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April 2025
“I, too, have my religion. It is this: Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now; the place to be happy is here; and the way to be happy is to make others happy. This is the religion of usefulness; this is the religion of reason.” -- Robert G. Ingersoll, 1899 March has been a busy month for me, which means this month’s message will be (blessedly?) brief. Picking up from our topical discussion meeting, and considering Mr. Ingersoll’s advice on the way to be happy, I’d like to direct your attention to some resources that may provide you opportunities to help make someone else’s life a little happier. HSNM now has a new website (humanistsnm.org) which includes a page of “Humanist Allies”—groups and organizations that directly or indirectly support the basic principles of humanism and promote the dignity and happiness of all human beings. April 5, 2025, the “Hands Off!” protests are happening in cities across the country to “to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history.” People will be gathering at the Civic Plaza in Albuquerque, 2:00 – 4:00 pm, to make their voices heard. More information is available at handsoff2025.com and at Indivisible: mobilize.us/indivisible/event/767065/. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------March 2025
I thought I’d take a break from the intensity of the current news and let you all know about our new website: HumanistsNM.org. While we (okay, mainly Paul Babb) are updating the content and making some final adjustments, you are welcome to visit and make suggestions. This new site will go beyond the one-way communication of the existing one, allowing you to connect and communicate with each other, and with the Board. The new site includes the tools we need to keep in touch with you, and let you know what’s happening in HSNM. Sometime next week, we’ll be sending individual messages to each member with instructions to create a password and log into the site. This will allow you to manage your contact information, and over the coming weeks, you’ll find new features and content that is only available to members. We’ll be promoting all of our events through the site, and eventually support forums for online conversations. By the end of the year, you’ll be able to renew your membership and pay your dues directly through the site. At our first meeting in March (March 8, 2025), I’ll take a few minutes to demonstrate the site and answer your questions. Look for an email next week inviting you to set up your account. If you have any questions, you can contact me at pete@humanistsnm.org. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ February 2025 I was watching one of my favorite YouTube channels this morning (Dan McClellan@maklelan). Dan is a scholar of the Bible and the cognitive science of religion. I was struck by Dr. McClellan’s discussion of the story of the Good Samaritan. You’ll find the story in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10 verses 25 - 37. Jesus uses the story to answer a lawyer who wants to know whom he should consider his neighbor after identifying the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” as one of the two primary commandments. Now, I want to be clear that, though I have been an active member of several churches and Christian organizations in the past, I am now an atheist. I don’t bring this up to advocate for Christianity or any religion. I bring it up because I think Jesus’ response to the question “Who is my neighbor?” is a remarkably humanist one. As Dr. McClellan points out, the question is not who must I include among my neighbors—everyone is my neighbor. The question is whether I will treat everyone as my neighbor. Dr. McClellan’s video is, in part, a response to an idea gaining popularity among some Christians, captured in the title of the book, The Sin of Empathy. In this case, Christians are reenacting the role of the legal expert who questioned Jesus in order to set a boundary on who he was obliged to consider a neighbor. Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is not limited to Christians or even to religious folks. There are plenty of secular people who look to economic and political ideologies to justify limiting the people to whom they consider themselves obligated to act as a neighbor. As humanists, one of our core commitments is to uphold the value and dignity of every human being. We aspire to be a good neighbor to every person we encounter in our lives, whether directly or through our economic, political and other activities. I don’t think I’ll get much pushback on that idea from anyone likely to read this letter. I offer it as a reminder to myself as much as any of you to watch out for ways I may be excluding people from being my neighbor and acknowledging that there’s always room for improvement. |