Tools for a Radical Democracy; Or, How We Can Build Humanist Activist Communities

From the Publisher:

Tools for Radical Democracy is an essential resource for grassroots organizers and leaders, students of activism and advocacy, and anyone trying to increase the civic participation of ordinary people. Authors Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos share stories and tools from their nationally recognized and award-winning work of building a community-led organization, training community leaders, and conducting campaigns that changed public policy and delivered concrete results to tens of thousands of people. This how-to manual includes:

In-depth analysis of how to launch and win a campaign

Tools and guidelines for training people to lead their own campaigns and organizations

Insights for using technology effectively, building more powerful alliances, and engaging in the social justice movement.

 

 Miniri & Getsos Radical Democracy [28:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Religion is Not about God!: A Conversation with Dr. Loyal Rue

Thousands of religious traditions have appeared over the course of human history but only a relative few have survived. Volumes have been written attempting to prove the existence or non-existence of supernatural being(s) including the recent best sellers by the so-called ‘new atheists”; Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. But like biologist David Sloan Wilson and anthropologist Scott Atran both argue, there is far more nuance and complexity regarding the story of humanity and its myths than these best-selling authors want to admit.

If Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens are considered by some humanists to be the amateur polemicists of atheism, then Wilson, Atran and Rue are the scholars secular humanists need to turn to if we want to begin to learn what we ought to do concerning the future of religion.

So, if religion is not about God, then what on earth is it about? Co-host Paul Eckstein explored with Dr. Rue this question and more!

 

 Loyal Rue [49:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Court and the Cross

From the publisher:

While President George W. Bush has appointed two Supreme Court justices during his terms in office, the next president may be in a position to appoint up to three new justices, replacing one third of the Court. This relatively high number could drastically alter future Supreme Court rulings. Now is the perfect time to consider the role of politics in Supreme Court nominations and in the new appointees’ ensuing decisions.

In The Court and the Cross, legal journalist Frederick Lane reveals how one political movement, the Religious Right, has dedicated much of the last thirty years to molding the federal judiciary, always with an eye toward getting their choices onto the Supreme Court. This political work has involved grassroots campaigns, aggressive lobbying, and a well-tended career path for conservative law students and attorneys, and it has been incredibly effective in influencing major Court decisions on a range of important social issues. Recent decisions by the Right’s favored judges have chipped away at laws banning prayer in school, bolstered restrictions on women’s access to abortion and birth control, and given legal approval to President Bush’s use of federal funds for religious organizations.

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 Fred Lane II [30:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A selection of humanist and freethought events for June, 2008

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