N.Y. group promoting humanist holidays
A New York institute is promoting the growth of humanist holidays as alternatives to religious holidays, an institute official says. Institute for Humanist Studies Executive Director Matt Cherry said his group had posted a calendar full of humanist holidays on its Web site, secularseasons.org, and he was hopeful such events could even appeal to religious individuals, The Washington Times reported Saturday.
“Some religious holidays are about culture and tradition, not theology,” Cherry said. “Even people who go to church only on Christmas or to synagogue on the high holidays do so out of cultural heritage, not because they believe the religious doctrines associated with it.”
Cherry told the Times calendar events such as Thomas Paine Day and Darwin Day were ways to honor those great thinkers who helped mold U.S. society through their accomplishments.
“This year, there will be almost 1,000 events for Darwin Day around the world,” he said. “I hope Hallmark would come out with a card. There are lots of photos to celebrate evolution.”
Read about it here.
[From me]
Wow! I wonder if the Darwin Day means people walk around like the missing link? Maybe they just celebrate foolishness like the Darwin awards? Why not have the Oprah Day? What other new holidays could we start?
What do you think?


Oprah Day? What’s an Oprah? Did you mean ‘opera’? If so, that’s a fantastic idea. I honestly didn’t think you were that cultured. I would have expected you to have followed up the whole Darwin/missing link/foolishness comment with a banal recommendation of a mega coffee franchise or, say, a talk show host. (Which would have been quite silly really, given the total lack of context and all).
Good on you Kevin!
Let’s see: Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day, May Day, Valentine’s Day,
I’d support adding pi day (3/14) which is ALSO Einstein’s birthday. Now there was a thinker who “helped mold U.S. society through [his] accomplishments.” lasers, GPS, solar power are just 3 things that are outgrowths of Al’s work.
That group is obviously ignorant, or just wants to troll for attention. It kind of reminds me of the guy who’s going to disagree with whatever you say and accuse you of creating a “straw man” when he wouldn’t know the difference in a preposition and and proposition.
Add A Comment