The Humanist Hour

Gene Roddenberry was openly humanist, and his best-known creation, Star Trek, reflects his views in many ways. Our guests this week talk about how Star Trek informed their humanism and how they use the show to educate others about humanism.

Susan Sackett became Roddenberry's executive assistant in the mid-1970s and a humanist shortly thereafter. She contributed story ideas for two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and worked with Roddenberry until his death. She joins us to talk about her career with Roddenberry, working with some of the Star Trek original series actors, and her career in humanism after Roddenberry's death. Sackett also serves on the AHA Board of Directors.

Scott Lohman is the former president of the Humanists of Minnesota and a self-professed “serious geek.” He runs Diversicon, a science fiction convention in Minnesota, and gives presentations on humanist principles using examples from Star Trek. He joins us to talk about teaching Star Trek to children at Camp Quest.

Over the past year or so, the American Humanist Association has been making changes to reflect its commitment to social justice. These changes can be found in the pages of The Humanist magazine and the words of its leaders. Change can also be found more recently in the announcement that Sincere Kirabo would be stepping into the role of the AHA's social justice coordinator.

This week, we welcome Sincere back to the show. He speaks with Peggy Knudtson and Jenn Wilson about his new role, what social justice and intersectionality mean, and the ways that social media can be used to further the cause of social justice.

On this week's show, Stephanie Zvan interviews Dr. Bethany "SciCurious" Brookshire about effective strategies for convincing people of scientific truths, the common mistakes we make when we set out to teach people about science. Brookshire recently co-edited Science Blogging: The Essential Guide.

For nearly a decade, former neuroscientist Dr. Bethany Brookshire has been writing about science for online audiences. Best known to science-blogging fans as "SciCurious," Dr. Brookshire writes about – among other topics – neurotransmitters (the chemicals that make our brains run), evaluating scientific results in context, rats in tiny pants, and duck penises. You can't forget the duck penises.

In this week's show, Stephanie Zvan introduces interviewer Peggy Knudtson, and Peggy and Jenn Wilson talk to Justin Scott about his work to get politicians on record on the separation of church and state.

As an Iowan, activist, and atheist, Justin Scott has had a unique opportunity to represent nontheists in the political process. The timing of the Iowa caucuses means that 2016 presidential candidates spend a lot of time answering questions from average citizens, and Scott has used this opportunity to press the candidates on church-state separation and issues of religious privilege. His YouTube videos of the candidate's answers have propelled the debate over religion in the public sphere into the headlines.

In this episode, Jenn Wilson introduces our new producer, Stephanie Zvan, and Kim Ellington talks to Frank Edwards, Ronald F. Murphy, Cheryl Abram, and Darrell Smith – authors who presented at the Black Nonbelievers fifth anniversary celebration in Atlanta last month.

On January 16, 2016, Black Nonbelievers from all over gathered together in Atlanta to celebrate the organization’s five year anniversary. One of the day's panels focused on black atheist and humanist authors. Kim Ellington attended the anniversary celebration and took the opportunity to talk to these panelists.

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Frank Edwards is the author of the Jupiter Strong series, books designed for children and parents. The focus of this series was to showcase images of African people in dignifying terms and rebuild family values. From our series, children will learn critical thinking skills, self love, communal responsibility and have fun doing it!

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Ronald F. Murphy, one of three children born to Raymond and Catherine Murphy, was raised in the quiet town of Maplewood, New Jersey. Having parents as educators, his upbringing was layered with the clichéd notions that education is the key to a better future, and moreover a necessity for acceptance in our modern society. Thus, it was Mr. Murphy’s inquisitive nature and desire for learning that bred in him a healthy skepticism and ultimately led to his pragmatic search for answers to life’s biggest questions.

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Cheryl Abram was born in 1975 in Houma, Louisiana. She is a mother of four and currently lives in Northern Virginia. A graduate of the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. she holds a Master's degree in Social Work and a Master's of Science in Quality Systems Management. A life-long learner, Cheryl is an Army veteran working as a learning and development specialist in a federal government agency in Washington DC. Firing God is Cheryl's memoir of her "leap of doubt" that led her to fire God.

