Program Coordinator

John R. Shook PhD, Editor of Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, Editor of Secular Studies, and former VP of Research (Center for Inquiry) and former VP of Education (AHA). Supported by Dr. Anthony Pinn, Director of the Institute for Humanist Studies.

Participants

Fellows are researchers having an academic standing who work with Dr. John Shook, Dr. Anthony Pinn, and the project’s council of mentors from academic, legal, and policy arenas. Research interests can range across the humanist-secularist-nonreligious spectrum and approach issues from any disciplinary area.

Participation

A fellowship holds an unpaid status with the AHA and the Program. Resources for mentorship, research materials, and scholarly writing are provided. Primary contact is Dr. John Shook at johnshook16@gmail.com.

Program

Fellows work on their individual project that result in deliverables over the course of a one-year fellowship during a calendar year. Applications are normally during January-February of a calendar year and start upon notice of admission to chosen applicants. Fellowships are highly competitive and slots are limited.

Project Deliverables

a. An article submitted for publication to the Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism by the end of the fellowship term. Review stages with a Program Mentor precede submission.

b. At the discretion of the AHA Executive Director, an invitation for fellows to make presentations for recording, and/or a place on the annual program of the American Humanist Association conference.

c. Optional by invitation, a policy report/white paper for the AHA Legal Director or the AHA Policy and Political Director.

d. Optional by the Fellow’s own initiative, a second article prepared for submission to either The Humanist magazine (AHA) or the Secular Studies journal (De Gruyter Brill). Also optional is a book proposal and sample chapter for submission to the Institute for Humanist Studies book series published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Process

Applications are made to the program coordinator, John Shook at johnshook16@gmail.com and cc-ed to pinn@rice.edu. The yearly deadline is March 20th for fullest consideration. An applicant proposes an academic or legal/policy topic to pursue in fellowship research, and describes their academic backgrounds and interests. Admittance is entirely at the discretion of the AHA and no representations are made about promised or guaranteed admission. Criteria to be considered: (a) the applicant’s statement about the proposed topic of research that advances humanist thought and/or secular perspectives; (b) the candidate’s description of current academic preparations as a graduate student or an employed academic less than five years from a terminal degree (PhD, JD, MDiv, etc.). The application package should include one letter about (a) and (b) not totaling more than three pages, a current cv, and a (unofficial) transcript up-to-date for grad students or a final transcript from the institution that awarded the terminal degree. Final decisions are made by the AHA committee of Fish Stark, Anthony Pinn, and John Shook.

Procedure

During the calendar year Fellowship, the Fellow works with John Shook and/or Anthony Pinn on preparatory research and composition phases, and works with the assigned Mentor on finalizing a paper for peer-review submission. There is no particular deadline for any deliverable and each researcher can proceed at their own pace during the year-long fellowship. An article prepared for publication undergoes pre-submission review by another mentor from the Editorial Board of the Journal of Secularism and Humanism.

Program Aspirations

The American Humanist Association is a foremost humanism and secularism think tank with its national headquarters located in Washington, D.C. This program exemplifies its advancement of secular and humanist studies for the complex challenges of the 21st century. Fellows will advance humanist and secular scholarship and some may also contribute to legal and lobbying efforts, or to secular advocacy at national or local levels.

Questions

(1) Can a researcher work on humanism and not get deep into atheism or secularism? Certainly, because “secular” here simply denotes “nonreligious”. Someone interested in humanist education and humanist leadership should look into the AHA Center for Education for programming.

(2) Can someone work directly with the AHA Executive Director, the AHA Legal Director, or the AHA Policy and Politics Director? The AHA leadership may be available to mentor research and writing at their choice and discretion.

(3) Are researchers from other countries eligible? Applicants can come from any country, and they can conduct work on secular issues relevant to their regional or national interests.

(4) How do researchers get their deliverables presented and published? They proceed just like any author through the stages of submission, peer review, revision, and possible acceptance. The AHA, the Project, and its Mentors make no representations about guaranteed publication or short-cuts to getting into print.

(5) Do researchers have to travel anywhere? All project work can be done at-home and online. Those who wish to attend an AHA conference or visit the AHA headquarters in D.C. are welcome to do so at their own expense. The American Institute for Philosophical and Cultural Thought (Dr. Shook, President) in Carbondale Illinois holds a research library of American thought including humanism and secularism.

(6) Does this program offer courses or anything that counts towards an academic degree? No formal coursework is required. Where useful, mentors along with Dr. Shook can lend instructional materials and lectures. There is no relationship between this Fellowship program and any accredited education, and nothing will transfer elsewhere.

The Mentors

Dr. John Shook is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowie State University in Maryland, and teaches for the Graduate Liberal Studies programs at Georgetown University. He has published twenty books and over one hundred journal articles and chapters. His research areas are American intellectual history, the history of freethought and secular thought, modern humanism and cosmopolitanism, philosophical naturalism, political secularism, humanist ethics, neuroethics, and philosophy of religion. Since 2006 Shook has been Director of Education and Research and Senior Research Fellow for the Center for Inquiry; the Education Coordinator for the American Humanist Association; a Co-Mentor with the Humanist Institute, and President of the Society of Humanist Philosophers. Shook is the editor of the journals Secular Studies and Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, and he has published articles in Free Inquiry and The Humanist, two leading magazines of secular and humanist thought. His books include The God Debates: A 21st Century Guide for Atheists, Believers, and Everyone in Between (2010), the Oxford Handbook of Secularism (co-edited with Phil Zuckerman 2017), Systematic Atheology (2018), and Pragmatism (2023). Shook is also an editor of three philosophy journals: Contemporary Pragmatism, Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, and Secular Studies.

