| Title |
Excerpt |
Author |
Date |
Total Comments |
Recent Comment |
| Does Spiraling Sex Abuse Mean Gender Integration in the Military Has Failed? |
Usually when I blog here, I argue for something with great confidence and bluster. This time I’m just posing a question—an uncomfortable question, but one that I’m amazed no one else seems to be asking. There’s a vast sex abuse crisis in the U. S. military, with incident rates skyrocketing… |
Tom Flynn |
05/08/13 |
7 |
05/22/13 |
| “Interfaith” and Inclusion: Another View |
There’s been much passionate commentary about the recent Boston interfaith service excluding humanist, atheists, and other freethinkers. It’s not for lack of effort; Harvard humanist chaplain Greg Epstein and other heavy-hitters in the movement strove mightily for a place on the altar—pardon me, stage—and were coldly stonewalled. But what are… |
Tom Flynn |
04/19/13 |
6 |
04/23/13 |
| When Seculars Get Sectarian |
Like all “Free Thinking” bloggers, I am speaking—or writing, or typing, or whatever—strictly personally. Just wanted to make that doubleplus clear. Making the rounds on Facebook is an announcement that yet another humanist/atheist charity has started a fund drive for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. It’s a fine cause,… |
Tom Flynn |
04/16/13 |
4 |
04/17/13 |
| Religious Humanism (Or Something) Gone Wild |
Now I’ve seen it all. NonProphet Status (NPS), the blog of Faitheist author Chris Stedman, is inviting seculars to give something up for Lent! Under the headline “NPS Does Lent, 2013,” NPS panelist Vlad Chituc revealed that last year he became a vegan for Lent. This year he’s doing it… |
Tom Flynn |
02/14/13 |
6 |
02/22/13 |
| Sweet Vindication |
For a decade I’ve been writing that secular humanists and other atheists need to compel greater social acceptance by making themselves “irresistibly visible.” Now social science has backed me up. Way back in a Summer 2003 FREE INQUIRY editorial, “No Passing: Time to Leave the Closet Behind” (not available online),… |
Tom Flynn |
01/31/13 |
3 |
02/01/13 |
| Is This Our Future? |
“If we fail in this great experiment,” author Ronald Wright told journalist Chris Hedges, “this experiment of apes becoming intelligent enough to take charge of their own destiny, nature will shrug and say it was fun for a while to let the apes run the laboratory, but in the end… |
Tom Flynn |
01/22/13 |
2 |
01/22/13 |
| Prager Misses the Point |
In a NATIONAL REVIEW rebuttal of Susan Jacoby’s NEW YORK TIMES piece on the atheist response to the school shootings at Sandy Hook, right-wing pundit Dennis Prager proves that he doesn’t understand atheism nearly as well as he thinks he does. Prager feels compelled to tip his hat to Jacoby,… |
Tom Flynn |
01/17/13 |
2 |
01/18/13 |
| Responding to a Slam in the New York Times |
It’s Saturday, and each Saturday brings a new religion feature story in the New York Times. This week’s installment is by Samuel G. Freedman, with the lurid headline “In a Crisis, Humanists Seem Absent.” It concerns a phenomenon widely noted within the nontheist community, as well—the fact that despite the… |
Tom Flynn |
12/29/12 |
29 |
01/02/13 |
| SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Article Strikes Hammer Blow Against Strategies to Shield Dogma |
Pardon me while I blow the horn for FREE INQUIRY’s sister zine. The January/February SKEPTICAL INQUIRER contains an article that just may strike the definitive blow against those who, by appeal to righteous indignation or sanctity, would shield heinous cultural practices or religious dogmas against any comment or criticism. (SI… |
Tom Flynn |
12/23/12 |
4 |
12/29/12 |
| A Personal Note About Dec. 25th |
Some folks—from humanist/atheist activists to folks in the media—have made it a tradition to phone me at the office on December 25 whenever that date falls during the work week. Some call to wish me “Happy just another day,” some just to make sure I’m there. Well, I won’t be… |
Tom Flynn |
12/18/12 |
25 |
01/04/13 |
| What’s Wrong with HumanLight / the Winter Solstice? |
Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, has posted a blog endorsing HumanLight, a Winter Solstice observance invented a bit more than a decade ago by a local humanist group in New Jersey then led by the late Joe Fox. Perhaps that’s an appropriate action for Roy, whose… |
Tom Flynn |
12/13/12 |
25 |
12/24/12 |
| Flynn December Talks Target the South |
Look out, Dixie, Council for Secular Humanism executive director Tom Flynn (i. e., yours truly) will do a lecture tour across the South just in time for some people’s favorite holiday, December 7 - 10. I’ll be speaking on church-state separation in Chattanooga and Tuscaloosa, and delivering my barn-burning illustrated… |
Tom Flynn |
12/03/12 |
0 |
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| Two Cheers for Rhode Island! |
Two cheers for Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chaffee, who has stood tall against religious-Right posturing to insist that the 17-1/2 foot conifer in the state capitol will again be called the Holiday Tree, not the Christmas Tree. He stated that the more inclusive language was appropriate because the state house… |
