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In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The Evolution of Atheism: The Politics of a Modern Movement is a 2015 book by Stephen LeDrew, adapted from his PhD dissertation. Though an atheist, LeDrew criticises the movement of New Atheism, which arose in the 2000s with the "Four Horsemen" Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens as prominent figures. According to LeDrew, modern atheism can be "scientific", "humanist" or "libertarian". He aims to describe how New Atheism, which he characterizes as a right-wing branch of scientific atheism, arose in popularity and how it contrasts with other atheist views, particularly those who oppose religion in order to achieve social justice. The book was praised for adding to the scholarship of New Atheism and including original interviews with New Atheist laypeople. Some reviewers criticised LeDrew's choice of categories to divide modern atheism into or contradictory descriptions of New Atheism.
Shen Yun Performing Arts (Chinese: 神韻藝術團; lit. 'divine rhythm arts troupe') is an American nonprofit performing arts company that produces touring performances of dance and symphonic music. It is operated by the new religious movement Falun Gong, founded in 2006 and led by Li Hongzhi. It comprises eight performing ensembles, with approximately 480 performers, and has performed internationally. The company is promoted by The Epoch Times, a Falun Gong-affiliated media outlet that has been variously described as far-right, right-wing, and conservative. In 2019, an NBC News assessment concluded that the Epoch Media Group and Shen Yun "make up the outreach effort of Falun Gong". Shen Yun presents its performance as a revival of traditional Chinese culture before the rise of communism. Each Shen Yun performance consists of approximately 20 independent vignettes—primarily dance, along with an instrumental piece and two vocal performances. Shen Yun performances incorporate Falun Gong teachings, including promotion of the Dafa, or "Great Way", and religious beliefs concerning the salvation of humanity. They also present negative views of evolution and atheism. Shen Yun performances are organised by local nonprofit organisations, generally run by Falun Gong adherents, which promote the show and assume responsibility for performance costs and potential losses. The finances of Shen Yun and Falun Gong appear to be linked, with technically separate corporations sharing funds, executives, and the same mission. Its shows are heavily promoted through advertising blitz campaigns in local markets. Shen Yun has attracted controversy over its religious messaging, financial practises and treatment of performers. Allegations against the organization has included forced child labor, emotional abuse and manipulation, financial coercion, and discouraging performers from seeking medical treatment for injuries on religious grounds.
Atheism, as defined by the entry in Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, is "the opinion of those who deny the existence of a God in the world. The simple ignorance of God doesn't constitute atheism. To be charged with the odious title of atheism one must have the notion of God and reject it." In the period of the Enlightenment, avowed and open atheism was made possible by the advance of religious toleration, but was also far from encouraged. Accusations of atheism were common, but most of the people suspected by their peers of atheism were not actually atheists. D'Holbach and Denis Diderot seem to be two of the very small number of publicly identified atheists in Europe during this period. Thomas Hobbes was widely viewed as an atheist for his materialist interpretation of scripture—Henry Hammond, a former friend, described him in a letter as a "Christian Atheist". David Hume was accused of atheism for his writings on the "natural history of religion"; Pierre Bayle was accused of atheism for defending the possibility of an ethical atheist society in his Critical Dictionary, and Baruch Spinoza was frequently regarded as an atheist for his "pantheism". However, all three of these figures defended themselves against such accusations.
Atheism is the rejection of an assertion that a deity exists. In its strictest definition, positive atheism is the position that there are absolutely no deities that exist, while negative atheism is the position that there are probably no deities that exist, but does not state that there are none. The English term 'atheist' was used at least as early as the sixteenth century and atheistic ideas and their influence have a longer history. Philosophical atheist thought began to appear in Europe and Asia in the sixth or fifth century BCE. In ancient Greece, playwrights expressed doubt regarding the existence of gods and ancient India had an antireligious philosophical school, Charvaka. Materialistic philosophy was produced by the atomists Leucippus and Democritus in 5th century BCE, who explained the world in terms of the movements of atoms moving in infinite space. The Enlightenment fueled skepticism and secularism against religion in Europe.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.