The latest from Cagle Cartoons.     Caitlin Clark by Jeff Koterba, patreon.com/jeffreykoterba The post The Comics Section: Shooting for the Stars appeared first on TheHumanist.com ..read more

The National Day of Reason (NDoR), on May 4, 2024, recognizes the importance of reason, critical thought, the scientific method, and free inquiry to resolve social problems and promote the welfare of humankind. It continues America’s original efforts towards a secular democracy, keeping religion and government separate while ensuring that reason is the basis for public policy. It celebrates the important roles played by reason and critical thought in our nation’s founding, its social evolutions, and its necessary improvements. More than ever, Christian nationalists and far-right fanatics in th ..read more

The following excerpt is from a new book from Beacon Press, set to be published in May 2024. Introduction I have grown to like “nontheist” as a broad-spectrum term that carries less baggage than more commonly used words such as “atheist” or “agnostic.” —CANDACE GORHAM To do good is my religion. —THOMAS PAINE ACCORDING TO POPULAR IMAGINATION in the United States, to be a Black American is to be a Black Christian. This connection is made, typically without any call for justification. It is grounded in a common narration of Black life that views its guiding concerns and questions as revolving aro ..read more

Introduction and Methods Overview Artificial Intelligence is supposed to be unbiased. Right? With the rise of AI and machine learning models, this is an ethical concern that should be at the forefront of the minds of the developers of such programs. Among the most prominent of these programs is ChatGPT (Generative Pre-Training Transformer), an open source model developed by OpenAI. Late last year, Alex O’Connor, a popular contemporary philosopher formerly of the name CosmicSkeptic on YouTube, managed to convince ChatGPT that God exists. He first attempted the Kalam cosmological argument, but C ..read more

According to Vote.org, there are an estimated eight million newly eligible voters since the last election cycle and eighty-nine percent of young people indicate they might vote. In their recent get-out-the-vote webinar, they shared research by the Harvard Institute of Politics that “confirms that deadline reminders, voting guides, how-to training, and conversations with friends and family are all helpful turnout tactics.” Here are some examples of how secular and humanist organizations are supporting young voters and future voters, and how we can help. Camp 42 and Camp Quest are emphasizing vo ..read more

Three questions haunt and motivate me as a Chaplain (and as a human): Is it possible to be world class, and remain well? Is it possible to be world changing, and remain good? Is it possible to be average, and remain motivated? In other words, what is the cost of excellence? How do we foster systems powerful enough to make needed change, but ethical enough to do so in a healthy way? How do we each tap into the motivation to pivot toward our better selves? These are provocative ways of asking deeper, more complex questions: How can we do good and remain well within complex systems? How can we ex ..read more

The Pew Research Center reported in 2022 that 1.6% of Americans are transgender or nonbinary. Among those aged 18-29, the figure hit 5 percent. That’s millions of people. They are children, our neighbors, our friends and our coworkers. And in many parts of the country, their lives are treated as disposable. Consider Oklahoma. Under State Superintendent of Instruction Ryan Walters, the state has embarked on an aggressive campaign to reverse the gains made by LGBTQ+ people in recent years. Walters seem to have a special antipathy for transgender/nonbinary students. Put bluntly, Walters not only ..read more

Every deity ever worshipped is the product of ancient superstition invented by people who knew little about the universe and our place in it. They didn’t know our Earth revolves around the Sun or that our planet’s day/night cycle is the result of the Earth spinning on its axis. Genesis 1:16 says “God (also known as Yahweh) made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser to govern the night. He also made the stars.” The authors didn’t know that our sun is really just an average size star, one of more than 200 hundred billion stars in our galaxy. And ..read more

Journeys to Humanism, theHumanist.com’s regular series, features real stories from humanists in our community. From heartwarming narratives of growth, to more difficult journeys, our readers open up about their experiences coming to humanism. Kevin McKinney Salunga, PA I just want to give heavy metal music the props it deserves. As a kid, I only saw my father every other weekend and stopped going to church after my parents divorced when I was ten years old. Music became my role model and father figure. During this time, in the 1980s, a lot of that music was being banned and shunned. Music help ..read more

One question I hear a lot in my life, is the title of this article: “What the heck is that!?!” It’s a question I get, almost every time I cross the border from Canada into the USA. Mostly because, when I cross, I’m either doing a presentation on one or another aspect of humanism, or attending humanist related events and activities. It could be giving a talk on interfaith marriage and parenting with mutual respect, hosting a service at Sunday Assembly Detroit, representing the Windsor Chapter of Humanist Canada, or sharing resources of Recovering from Religion. I pull up to the security booth w ..read more