Volume 7 Number 3

Still Skeptic After All These Years

Still Skeptic After All These Years

On my way back to New York I then got a tweet from a follower linking to yet another “I resign from the skeptic movement and hand in my skeptic card” article, written by a prominent (former) skeptic. It doesn’t matter who. The list of complaints by that author are familiar: a tendency toward scientism, a certain degree of sexism within the movement, and a public failure to lead by some of the de facto leaders. The same issues that I have been complaining about for years. But I have not quit, and do not intend to quit. Why?

Six Reasons Why the Myth Theory of Jesus Is Bunkum

Six Reasons Why the Myth Theory of Jesus Is Bunkum

Humanists need to realize the damage being done to the movement by their support for the myth theory of Jesus. As a theory, it relies on poor and invalid methods of arguing, is unwittingly anti-Semitic, is irrelevant to much modern Christian thinking about Jesus, is unable to produce insights that can stimulate further research and lacks the courage of its convictions. Given this, it poses a major impediment to humanist scholarship being taken seriously.

Seeing Color

Seeing Color

This is a memoir about the author’s extraordinarily dynamic childhood, one his parents took an active part in creating for him, with the hope and intent of suggesting to him how an interdependent world without antiquated tribalisms can indeed be achieved.

Evidence for the Existence of God and Santa Claus

Evidence for the Existence of God and Santa Claus

While the existence of a god may appear hard to reconcile with a scientific worldview, the impact of a cultural belief in a god or gods is hardly controversial. Just as the Santa Claus narrative results in many gifts “From Santa” at the prescribed time, the cultural enforcement of the laws of the Christian and other gods can be viewed as a crowd-sourced effort to establish moral expectations. Unfortunately, those expectations are millennia old and do not account for our environmental problems. However, there is no scientifically accepted theory of beliefs that would establish a stable society while satisfying environmental concerns. We, therefore, need a discussion, both respectful and critical, about the existing crowd-sourced gods.

Transracial Identity Development

Transracial Identity Development

Observations about adult transracial adoptees and the role of special perspectives in discourses around race and, in order to move the fundamental societal discussions forward, how transracial adoptees and multiracial individuals can help lead narratives around race beyond the historically simplistic and binary dialogues.