There is something profoundly human about a wedding. Long before we divide ceremonies into religious and secular, traditional and modern, sacred and civil, there is…
View More Crafting a Humanist Wedding: Ritual, Symbol, and the Celebration of Love
Author: Ian
Carl Sagan and the Humanist Vision: Wonder, Reason, and the Pale Blue Dot
There is a persistent misunderstanding about humanism that reduces it to what it does not believe. Humanists are sometimes described primarily as people who reject…
View More Carl Sagan and the Humanist Vision: Wonder, Reason, and the Pale Blue Dot
A Short Definition of Humanism
I’ve written before about what humanism means, how it can be defined, and what it asks of us, and I am sure I will return…
View More A Short Definition of Humanism
Humanism Before the Adjectives: Ethical, Secular, and Spiritual Humanism
Humanism is one of those words that becomes more complicated the moment we begin attaching adjectives to it. We speak of secular humanism, ethical humanism,…
View More Humanism Before the Adjectives: Ethical, Secular, and Spiritual Humanism
Borders Without Brutality: America’s Immigration Crisis
Immigration has become one of the most emotionally charged questions in American public life. It is spoken about in the language of invasion and resistance,…
View More Borders Without Brutality: America’s Immigration Crisis
The Jewish Eye: A Very Brief History of Jewish Art from Antiquity to the Present
For much of history, Jewish civilization has been described primarily as a civilization of words. Torah, commentary, prayer, poetry, philosophy, law, and storytelling occupy such…
View More The Jewish Eye: A Very Brief History of Jewish Art from Antiquity to the Present
Johannes Vermeer: Light, Silence, and the Art of the Dutch Golden Age
The first time I had the privilege of standing before an original Johannes Vermeer was at the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego, where…
View More Johannes Vermeer: Light, Silence, and the Art of the Dutch Golden Age
Love and the Humanist
Love is often treated as religion’s greatest possession, as though only faith can give it depth, sanctity, or meaning. Humanism rejects that idea. Love does…
View More Love and the Humanist
The Imagination of Snoopy
One of the great mysteries of Peanuts is that its most imaginative character is not one of the children, but the dog. Charlie Brown worries.…
View More The Imagination of Snoopy
Against Contempt: Why Popular Artists Deserve Serious Art-Historical Attention
Introduction: The Problem of Popularity Few charges are more damaging in elite art discourse than the accusation that an artist is “popular.” The word should…
View More Against Contempt: Why Popular Artists Deserve Serious Art-Historical Attention