TheHumanist.com

I began thinking about this after reading Azeem Azhar’s essay, “The Unraveling of Fictions,” which examines how arrangements such as employment, credentials, and expertise lose their organizing power as technology changes what is scarce.

I spent many years studying the behavior of the endangered western red colobus monkeys in The Gambia, the smallest country on the African mainland.

Suddenly, almost out of the blue in November 2025, a strong movement was energized from the wings of the Democratic Party and of some Independents who call themselves “progressives” or “liberals.”

As I get older, I can see from the vantage point of time that my youthful dalliances brought me closer to who I am today.

Remember when Cracker Barrel changed their logo and the CEO got fired?

My mother died this year.

This piece was awarded first place in the Humanists of Greater Portland’s annual essay contest for high school seniors seeking funding for post-high school education.

During the six years my daughter Johanna struggled with and finally succumbed to stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer, I spent countless hours, including well over 100 overnight stays at the hospital by her side.

When Micah Kennedy described death doula education as “the Wild West,” ey meant it as both encouragement and warning.

Humanists love reason.

Donald Trump’s 2024 victory depended heavily on White evangelical or born-again Christian voters.

At the foot of burning Mount Doom, Samwise the gardener kneels beside his friend, Frodo, who can no longer walk.

Sikivu Hutchinson is an accomplished author, creative, and community organizer.

“Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History” Book by Andrew Burstein New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2026 480 pages, $33.00 Over a long life encompassed by countless books while a student, professor or a researcher, it is only “once in a blue moon,” this

Anyone who has graduated from an American high school knows these words from studying the Declaration of Independence in civics class: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer…

The contemporary geography of the death penalty reveals a striking pattern.

We view our religions through lenses forged in early childhood.

Author’s Note: I have taken the liberty of referring to God as “He,” the most preposterous assumption in human history.

Adapted from Chapter 2 of Harari’s Humanist Wars of Religion: A Critique of Harari’s History of Modern Ideologies by Leslie Allan In Sapiens and Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari tells his readers that modern humanism splintered into warring sects, and that one

It started with either condors or tigers.

The current and curiously sudden panic over artificial intelligence is dominating front pages and headlines across mainstream media.

How does Dr.

In the midst of the Trump administration’s backlash against and attacks on racial, social and educational justice in K-12 and higher education, support for African American and PoC students is paramount.

We usually treat currency as synonymous with money – the system of exchange that governs much of our daily life.

In a hospital with one ventilator and two patients who need it, a triage rule can do almost everything we normally ask it to do: rely on medical evidence rather than status or wealth, apply the same criteria to comparable cases, and separate the treating…

Every profession contains humble work that looks expendable from above.

When I studied anthropology in the 1980s as an undergraduate, the evidence for our species living with other Homo human populations began and ended with the Neanderthals.

Ten years ago, I watched a video of a hostage execution during the Iraq War.

Two students are walking down the hallway, in opposite directions, and an administrator looks on.

It’s 2:17 a.m.