3 Things you should know

First – if you listened to my podcast 2 weeks ago  - you know that I advocate for Humanism to be considered a philosophy and not as a sectarian alternative to religion.  Well, here is why.  This is what Humanism looks like when it is treated like a philosophy.  And in case you didn’t follow that link – here is what happens: politicians, business leaders and religious leaders start talking about how “developing Humanism is a fundamental duty of every citizen.”  I agree.

The next thing is that Humanism and Buddhism are very very similar.  In fact, many people consider Buddhism to be a form of Humanism.  Anyway, the subject of last week’s and this week’s podcast is how important compassion is and how dangerous hate is.  So here is an interview with Buddhist Thupten Phelgye.  It is about moving from hatred to compassion.  And as a Humanist, I agree with everything he says. I encourage you to read the interview in full because he is WAY more articulate then me on this matter.

Finally, there is a movement in Tampa to get the Tampa City Council to abandon it’s opening invocation for a moment of silence.  And lest you think it is just the atheists who are opposed to government bodies praying before they start work, look at the position of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. They point out that “the best solution to this difficulty is one that apparently no local government is willing to adopt: do away with government-sponsored prayer altogether! Why is that so hard?”