January / February 2013

Experiments of Living

Throughout recorded history, ethical ideas have usually been traced to authorities. Most of the supposed authorities have been religious people, typically men who have claimed, or who have been credited with, a special mode of access to a divine revelation. Yet even the relatively rare, and significantly less popular, ventures...

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Features

Up Front

Done In by the Patriot Act

There’s a delicious irony to the story of the crash-and-burn career of four-star general and former Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus. The man who was elevated to the ethereal ranks of a General Eisenhower or...

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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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