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Secularity (adjective form secular)^[1] is the state of being separate from religion, or not being exclusively allied to any particular religion.

For instance, eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them. Nevertheless, both eating and bathing are regarded as sacraments in some religious traditions, and therefore would be religious activities in those world views. Saying a prayer derived from religious text or doctrine, worshipping through the context of a religion, and attending a religious school are examples of religious (non-secular) activities. Prayer and meditation are not necessarily non-secular, since the concept of spirituality and higher consciousness are not married solely to any religion but are practiced and arose independently across a continuum of cultures.

Most businesses and corporations, and some governments, are secular organizations. All of the state universities in the United States are secular organizations (especially because of the combined effect of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution) while some private universities are connected with the Christian or Jewish religions. Among many of these, some prominent examples are Baylor University, Brigham Young University, Boston College, Emory University, the University of Notre Dame, Duquesne University, Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University, and Yeshiva College.

The public university systems of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan are also secular, although some government-funded primary and secondary schools may be religiously aligned in some countries.

Etymology[link]

Look up secular in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Secular and secularity derive from the Latin word saecularis meaning of a generation, belonging to an age. The Christian doctrine that God exists outside time led medieval Western culture to use secular to indicate separation from specifically religious affairs and involvement in temporal ones. This meaning has been extended to mean separation from any religion, regardless of whether it has a similar doctrine.

This does not necessarily imply hostility to God or religion, though some use the term this way (see "secularism", below); Martin Luther used to speak of "secular work" as a vocation from God for most Christians^{[citation needed]}

Modern usage[link]

Examples of secular used in this way include:

• Secular authority, which involves legal, police, and military authority, as distinct from clerical authority, or matters under church control.
• Secular clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, who, traditionally, do not live the monastic lives of the regular clergy and are therefore, in a sense, more engaged with the temporal world. For a related Roman Catholic reference, see secular institute.
• Secular education, schools that are not run by churches, synagogues, or other religious organizations.
• Secular states with secular governments that follow civil laws—as distinct from religious authorities like the Islamic Sharia, Catholic Canon law, or Jewish Halakha—and that do not favor or disfavor any particular religion.
• Secular Jewish culture, cultural manifestations of Jewishness that are not specifically religious.
• Secular music, composed for general use, as distinct from sacred music which is composed for church use. Secular sonatas, in the 17th century, were those not composed for church services.
• Secular Organizations for Sobriety, a secular alternative to the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) organization which is a loosely religious one although nondenominational.
• Secular society refers to aspects of society that are not mosque-, church-, synagogue-, or temple-affiliated.
• Secular spirituality, the pursuit of spirituality without a formal affiliation with a church, or other religious organization, or the pursuit of spirituality specifically in the context of temporal affairs.
• Secular peers, in reference to the Peers of the House of Lords that are not connected to the Church.

Related concepts[link]

A Laïcité parade in Beirut Central District, Lebanon

• Laïcité is a French concept related to the separation of state and religion, sometimes rendered by the English cognate neologism laicity and also translated by the words secularity and secularization. The word laïcité is sometimes characterized as having no exact English equivalent; it is similar to the more moderate definition of secularism, but is not as ambiguous as that word.

• Secularism is an assertion or belief that religious issues should not be the basis of politics, and it is a movement that promotes those ideas (or an ideology) which hold that religion has no place in public life. Secularist organizations are distinguished from merely secular ones by their political advocacy of such positions.

• Laïcisme is the French word that most resembles secularism, especially in the latter's extreme definition, as it is understood by the Catholic Church, which sets laïcisme in opposition to the allegedly far milder concept of laïcité. The correspondent word laicism (also spelled laïcism) is sometimes used in English as a synonym for secularism.