Tom Flynn |
11/28/12 |
18 |
12/03/12 |
| Santa Monica Gets It Right: Public Parks No Place for Xmas Displays |
One year after an atheist group smartly gamed a cumbersome lottery, seizing a majority of the display slots under a clumsy system for ensuring diversity in “holiday” displays at a public park, Santa Monica, California, got the message. (Or rather, a wise Federal judge had to get it for them.)… |
Tom Flynn |
11/20/12 |
0 |
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| Florida’s Amendment 8 Soundly Defeated |
Florida’s Amendment 8 ballot initiative, which would have eliminated the state constitution’s provision prohibiting state funding of religious or sectarian organizations, was soundly defeated at the polls. Only 44 percent of voters approved the initiative, which required a 60 percent vote for passage—this despite enthusiastic and open-handed support by the… |
Tom Flynn |
11/07/12 |
0 |
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| Paul Kurtz - a Personal Reflection |
Our movement has lost a titan. Paul Kurtz died at his home in Amherst, New York, on October 20, 2012. Among his legacies are a vast treasury of books and articles, an independent publishing house that has continued to thrive in an environment deeply corrosive of such institutions, and of… |
Tom Flynn |
10/22/12 |
2 |
10/24/12 |
| Atheist Giving More Compassion-Driven than Giving By the Religious |
Don’t know how I missed this before, but a study appearing in the July 2012 issue of Social Psychological and Personality Science finds that atheists are more motivated by compassion than givers with strong religious beliefs. This was not a study of whether atheists give more or less than churchgoers—that’s… |
Tom Flynn |
09/27/12 |
1 |
09/27/12 |
| Parsing the “God” Blunder |
The blunder I have in mind isn’t leaving God out of the 2012 Democratic platform. It’s putting it back. One day after the Democratic Party did one of the most inclusive things it has done in years—crafting a platform that omits any divisive mention of “God”—they cravenly restored it. According… |
Tom Flynn |
09/05/12 |
4 |
09/06/12 |
| Atheist Will Give Tulsa Council “Prayer” |
The good news: the Tulsa, Oklahoma, city council will have its opening invocation given by an atheist in place of the usual prayer by some community cleric. The bad news? The council chair (who happens to be Catholic) declared: “I’m not terrified of an atheist giving an invocation. There are… |
Tom Flynn |
08/29/12 |
4 |
08/29/12 |
| What Is Religious Humanism—Really? |
There’s been a flurry of interest in the idea of “Atheism-Plus” or “A+”—atheism that incorporates a strong values component. Essentially it’s secular humanism by another name, except that some advocates broaden it to include a specific, usually left-progressive, ideological agenda that secular humanism welcomes but does not demand. As such… |
Tom Flynn |
08/23/12 |
21 |
08/31/12 |
| Missouri Votes to Reap the Whirlwind |
Missouri voters this week approved a benighted and mischievous “right to pray” amendment to the state’s Constitution. Amendment Two passed by 779,628 votes to 162,404, a thundering 5-to-1 margin! Amendment Two provides, among other things, “that the right of Missouri citizens to express their religious beliefs shall not be infringed”… |
Tom Flynn |
08/09/12 |
3 |
08/29/12 |
| Praying for Rain? Really, Secretary Vilsack? |
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told reporters at the White House that he is praying for rain to end the drought parching 61 percent of the United States. “I get on my knees every day,” he said on June 18. “And I’m saying an extra prayer now. If I had… |
Tom Flynn |
07/19/12 |
4 |
07/19/12 |
| For the First Time, Most Would Vote for an Atheist President |
Yes, hell HAS frozen over. Gallup reports that for the first time since 1958, a majority of American respondents said they would vote for a generally well-qualified atheist for president of the United States. Some 54% said they would; 43% said they would not. Gallup has asked this question repeatedly… |
Tom Flynn |
07/18/12 |
1 |
07/18/12 |
| Charitable Giving to Religion Declines in 2011 |
After years of growth in the number of Americans who don’t attend church or don’t declare a religion, it had to happen. U. S. giving to churches and religious organizations actually declined in 2011. What’s more, it has declined in three of the last four years. According to the Center… |
Tom Flynn |
07/13/12 |
2 |
07/14/12 |
| In this game of Info Survivor, print wins |
One of the joys of blogging is sometimes you just get to rant. Here’s one case, at least, where a very good book has lost a bit of its value because its publisher was too quick to jump on the online bandwagon. I just got around to reading Margaret Atwood’s… |
Tom Flynn |
06/18/12 |
4 |
06/20/12 |
| Population, Consumption Threaten Earth’s Future—Who’s Surprised? |
If a consortium of 105 national science academies and a report by 22 scientists in the June 7 Nature are to be believed, overpopulation and unsustainable consumption may already have set humanity on course for a catastrophic future. If only we’d listened to the “popullution” alarmists back in the 1970s,… |
Tom Flynn |
