Gay Rights – The Moral Arc

Michael Shermer on Reasonable Doubt at TEDxGhent

By Michael Shermer|July 9th, 2015|Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Morality, Reason, Science, Violence, Women’s Rights|

Michael Shermer explains how a scientific way of thinking manages to improve the world in various kinds of ways. He describes how science and reason lead humanity toward truth, justice and freedom. “As democracy increases, violence decreases” is the theme of his talk. He discusses the death penalty, women and gay rights and so much more. He states that within these delicate issues, rationality and abstract thinking are the keys to increased awareness and democracy.

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From Stonewall to Indiana

By Michael Shermer|April 29th, 2015|Gay Rights, Morality, Reason, Religion|

Historically, the arc of the moral universe has been bending toward justice because we have stopped treating people based on who they are by nature, such as gender, race, and most recently by sexual preference. The recent legal imbroglio over the right of businesses in Indiana and other states to refuse service to people based on their sexual preference (gay versus straight) illuminates how quickly this rights revolution is unfolding.

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Counter Refutation — Shermer responds to book reviews

By Michael Shermer|March 4th, 2015|Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Justice, Morality, Reason, Religion, Science, Terrorism, Violence, War|

The initial reviews of The Moral Arc are in and the author has completed his U.S. book tour, and in this article Michael Shermer replies to the criticisms and commentaries thus far leveled against his thesis that we are living in the most moral time in our species history and that one of the primary drivers bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice is science and reason. You will be astounded to learn that not only religious people, but some scientists and secularists themselves object to using science and reason to determine human values. Shermer challenges them to explain what they use, if not their rational brains, to solve moral issues!

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The Moral Arc Lecture, Broadcast Live from Caltech

By Michael Shermer|February 8th, 2015|Animal Rights, Civil Rights, Evil, Gay Rights, Morality, Reason, Science, Violence, Women’s Rights|

In this provocative and compelling talk—that includes brief histories of freedom rights, women’s rights, gay rights, and animal rights, along with considerations of the nature of evil and moral regress—Shermer explains how scientific ways of thinking have moved us ever closer to a more just world.

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Was Martin Luther King, Jr. Right About the Arc of the Moral Universe?

By Michael Shermer|January 20th, 2015|Civil Rights, Evil, Gay Rights, Justice, Morality, Reason, Religion, Science, Women’s Rights|

On Sunday, March 21st, 1965, about 8,000 people gathered at Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama and began a march to the capitol building in Montgomery. At the front of the crowd was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and they were marching for one reason. Justice. They wanted simply to be given the right to vote. They had tried to march twice before, but were met with tear gas, billy clubs, and rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire. And both times they were forced to turn back. But not this time. This time President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to protect the marchers. And so for five days, over a span of 53 miles, through biting cold and frequent rain, they marched. Word spread, the number of demonstrators grew, and by the time they reached the capitol building on March 25, their numbers had swelled to at least 25,000.

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These are the Good Old Days

By Michael Shermer|November 23rd, 2014|Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Morality, Reason, Science, Women’s Rights|

Astronomy is a historical science because the distance scales involved are so immense that to look out into space is to look back into time. Even at the almost unfathomable speed of light at 300,000 kilometers per second, the sun is eight light minutes away, the nearest star is 4.3 light years away, the center [...]

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