Sam, Mike, and Becky welcome John Figdor, Chaplain at the Humanist Community of Stanford, as he discusses his journey to become a Humanist Chaplain and establish a Palo Alto community allied with the the Humanist Community Project. Other unholy alliances emerge between Russia, the Vatican, and Egypt.
When I read the shownotes before listening to the podcast, the combination of Humanist and Chaplain stood out to me because my perception of the profession has been tainted by comments made by Greg Epstein against seemingly any and all forms of oppositional activism, both in the debate you hosted between him and PZ Meyers and in other media. It’s fortunate that such comments could not, somewhat ironically given that they’re supposedly aimed at inclusion, deter me from listening and rediscovering exactly how important humanist chaplains can be, not as replacements for oppositional activism but as a service to sustain… Read more »
Arizona has more then its fair share of overly religious legislators in office. And they push for really bad laws, the “toilet paper please” bill you mentioned is just one of them.
But Arizona also has many people pushing back against those bills. One successful group is the Secular Coalition for Arizona, http://secularaz.org/.
Just like religious people are better then their books. Arizonians are better then their legislators.
Once upon a time I was really unhappy with the state of the secular movement in Arizona. I moved away in 2008. Two years later, when we started the show up and I mentioned it on the air, someone from the AZ branch of SCA emailed us nearly read me the riot act. As far as I can tell, either everyone was hiding in Ahwatukee, or started up right around the time I was leaving. I’m happy to say that there’s a strong movement in Arizona now, and I’m hoping to hang out with them some when I’m in town… Read more »
In this episode, there was a discussion about what to do if someone asks for your prayers. I believe I have a good solution to the problem. When someone asks me to pray for them or a loved one, I tell them that I will certainly keep them in my thoughts. Substituting thoughts for prayers allows me to remain true to my atheistic self while showing the other person you care. After all, isn’t that what prayers are: thinking about someone or something and hoping for the best outcome? And of course, over the next days, I do think about… Read more »