January / February 2010

The HUMANIST Interview with Gore Vidal

He’s been called an iconoclast, a provocateur, a misanthrope, and a conspiracy theorist (“I’m a conspiracy analyst,” he corrects). And now, with his acceptance last spring of the American Humanist Association’s honorary presidency, the acclaimed writer and critic Gore Vidal can add “humanist” to the mix. On August 4, 2009,...

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Features

Up Front

Coats before Christmas

It’s mid November, a cold, rainy one, with lower temperatures arriving earlier than we’d like. I work in the street selling newspapers. It’s a cold and wet job. But I like my job, I happen to...

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Columns

Reviews

Elsewhere in the Humanist:

Faith, Authority, and the Lure of Certainty

THE RISE OF THE NAZI PARTY did not emerge from a cultural vacuum. It was enabled by a psychological and social environment receptive to hierarchy, obedience, mythic identity and the moral elevation of the in-group. While Nazism was not a religious movement,...

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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

When They Speak of Our Time

Speech delivered at the No Kings protest at the Lexington Common, MA, October 18, 2025. Good morning to all. My name is Regie Gibson and I am the Inaugural Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I always feel it necessary to...

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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

By Conscience Alone

We are here today to present the American Humanist Association’s Humanist of the Year award to Jelani Cobb. The award was established in 1953 to recognize a person of national or international reputation who, through the application of humanist values, has made...

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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

The Future of Civic Power

At this moment in history, we have a clear challenge and opportunity. There is the long-term challenge of educating for expansive civic engagement, and there is the immediate challenge of responding to growing attacks on the very structure of democracy and an...

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