All the contents
Year 1996
Another gold medal for the United States.
U.S. ranked number one in competitiveness The International Institute for Management Development ranked the US number one in the World Competitiveness Report for 1996. Although, this sounds positive, it actually means American workers make less than their counterparts in other industrial nations. They also work longer hours.
Former CIA operative Mark Tooley now works for the religious right - Watch on the Right - Column Tooley was hired by the Institute on Religion and Democracy to conduct a mail campaign against the leadership of the United Methodist Church. The Christian Coalition is sponsoring seminars on how to take over local school boards, and the religious right is trying to dominate the home school movement.
Deadly relics: the global land mine plague.
Cover Story There are an estimated 110 million land mines buried in some 60 countries, and the International Red Cross says about 2,000 people a month are killed or maimed by these mines. Details about the land mine problem in Mozambique and efforts by anti-mine activists are presented.
Of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster - Includes a related article on the nuclear power industry It has been 10 years since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, and a review of international relief efforts shows how poorly the disaster was handled. Belarus and the Ukraine are struggling with the economic ramifications of the incident, and the number of radiation victims is still unknown.
Mental and physical child abuse Although there has been a great deal of media attention given to sexual abuse, children who are subject to mental and other types of physical abuse are also damaged. Some parents use religion and the sanctity of the family to excuse and hide the abuse they dole out.
'In the hands of the people:' recent victories of the death-with-dignity movement.
Twenty-five years of grassroots struggle by the death-with-dignity movement has resulted in three recent victories. Federal appeals courts in Washington State and New York state struck down bans on assisted suicide, and Dr Jack Kevorkian was again acquitted for his role in helping people die.
Karl Popper: philosopher of critical realism.
Column Popper was one of the most respected and influential philosophers of the 20th century and is best known for his work 'The Open Society and Its Enemies' One of his major contributions was his analysis of falsification. His views on intuition, evolution, biases and other issues are presented.
Gay columnist says goodbye - Our Queer World - Column A gay journalist who is HIV-positive, but still healthy, explains why he has decided to stop writing a column for the Humanist. Although he remains committed to humanism, he has decided to devote more time to art and literature. His thoughts on gay rights and other issues are expressed.
New threats of censorship of libraries and the Net loom in Congress.
Worth Noting The House is considering two pieces of legislation that could impose severe restrictions on access to copyrighted material on the Internet and at libraries. The American Library Assoc is lobbying against the National Information Infrastructure Copyright Protection Act, in its current form.
No, you're living off my back; the other point of view on subsidies.
Humanist Economics - Column Reductions in funding to the arts, humanities and the environment are often justified by the need to stop subsidizing non-profit ventures. However, profitable corporations benefit substantially from government subsidies and infrastructure spending such as education and roads.
The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Asia, Africa and the Middle East has been wrongly portrayed as a fight between East and West or between Islam and Christianity. It is actually a fight between secularism and fundamentalism, and between modernity and anti-modernism. The drawbacks to fundamentalism are discussed.
Physician-assisted suicide: 'slippery slope' or civil right?
The trials of Dr Jack Kevorkian and the appeals court rulings on assisted suicide have focused public debate on this controversial issue. A variety of religious leaders, medical ethicists, law professors and other concerned about the issue debate the pros and cons of physician-assisted suicide.
Scalia's chutzpah, Clinton's veto.
Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia's views on religious persecution; Clinton's veto of a ban on a rarely-used abortion procedure - Church and State - Column Scalia gave a speech to the Christian Legal Society on Apr 19, 1996, lamenting the modern world's unfriendliness to Christianity. Yet, his legal decisions have helped erode separation of church and state, which protects religious freedom. Clinton's veto of the dilation and extraction ban was controversial.
Racism in sports - The Popular Condition - Column Golfer Jack Nicklaus has done much to integrate the predominately-white sport, but comments he made about blacks having 'different muscles' are an example of a common, but subtle form of racism that many whites believe. Black athletes succeed or fail through opportunity and effort, not different muscles.
Circumcision Judaism and Islam both practice circumcision of male infants as a form of bonding ritual, that has little to do with today's dubious medical claims made for the practice. An analysis of references to circumcision in 'Othello' and other works is presented.
Moral relativism versus moral absolutism Christian fundamentalists often condemn liberals and secular humanists for living by a creed of moral relativism. There is nothing wrong with moral relativism, which merely posits that there is often more than one 'right' way. In fact, most Christians practice of form of moral relativism.
Thinking about racism and our children.
Living Humanism - Column African Americans routinely experience subtle forms of racism in their daily lives, yet many white Americans seemed unaware that racism is still a problem. The Rodney King and OJ Simpson verdicts underscore these varying perceptions. Communication and education are needed to eradicate racism.