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Darrell Smith is an educator, author, writer, lecturer, and atheist advocate. When he came out atheist to his children, they told him he couldn't be an atheist because there were no black atheist. You Are Not Alone was Darrell's answer to that charge.

In this episode, Bo Bennett has a conversation with Dr. Michael Britt about the genre of books and programs known as “self-help,” a roughly $11 billion industry. As Bo says, the self-help movement is not much different from many religious movements, and, like many religions, self-help does have some good things to offer. The key is to be knowledgeable in this area and to think critically.

Bo’s guest, Michael Britt, has a Ph.D. in psychology from The State University of New York at Albany (specialization in social and industrial/organizational psychology). He is an adjunct professor in psychology and runs the most popular psychology podcast, The Psych Files.

In this episode, Kim Ellington welcomes new Humanist Hour co-host Jenn Wilson to the podcast and they both speak with author Dr. Mark Smith about his new book, "Secular Faith: How Culture Has Trumped Religion in American Politics."

Mark A. Smith provocatively argues that religion is not nearly the unchanging conservative influence in American politics that we have come to think it is. In fact, in the long run, religion is best understood as responding to changing political and cultural values rather than shaping them. Smith makes his case by charting five contentious issues in America’s history: slavery, divorce, homosexuality, abortion, and women’s rights. For each, he shows how the political views of even the most conservative Christians evolved in the same direction as the rest of society—perhaps not as swiftly, but always on the same arc. During periods of cultural transition, Christian leaders do resist prevailing values and behaviors, but those same leaders inevitably acquiesce—often by reinterpreting the Bible—if their positions become no longer tenable. Secular ideas and influences thereby shape the ways Christians read and interpret their scriptures.

In this episode, Bo Bennett and Kim Ellington speak with Associate Professor of Sociology Ryan T. Cragun about the sociology of religion. Are religious people more generous than the non-religious? Smarter? Better looking? (Actually, we don’t ask that last one)

Ryan T. Cragun is a husband, father, and sociologist of religion (in order of importance). Originally from Utah, he now lives in Florida and works at the University of Tampa. His research and writing focuses on religion, with an emphasis on Mormonism and the nonreligious. His research has been published in a variety of academic journals, including: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Sociology of Religion, Nova Religio, Journal of Religion and Health, and Journal of Contemporary Religion. When he's not working, he's spending time with his wife and son, watching science fiction, hiking, playing soccer, or tinkering with FOSS, Gnu/Linux, or computer hardware.

Cragun is the author of two books: What You Don’t Know About Religion (but Should) (2013), and How to Defeat Religion in 10 Easy Steps: A Toolkit for Secular Activists (2015).

In this episode, Kim Ellington speaks with author and activist Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson about her latest book, "White Nights, Black Paradise", and the state of race in America today. Later, Peggy Knudtson speaks with Dr. Richard Carrier about the “evidence” of miracles.

Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson is an American feminist, atheist and author. She is the author of "Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels" (2013), "Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars" (2011), and "Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (Travel Writing Across the Disciplines)" (2003). Moral Combat is the first book on atheism to be published by an African-American woman. In 2013 she was named Secular Woman of the year.

Dr. Richard Carrier is a world-renowned author and speaker. As a professional historian, published philosopher, and prominent defender of the American freethought movement, Dr. Carrier has appeared across the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and on American television and London radio, defending sound historical methods and the ethical worldview of secular naturalism.

In this episode, Bo Bennett and Peggy Knudtson speak with author Dr. Daniel Everett. Dr. Everett is an American author and academic best known for his study of the Amazon Basin's Pirahã people and their language. He serves as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Daniel L. (Dan) Everett holds a ScD and a Masters of Linguistics from the Universidade Estadual in Campinas (UNICAMP), both based upon years of field research among the Pirahã people of the Brazilian Amazon jungle. He taught as an instructor and later Assistant Professor at UNI-CAMP, 1981-1986, until leaving Brazil to return to the USA. He next was appointed full professor of linguistics and anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he also chaired the Department of Linguistics until 1999. At that time, Dan moved to the Amazon to live the majority of the next three years in the jungle among the Pirahãs. He left the jungle when the University of Manchester, England, offered him the position of Professor of Phonetics and Phonology.