2. How did the film industry respond to the Legion of Decency's 1934 boycott in Philadelphia?
3. What offended some vigilant Catholics in April 1938?
4. Who blazed the trail for Billy Graham and other Protestant evangelicals?
5. What did it mean to be a "liberal" in Fulton Sheen's day (c.1940)?
6. Whose reputation was even lower than atheists' by the mid-'30s? Why?
7. Who was the last well-known secularist crusader in the tradition of Paine and Ingersoll?
8. Who was labelled "the Atheist Mother" in 1948? Why?
9. What dealt a decisive blow to the Comstock law in 1959?
10. What did Billy Graham write in 1954 about communists?
11. Whose abrasiveness "seemed even more abrasive because she was a woman"?
DQ
- What religious factions in America today do you think have outsized power and influence?
- Does religion in America significantly influence films or television, or pop culture in general?
- How should we go about balancing the competing civil liberties principles noted on p.273?
- Do you call yourself a liberal? What does that mean to you?
- Would atheists be more respected in America if they were less "preachy"? Do they proselytize, generally, compared to the religious?
- Are there any candidates to assume the mantle of secularist crusader today?
Quiz Mar 22 - SJ 11-12
1. Who said he had no wish to claim infallibility?
2. Who called school desegregation "a most dangerous trend"?
3. What did MLK wrap in Billy Graham's book jackets?
4. What was Andrew Goodman's "key word"?
5. What significant change in poll results occurred between 1968 and 1972?
6. What fueled the delusion that the abortion battle was over, after Roe v. Wade?
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7. If we follow Justice Scalia's view of the "enduring" Constitution, what should courts be free to rule?
8. Justice Scalia failed to mention what, regarding our "supposedly sacred symbols and practices"?
9. What unexamined assumption has the extreme right exploited brilliantly?
10. What need is especially urgent today, in light of the right's policy goals?
11. What language must secular humanists reclaim?
12. What label does Jacoby prefer to "secular humanist"?
DQ
2. Who called school desegregation "a most dangerous trend"?
3. What did MLK wrap in Billy Graham's book jackets?
4. What was Andrew Goodman's "key word"?
5. What significant change in poll results occurred between 1968 and 1972?
6. What fueled the delusion that the abortion battle was over, after Roe v. Wade?
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7. If we follow Justice Scalia's view of the "enduring" Constitution, what should courts be free to rule?
8. Justice Scalia failed to mention what, regarding our "supposedly sacred symbols and practices"?
9. What unexamined assumption has the extreme right exploited brilliantly?
10. What need is especially urgent today, in light of the right's policy goals?
11. What language must secular humanists reclaim?
12. What label does Jacoby prefer to "secular humanist"?
DQ
- Would a presidential candidate who ran on a platform of strict separation between church and state do well today?
- Will evangelicals' defense of Trump be regarded by history as comparably embarrassing to their earlier defense of segregation?
- Is nonviolent resistance a good model for activism today?
- Do you like the term humanist? Is it better left unmodified by "secular"?
- Are you encouraged by the rapidity with which the women's movement gained traction in the late '60s and early '70s? Are you discouraged by the phenomenon of so many young women today saying they are not feminists?
- Is the Constitution a living document?
- On balance, has religion been a force for good in the world?
- Should atheists rebrand themselves? Or should they embrace that label and commit to educating the public as to its true meaning?
"For atheists raised not in fundamentalist environments but in more moderately observant religious families, the diminution of belief tends to occur gradually and is characterized by an incremental rejection of dogma. Atheism rarely manifests itself either as Saul’s sudden knock on the head in the Acts of the Apostles or as Augustine’s tortuous spiritual passage described in his Confessions..." Susan Jacoby, Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion
Stephen Law, A Very Short Introduction to Humanism
Former Jehovah's Witnesses Speak Out Against the Cruel Practice of…
There are many reasons you should never become a Jehovah's Witness. The practice of Disfellowshipping should be at the top of the list.
by Hemant Mehta | FRIENDLY ATHEIST
Read more
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“I left formal religion when I was thirteen in favor of the forest.”
–Alice Walker thehumanist.com https://t.co/LNaiJFpXgX
Discussion Question Answers:
ReplyDelete• Would a presidential candidate who ran on a platform of strict separation between church and state do well today?
A Presidential Candidate that ran on a platform of strict separation would do incredibly well among the West and North where the people tend to be more liberal. Furthermore, he or she would also do well in the South among millennials. However, he or she would not do well in the South. Being Christian is almost a requirement to be elected in the South. In the special election of Doug Jones and Roy Moore, many Alabamians said things along the lines of “Sure, he’s a pedophile, but at least he isn’t a Democrat”. Doug Jones BARELY won the special election against a Republican pedophile. The South is very party over country, and Republicans would never accept a candidate who wanted a separation of church and state.
Will evangelicals' defense of Trump be regarded by history as comparably embarrassing to their earlier defense of segregation?
I do not believe that evangelicals’ defense of Trump will be quite on par with their defense of segregation, but it will be incredibly embarrassing for them in hindsight. However, I think it will take a very long time before they acknowledge their mistakes.
Is nonviolent resistance a good model for activism today?
Nonviolent resistance is a good model for activism today, but it must be paired with civic engagement. The younger generation has moved away form duty-based forms of citizenship. These are things such as voting, serving in the military, etc. While they have taken a more engaged form of citizenship where they protest, donate to charity, and attempt to help one another, their poor voter turnout is detrimental to their movement.
Activist must engage in “good trouble’, but they must also turn up to the voting booth.
• Are you encouraged by the rapidity with which the women's movement gained traction in the late '60s and early '70s? Are you discouraged by the phenomenon of so many young women today saying they are not feminists?
Feminism’s greatest opponent is women. This is in part to the fact that women do not share one story. While women can connect through similar experiences, each woman has their own unique desires, goals, and values. The issues that a Latina woman advocates for may not be the same that a Republican, white woman from Georgia may advocate for. Because of this disparity, there are many women who believe that women and men should be equal, but they treat feminism as a dirty word.