Status Updates From Humanists in the Hood: Unap...

"What truly warms my soul? I get to define that---not society, not a deity, not a century-old tome. I am free. My morality isn't based in blind trust. "

-Sydney Stewart, a Black Skeptics Scholarship winner.

"Although I will never know whether a higher being exists, I do know that the world exists. Humans exists. Most importantly, the power of individual choice exists. So, I make poignant choices everyday to advocate for myself and those who are silenced. With empathy as my fuel and passion as my roadmap, I navigate life fiercely, fighting for all that I think is right."

-Sydney Stewart.

"My agnosticism is rooted in my introspective nature. My religious freedom gives me the leeway to be [that] change."

-Sydney Stewart, a Black Skeptics Scholarship winner.

"While many were brought up with the charismatic rhetoric of "heavenly redemption" and death as "homecoming"---and not the last stop---they reject this worldview as a hinderance to self-determination."

"I was confronted with the reality that a major failing in religion is this promulgation of the belief that the afterlife is more important than the good that you do for people on Earth and that the declaration of being a "good Christian" outweighs the need to be a good person."

-Mike Grimes in To Be Young, Secular and Black.

"I decided to stop waiting for someone or something to change the world, and instead, be that change myself." ❤️

-Lydia Mason in To Be Young, Secular and Black.

"There came a day when I got tired of waiting for God to fix the world for me. I realized that I have the ability to set my own standards for the kind of person I wanted to be. And that I had the responsibility for upholding those standards."

-Lydia Mason in To Be Young, Secular and Black.

“Gen Z youth don’t accept religious dogma without questioning it first.”

“In fact, women are considered among the material blessings of life with cattle and horses. In many verses in the Quran, women are referred to terms such as “plowing land”.”

“How can Muslim women find empowerment when they are constantly sexualized in their holy book? In no context in the Quran are a man and woman together other than for the purpose of sexual relations.”

“Do you say that the bible is against our rights? Then I say that our claims do not rest on a book written by no one knows when or by whom. Books and opinions—no matter from whom they came—if they are in opposition to our human rights, are dead letters .”

-Ernestine Rose

“What Ernestine Rose is most known for is her unswerving belief that religious dogma is a mortal threat to women’s rights and human rights.”

"According to psychologist, Gail Wyatt, African American women are r*ped at a higher rate than white women and are less likely to report it. Despite living in communities that are literally swimming in police, Black women are the least protected in their own homes and neighborhoods."

"It's not just about God belief, but giving back to the community and being conscious. Service, education and responsibility go hand-in-hand with being faithful to the community, which presumably translates into an affirmation of faith in God. Take God out of the equation...and then what? Does the commitment to service, education and responsibility evaporate?"

"While declarations of faith have always played a key role in American politics, they are especially significant for Black women who often rely on the organizing might and enthusiasm of other faith-based Black women to win national office. While a Black male politician might be able to skate by with vague expressions of faith, Black women must be ALL IN."

"Collateral damage in dark 3rd world countries with governments that are hostile to US business interests is always justified as a necessary evil. As decades of US intervention in the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia has shown when it comes to the United States' imperial mission of safeguarding democracy, American political hypocrisy knows no bounds."

"As a Black woman, I can't write about Thomas Jefferson's secularism and free thought without calling out the way his "free thinking" reflected his white supremacy."

"[White leadership] in the Atheism movement spouts inclusivity, yet remains white and middle class."

“In the pell-mell run up to “the end”, gods are thoroughly outmatched by the humans who invented them.”

"It's become proforma to note that Christians, Muslims, Jews and believers from other faiths routinely cherry-pick what they like and discard what they don't like from their holy books."

“Feminism and atheism are words that Americans across the political spectrum love to hate and debate.”