Throughout history, religious people have literally demonized groups of people other than their own. I started thinking deeply about this topic after considering the (former?) views of the Nation of Islam (NOI.) The NOI was founded on July 4, 1930. At least until the 1970s, they had preached that White people belonged to, in the words of Malcolm X when he was still a major leader in the group, “a filthy race of devils.”

However, at least since the 1980s, the NOI has backed away from such talk, at least in public. Still, if pressed on the issue, they will say that considering White people’s uniquely bad treatment of non-White people, they have behaved like devils, and the description is accurate.

The ISHV Cyber Think Tank is a digest of articles, interviews, and other musings compiled by ISHV Board Member Robert B. Tapp.

Secular organizers started their own congregations. But to succeed, they need to do a better job of imitating religion.

The Internet Gives Doubters a Home. “Well, if in-person gatherings rarely work for skeptics, I think there’s a better “glue” to unite millions of freethinkers worldwide. It’s the colossal Internet, the enormous portal for all of humanity. … Further, there’s scientific evidence that the Internet actually creates atheism….There you have it: The Internet provides a worldwide haven for freethought – and it also creates more freethought. If in-person meetings can’t make a sanctuary for doubters, cyberland can.”

What secular humanism can do that atheism can’t: Here is a good survey of current US organizations and positions.