| The Humanist
November/December 1995
Volume 55, Number 6 |
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Open Season on Nairobi's Street
Kids
by Stacey Young
In Kenya, as in many Third World Countries, homeless
children lead lives of almost unimaginable horror. The recent police
murders of several Nairobi street kids has provoked a public outcry.
But after the publicity dies down, will anything have changed?
Cover Story: America's
Militias
Armed and Dangerous: The Threat of
the "Patriot Mililtias"
by John M. Swomley
The tragedy of the Oklahoma City bombing raises
serious concerns about the "citizen militias" of the patriot
movement. A look at the politics and the connections of these
self-styled, latter-day "minutemen" raises some disturbing questions.
Is the Extremist Right Entirely
Wrong?
by Barbara Dority
According to the patriot movement's most vociferous
critics, the militias are suffering from "paranoid fantasies" of a
big, bad federal government out to get them. But as events at Waco
and Ruby Ridge reveal, these "patriots"—indeed, all Americans—have
plenty to worry about.
Women Make Gains Globally
by Rosemary Matson
The determined efforts of feminist groups have finally
put women's rights on the international human-rights agenda. However,
as the 1995 Humanist Heroine points out, this progress is
tempered—and often thwarted—by the obstructionist efforts of the
Vatican.
Humanism and the Paradox of
Politics
by Michael C. Milam
The electoral success of the religious right leads to
one inescapable question: why do hu;manists remain so politically
ineffectual? To answer that question, we may wish to ponder the
difference between Politics and politics.
Reflections on Huxley's "Evolution
and Ethics"
by Arthur Falk
One hundred years ago, Thomas Huxley concluded that
"natural selection" was, in human terms, a thing of
inescapable evil. His ideas are still valid today, calling us back to
a more realistic assessment of our place in nature.
Creatures of the Metaphor
by Robert Burdette Sweet
From earliest times, humans have been symbol-makers:
we live and die by the metaphors that our civiliztions producd to
explain and sustain themselves. As the twentieth century winds to a
close, perhaps it's time to put the power of art at everyone's
disposal.
The Borders of Words
by Larry Smith
We use words not only to communicate but to include
and exclude others from our own privileged circles. But what price do
we pay when we use language as a tool of exclusion? Perhaps our hope
lies in drawing our circles larger.
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