See also[link]

• Separation of church and state
• List of state-established religions
• Anti-clericalism
• Secularism
• Islam and secularism
• Secular Student Alliance

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Conference: Secularity and Religious Vitality
• Iain Benson:"Notes Towards a (Re)Definition of the 'Secular'", University of British Columbia Law Review, Vol. 33, p. 520, 2000
• Research Project: Multiple Secularities

Richard Duane "Rick" Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian minister and author.^[1][2][3] He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States (this ranking includes multi-site churches).^[4] He is also a bestselling author of many Christian books, including his guide to church ministry and evangelism, The Purpose Driven Church, which has spawned a series of conferences on Christian ministry and evangelism. He is perhaps best known for the subsequent devotional The Purpose Driven Life which has sold over 30 million copies, making Warren a New York Times bestselling author.^[5][6]

Warren holds conservative theological views^[7] and holds traditional evangelical views on social issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem-cell research. Warren has called on churches worldwide to also focus their efforts on fighting poverty and disease, expanding educational opportunities for the marginalized, and caring for the environment. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Warren hosted the Civil Forum on The Presidency at his church with both presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. Obama later sparked controversy when he asked Warren to give the invocation at the presidential inauguration in January 2009.^[8]

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

Warren was born in San Jose, California, the son of Jimmy and Dot Warren. His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a high school librarian.^{[clarification needed]} He was raised in Ukiah, California, and graduated from Ukiah High School in 1972, where he founded the first Christian club on the school's campus, The Fishers of Men Club.^[9] His sister Chaundel is married to Saddleback pastor Tom Holladay. His brother Jim C. Warren died in 2007.

Warren received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, California; a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1979) in Fort Worth, Texas; and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.^[10]

Personal[link]

Warren has been married to Elizabeth K. Warren (Kay) for 32 years in 2011. They have three adult children (Amy, Josh, and Matthew) and four grandchildren. He considers Billy Graham, Peter Drucker and his own father to be among his mentors.

Due to the success of his book sales, in 2005 Warren returned his 25 years of salary to the church and discontinued taking a salary. He says he and his wife became "reverse tithers", giving away 90% of their income and living off 10%.^[11]

Career[link]

Warren says he was called to full-time ministry when he was a 19-year-old student at California Baptist University. In November 1973, he and a friend skipped classes and drove 350 miles to hear W.A. Criswell preach at the Jack Tar Hotel, in San Francisco.^[12] Warren waited afterwards to shake hands with Criswell who focused on Warren stating "I feel led to lay hands on you and pray for you!”^[12]

During his time at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Warren worked at the Texas Ranch for Christ, a ministry facility of Billie Hanks, Jr., where he began writing books. He co-wrote two books, The Victory Scripture Memory Series and the Twelve Dynamic Bible Study Methods for Laity, with Billi Hanks, Jr. and Wayne Watts.^[13]

In April 1980 Warren held Saddleback Church's first public service on Easter Sunday at the Laguna Hills High School Theater with 200 people in attendance. Warren's church growth methods led to rapid expansion, with the church using nearly 80 different facilities in its 28-year history.

Saddleback did not build its first permanent building until it had 10,000 weekly attenders. When the current Lake Forest campus was purchased in the early 1990s, a 2,300-seat plastic tent was used for worship services for several years, with four services each weekend. In 1995 the current Worship Center was completed, with a seating capacity of 3,500. A multi-million dollar children's ministry building and a staff office building were completed over the next few years. In June 2008, a $20 million student ministry facility called the "Refinery" was completed, housing the "Wildside" middle school and "HSM" high school ministries, consisting of 1,500 students. Saddleback Church averages nearly 20,000 people in attendance each week, and is currently the eighth-largest church in the United States.^[14]

Rick Warren speaking at TED in 2006

Warren has been invited to speak at national and international forums, including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, TED, and Time’s Global Health Summit. He was an elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations between 2005 and 2006, and ^[15] was named one of "America's Top 25 Leaders" in the October 31, 2005, issue of U.S. News and World Report.^[10] Warren was named by Time magazine as one of "15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004" and one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" (2005).^[16] In 2006 Newsweek called him one of "15 People Who Make America Great".^[17]

In August 2008, Warren drew greater national attention by hosting the Civil Forum on the Presidency that featured senators John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback Church. Warren said the goal of the forum was to “restore civility in our civil discourse.”^[18] The forum marked McCain and Obama's first joint appearance as the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, and was broadcast live on national television. During the two-hour event, each candidate took the stage separately for about an hour to respond to Warren’s questions about faith and moral issues including abortion and human rights.

