American Humanist Association
2003 Chapter of the Year

News and Press Releases

February 25, 2008 - A survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that Americans are more apt to switch faiths than ever before, or drop out entirely. According to CNN, "The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the United States is 78 percent Christian and about to lose its status as a majority Protestant nation, at 51 percent and slipping. More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found. Factoring in moves from one stream or denomination of Protestantism to another, the number rises to 44 percent. One in four adults ages 18 to 29 claim no affiliation with a religious institution." Read the entire article here.

November 26, 2007 - Nathan Black, Christian Post, "Christian kids are typically sent to Sunday school for lessons on the Bible and morals. For nonbelievers, there's atheist Sunday school". The HSNM school effort spearheaded by Ron Herman is mentioned in the article. Read more about this here and here (note the comments posted beneath the article, and you immediately sense the level of ignorance and hostility from the religiously inclined).

October 26, 2007 - It seems a lot of Americans believe in pseudoscientific "events and phenomena." Among the more ridiculous include UFOs, ESP, ghosts, and other superstitious and silly things. Read more about this here.

October 4, 2007 - Are U.S. service members being subjected to Christian scrutiny? According to some in the military, the answer is yes. Read more about this here.

June 13, 2007 - Republicans saying they don't believe in evolution outnumbered those who do by 68 percent to 30 percent in a recent survey. Democrats believe in evolution by 57 percent to 40 percent, as do independents by a 61 percent to 37 percent margin. Read more about this here.

June 9, 2007 - On May 2, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 222-195 AGAINST a measure that would have allowed faith-based Head Start providers to discriminate in hiring based on religion. How did our New Mexican Representatives vote? Wilson (R) - Yes, Pearce (R) - Yes, and Udall (D) - No. Information derived from the June 2007 issue of Church & State, a publication of Americans United.

June 6, 2007 - The latest issue of Grass Roots News, the American Humanist Association's Chapter Assembly Newsletter, is now available.

March 13, 2007 - PRESS RELEASE: Science & Religion: Complex Relationships presented by UNM Professor Timothy Moy

May 1, 2007 - HSNM May 2007 Newsletter

March 13, 2007 - PRESS RELEASE: Science & Religion: Complex Relationships presented by UNM Professor Timothy Moy

Opinions and Articles

Cartoons (click for bigger version!)

HSNM president's article printed in The Humanist

HSNM President Fred March's article entitled "How to Counter Religion's Toxic Effects" has been published in the American Humanist Society's magazine The Humanist, May/June 2007 edition. You can read the full text of the article on the magazine website here or a pdf version here.

Harry Willson's Rants of the Month

"Word Problems"

"To My Readers"

"The Case for Impeachment"

New Books

From Amazon.com: It's hard enough to live a secular life in a religious world. And bringing up children without religious influence can be even more daunting. Despite the difficulties, a large and growing number of parents are choosing to raise their kids without religion.

In Parenting Beyond Belief, Dale McGowan celebrates the freedom that comes with raising kids without formal indoctrination and advises parents on the most effective way to raise freethinking children. With advice from educators, doctors, psychologists, and philosophers as well as wisdom from everyday parents, the book offers tips and insights on a variety of topics, from "mixed marriages" to coping with death and loss, and from morality and ethics to dealing with holidays. Sensitive and timely, Parenting Beyond Belief features reflections from such freethinkers as Mark Twain, Richard Dawkins, Bertrand Russell, and wellness guru Dr. Don Ardell that will empower every parent to raise both caring and independent children without constraints."

Author Christopher Hitchens' new book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything has just hit the bookshelves. Book description from Amazon.com: "In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix."