uprisings, get drugs into prison, promote gang activity, and interfere in important prison health regulations. Additional legal protections will make it much harder for corrections officials to control these abuses of religious rights.” But, they voted for it anyway, because they didn’t want to offend the God experts.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Visit the American Humanist Association’s Facebook page every day through July 4 where we counter the Catholic Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom by posting a special privilege experienced only by churches in the United States.

Comment by Brian Magee on July 2, 2012 at 11:54am

Take Action: Tell Congress To Support The Military Spouses Equal Tr...

Dear Friend,

 

Now that the disgraceful “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy has been repealed, most Americans think our troops are serving freely and fairly alongside each other. Unfortunately, this is just not the case.

Federal law unfortunately still discriminates against married gay and lesbian service members, veterans, and their families by denying them crucial protections and creating two classes of service members in our armed forces.

Thankfully, Representative Adam Smith(WA) recently proposed legislation that would extend these benefits and protections to same-sex partners of military service members.

HB 6406, also known as the Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act, would enable same-sex spouses and partners of military personnel and veterans to “obtain essential benefits, including insurance, housing allowances and survivor benefits.” This legislation would finally remove the discriminatory gap in our armed forces and allow gay and lesbian service members and their families to get the benefits and rights that they deserve.

Stand up for the rights of LGBT soldiers who risk their lives every...

The American Humanist Association firmly believes in the right of all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, to be treated equally and justly by their government. Congress must pass legislation such as HB 6406 that works to protect the rights of all Americans and removes the remnants of institutional discrimination.

Please take a moment to contact your Representative today and ask him or her to support the Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act.

Sincerely,

Roy Speckhardt

Executive Director

Comment by Brian Magee on July 1, 2012 at 7:56am

The Parade of Privilege: How Government Favors Religion

Luis Granados, director of the AHA’s publishing house, Humanist Press, responds to the Catholic bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a 14-day campaign which, according to the Washington Post, “purports to champion religious freedom, but in actuality distorts it by promoting the use of religion as a license to discriminate.”

Religious Privilege #6: Sabotaging Secular Education

The only way religion can survive is by constant brainwashing of impressionable young minds. It’s a rare bird indeed who is raised without religious indoctrination, then after reaching the age of reason looks at the evidence, slaps his forehead and says “Of course! A Trinity! It must be so.”

America’s bishops fought a bitter battle for decades against secular education, sternly admonishing the faithful that it was the gravest of mortal sins to send their children to public schools when a parochial school was available.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Visit the American Humanist Association’s Facebook page every day beginning June 27 where we counter the Catholic Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom by posting a special privilege experienced only by churches in the United States.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 30, 2012 at 11:41am

The Parade of Privilege: How Government Favors Religion

Luis Granados, director of the AHA’s publishing house, Humanist Press, responds to the Catholic bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a 14-day campaign which, according to the Washington Post, “purports to champion religious freedom, but in actuality distorts it by promoting the use of religion as a license to discriminate.”

Religious Privilege #5: The Government PR Campaign

The most astonishing conundrum about the bishops’ “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign is how anyone could imagine that a government so bent on promoting religious belief could be accused of persecuting people for it.

We have a government that in 1954 changed the longstanding Pledge of Allegiance every school child must recite, to insert an “under God” proviso that marginalizes millions of non-religious Americans. This persecutes religion?

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Visit the American Humanist Association’s Facebook page every day beginning June 27 where we counter the Catholic Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom by posting a special privilege experienced only by churches in the United States.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 29, 2012 at 2:41pm

The Parade of Privilege: How Government Favors Religion

Luis Granados, director of the AHA’s publishing house, Humanist Press, responds to the Catholic bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a 14-day campaign which, according to the Washington Post, “purports to champion religious freedom, but in actuality distorts it by promoting the use of religion as a license to discriminate.”

Religious Privilege #4: Land Use

Land use laws can be a pain. Most of us have at least a little stubborn streak of “I paid for my property, I can do with it what I want.” But real-world experience with uncontrolled sprawl has led the vast majority of Americans to acquiesce in the need for sensible zoning and historic preservation laws that everyone has to comply with.

Everyone, that is, except God experts. Thanks to a travesty of a federal law called the “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act” (RLUIPA), governments at every level now have to bend over backwards to change their zoning rules to accommodate anyone who claims to be acting for God.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Visit the American Humanist Association’s Facebook page every day beginning June 27 where we counter the Catholic Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom by posting a special privilege experienced only by churches in the United States.

Comment by Brian Magee on June 28, 2012 at 1:49pm

The Parade of Privilege: How Government Favors Religion

Luis Granados, director of the AHA’s publishing house, Humanist Press, responds to the Catholic bishops' Fortnight for Freedom, a 14-day campaign which, according to the Washington Post, “purports to champion religious freedom, but in actuality distorts it by promoting the use of religion as a license to discriminate.”

Religious Privilege #3: A Blind Eye to Scofflaws

“In the face of an unjust law,” the bishops wrote when first announcing the current Fortnight for Freedom campaign, “an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them.”

Religiously motivated defiance of the law is already here – and the government isn’t lifting a finger to stop it.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Visit the American Humanist Association’s Facebook page every day beginning June 27 where we counter the Catholic Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom by posting a special privilege experienced only by churches in the United States.

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