In December 2008, President-elect Obama chose Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration ceremony. The decision angered pro-choice and LGBT advocates and led to criticism of both Obama and Warren.^[19] Obama defended his choice of Warren, saying that although he disagreed with the minister's positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, there should be room for dialogue on such difficult social issues.^[20] More controversy ensued when it was announced that Warren would be the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service on January 19, 2009, the day prior to the inauguration.^[21] On January 20, 2009, Warren delivered the Invocation, which was generally praised for its positive message.^[22]

In January 2009, Warren and the Readers Digest Association partnered in the launch of the Purpose Driven Connection, a quarterly publication sold as part of a bundle of multimedia products.^[23] In November 2009, the partners announced that the magazine had not drawn enough paying members and would cease after publication of the fourth issue that month.^[24]

Warren has been invited to speak at John Piper's Desiring God Conference 2010 in Minneapolis, MN.^[25]

Ministries[link]

Warren and his wife are directors of the following non-profit organizations:

• Acts of Mercy
• RKW Legacy Partners
• Equipping the Church

Purpose Driven[link]

Purpose Driven comes from the teaching of Warren, and came into use as a paradigm taught to pastors and other Christian leaders worldwide to help them be more effective in leading their churches. The teaching is embodied in Warren’s best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Church, first published in 1995. Over 400,000 pastors and church leaders from around the world have attended a seminar or conference led by Warren and other pastors who seek to be more effective in fulfilling the Biblical Great Commission and Great Commandment.^{[citation needed]} Purpose Driven refers to these pastors' attempts to balance the five "purposes"; worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism in their churches.

Christian leaders in 162 countries have used materials which stem from this movement.^{[citation needed]} Warren says his organizations have trained 400,000 pastors worldwide.^[26] Some 189,000 church leaders subscribe to Ministry Toolbox, the weekly newsletter.^{[citation needed]}

Others express concern over what is described as the divisive nature of Warren's techniques. Wall Street Journal writer Suzanne Sataline cited examples of congregations who have split over the growth strategies and congregations that have expelled members who fought changes. She wrote, "Warren acknowledges that splits occur in congregations that adopt his ideas, though he says he opposes efforts to expel church members."^[26]

PEACE Plan[link]

The P E A C E Plan is an initiative begun by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Senior pastor Rick Warren's stated intention in launching the P E A C E (or PEACE) Plan is to involve every Christian and every church in every nation in the task of serving people in the areas of the greatest global needs. The tag-line is 'Ordinary people empowered by God making a difference together wherever they are'. P.E.A.C.E. is an acronym for the stated methodology for achieving the plan: "Promote reconciliation - Equip servant leaders - Assist the poor - Care for the sick - Educate the next generation."^[27]

Political and social views[link]

Kay and Rick Warren (left of picture) President George W. Bush, with Laura Bush at his side, with the International Medal of Peace at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health in Washington, D.C.

Warren has worked to shift the evangelical movement away from an exclusive focus on traditional evangelical social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage (regarding the latter, he called divorce a greater threat to the American family^[28]), to broader social action. Warren's five-point plan for global action, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, calls for church-led efforts to tackle global poverty and disease, including the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to support literacy and education efforts around the world. In February 2006, he signed a statement backing a major initiative to combat global warming, thus breaking with other conservative, high-profile evangelical leaders, who had opposed such a move.^[29]

Warren's softer tone on political issues once central to U.S. evangelicals and his concern for issues more commonly associated with the political left have resulted in the characterization of Warren as one of a "new breed of evangelical leaders."^[30] But it has also been misunderstood by the media, according to Warren, as indicating a shift in position on traditional evangelical issues.^[31]

In a conversation with atheist author Sam Harris in Newsweek magazine, Warren spoke out against evolution and in favor of creationism. He also said that brutal dictators such as Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot were all atheists, when questioned on whether religion is beneficial to society.^[32] In 2005, during the Terri Schiavo controversy, Warren stated that withholding feeding to Schiavo, a woman in a persistent vegetative state, was "not a right to die issue". He then called Michael Schiavo's decision to remove her feeding tube, "an atrocity worthy of Nazism",^[33] and while speculating about Michael Schiavo's motives, put forward the idea that Schiavo wanted Terri to die because, if she regained consciousness, she might have "something to say that he didn‘t want said." ^[34]

