Author: TheConversation

By Amy Lawton, Research Manager, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, Brandeis University In times of loss, change or other challenges, chaplains can listen, provide comfort and discuss spiritual needs. These spiritual caregivers can be found working in hospitals, universities, prisons and many other secular settings, serving people of all faiths and those with no faith tradition at all. Yet a common assumption is that chaplains themselves must be grounded in a religious tradition. After all, how can you be a religious leader without religion? In reality, a growing number of chaplains are nonreligious: people who identify as atheist, agnostic, humanist or...

By Jacqui Frost, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Purdue University Shared testimonies, collective singing, and silent meditation and baptism rituals. These are all activities you might find at a Christian church service on a Sunday morning in the United States. But what would it look like if atheists were gathering to do these rituals instead? Today, almost 30% of adults in the United States say they have no religious affiliation, and only half attend worship services regularly. But not all forms of church are on the decline – including “secular congregations,” or what many call “atheist churches.” As a sociologist...

By Sarah J. Morath, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for International Affairs, Wake Forest University Plastic pollution has spread to Earth’s farthest reaches, with widespread effects on wildlife, the environment and human health. To curb this problem, U.N. member countries are negotiating a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution, which they aim to complete by the end of 2024. That effort is well underway. In September 2023, the U.N. Environment Programme released the so-called zero draft – a first iteration of ideas and goals that emerged from the first two rounds of negotiations. And in November 2023, the...

By Joseph B. Walther, Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Distinguished Professor of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara The rampant increase of hate messages on social media is a scourge in today’s technology-infused society. Racism, homophobia, xenophobia and even personal attacks on people who have the audacity to disagree with someone else’s political opinion – these and other forms of online hate present an ugly side of humanity. The derision on social media appears in vile and profane terms for all to see. Obviously, the sole purpose of posting online hate is to harass and harm one’s victims, right?...

By Eliga Gould, Professor of History, University of New Hampshire On the evening of December 16, 1773, a crowd of armed men, some allegedly wearing costumes meant to disguise them as Native American warriors, boarded three ships docked at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston. In the vessels’ holds were 340 chests containing 92,000 pounds of tea, the most popular drink in America. With support from the patriot group known as the Sons of Liberty, the intruders methodically searched the ships and dumped their tea into Boston Harbor. According to the British East India Company, whose proprietors owned the destroyed cargo,...