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Posts regarding ETFF shows
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In this episode we offered WBAI listeners the chance to call in with their thoughts on Humanism and Atheism in society today. We heard a bit from the spiritually inclined that still want policy and society to be secular, for the most part, which was interesting.
The Andrew Sullivan article in the Times Of London referenced at the top of the show can be found here.
Morality Without Gods II: A Preview
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This program, co-hosted by Sunsara Taylor and Paul Eckstein, was a preview of the following event:
Morality Without Gods: Part 2
Across the planet with unjust wars, uncertainty & convulsions in people’s lives, belief in gods and religion is rising. Broad controversy and debate rages over god, atheism, faith, and science. Last November, an overflow crowd came out at NYU for Morality Without Gods: Part 1. Part 2 will focus on these three questions:
A review of the actual event can be found here. A DVD-video of the event will become available shortly, and we will provide information on it via this website.
Race & Racism in the 21st Century: A Humanist Approach w/ Tim Wise & Joseph Graves
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It can be argued that perhaps the key issue which separates the United States from the other 17 world democracies is that this nation was built in no small way on the backs of chattel slavery, an institution which has had an impact not only on the “race” of people whom were enslaved, but the entire sociopolitical structure of the nation itself. Not only has slavery, and the justification of slavery and domination which we know today as racism, affected the relationships between those of African-Americans and the dominant “race” (Caucasians) – as well as other people of color whose entrance and experiences in this nation, however problematic, were different by the very nature of how they came to be in America – but it has also blurred the line between the powerful and rich and the rest of us who share a class consciousness’ (or who should!)
And now, with the rise of Barack Obama to the most powerful position of power on the planet, many Caucasians – especially conservatives, but many liberals as well – have decided that the U.S. is a post-racial society, and that the only thing that really stands between other African-Americans and their potential Obama-like success is what whites perceive of as a lack of “personal responsibility” on behalf of blacks in America.
Continue reading “Show 273: Race & Racism in the 21st Century: A Humanist Approach”
Rethinking “Traditional” Marriage: Stephanie Coontz on her book, Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage
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From Publishers Weekly:
When considered in the light of history, “traditional marriage”—the purportedly time-honored institution some argue is in crisis thanks to rising rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births, not to mention gay marriage—is not so traditional at all. Indeed, Coontz argues marriage has always been in flux, and “almost every marital and sexual arrangement we have seen in recent years, however startling it may appear, has been tried somewhere before.”
Based on extensive research (hers and others’), Coontz’s fascinating study places current concepts of marriage in broad historical context, revealing that there is much more to “I do” than meets the eye. In ancient Rome, no distinction was made between cohabitation and marriage; during the Middle Ages, marriage was regarded less as a bond of love than as a ” ‘career’ decision”; in the Victorian era, the increasingly important idea of true love “undermined the gender hierarchy of the home” (in the past, men—rulers of the household—were encouraged to punish insufficiently obedient wives). Coontz explains marriage today as a way of ensuring a domestic labor force, as a political tool and as a flexible reflection of changing social standards and desires.
Continue reading “Show 272: Rethinking “Traditional” Marriage w/ Stephanie Coontz”
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Beth Lamont joins us to discuss her late husband’s legacy, her own work as a humanist activist, and her impressions concerning the ethics of humanism. Ms. Lamont is a feminist activist, humanist, and mother of eleven. In the 1970s, she became a Board Member of the American Humanist Association through its Chapter Assembly. Additionally, she has headed the Division of Humanist Extension, assuming this leadership role at the invitation of Edwin H. Wilson; created the Humanist Advocate Program which encouraged individuals to promote Humanism; created a television program called “Here & Now,” which has aired on Manhattan Cable since 1984; is a Humanist Chaplain having performed over 500 weddings; and has represented the American Humanist Association in its NGO capacity at the United Nations.
Beth has recently self-published the book, Lefties Are In Their Right Minds which includes a re-introduction and fresh commentary to Corliss Lamont’s 1939 text, You Might Like Socialism!