Two weeks before the 2008 U.S. general election, Warren issued a statement to his congregation endorsing California Proposition 8, which would amend the California Constitution to say "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California," thereby eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.^[35][36] Warren's position was consistent with the official position of his church's denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, and reflected his belief that this definition of marriage "has been supported by every single culture, and every single religion for 5,000 years."^[35][37] Warren stated that the measure was necessary because the Supreme Court of California "threw out the will of the people" in May 2008 when it found, in the In Re Marriage Cases decision, that the previous statutory ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.^[35] After the measure passed, Warren's church and others were targeted by protesters.^[38]

In an interview with Beliefnet in early December, Warren again sparked controversy by appearing to equate same-sex marriages to marriages of siblings, multiple partners, and adults and minors.^[39][40][41] He later released a video message saying that he does not equate gay relationships with incest or pedophilia, and that, as he had stated during the Beliefnet interview, he opposes the redefinition of marriage.^[42]

Bibliography[link]

• The Purpose Driven Church (ISBN 0-310-20106-3)
• The Purpose Driven Life (ISBN 0-310-20571-9)
• Answers to Life's Difficult Questions (ISBN 0-9660895-2-9)
• The Power to Change Your Life (ISBN 0-9660895-1-0)
• What on Earth Am I Here For? Booklet (ISBN 0-310-26483-9)
• Personal Bible Study Methods (ISBN 0-9660895-0-2)
• The Purpose of Christmas (ISBN 978-1416559009)^[43]

See also[link]

• Southern Baptist Convention
• List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated people
• Celebrate Recovery

References[link]

• Mair, George (2005). A Life With Purpose. New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-20174-0. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rick Warren

• Rick Warren's website
• Saddleback Church website
• Rick Warren's ministry podcast
• Purpose Driven Connection
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Rick Warren on Charlie Rose
• Rick Warren at TED Conferences
• Rick Warren at the Internet Movie Database
• Rick Warren collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Rick Warren at the Notable Names Database
• Interview about Rick Warren with Biographer Jeffrey Sheler on ReadTheSpirit.com, January 19, 2010

Matt Dillahunty
Matt Dillahunty on The Atheist Experience TV show, 25th July 2006.
Born	(1969-03-31) March 31, 1969 (age 43)
Nationality	USA
Known for	Atheism activism

Matt Dillahunty is the president of the Atheist Community of Austin, the host of the live internet radio show "Non-Prophets Radio" and of the Austin Public-access television cable TV show The Atheist Experience.^[1] He is also the founder and contributor of the counter-apologetics encyclopedia Iron Chariots and its subsidiary sites.^[2]

Biography[link]

Matt was raised as a Baptist Christian and sought to become a Baptist minister.^[3] His religious studies, instead of bolstering his faith as he intended, led to a rejection of Christianity and, eventually, all religions.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Matt Dillahunty on Twitter
• The Non-Prophets homepage
• The Atheist Experience homepage
• Saving believers: Former Christian finds calling to preach the good news of atheism
• PBS: Public-Access TV Fights for Relevance in the YouTube Age
• The Atheist Experience live stream

This United States biographical article related to radio is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (June 2011)

Nido Qubein is a businessman, motivational speaker, and has been President of High Point University since 2005. He received his Associate's Degree in Business from Mount Olive College, where he was a member of Delta Pi Delta fraternity. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Human Relations from High Point University in 1970. Qubein received his Master's of Science in Business Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Bryan School of Business & Economics in 1973. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro^[1].

Qubein was born youngest of 5 children in 1948 and is of Lebanese and Jordanian descent.^[2] Qubein came to the United States in 1966. He is a Christian.^[3]

Qubein is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the National Speakers Association Foundation^[4]. He was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor^[5]. In 1999, Qubein was given the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Bryan School of Business & Economics^[6] In 2000, Toastmasters International awarded Qubein the Golden Gavel Medal^[7] .

