THE OLDEST RECORDED DESCRIPTION of the philosophy of life we call “humanism” was first articulated by the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who lived from 341 until 270 BCE. His philosophy, which subsequent philosophers have labeled “hedonism,”... Read More

I GREW UP in a time before there was any sex education and when people only spoke of sex in hushed terms around children. They spoke of cancer the same way. At puberty, when certain... Read More

I NEVER WANTED TO BE A HUMANIST CELEBRANT until John Forwalter died. John was president of our local humanist chapter, and when he died in 1996, his fundamentalist preacher son conducted a full-blown evangelical funeral... Read More

HUMANISM HAS FAILED. This election has shown how our values were repudiated by many Americans in national, state, and local elections. There is still much to be learned, but for us it’s clear that a... Read More

A YOUNG WOMAN in a self-management and recovery training (SMART) meeting I coordinate asked me how anything could go right for her when she had so many debts, destroyed relationships, little hope for employment, little... Read More

HUMANISM HAS BEEN labeled by some as anthropocentric and given to speciesism, the belief that human beings are set apart and should be valued above the rest of the biosphere. If all we’re interested in... Read More

JUST ABOUT EVERYONE working on antiracism today is frustrated. The country as a whole—black, white, liberal, and conservative—has descended a staircase of despair, apathetic or exhausted from trying to motivate positive change. Professional antiracism has... Read More