Comment

Comment by Brian Magee on December 1, 2011 at 3:17pm

An AHA Action Alert has been issued to contact your senators in opposition to the removal of constitutional rights in the Defense Appropriations Bill. An easy online form has been created for public use.

Comment by Brian Magee on December 1, 2011 at 12:40pm

A Humanist Statement on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1

On Thursday, December First, World AIDS Day, we remember the tens of millions of lives lost to the 30-year-tragedy that is the AIDS epidemic. Since 1988, World AIDS Day has been a commemoration of those lost to this epidemic, those living with HIV/AIDS, and those supporting them. Today, we stand with the many Americans and those abroad who are living with HIV and those who work tirelessly to comfort them.

Two years ago, the American government lifted its ban on funding of syringe needle exchanges. Last year, President Obama crafted America’s first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the Vatican changed their prevention stance, stating condoms should be allowed for HIV prevention, and The New England Journal of Medicine announced that a prophylaxis of an anti-retro-viral drug (Truvada) was shown to be 73 percent effective in HIV prevention in those who were highly adherent. Though there have been these and many more recent reinforcements of hope in our struggle, we must remember and fight towards the ultimate goals -- 100% prevention, the most effective treatment and a cure.

We must continue to fight for HIV-positive Americans without access to quality health care or lifesaving medication. The patchwork American system of HIV treatment has multiple inadequacies. The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which provides free or low cost anti-HIV medication to all Americans, is in a massive fiscal crisis with over 4,000 people in 9 states on waiting lists for their live-saving medication. It is our advocacy, support, unity and attention that will help address this challenge.

We must fight for HIV-negative Americans whose lack of access to HIV prevention and education may make contracting HIV inevitable. With parts of America having virtually no on-the-ground prevention efforts for high-risk groups, more resources are needed for HIV prevention. And every year, more Americans contract HIV, with well over 60,000 yearly transmissions.

We must engage, empathize with and inspire those whose sense of reason is overshadowed by lore and superstition. Medically sound safer sex education must replace emotionally wrapped abstinence-only education. And we must always promote those treatments that are empirically proven effective, and work to dissipate treatment and prevention myths.

We must think and act globally towards universal access to life-saving medication and the extension of all benefits of HIV prevention and treatment to everyone in the world.

To end the scourge of HIV, our greatest tools are Prevention, Treatment, Education Action and Compassion.

TAKE ACTION:

…Alone or with your Humanist and Atheist Group…

• Promote HIV testing and get tested yourself. Knowledge is power.
• Participate in a local HIV/AIDS charity such as an AIDS Walk. The money raised by these efforts save lives.
• Encourage your local government to sponsor condom distribution and clean needles programs. The federal funding ban has been lifted, so your locality can apply for federal money for these efforts.
• Challenge local abstinence-only education and rhetoric. These programs do not work, are dangerous and are grounded in religiously biased ignorance.
• Volunteer to help HIV community service organizations. Over one million Americans are living with HIV and your volunteer hours make a world of difference. 
• Get involved in state and federal HIV Prevention and Treatment Advocacy. Find out more information about the domestic AIDS Drug Assistance Program crisis and what you can do help.

Let this World AIDS Day serve as a call to action to fight towards a day where no one is forced to live with HIV -- a day where the AIDS epidemic serves only as a reminder of the destruction of ignorance and inaction. Let today offer us humility in our common humanity, gratitude for each other and a deep hope that one day soon, AIDS will be only a distant memory.

 

December 1st, 2011
LGBT Humanist Council

Comment by Brian Magee on December 1, 2011 at 8:45am

Psychology Today article talks about why atheism will eventually replace religion.

"It seems that with better science, with government safety nets, better health, and longer life expectancy, there is less fear and uncertainty in people's daily lives. As a result there is less of a need for religion to help people cope with the feeling that they have little control over their lives."

Comment by Brian Magee on November 30, 2011 at 1:43pm

A new study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says that ..."religious believer’s distrust – rather than dislike or disgust – was the central motivator of prejudice against atheists..."

Comment by Brian Magee on November 30, 2011 at 11:11am

 

Here is a billboard from New Jersey that is part of the AHA's atheist holiday awareness campaign.

Comment by Logan A on November 27, 2011 at 2:54pm

So glad I found this group! I'm in the process of starting a local chapter of the national secular humanist society in my town. Excited to dig in to the content here!

Comment by Rod Chlebek on November 22, 2011 at 10:18pm

Just became an AHA member! Countdown to celebrant begins now!

Comment by Rod Chlebek on November 22, 2011 at 9:13pm

I mean, I'd be interested in being a Humanist Chaplain.

Comment by Rod Chlebek on November 22, 2011 at 9:10pm

I'm running down the isles! Wheee! Glad to be here!

I'm going back to school for philosophy. I'd like to incorporate Humanism. Any way to do this? Are there courses offered?

Comment by Geraldo Cienmarcos on November 16, 2011 at 9:28am

Distrust Feeds Anti-Atheist Prejudice - Miller-McCune

Research finds atheists are widely perceived as untrustworthy, which may be a factor in why they're disliked more than other minorities.

http://www.miller-mccune.com/.../distrust-powers-anti-atheist-preju...

"People use cues of religiosity as a signal for trustworthiness," the researchers write in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Given that “trustworthiness is the most valued trait in other people,” this mental equation engenders a decidedly negative attitude toward nonbelievers.

There is no actual evidence backing up the assumption that atheism somehow leads to a decline in morality. In a 2009 study, sociologist Phil Zuckerman argued that "a strong case could be made that atheists and secular people actually possess a stronger or more ethical sense of social justice than their religious peers," adding that they, on average, have "lower levels of prejudice, ethnocentrism, racism and homophobia" than the much larger population of believers.

MORE:
http://www.miller-mccune.com/.../distrust-powers-anti-atheist-preju... 

 

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