In 1994, Dr. Jack Kevorkian received the American Humanist Association’s “Humanist Hero Award.” At the AHA’s annual conference in Detroit that year, he gave the acceptance speech below (PDF). I’m reprinting an adapted version of it here, on the day of his own death at the age of 83. This is probably the first time that this august body has been addressed by someone under indictment on two counts of first-degree murder. I was ignorant of many things when I… Read more
Dr. Jack Kevorkian died earlier today at the age of 83. He was known as “Dr. Death” to most of the public but “Dr. Dignity” to a lot of Humanists because of how he helped people end their lives on their own terms. “Somebody has to do something for suffering humanity,” Kevorkian once said. “I put myself in my patients’ place. This is something I would want.” … [Former attorney Geoffrey] Fieger said Friday that Kevorkian didn’t accept money and… Read more
Some of you may recall an organization called Atheist Alliance International. It had been around for a long while and even hosted a major conference a few years ago that brought together Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali all under one roof. While they sometimes helped sponsor conferences outside America, it’s probably unfair to call them “international” when it’s pretty U.S.-centric. So they’re changing that. They voted in October, 2010 to split up the… Read more
If you haven’t attended before, the Secular Student Alliance conference is fantastic for current high school and college students — as well as anyone else who wants to learn more about what atheist students are doing across the country. This year, it’s taking place July 29th – 31st at The Ohio State University in Columbus. Attending an SSA conference was how I first got involved with our movement… and that was about ten years ago. It clearly had a positive… Read more
