Monthly Archives: December 2015

Islamophobia: Playing Right Into The Hands Of ISIS

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, anti-Islamic sentiment is at a fever pitch in America. Since the Paris attacks, there have been more than 37 suspected anti-Islamic hate crimes in the US (compared with an average of 12.6 a month over the past five years). Eleven of those hate crimes […]

Are Secular Parents Denying Their Children The Opportunity To Be Religious?

There’s a good joke about Unitarian Universalists. Q: “What’s a Unitarian Universalist?” A: “An Atheist with children.” Religious jokes, like any jokes, are funniest when there’s an element of truth. I don’t speak for Unitarian Universalists, but I have been to Unitarian Universalist services before, and I enjoyed them. Mostly because it was church without all […]

The First Step To Recovery Is Admitting We Have A Serious Gun Problem

The headline on The Onion reads “No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens”   It’s perhaps one of the most biting satirical headlines that they have posted in their 27-year history. Sadly, although it was posted on the Onion’s social media channels after the San Bernardino shooting, it is a piece of evergreen content […]

Becoming Nicole: The Story of a Quintessentially Maine Family

I grew up in the American South (“from away,” as Mainers say), an area not often characterized as tolerant or progressive. In my mind, Maine, along with the rest of New England, was a relative oasis of reason and liberal-mindedness. This characterization was partly due to stereotypes about the Northeast, and partly due to actual statistics. I […]