Yahoo news today says the Pope is attacking atheism, but it sounds more like he’s attacking Marxism. However, he did say “Let us put it very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope.”
This presumptuous-sounding statement can be made true with one simple clarification: “Let us put it very simply: [this] [...]

One of the biggest problems in making ethical decisions is figuring out what the real facts are and who is telling the truth. An example from today’s NY Times: Eric Schlosser, author of Fast-Food Nation, has an op-ed criticizing the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange for telling its members that they should ignore the extra-penny-a-pound [...]

Time Magazine has an article on the Sunday School in Palo Alto, CA, created by Ethical Culture Leader Lois Kellerman a few years ago for an American Humanist Association (AHA) community. A few AHA groups are like Ethical Societies in being community-oriented and having Sunday Schools and youth groups. The program Time [...]

This is how one of our long-time members, Marion Brooks, says grace: “We are thankful for our appetites, this food, the ability to eat and digest it, and for all those persons, near and far, who labor that our needs and some of our wants may be supplied. We are thankful to and for [...]

Just in case you’re not spending enough time online, two things worth your time:
Monthly Humanist Network News podcasts, by the Institute for Humanist Studies. Interviews with activists, writers, artists, and others, and answers by their advice columnist Sweet Reason, who gives some of the best advice I’ve heard on topics from how to get [...]

How do you measure “enough,” when it comes to ethical action? Today is my day off, and I’ve been spending it doing some things that I feel pretty good about—I hung my laundry to dry to save energy (and to lengthen the life of my clothes); I walked my recycling over to the local [...]

Update on the scooting life. My Scarabeo 50 and I have been together for over 1,000 miles. We have braved rain (I wear a cheap plastic 2-piece suit) and 40-degree weather (I wear several layers, including a big scarf). So far, so good. My only problem is that when it’s cold [...]

I’ve gotten some seasonal emails that suggest adding “A Recovering American Soldier” at Walter Reed to our holiday-card list, which I thought was a lovely idea. Turns out, though, that Walter Reed no longer accepts generic mail. See http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Lists/WRNews/DispForm.aspx?Id
This is obviously due to fear of anthrax, letter-bombs, etc. How very sad. [...]

Last Sunday’s address is now up on our podcasts page. For those interested, here are some links to things I mentioned or read in it:
George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language”
The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Barbara Stoler Miller. Begin with paragraph 26.
From Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act IV, scene 1:
But if the cause be not [...]