Humanism – Page 12 – Doug's Views

August 30, 2013April 18, 2020

Can You Be Anti-War When Chemical Weapons Are Being Used?

Bashar al-Assad, dictator of Syria

I hate war. My father was killed in Vietnam. But I’m not totally anti-war all the time. Sometimes military action is called for. I supported military action in Kosovo back in the 1990’s to try and stop the religious genocide going on there at the time. I also supported the invasion of Afghanistan because they gave shelter to the people who planned and paid for the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The coming military strike on Syria is really a tough decision. Do we really want to stand by and watch the Syrian government use chemical weapons on their own people?

August 16, 2013April 18, 2020

Why Can’t I Have A He-Man Woman Hater Atheist Club?

image from Braveheart with No women in text

Not the kind of atheist meeting I want to attend

The secular community has been rocked by a firestorm over sexism in the movement. Blogs and tweets have flown back and forth between women speaking out about it and some men who disagree that it is an issue. Recently accusations of sexual assault have been leveled at some prominent men in the movement and at some conferences. Since there is such strong male privilege and a cult of personality in a lot of these groups, it seems these gender issues are beyond being fixed (at least until the current generation of sexist men die off). Maybe we need to have separate groups.

There have been plenty of articles and blog posts about the firestorm but not too many that examine the underlying issue of why it seems the sexism won’t go away in a movement that prides itself on freethought, evidence and logic:

August 9, 2013April 18, 2020

What’s More Important, Sports Or Human Rights?

photo of woman Protesting 2014 Sochi Olympics

Russia is hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Russia also recently passed a new law banning ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors’ which has been used to attack LGBT groups in the country. The law means gay pride parades are forbidden as is any literature or signs supporting gay rights. Although the Russian government has told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the law won’t be applied to athletes, there are calls for a boycott of the games. Of course the people who will profit from the games are against the boycott. They have put sports ahead of human rights.

August 4, 2013April 18, 2020

New Cold War Over Snowden? What About One Over Human Rights?

photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin entry in the ‘Dictators’ of the World Calendar

The corporate media have been obsessed with the adventures of NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden. Not about what he publicized – the overbroad spying on Americans in the name of ‘security’ – but where he is going and where he is located. Now that Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, the media have been speculating how this will damage US – Russia relations. Of course they have no such concerns over Russia’s suspect human rights record.

July 28, 2013April 18, 2020

The Worse Atheist On Display? The One Who Doesn’t Do Their Homework

This past week a quasi government committee here in Ohio voted to accept the design for a Holocaust memorial that included a large Star of David. A memorial to honor the victims of that horrific event seems appropriate but including a religious symbol as a large focus of the installation seems crossing the line between church and state. However it seems some atheists jumped the gun and likened concern over the religious symbol to being a Holocaust denier. Those atheists should do their homework before being ‘outraged’.

The Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish religion, has a place in the history of the Holocaust because it was used by the Nazis to “mark” Jews before they were shipped off to the death camps during World War II. However the Holocaust didn’t only affect Jewish people.