Secular Democracy

Secular Ethics of Love

How Religion and Politics Pull Our Strings

How to Win the Culture Wars

December 2024/January 2025

Secular Democracy

Volume 45, No. 1

Latest Articles



Inaugural Observations
January 16, 2025

Appointing Catiline to be consul; choosing Guy Fawkes to be prime minister; electing Aaron Burr or Jefferson Davis to be president—these are some of the analogies that spring to mind as I contemplate the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump. As the recently released report from special counsel Jack Smith confirms, Trump made every effort after …


Charlie Hebdo and the Need for Satire
January 9, 2025

Tuesday was the tenth anniversary of the January 7, 2015, attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which twelve people were murdered—murdered for publishing cartoons that “insulted” Muhammad, in the eyes of some Muslims. Immediately after the attack, much of the Western world condemned the attacks and expressed solidarity with …

The Myth of the God-Shaped Hole
January 6, 2025

[Editor’s note: With the permission of Richard Dawkins, we have decided to republish this essay, which appeared a few days ago in The Spectator. A claim has been made by many in recent years that the spread of atheism has resulted in some sort of void in our lives. The removal of religion must inevitably lead …


The Regrettable Dogmatism of FFRF
January 2, 2025

In case you have not heard, here is a concise summary of the situation: The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) published on its website an essay by Kat Grant titled “What Is a Woman?” in which Grant concluded that “A woman is whoever she says she is.” Along the way, Grant argued that there is …

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For the questions that remain unanswered after we’ve cleared our minds of gods and souls and spirits, many atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and freethinkers turn to secular humanism.

Looking Back



Free Internet Porn and America: A Report on a Natural Experiment
Volume 37, No. 1
December 2016 / January 2017

“Broadband Internet brought
pornography into tens of millions of American homes—for free. Within just a few years, the entire country was wired. And watching.”

The Irresponsibility of Intellectuals
Volume 37, No. 1
December 2016 / January 2017

“You have to understand that this picture of the future is not a remote and improbable one, and if it comes to your neighborhood in the shape of terrorism, you’ll have paid for it.”

Why Secular Humanists Should Abandon the Myth Theory of Jesus
Volume 37, No. 1
December 2016 / January 2017

When mainstream theologians admit the Resurrection might never have occurred, arguments that Jesus never existed miss the point.


Free Internet Porn and America: A Report on a Natural Experiment
Volume 37, No. 1
December 2016 / January 2017

“Broadband Internet brought
pornography into tens of millions of American homes—for free. Within just a few years, the entire country was wired. And watching.”

The Irresponsibility of Intellectuals
Volume 37, No. 1
December 2016 / January 2017

“You have to understand that this picture of the future is not a remote and improbable one, and if it comes to your neighborhood in the shape of terrorism, you’ll have paid for it.”