Larry Jones | |
|---|---|
 At Institute for Humanist Studies dinner Aug. 24, 2013 | |
| Known for | Founding the Institute for Humanist Studies |
Larry Jones is a retired chemist dedicated to the furthering of humanist thought. He is the founder and former president of the Institute for Humanist Studies, a founder of the Secular Coalition for America, and has been involved in numerous other humanist organizations.
Jones received his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and attended graduate school at Villanova University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For many years Jones worked as a research chemist for the Research and Development division of General Electric. [1]
Although he was born into an atheist family, Jones did not discover humanism until the mid 1980s, when he became involved in the Capital District Humanist Society, a local humanist group in Albany, and the Council for Secular Humanism. Jones later served on the CDHS board and as director from 1998 to 2002. [2] In 1999, Jones founded the Institute for Humanist Studies, a humanist think-tank based in Albany, NY, in order to promote a greater understanding of humanist values. The IHS grant program has also provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding to humanist projects. Both the Secular Student Alliance and Camp Quest were organizations that benefitted from these grants. August Brunsman, executive director of the Secular Student Alliance, states that Jones was “essentially one of the first donors to significantly support the SSA,” and that the IHS grant was vital to the survival of the organization. Funding from the IHS also helped Camp Quest grow and become more professionalized.
Jones has been a board member of the National Philanthropic Trust, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, Troy Music Hall, National Securities Corporation, and the Center for Inquiry. [3] Prior to the creation of the Secular Coalition for America in late 2002, Jones represented the Institute for Humanist Studies in the Coalition for the Community of Reason.[ citation needed ]
In 2004, the Humanists of Florida Association named Jones “Humanist of the Year.” [4]
After spending several years on its executive committee, in 2006, Jones became the first vice-president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, the worldwide umbrella group for humanist, atheist, rationalist, freethought, and ethical culture groups. He also represented the IHEU as a non-governmental organization delegate to the United Nations. [5]
In 2006, Jones received the Freethought Backbone Award in recognition of his commitment to the humanist movement and his role as founder and then-president of the Institute for Humanist Studies. The award was given by the Secular Student Alliance at an annual conference hosted by the Secular Student Alliance and Atheist Alliance International.[ citation needed ]
In August 2013, Jones was honored by the Institute for Humanist Studies for his contributions to humanism. [6] [7]
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
Religious humanism or ethical humanism is an integration of nontheistic humanist ethical philosophy with congregational rites and community activity which center on human needs, interests, and abilities. Self-described religious humanists differ from secular humanists mainly in that they regard the nontheistic humanist life stance as a non-supernatural "religion" and organising using a congregational model.
The Secular Student Alliance (SSA) is an American educational nonprofit organization whose purpose is to educate high school and college students about the value of scientific reason and the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and humanistic manifestations. The SSA also offers these students and their organizations a variety of resources, including leadership training and support, guest speakers, discounted literature and conference tickets, and online articles and opinions.
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Humanists International is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, it is an umbrella organisation made up of more than 160 secular humanist, atheist, rationalist, agnostic, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations from over 80 countries.
The Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) is a think tank based in Washington, DC, USA, that says it is "committed to information and practices meant to address the sociopolitical, economic and cultural challenges facing communities within the United States and within a global context." IHS, consistent with the American Humanist Association and the Humanists International, says that it understands humanism to be “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.”
The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "protecting the equal rights of nonreligious Americans."
The North Texas Church of Freethought (NTCOF) was founded by Tim Gorski and Mike and Marilyn Sullivan in 1994 as perhaps the first explicitly non-theistic and non-supernaturalistic religious organization in the USA. Its aim has been to serve the psychosocial needs of atheists, agnostics, and other non-religious people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and to promote a rational and humanistic view of what have been traditionally "religious" issues and questions. The first service was held at what was then the Wilson World hotel in Irving, Texas; currently they are held at the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Hotel DFW Airport North in Irving, Texas. Free childcare and Sunday School classes have been an integral part of the NTCOF's mission.
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to humanism:
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Sikivu Hutchinson is an American author, playwright, director, and musician. Her multi-genre work explores feminism, gender justice, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, humanism and atheism. She is the author of Humanists in the Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist, and Heretical (2020), White Nights, Black Paradise (2015), Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels (2013), Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars (2011), and Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (2003). Her plays include "White Nights, Black Paradise", "Rock 'n' Roll Heretic" and "Narcolepsy, Inc.". "Rock 'n' Roll Heretic" was among the 2023 Lambda Literary award LGBTQ Drama finalists. Moral Combat is the first book on atheism to be published by an African-American woman. In 2013 she was named Secular Woman of the year and was awarded Foundation Beyond Belief's 2015 Humanist Innovator award. She was also a recipient of Harvard's 2020 Humanist of the Year award.