Nido Qubein has served as Chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company since 2001 ^[8] . He has served on the Board of Directors of BB&T since 1990^[9] and the Board of Directors of La-Z-Boy Corporation since 2006 ^[10].

He has written 11 books, including titles like How To Communicate Like A Pro and Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement.^[11]

External links[link]

• http://www.nidoqubein.com

References[link]

PZ Myers
PZ Myers
Born	Paul Zachary Myers (1957-03-09) March 9, 1957 (age 55)
Residence	United States
Fields	Evolutionary developmental biology
Institutions	University of Minnesota Morris
Known for	Pharyngula (blog)

Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers (born March 9, 1957) is an American scientist and biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) and the author of the Pharyngula science blog, hosted on both the Science Blogs and Freethought Blogs blog networks. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM,^[1] works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and also cultivates an interest in cephalopods. He has published numerous research papers in Nature and other notable scientific journals.^[2]

He is a public critic of intelligent design (ID) and of the creationist movement in general and is an activist in the American creation–evolution controversy. He is widely regarded as a confrontationalist.^[3]

In 2006, the journal Nature listed his blog, Pharyngula, as the top-ranked blog written by a scientist.^[4] Additionally, PZ Myers was the recipient of the Humanist of the Year award in 2009, and the International Humanist Award in 2011.

Asteroid 153298 Paulmyers is named in his honor.^[5]

Early life[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011)

Myers was born March 9, 1957, the eldest of six children in Kent, Washington; his mother is of Swedish and Norwegian descent.^[6] Regarding his ancestry, Myers wrote: "I'm only half Scandinavian. The blood has been thinned with that of those domesticated English and Irish and Scots."^[7] He was named "Paul Zachary", after his grandfather, but preferred the initials PZ to being called "Little Paul". He claims to have been a "science geek" from an early age, gaining an interest in zoology and marine biology from studying the insides of fish while on fishing trips with his father.

Myers was raised as a Lutheran. Prior to his confirmation, Myers says, "I started thinking, you know, I don't believe a word of this."^[8] Now an atheist, Myers comments widely on his blog about science, education, atheism and religion.^{[9] [10]}

Education and activism[link]

Myers graduated from Kent-Meridian High School in 1975,^[11] and subsequently attended DePauw University in Indiana on a full scholarship. However, he returned home the next year after his father suffered a heart attack. He then graduated from the University of Washington in 1979 with Bachelor of Science in zoology. Myers drifted away from this field toward evolutionary developmental biology and obtained a PhD in Biology from the University of Oregon.

A self-avowed "godless liberal"^[12] and outspoken atheist, he is a vocal skeptic of all forms of religion, superstition, supernaturalism, spirituality and pseudoscience. He is quoted as having "nothing but contempt" for intelligent design, arguing that it is "fundamentally dishonest".^[8]

In 2009 Myers was named the American Humanist Association's "Humanist of the Year".^[13]

Post-graduate career[link]

Myers has taught and researched at the University of Oregon, the University of Utah and Temple University. He is currently an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota's Morris campus.^[1] He is a member of Minnesota Citizens for Science Education.^[14]

Internet involvement[link]

USENET[link]

On USENET user groups, forums, and web sites such as talk.origins, Myers became involved in scientific debates, particularly those surrounding the growing creationist movement in the United States. In June 2002 he created his own web site and blog, Pharyngula.org, and he was a founding member of The Panda's Thumb. Since late 2005 he has been a contributor to Ask A Biologist, a science education website.

Pharyngula[link]

Pharyngula is Myers' personal weblog, promoted as "Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal."^[12] The topics Myers covers are eclectic, delving into the non-scientific as well as scientific. While Pharyngula includes many articles discussing breaking science news and research, the blog has become particularly well known for ridicule of intelligent design and of attempts to insert it into science education. The blog has been ranked as the third-most-read blog maintained by a Minnesotan. Pharyngula won the 2005 Koufax Award for Best Expert Blog. The science journal Nature listed Pharyngula as the top-ranked blog written by a scientist.^[15]

According to Alexa.com, Pharyngula.org was started on June 19, 2002.^[16] It started out as an experiment in writing instruction for a class. Students were required to submit mini-essays to be published online. After the project was finished, Myers still had the web-publishing software, and started to use it himself. The blog is named after his favorite stage in embryonic development, the pharyngula stage. Pharyngula moved to hosting at ScienceBlogs, a project of Seed Magazine, in 2005.

