March / April 2015

Is Islam Violent? The Answer Isn’t as Simple as Many Think

ALLOW ME to describe a familiar course of events. Somewhere in the world, extremists carry out a terrorist attack in the name of Islam. In the days and weeks following, a series of opinion pieces are published either attacking Islam for violence or denying it bears any responsibility. Critics may...

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Features

Up Front

Religious Nationalism

It is hard to believe that the conflicts currently ravaging the Middle East could get much worse, yet the refusal of numerous parties to make substantive compromises on key issues is increasingly likely to lead to...

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Columns

Reviews

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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Elsewhere in the Humanist:

Curing Loneliness: How Humanism Can Bring Us Closer Together

Fish Stark is the Executive Director of the American Humanist Association. This article is adapted from his remarks at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. “The most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can...

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