Newsweek: The End of Christian America

And yet another article on the the shifting religious landscape in America. This time it's Newsweek.

UPDATED: The Godless Rise As A Political Force

"Secularist, humanist, freethinking nontheists and atheists are coalescing into a movement with a real agenda"

The title and subtitle of this blog entry are borrowed from the cover story of the March 7 issue of the National Journal (see The Godless Rise As A Political Force (PDF)). In it, Paul Starobin reports on the growing number of religiously unaffiliated Americans and the political movement that grows with them. Center stage is the Secular Coalition for America, of which the American Ethical Union (Ethical Culture's national organization) is a member. Regulars will recall that the SCA's former Director, Lori Lipman Brown, who is prominently mentioned, addressed the Bergen Society last September.

There is an opportunity for religious humanism, the Ethical Culture movement in particular, to rise with this political tide. Ours is perhaps the largest family-friendly organization of nontheists in America today. As adult "questioners" hear more about the larger national movement, it seems inevitable that some will seek a sympathetic setting for their children. Who they gonna call?

If they are lucky enough to live near one, they'll call the Ethical Culture Society (see local Societies). Here their children will be taught critical thinking and ethical behavior without the burden of dogmatic belief. We better be ready!

THIS JUST IN: See Paul Starobin discuss his article (click) with callers on C-Span (was broadcast on Sunday, March 8, 2009, at 9:30am ET). Fast forward to 1:31:30.

National Prayer Breakfast: President Obama Mentions Humanists

Barack Obama continues to push the presidential envelope, it would seem, when it comes to making a place at the table for non-theists and non-believers.

At today's National Prayer Breakfast, an event that snubs the non-prayerful in name if not in fact, the president is quoted as saying "We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all..." (emphasis added). Later in the same address he explicitly includes humanists with religious groups that abide by the Golden Rule as the "one law that binds all great religions together".

Something's in the air. Read the entire text here and an interesting blog entry in The Economist here.

Why not be good for goodness sake?

The American Humanist Association is embarking on an advertising campaign on Washington DC Metrobuses.  Here's an article about the campaign from the Washington Post:

Taking Atheism for a Ride Around Town

By John Kelly

Wednesday, November 12, 2008; Page B03

If you sometimes find yourself praying for a seat on a crowded Metrobus, some atheists have a message for you: Don't bother.

They would say that, wouldn't they? Prayer's not their thing. And starting Tuesday they'll be bringing their unique brand of holiday message to area commuters. Advertisements will begin popping up on Metrobuses in the District that read: "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake."

At a news conference at the National Press Clubyesterday, members of the American Humanist Association -- one of the country's leading atheist and agnostic organizations -- explained what they're up to.

"Our message is that all of us can have moral values as a natural result of who we are as a species and who we have become as a civilization," said Fred Edwords, the association's director of communications. "Each one of us knows what it means, generally, to be ethical."

Read the rest here.

A "Sunday School for Atheists" and Other Initiatives

Check out this Time Magazine article on the Sunday school of The Children's Program at the Humanist Community of Palo Alto, California. Here are a couple of other interesting humanist efforts in early education:

-The Ethical Community Charter Schools: charter elementary schools planning to open their doors in New York City and Jersey City in September, 2008 ("Every child will acquire the intellectual and ethical habits of mind that will foster success in education and society and the core values of ethical behavior");
-The Carl Sagan Academy: a middle school "profoundly committed to the belief that all people can, and do learn";

All of these programs had financial help from the Institute for Humanist Studies, which is the same organization that provided a grant to the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County for our very popular television commercial.