Dr. Anthony Pinn is Agnes Cullen Arnold Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religion at Rice University in Texas, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an advisory board member of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Pinn is also director of research for the Institute for Humanist Studies, affiliated with the American Humanist Association. His areas of interest encompass liberation theologies, religion and popular culture, Black theology, African American humanism, and black religious aesthetics. He is the author or editor of over 35 books, including The End of God-Talk: An African American Humanist Theology (2012), Introducing African American Religion (2012), What Is Humanism, and Why Does It Matter? (2013), Writing Gods Obituary: How a Good Methodist Became a Better Atheist (2014), Theism and Public Policy: Humanist Perspectives and Responses (2014), Humanism:  Essays in Race, Religion, and Cultural Production (2015), Humanism and Technology (2016), When Colorblindness Isn’t the Answer:  Humanism and the Challenge of Race (2017), Humanism and the Challenge of Difference (2018), and The Black Practice of Disbelief (2024). Pin also edited The Oxford Handbook of Humanism (2021).

Journal of Secularism and Humanism Mentors

Jacques Berlinerblau is Professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University. He has written for, appeared on, or had his work discussed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Salon, The Guardian, The New Republic, The Nation, NPR, Tablet, Commentary, The Forward, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Canadian Broadcast Network, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Al-Jazeera, Times Higher Education, The Daily Beast, New York Magazine, Compact, The Hill, PBS, MSNBC, CBS, CBC, TF1, AFP, ARTE TV, and CNN. In recent years Berlinerblau has spent most of his time researching secularism, defining secularism, and arguing about secularism with those on the Left and on the Right. Among his books are The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously (2005), Thumpin’ It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today’s Presidential Politics (2008), How to be Secular: A Field Guide for Religious Moderates, Atheists and Agnostics (2012), and Secularism: The Basics (2021, 2nd edn 2024).

Ryan Cragun is Professor of Sociology at the University of Tampa, Florida. He is author and co-author of many peer-reviewed articles in the Journal of Contemporary Religion, Sociology of Religion, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and more. He is the co-author (with Rick Phillips) of Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? An Election Year Guide to Mitt Romney’s Religion (2012), and he published What You Don’t Know About Religion (but Should); How to Defeat Religion in 10 Easy Steps: A Toolkit for Secular Activists; Goodbye Religion: The Causes and Consequences of Secularization; Organized Secularism in the U.S.; and Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society.

Rachel Deitch is the Policy and Political Director at the American Humanist Association and its 501(c)(4) affiliate, the Center for Freethought Equality. She leads the organizations’ policy development and advocacy efforts at the federal and state levels to advance secular and progressive values. Rachel is pleased to return to the American Humanist Association, having previously served as its Director of Policy and Social Justice. In this role, she led the 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) policy portfolio—including successfully securing the passage of bipartisan legislation and testifying in Congress—and led the organizations’ cross-departmental social justice work. Most recently, Rachel worked at the National Coalition of STD Directors as their Director of Federal Policy, where she founded and led a coalition of 65 national public health, sexual health, and LGBTQ organizations during the mpox public health emergency, with White House participation. Her work has been featured in Politico, CNN, and Bloomberg.

Jack David Eller was a professor of anthropology at the Community College of Denver and presently affiliated with Woxsen University in India. He is the author of numerous books, including Violence and Culture: A Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Approach (2005), Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence across Culture and History (2010), Introducing Anthropology of Religion (2nd edn 2014), Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives (3rd edn 2016), Social Science and Historical Perspectives: Society, Science, and Ways of Knowing (2016), Psychological Anthropology for the 21st Century (2018), Liberatheism: On Freedom from God(s) (2024), and Apisteology: The Study of Not-Believing (2025).

Amitai Heller is the Legal Director at the American Humanist Association, where he brings extensive litigation experience to advance civil rights. He has led a number of successful, high-profile cases in his previous positions, including ones advocating for the rights of dying individuals with Compassion & Choices and fighting for the equal treatment of people with disabilities at Disability Rights Louisiana. Amitai earned his BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his JD from the City University of New York School of Law.

Myron M. Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Western Carolina University. His research focuses on African African studies and race theory, aesthetics and culture, Continental philosophy, and American philosophy. He serves as a Board Member for The Foundation for the Philosophy of Creativity, promoting philosophical research across various fields, and has served as an At-Large Representative for The Josiah Royce Society, fostering collaboration and the sharing of research related to Royce’s philosophy. Myron was a Besl Chair at Xavier University and a Fellow at the American Institute for Philosophical and Cultural Thought, and he held the title of AIPCT Fellow at Grand Valley State University.

Juhem Navarro-Rivera is a political scientist, writer, public speaker, and research consultant. He is the Political Research director and Managing Partner at Socioanalitica Research, a consulting firm that helps organizations and businesses that are led by or that serve people of color with research and analysis tools that help them better fulfill their missions. He also is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Humanist Studies. Dr. Navarro-Rivera is interested in the intersection of race, religion, and politics in the United States with a particular emphasis on the political behavior of the Nones (Americans with no religious affiliation), and the rise of Latinos with no religious affiliation. He is known as a leader in the field of secular studies with publications include many articles, book chapters, columns and research reports on issues of politics, race, and secularism in the U.S. and internationally.

Phil Zuckerman is a Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., and an affiliated adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University. In 2011 he founded the first secular studies program in the nation, focusing on the study of nonreligious people in societies and cultures, past and present. His books include What It Means to be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life (2019), The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies (with Luke Galen and Frank Pasquale, 2016), Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions (2014), Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion (2011), Atheism and Secularity (2010), Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment (2008), Sex and Religion (with Christel Manning, 2005) and Invitation to the Sociology of Religion (2003).