IHS in the News: Golden Compass, GLBT issues, RFRA

HumanistNetworkNews.org
Jan. 4, 2008






True Believers
By Kelly Jane Torrance
Washington Times
Dec. 7, 2007
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But Pete Vere, co-author of "The Pied Piper of Atheism," a book-length study of "His Dark Materials," and a canon lawyer in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada... (is) a fan of fantasy and even liked the Harry Potter books, whose atmosphere of sorcery provoked some Christian protests. But Mr. Vere is no fan of the Dark Materials trilogy and is bothered that the film's marketing campaign tries to position it with two other book series-to-film hits, J.R.R. Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" and C.S. Lewis' Narnia books. Both authors, he points out, were committed Christians who infused their books with Christian imagery.

"Why not be honest about what Pullman has done instead of trying to whitewash this?" he asks. "Even Pullman seems to be backtracking on this."

Mr. Donohue (Catholic League president) agrees: "New Line and Scholastic Entertainment are trying to sneak atheism in the back door to the kids."

They might have a point.

Last month, Mr. Pullman told the Humanist Network News, "I have always tried to avoid saying 'I am an agnostic', 'I am an atheist', 'I am a humanist', 'I am an anything else' because that way you are limiting the way that your books are received."

That's rather disingenuous for an author who once told the Sydney Morning Herald, "My books are about killing God."
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Full Article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/ENTERTAINMENT/112070035/


Pointing at 'Compass'
The filmmaker tried to minimize the religious content of 'Golden Compass,' but some groups are calling for a boycott

By Jennifer Garza
The Sacramento Bee
Dec. 8, 2007
(Story appeared in SCENE section, Page K1)

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While Pullman is getting a lot of heat in religious circles, he's also been criticized by some atheists for toning down the religious references in the movie.

But in an interview with the Institute for Humanist Studies last week, Pullman says he rejects labels like "atheist."

He also said that those boycotting "The Golden Compass" are behaving like the religious villains in his books:

"They are repressing arguments, they are repressing freedom of speech, they are trying to prevent people from understanding things; they are doing exactly what I describe in the book."

Full Article: http://www.sacbee.com/107/story/549661.html



Fans say 'Compass' a fantasy, not a sermon

By JIM HAUG, Staff Writer
Daytona Beach News Journal
Dec. 07, 2007

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Pullman, in an interview with Humanist Network News podcast, rejects labels like "atheist" or "agnostic" because he doesn't want to be "a spokesman for a cause," nor does he want to tell people how to read his books, which is the "sin" that fundamentalists commit. "They say, 'You must understand this book literally,' " Pullman said.

Full Article: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Lifestyle/Religion/lifeHEAD04120707.htm

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GLBT IT employees make workplace progress

By Jon Boroshok, Contributing Editor
Diversity / Careers in Engineering & Information Technology
December 2007/January 2008

In mid September 2007, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC, Washington, DC) announced its sixth annual Corporate Equality Index, rating employers on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. This year 195 companies earned a perfect score, a 41 percent increase over last year.

It's part of a growing trend, says Eric Bloem, deputy director of the Workplace Project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (Washington, DC). He's expecting another increase in 2008. He says more and more companies are considering GLBT issues a standard part of their diversity and inclusion efforts.

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Diversity/Careers interviewed GLBT techies in several major industries to make its year-end informal sampling of how companies are progressing in GLBT inclusion.

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Tech director Jes Constantine: GLBT issues and more at the IHS

Jes Constantine is director of information technology at the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS, Albany, NY). IHS is a think tank promoting public awareness, understanding and support for humanism and humanists, defined as nonreligious people who value science, reason and compassion.

The mission of IHS, Constantine explains, is pioneering new technology and methods for the advancement of humanism. The institute provides information to the media, academia and the general public. Duncan Crary, director of communications at IHS, notes that humanists advocate for human rights, which include GLBT issues, and model their activism after the successes of the gay rights movement.

The Internet and technology are vital to the IHS. While there are millions of humanists scattered across the globe, only 40,000 self-identifying humanists live in the United States. That's why the Web is a vital networking tool for them.

Besides keeping up with programming and tech maintenance, Constantine produces a weekly e-mail magazine, co-hosts a monthly podcast and designs Web pages. She also provides tech support for some 120 clients who get free Web hosting from IHS.

Constantine graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) in 2003 with a BSIT and a minor in science and technology studies. Her focus was the social aspect of technology.

While in school, she interned at a local YWCA, setting up its network and resource center. She did another internship at a YWCA in Botswana, helping teachers with computers. Constantine has been out since her eighteenth birthday, but she couldn't be out in Botswana because homosexuality is illegal there.

Back in the U.S. she decided to combine social work and technology, and spent the next few years in human services at the YWCA. While her jobs focused on domestic violence education, coworkers often drafted her to help with their computer woes.

Then the job at IHS opened up. "I found everything I was looking for," she says. "We work on racial justice, GLBT issues, reproductive rights and church/state separation." She likes podcasting, and has produced two segments on lesbianism. Her job also gives her the opportunity to be active in GLBT causes in other countries.

Constantine and her partner plan to marry next fall. She says that being gay has been a non-issue in her work. In fact, she once worked with her partner. Her co-workers were concerned about that, she recalls with a smile, but no more than they would have been about the same situation with a heterosexual couple.

Judy Disco, director of administration at IHS, considers herself a lesbian feminist and brings that approach to the workplace. Diversity at IHS, she declares, makes a statement to the other organizations the institute works with.

Full Article: http://www.diversitycareers.com/articles/pro/07-decjan/divupdate_GLBT.html

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Humanist Network News is a weekly e-zine and monthly podcast of the Institute for Humanist Studies. The Institute for Humanist Studies promotes humanism, a non-religious philosophy based on reason and compassion. IHS advances human rights, secular ethics and the separation of religion and government through advocacy, innovation and collaboration.