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Spokane
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Jim Downard

Jim Downard is a Spokane native (with a sojourn in Southern California back in the early 1960s) who was raised in a secular family, so says had no personal faith to lose. He's always been a history and science buff (getting a bachelor's in the former area at what was then Eastern Washington University in the early 1970s).

Freedom of conscience far from global

For some years the International Humanist and Ethical Union has compiled an annual Freedom of Thought Report, and their 2013 edition surveyed 194 countries, ranking them by how tolerant they are of nonbelievers.

Ask An Atheist: Where does your conscience come from?

Do you have a conscience? If so, where does it come from? Do you believe in universal reciprocity? (Why/why not?)

A tale of two Rose Parades

Dobson had heard a terrible thing about the upcoming parade: the AIDS Healthcare Foundation had a float in the parade, and was signaling the sea change in matters of public moment by having a gay couple get married during the parade atop their wedding cake shaped float.

Trawling for common cause with people of faith on secular values and issues

In October I attended the 2013 installment of the Center For Inquiry’s annual “Summit” conferences, held this time nearby over in Tacoma, so I was able to swing the trip.

Ask An Atheist: How many people who used to believe in God have become atheists?

Overall there are maybe 10-15 percent of the population who are atheist. However, since most people in the U.S (and elsewhere) have some form of religion, demographically most atheists had non-secular backgrounds, and certainly many atheists were formerly very intense believers

Ask An Atheist: Do you value the roles other religions have played?

As someone who thinks historically, of course I pay attention to what people believe now or have in the past in order to make sense of their actions.

An atheist’s historical appreciation for Nelson Mandela

As a devout secularist with one hand always on the deep pulse of history, I cannot help but feel moved and appreciative of the role that Nelson Mandela played in the peaceful transit of South Africa from apartheid prejudice to a working democratic structure.

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