However, as cruel and bizarre as these beliefs are, they are not why Jones has been barred from so many social media outlets. He was barred because these non-governmental businesses have standards against hate speech, which Jones repeatedly violated. The pressure from anti-bigots had become so great that the social media giants had to react.

“. . . there would be no lynching if it did not start in the schoolroom.” – Carter G. Woodson

In 1933, the historian Carter G. Woodson wrote the classic The Mis-Education of the Negro. Woodson contended that Blacks had been “trained and not educated.” He thoroughly discussed the mis-education of Blacks in religion, politics, schools, institutions of higher learning, and so on.

Southern Baptists have always been reactionary. Indeed, they were founded primarily to defend slavery. They have always been staunchly patriarchal and insistent that only certain Protestants can get into Heaven. Many of them have been anti-Jewish.

How could anyone with just a modicum of basic decency and humanity not see how cruel it is to assign millions of souls to eternal torment simply for not having even heard of Jesus Christ? It is not bad enough that Africans have to suffer in this world. No, indeed. God cannot be appeased and many Christians cannot be truly happy unless non-Christians also suffer forever in the next world. Only then can self-righteous Christians feel especially good about themselves. Ironically, this belief is about ego stroking among Christians that believe themselves to be remarkably humble. As someone once remarked, paradoxically, “they are proud that they are not proud.”

First, I promote non-theism because I am deeply passionate about it, and because it matters. It matters that throughout the history of human civilization, most people have believed strongly in a Being for whom there appears to be no strong evidence whatsoever. Many theists are easy to lead astray, to manipulate, to oppress and to enslave. Many others do a great deal of harm in the name of God. Therefore, I am intellectually and morally obligated to stand uncompromisingly opposed to theism. I could not in good conscience run away from such a duty.

On August 10, 2018, the humanist world lost a great humanist activist in Uganda. Deo Ssekitoleko died under mysterious circumstances. According to his post mortem, his neck was broken during strangulation. At the time of this writing, there is not much more reliable information than that to go on. Deo founded the Uganda Humanist Association (UHASSO.) Many humanists regarded him as the most important humanist activist, organizer and leader in East Africa.

It is easy for mainstream religionists to criticize followers of cults and sects. However, why should primitive insanity be preferred over modern insanity? We should all strive to establish strong criteria for examining extraordinary claims, regardless of where those claims are to be found. This would be a major way to combat dangerous cults and even relatively harmless irrational ideas.

There have always been Christian hypocrites. But they used to be in the minority and easy to write off. I am not writing about Christians that, like all of us, are fallible. I am talking about those that, for the most part, talk the talk but cannot walk the walk. The great writer and debater Melvin B. Tolson used to refer to them as “mouth Christians” . . . .

June is African American Music Appreciation Month. (It was originally designated as Black Music Month on June 7, 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. President Obama gave it the present designation in 2009. By the way, June is also LGBT Pride Month.) African Americans have contributed greatly to music. They were among the founders of blues, jazz, rock and roll, disco, rap and other genres. Musicians such as Little Richard heavily influenced the Beatles. Musicians such as Muddy Waters heavily influenced the Rolling Stones. (In fact, Rolling Stone magazine and the Rolling Stones are both named after Waters’ 1950 hit “Rollin’ Stone.”)

Some people are always criticizing other people’s missions. For example, someone who is passionate about environmentalism might criticize others for not concluding that there is nothing more important than dealing with climate change. This critic might believe that unless we all work together to address the challenge of climate change, all other missions are pretty much a waste of time.

Regnerus is a conservative and prefers the “exchange relationship” between women and men in which women view sex as a valuable prize to be shared with men only when women can reasonably expect romantic dates, improved finances, security, gifts, and at least competent fatherhood. By having sex with men too soon, the author contends, women are decreasing or even destroying the likelihood that they will get what they prize greatly – marriage. Ideally, women would wait until marriage to have sex with men. However, the author realizes that those days are long gone, and he does not long for them wistfully. He claims that he merely wants to understand modern relationships and where they might be headed.

". . . religion’s greatest trick wasn’t convincing people that there was a God who was all-powerful. It was convincing everyone else that you couldn’t ridicule the idea." – British Comedian and Atheist Ricky Gervais

Despite the popular notion that religion should be deadly serious, the fact remains that religion is downright hilarious. Indeed, CBS has premiered the sitcom Living Biblically, and comedies such as CBS’ Young Sheldon have dealt with religion intelligently and in funny ways.

Donald Trump is truly divisive in a very horrible way. As a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and as someone who has worked for organizations serving vets for years, I had heard criticisms from vets of Democratic and Republican presidents. But I had never heard a single vet say that she or he would not want to fight for any U.S. president – until Trump came to power. I shared my observation with other vets, and many of them said that they, too, would not fight for this Commander-in-Chief.

There have been many objections to the celebration of Black History Month – coming from Blacks and Whites alike. Many Blacks have complained that this time was set aside because February is the shortest (and perhaps coldest) month of the year.