Continue reading “Show 271: Humanism’s Leading Light, Beth Lamont”
“The Big Religion Problems…Solved!” w/Gregory S. Paul
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As an interesting follow-up to our October/November two-part program with Ronald Inglehart and David S. Wilson – found here and here – we will discuss with scholar Gregory S. Paul the big questions of religion (not theology) – mainly, why was religion invented, why does it still exist in the 21st century, and what is the future for the religious impulse? A short summary of Paul’s “answers” to these questions found in his essay – Religion, the Big Questions Finally Solved (Free Inquiry; Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009) – goes as follows:
“(The threats to religion today include) the contribution by naturalistic science, socioeconomic security, and corporate-consumer culture, (all of which) combine to form the ‘Triple-Threat Hypothesis of Democratic Secularization … Religion is-a superficial, primitive, and dysfunctional condition … Religious belief and activity are-superficial coping mechanism(s) that (are) easily cast off when the majority of a given society enjoy democratic governance, and a secure, comfortable middle-class lifestyle.”
Gregory S. Paul is a paleontologist, artist and author. In 2005 he made headlines with his studies indicating that religious societies are worse off than secular ones.
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While many Americans are hoping for change with an Obama presidency, humanists and other nontheists are seeing the same old cow-towing to religious interests on Capitol Hill. What does an inaugural invocation from the Reverend Rick Warren, who has compared same-sex marriage to incest and said he would never vote for an atheist, mean for Freethinking America? Who will represent nontheists on the Inaugural dais? And just how many members of Congress are hiding in the Nonbeliever Closet? Michael O’Neil will discuss these issues and more with Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the Secular Coalition Of America, on the next Equal Time For Freethought.
Special re-airing of excerpts of Joel Kovel interview on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
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Due to the recent events in Israel, we have postponed our interview with Stephanie Koontz until March, and instead bring to you excerpts of an interview we conducted last year with Joel Kovel regarding his controversial book, Overcoming Zionism. The producers and hosts of Equal Time for Freethought hope for a quick end to the colonialist assaults on Palestine and the Palestinian people in Gaza, and urge the incoming President (Obama) to break with the U.S. government’s current position on Israel so as to at least prevent further genocidal acts by the apartheid state. Personally, as a person of Jewish descent, I can not more strongly urge all American Jews (religious or secular) to call upon Israel to live up to the cosmopolitan history of the Jewish tradition and demand the occupation and Zionism are both replaced with humanistic change. Shalom & Salaam.
1-Hour Special: A Prescription for Real Social Change
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In this previously aired (albeit with poor sound quality), political philosopher Takis Fotopoulos presented his case for an alternative libratory model for reaching a healthier, happier, freer, and more humanistic future society. Fotopoulos’ model is called Inclusive Democracy, which according to him, “is derived from a synthesis of two major historical traditions: the classical democratic, and the socialist. It also encompasses radical green, feminist, indigenous and liberation movements in the South.”
The crux of Fotopoulos’ ideas amount to, “communities run on the basis of direct political democracy, as well as economic democracy (beyond the confines of the market economy and statist planning), democracy in the social realm, and ecological democracy.” Accordingly, in an inclusive democracy, “politics is no longer a technique for holding and exercising power, but the self-management of society by its members.”
Continue reading “Show 268: A Prescription for Real Social Change”
Equal Time for Freethought’s Naturalistic Christmas Special!
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Well that time of year is here again! And despite all the pronouncements of faith in speech, song and public display, a majority of people who celebrate Christmas in America are disinclined to believe that the only person who can save our world was born and died about two thousand years ago.
In reality most Americans understand that the people who can help humanity ring in an age of social justice, stable environment, global peace, and fair access to resources for all, are walking among us today, and this is reflected in the fact that at Christmastime most people who have children in their lives spend far more time fussing over them than they do praying.
There’s no need to believe in supernatural ideas to participate and enjoy the holiday that celebrates and indulges children, and the hope for a better tomorrow which they embody, and looks to the ever longer days of sun light, which now begin, as a symbol of better times ahead.
Continue reading “Show 267: Naturalistic Christmas Special!”