Interview with Marieke Prien – President of the International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organization (IHEYO)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your familial and personal background? I was born and raised in Hannover, Germany. When I had finished high school, I spent a year in the Philippines for a volunteer service, then moved to Hamburg to study Cultural Anthropology and Educational Sciences. After getting this degree, I moved to Osnabrück and […] Read more

Interview with Vic Wang – Past President of the Humanists of Houston

*This interview published before, when Vic Wang was the President of the Humanists of Houston.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your family and personal story — culture, education, and geography? My parents are Chinese immigrants from Taiwan who came to the U.S. for college in the 70’s. I was born and raised in Texas where I’ve lived […] Read more

Interview with ​Jennifer C. Gutierrez Baltazar – Executive Director of Humanist Alliance Philippines, International (HAPI)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your family and personal story – culture, education, and geography? I have three siblings, and I’m the second eldest. I was catholic schooled since prep to high school, but, even when I was very young, I was already a freethinker (and a natural one – since I didn’t have access to anything […] Read more

Interview with Bob Churchill – Director of Communications at the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU)

Bob Churchill is the Communications Director for The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), Editor of The Free Thought Report. Bob Churchill is also a trustee of Conway Hall Ethical Society and a trustee of the Karen Woo Foundation. How did you become involved in humanism and IHEU? I have a habit of looking at any situation and saying “Ok, […] Read more

Interview with William Keener – President of the Hickory Humanist Alliance

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your family and personal story – culture, education, and geography? My German (Lutheran and Reformed) and Scots Irish (Presbyterian) ancestors immigrated to the American colonies in the mid-Eighteenth Century and settled in the North Carolina backcountry near what is now the city of Hickory (about 35 miles northwest of Charlotte). […] Read more

Interview with Linda LaScola – Editor of Rational Doubt, Clinical Social Worker, Psychotherapist, & Qualitative Researcher

Linda LaScola is a research consultant. She recently re-released her book (with Daniel Dennett) based on work in which she interviewed non-believing clergy, Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind, with updates and additions. Linda co-founded the Clergy Project. The site features members of the clergy project.  She also blogs on Patheos at Rational Doubt, […] Read more

The Siege of Aleppo Has No Easy Answers

Eighty-two men, women and children shot on the spot. Homes and buildings bombed to smithereens to create a landscape reminiscent of Dresden. Innocents blasted into oblivion by indiscriminate ‘air strikes’ or trapped under tonnes of rubble. Children freezing to death in the Syrian winter cold, their young minds shaped irreparably by the trauma of war. […] Read more