Glass City Humanist
In this episode, Douglas talks to science teacher and communicator Reggie Finley about the importance of science and critical thinking especially in this time of the pandemic. Reggie also discusses his personal journey from angry atheist and host of The Infidel Guy Show to a science educator reaching out and changing the lives of his students.
Douglas gives an update on upcoming activities of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie. Next he gives his thoughts about social justice, Humanism, and a new book about that very subject from Roy Speckhardt.
In this episode we talk to Pam Niese, a Registered Nurse from Glandorf, Ohio who volunteers with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Pam helps fundraise and lobby on issues important to cancer patients and survivors. We find out that Cancer sucks and is not political or religious in its destruction. She also lets us know what we can do to help including purchasing a “Lights of Hope” bag.
In this episode, we find out why the next local battle over abortion takes place in an old parking lot. Next Douglas talks about plans for a post pandemic restriction time for our local group and finally he talks about how Humanists can respond to a recent religious freedom violation while still rejecting the religious beliefs being violated.
In this episode Douglas talks about the large amount of hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and other magical thinking brought on by the response to the pandemic and what Humanists and others can do to get through this thick cloud of problem thinking.
Richard Dawkins is a well known figure in the freethought community. His books have been best sellers and have helped lead many people to ditch religion. In recent years, Dawkins has not been a decent human being and on April 10th a transphobic tweet reminded us all we need to stop putting science communicators on a pedestal. The support Dawkins received for “Just Asking Questions” reminds us what Humanism really means as we reject his questioning of the basic dignity and worth of a group of people for no rational reason.
In this episode Douglas goes through the process his Humanist group took to create a new tag line to help market the group to the public. When some groups are dropping the word Humanism from their name SHoWLE rejected that direction. Then Douglas talks about the new election laws being passed as a result of the massive turn out in the 2020 election and how these laws aren’t reform but just Jim Crow laws in another form.
Free speech doesn’t mean free from consequences. Cancel culture is just the complaints about Political Correctness dressed in different clothes. Douglas gives a primer about what the 1st amendment really means and it doesn’t cover using bigotry disguised as jokes on social media. Finally, we look at the need for transparency as the American Humanist Association looks for a new executive director.
Did you know you don’t really need to spend years going to medical school to become a doctor in order to affect the health of people? All you need is to be elected to the state legislator. In this episode, Douglas will talk about the Ohio Legislature’s arrogant push to override the public health orders made my Governor DeWine during our current pandemic. Finally, he will talk about a good proposed law that will protect women trying to obtain an abortion in Toledo.
In this episode Doug talks about the attempted coup that happen in Washington DC on January 6th and how that was balanced by the swearing in of a new President. What will this mean for secular people. Doug also gives an update on a Federal lawsuit by three Lucas county religious schools to subvert a public health order and finally Doug mentions a couple of articles he’s read that deal with the mental health issues of schools being closed and how Ohio made headlines as an Anti-vaccine state