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A newborn child, cold and hungry, cries out to the universe for food and warmth. He is gathered up in his mother’s arms, and is comforted, and fed. We don’t remember this experience, but it is one we’ve all shared. I believe it leaves us with a sense that we might implore a greater being to...

We are born into a world of good, which we did not create. Not just material things, but ideals, like justice, liberty, and equality. And spiritual values, like courage, joy, and compassion. We benefit from what others, in good faith, have left for us. In return, we sacrifice selfish interest...

Responsibility is assigned, either by society or by ones own conscience, to the meaningful and relevant causes of some benefit or harm. The responsible causes of a benefit are subject to encouragement. The responsible causes of a harm are subject to correction. Consider a traffic accident...

What does "determinism" look like, anyway? It's morning and you're awake. You get up, make the bed, and have a shower. You look in the closet and choose from several possibilities what you will wear this morning. Then you go to the kitchen to see what's available for breakfast. There are...

One of the books I read as a kid was "There is a River", the story of Edgar Cayce. Cayce was a telepath who could, theory goes, place a book under his pillow at night and know the contents in the morning. He read people's illnesses and could direct them to a cure, which often was found in a book...

A newborn child, cold and hungry, cries out to the universe for food and warmth. He is gathered up in his mother’s arms, and is comforted, and fed. We don’t remember this experience, but it is one we’ve all shared. I believe it leaves us with a sense that we might implore a greater being to...

Humanists may consider themselves secular or religious. Many of us who grew up in a church may miss the spiritual support it provides. In college, I often went to the Unitarian Coffee House, an area for talks, games, and snacks on Friday nights. When it was time to marry, we called on Reverend...

Morality is the intent to achieve good, and to achieve it for others as well as for ourselves. Ethics is the pursuit of the best rules, those that will most likely achieve the best possible results for everyone. To see the distinction, consider the Jewish family of Anne Frank hiding in the...

Compatibilism asserts that free will remains a meaningful concept within a world of perfectly reliable cause and effect. There is no conflict between the notion that my choice was causally necessary from any prior point in time (determinism) and the notion that it was me that actually did the...