On Pharyngula, Myers has repeatedly denounced the Discovery Institute, Answers in Genesis, and other creationist websites, as well as offering rebuttals to Intelligent Design, pointing out that its claims are pseudoscientific. Other posts on Pharyngula cover a broad variety of topics that interest Myers. These include cephalopods; science; religion (to which Myers is unequivocally opposed); local, national and international politics, particularly those involving science and/or education; superstition; and evolutionary developmental biology. Myers dismissed the Discovery Institute's petition A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism, stating that the scientists listed didn't have credentials relevant to Biology, and that the number of them was minuscule compared to the scientific community as a whole.

On his blog in 2007, Myers reviewed Stuart Pivar's book Lifecode, which argues that self-organization at the embryonic and fetal stages determine the development and final structure of organisms.^[17][18][19] Myers reviewed the book negatively, stating that the diagrams and ideas in the book arose from Pivar's imagination and had no basis in actual evidence.

How his theory can be reconciled with a large body of embryological evidence that directly contradicts virtually all of it is not clear, and Pivar has chosen not to address any of it. And a book full of geometrically interesting sketches neither explains nor supports Pivar's theory.… Theories are supposed to explain observation and experiment. You don't come up with a theory first, and then invent the evidence to support it.^[17]

After some discussion in the comments threads of Pharyngula, Pivar sued Myers for libel.^[17][19] Within a week Pivar withdrew the lawsuit, stating that "the real issue got sidelined" and that his problem was more with Seed Media Group.^[20]

In addition to articles about keeping religion out of science education, church-state separation, and complaints of misdeeds done in the name of religion, Myers continues to write about science in the disciplines of evolution,^[21] palaeontology,^[22] genetics,^[23] development,^[24] and molecular biology.^[25]

Eucharist controversy[link]

A controversy arose in July 2008 over a Pharyngula blog entry written by Myers expressing amazement at news reports of death threats issued to University of Central Florida Student Senator Webster Cook. On June 29, 2008, Cook attended a Catholic Mass being held in the student union at UCF by a Catholic student group that receives funding from the student government. Cook received the Catholic Eucharist host but did not consume it immediately. He said later that he wanted to take it back to his seat to show a friend, but when stopped he pretended to put it in his mouth until back at his seat, then a church leader made forcible attempts to take the wafer from him.^[26][27] Cook stored the host at his home, then returned it one week later after receiving e-mail threats and pleas.^[26][28] Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, described the student's actions as "beyond hate speech" and said that "All options should be on the table, including expulsion."^[29]

In his July 8 blog entry, Myers criticized the reaction to Cook's act. Myers described the level of harassment including multiple death threats leveled against the student, and accusations against the student which included hate crime, kidnapping, and intent to desecrate the Eucharist which Catholics consider a mortal sin.^[27][30] Myers expressed outrage that Fox News Channel appeared to be inciting readers to cause further problems for the student, and ridiculed reports that armed guards would attend the next mass. Myers suggested that if any of his readers could acquire some consecrated Eucharistic hosts for him, he would treat the wafers "with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web."^[31]

Myers was criticized from both religious and non-religious quarters. The Catholic League accused Myers of anti-Catholic bigotry,^[32] described his proposal as a threat to desecrate what Catholics hold to be the Body of Christ, and sent a letter asking the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers.^[32][33] The Catholic League argued that, as the Pharyngula website was accessible via a link from the University of Minnesota's website, it should be bound by the university's code of conduct, which requires faculty to be "respectful, fair and civil" when dealing with others.^[33] Joe Foley, a member of the Board of the Secular Student Alliance, wrote on the organization's website that Myers had "crossed the line" from "playful satire" to "masturbatory condescension".^[34] Foley concluded, "if open-minded believers are willing to join us in polite dialogue, we need to be ready to welcome them with more than ridicule and pranks."^[34]

