Comments for The Humanist

Comment on Stop Saying “Same-Sex” Marriage by Valri_22

Valri_22 — Sun, 13 May 2012 07:23:00 +0000

Why would you say marriage has to be with two non related people? My brother and I love and respect each other and both want to be together sexually for the rest of our lives. We fit every other description of marriage. I am on birth control and will have an abortion if we have our own child, so why not include us? We want to be recognized as married and be able to adopt and we are treated like second rate humans just because we love a relation.

Comment on Religious Freedom or Government-Sanctioned Discrimination? by Mr. Hobbes

Mr. Hobbes — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Keeping the Jesus freaks off our backs is a never-ending, tedious job. Thanks to the American Humanist Association and American Atheists, the fight goes on.

Comment on Getting Real: A Look at the New Skepticism by Rich Lee Hartley

Rich Lee Hartley — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Have a word!

Comment on Editor’s Note by Jbardi

Jbardi — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:27:00 +0000

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your comment. Indeed you did mention the more extreme manifestations of delusional thinking in your NYT piece–apologies for suggesting otherwise. I suppose I was looking for some warnings about more subtle effects and ways that magical thinking inhibits positive action or growth. I also think such thinking leaves people open to being duped in myriad ways by opportunists and manipulators.

I definitely agree with you that we’re all capable of irrationality (and contradiction, and hypocrisy). I just don’t think it’s something to embrace.

I suppose at this point I should read your book and see if it changes my mind!

Comment on Editor’s Note by Matthew Hutson

Matthew Hutson — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:44:00 +0000

Thanks for your mention of my article and my book.

I’d like to point out one mistake in your piece. You write: “Hutson doesn’t touch on the dangerous types [of delusion].” In my article, I write: “Which isn’t to say magical thinking has no downside. At its worst, it can lead to obsession, fatalism or psychosis.” (In the longer draft, terrorism was on the list too.)

Also, you write: “what is it that gets skeptics so testy? … the protection or shielding of such things (of anything) from critical inquiry and investigation.” That’s why I, as a skeptic, grow testy when other self-proclaimed skeptics shield the idea that rationality is a pure good, or that they themselves are never irrational. When peer-reviewed scientific evidence comes along suggesting otherwise, I listen with a critical but open mind. I hope you and your readers do the same.

Comment on POETRY by jack murphy

jack murphy — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:02:00 +0000

“On the Death of a Soldier” by James Graham is a poem, in my view, that chills the soul and wrenches the human heart. A World War I chronicle, it speaks as compellingly today, perhaps
more so, than it did then; yet still eludes the hearing, the understanding of tone-deaf humans
spurred on by avarice.

Comment on Getting Real: A Look at the New Skepticism by Vee

Vee — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:44:00 +0000

I am a humanist and have seen how the unseen, yes the mysterious has value. Science is stepping up and supporting many ideas that are valid for many people who follow a spiritual path. This is so different then following a religion. Please be careful of putting everything in one category. It is as crazy seeming as the religious right…you can become the “anti everything that isn’t of reason right”
Going to extremes does not work!!!!! We have already suffered from the rational age….we need to move into integrating the many parts of who we are as human…yes be discerning with a curious mind!!!! We are so much more than a label, any kind of label will not work!!!!!!!!

Comment on Getting Real: A Look at the New Skepticism by Charmlark

Charmlark — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:34:00 +0000

Thorough, informative, and inspiring some real hope that we may have a rational future after all.

Comment on Getting Real: A Look at the New Skepticism by Emmanuel

Emmanuel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:55:00 +0000

should placebo effect be meet with skipticism?

Comment on Religious Freedom or Government-Sanctioned Discrimination? by Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 01:39:00 +0000

She’s completely unwilling to stop practicing religious discrimination against others when she steps into the workplace, and is thus incapable of successfully performing the job. Counseling isn’t supposed to be about the counselor, it’s supposed to be about the patient/client. But here we have a prospective counselor who wants to make the interaction about herself and her prejudices. Counselors are also not there to offer religious advice – that’s well outside what’s legally allowed when working for government institutions such as schools.

She’s not being asked to participate in premarital or homosexual acts, all she’d need to do in order to be effective on the job is to mentally change the pronouns being used by her clients: he/she, his/her, and the advice should stay the same.

I notice that in the picture she’s wearing garments of mixed fibers (cotton polyester blend) – something expressly prohibited in the same book of the bible used as the basis for hating/discriminating against gays. If she’s willing to pick and choose which rules she’s going to follow, can anyone take her religious commitment seriously? I’ll bet the little heathen eats shellfish, and associates with men when it’s her time of the month, too.