06/15/12 |
4 |
06/18/12 |
| L. Frank Baum, Freethought Firebrand? |
Tomorrow (May 17) is the 112th anniversary of the publication of that subversive freethought children’s book, The Wizard of Oz. You didn’t know it was a freethought book? Have I got a tale for you! As everyone knows, The Oz books (and many other successful children’s titles) were penned by… |
Tom Flynn |
05/16/12 |
6 |
06/06/12 |
| What We’ve Gained—and What We’ve Lost |
If anyone didn’t already know that the legalization of same-sex marriage is inevitable, President Obama’s dramatic announcement that he supports it should settle the matter. That makes this a good time to appreciate what those of us who favor the expansion of rights as a general principle have gained—and what… |
Tom Flynn |
05/10/12 |
2 |
05/11/12 |
| Mojave Cross Case Shows Nonbelievers Are Still Second Class Citizens |
In case you were wondering, nonreligious Americans are still second class citizens. It’s time to put aside that Reason Rally euphoria and face the harsh, sad truth: men and women who live without religion are still systematically discriminated against at the highest level. With the Supreme Court’s blessing, a transparent ruse… |
Tom Flynn |
04/25/12 |
4 |
05/22/12 |
| Why Seculars Still Don’t Sing: response to James Croft |
James Croft (http://harvardhumanist.org/2012/04/06/why-seculars-sing-a-response-to-tom-flynn/) offers a thoughtful and provocative critique of my Free Inquiry op-ed on humanist ritual (“Why Seculars Don’t Sing,” April/May 2012, http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=fi&page=flynn_32_3). As frequently happens when religious and secular humanists engage in debate, the ground on which the disputants – to say nothing of the spectators – stand… |
Tom Flynn |
04/06/12 |
1 |
04/09/12 |
| In Praise of Falling Birth Rates |
A recent column by Froma Harrop makes a point I’ve repeatedly alluded to in FREE INQUIRY—the demographic contraction that comes from years of falling birthrates is not only survivable, but could portend a more pleasant and sustainable future. In “Birthrates Did Not Doom Japan,” Harrop notes that the last thing Japan… |
Tom Flynn |
03/26/12 |
4 |
04/01/12 |
| Zelig Was a Woman: Meet Freethought Campaigner Lucy N. Colman |
As we observe International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, it’s worth remembering one of nineteenth-century America’s most active – and best-connected – freethinkers. Lucy N. Colman (1818-1906) was the Zelig of the Golden Age of Freethought. She contributed to every reform cause of the day and touched the lives… |
Tom Flynn |
03/08/12 |
0 |
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| A Clarion Call—and a Bombshell?—on Obama and Church-State? |
A February 9th essay on Salon.com by ACLU Legislative Counsel Dena Sher (http://www.salon.com/2012/02/09/obamas_winning_hand_on_religion/singleton/) casts down the gauntlet, presenting the case for Barack Obama positioning himself as a more secular president, perhaps picking up support from mainstream believers uncomfortable with religious-right posturing. Take, for example, those tens of millions of U. S. Catholics… |
Tom Flynn |
02/09/12 |
3 |
02/13/12 |
| More on Hosanna-Tabor |
The U. S. Supreme Court’s curious decision in Hosanna-Tabor endorsing an amorphous ministerial exemption against Federal employment law leaves me conflicted. As a secularist, I regret any court finding or legislation that broadens religion’s power vis-a-vis a secular polity. Still, as I understand the First Amendment and its unique religion… |
Tom Flynn |
01/13/12 |
0 |
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| What are your helladay plans? |
Well, the Some People’s Favorite Holiday Season is upon us again. How to you plan to observe—or not observe—the “helladays”? I invite your comments for an obvious reason. As the “Anti-Claus” I’ve become kind of the #1 guy for secular humanists and other unbelievers who choose to sit out the… |
Tom Flynn |
12/05/11 |
22 |
01/01/12 |
| 7 Billion? Yikes! |
I wish I could share John Shook’s joy in contemplating the arrival of the seventh billion human—which has already happened if you listen to the U.N., and will happen early next year if you listen to the U.S. government. I view this milestone—which, by the way, is arriving about two… |
Tom Flynn |
11/04/11 |
5 |
12/05/11 |
| Take a Trip on the Freethought Trail |
As summer ripens into fall, there’s still time to immerse yourself in freethought history ... on the Freethought Trail! For several years now the Council for Secular Humanism has operated an informal historic trail to highlight sites significant to the history of radical reform history in west-central New York State. Why… |
Tom Flynn |
09/13/11 |
0 |
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| The Ultimate Faith-based Initiative, Ten Years On |
“9/11 should be acknowledged more vividly on its tenth anniversary for being a faith-based initiative . We should never forget the lesson 9/11 teaches about the dangers of religious zeal. Absent what nineteen men (and various of their leaders and exhorters) believed about Islam’s vision of paradise, there would not… |
Tom Flynn |
09/09/11 |
19 |
09/13/11 |