Subsequently, Myers explained to the Star Tribune that while his post was "satire and protest," he had received death threats regarding the incident but was not taking them too seriously.^[32]

Wikinews has related news: Woman fired over husband's email threat to Minnesota professor

In a talk show featuring Myers on Catholic Radio International, hosted by Jeff Gardner, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and said that he intended to “subject them to heinous cracker abuse.” When asked by Gardner to explain why he must do so, Myers said that Donohue of the Catholic League was insisting that he acknowledge the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Gardner pointed out that Donohue had no authority to insist on such acknowledgment. The show host then asked Myers which individual possessing the Magisterial authority of the Catholic Church had insisted that he recognize the body of Christ in the Eucharist. Myers replied that no one from the Catholic Church had contacted him.^[35]

On July 24, 2008, Myers, in his post, "The Great Desecration," wrote that he had pierced through the "goddamned cracker" with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the Qur'an and The God Delusion, and had simply thrown them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel. He provided a photograph of these items in the garbage, and wrote that nothing must be held sacred, encouraging people to question everything. In addition, he described the history of allegations of host desecration, emphasizing the frequent use of such allegations in medieval Europe to justify anti-Semitism.^[36] The following day, University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) Chancellor stated: "I believe that behaviors that discriminate against or harass individuals or groups on the basis of their religious beliefs are reprehensible" and that the school "affirms the freedom of a faculty member to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint."^[37]

Science activism[link]

[edit] Interview and screening of Expelled

In April 2007 Myers was interviewed for a documentary titled "Crossroads", purportedly about science and religion.^[38] However in September 2007, executive producer Mark Mathis announced that the movie was Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed about "censorship" of intelligent design supporters.^[39] Regarding the discrepancy of focus, Myers wrote: "I mean, seriously, not telling one of the sides in a debate about what the subject might be and then leading him around randomly to various topics, with the intent of later editing it down to the parts that just make the points you want, is the video version of quote-mining and is fundamentally dishonest."^[38]

On March 20, 2008, Myers was denied entry into a screening of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. He was waiting with his family and guests to attend a private screening after having reserved seats for himself and guests under his own name using the freely available online procedure set up by the film's promoters. Shortly before the film started, a security guard told him that the producer Mark Mathis had instructed that Myers be removed from the premises. After telling his family of this Myers went to a nearby Apple store and blogged about his amusement that they had expelled him, but allowed his guest entry to see the film—British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who had also been interviewed for the film under similar circumstances.^[40] In a question and answer session at the end of the film Dawkins asked why Myers had been excluded, and later said that "if anyone had a right to see the film, it was [Myers]. The incompetence, on a public relations level, is beyond belief."^[41] The saga has been described by Dawkins as "an incredible piece of inept public relations" on the part of the film's producers.^[42]

Creation Museum visit[link]

Myers at the Creation Museum

Myers' engagement as keynote speaker at the 2009 Secular Student Alliance Conference in Columbus, Ohio^[43] developed into an August 7, 2009 trip, in which 304 attendees visited the nearby Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.^[44] Beforehand, there was a flurry of heated blog posts which resulted in the museum sending a warning letter detailing appropriate behavior. The visit resulted in two reported incidents. In one, a student wearing a t-shirt that read, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy yourself"^[45] was asked to turn the shirt inside out.^[46]

It was also reported that a student was asked to leave the Creation Museum after a family visiting the museum complained to staff that they saw him "laughing at the exhibits". Ken Ham however denied that the student was told to leave, claiming that a photographer who witnessed the incident was the one who was removed.^[47]

Appearances[link]

Myers has been invited to speak about science, rationalism, or atheism at conferences, symposia, and other events.

• Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne, Australia, 2012
• Reason Rally, 24 March 2012
• Secular Student Alliance Conference in Columbus, Ohio, 2009

Awards[link]

Myers has received several awards for his activism.

• International Humanist Award (2011)
• Humanist of the Year award (2009)
• top-ranked blog written by a scientist (Nature science journal, 2006)
• Koufax Award for Best Expert Blog (2005)

See also[link]

	Atheism portal
	Science portal

• Antireligion
• Antitheism
• Conflict thesis
• Evo devo

References[link]