Director of Strategy and Policy for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason
Sean Faircloth served five terms in the Maine Legislature. Faircloth served on the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees. In his last term Faircloth was elected Majority Whip by his colleagues.
An accomplished legislator, Faircloth successfully spearheaded over thirty laws, including the so-called Deadbeat Dad child support law which saved Maine taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and was later incorporated into federal law. Faircloth had numerous legislative successes in children’s issues and justice system reform.
In two years as Executive Director of Secular Coalition for America, Faircloth conceived and led the Secular Decade plan, a specific strategic vision for resecularizing American government. Faircloth writes about his ten point vision of a Secular American government in his book Attack of the Theocrats: How the Religious Right Harms Us All and What to Do About It.
Faircloth earned a reputation for strategic thinking, innovative ideas, and speaking to groups in a way that energized them to support the secular cause.
As Director of Strategy and Policy for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason, Faircloth will expand his strategic efforts on behalf of the entire secular movement, speak regarding policy issues, discuss the ideas in his book, and seek innovative ways to improve the secular movement. Faircloth has spoken around the United States about separation of church and state, the Constitution, children’s policy, obesity policy, and sex crime law. Faircloth chaired a Commission on sex crime law reform which led to substantive improvement in that area of law. Faircloth chaired an early childhood commission, as well as a Commission regarding the citizen initiative process.
In Maine Faircloth also had the idea for the Maine Discovery Museum and led the four-year project from concept to completion in 2001. Maine Discovery Museum was then the second largest children’s museum outside Boston of the twenty-five children’s museums in New England. Faircloth graduated from the University of Notre Dame and has a law degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law. Faircloth served as a state Assistant Attorney General, and as a lobbyist for the state bar association.
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- Q&A, Sean Faircloth on Secular Strategy, Romney & the Religious Right – Sean Faircloth – RichardDawkins.net (richarddawkins.net)
- [UPDATE 10-Feb - video Chapter 7] Sean Faircloth discusses his new book Attack of the Theocrats – Sean Faircloth – Pitchstone Publishing (richarddawkins.net)
- Attack of the Theocrats!: A Review and an Interview with Author Sean Faircloth (patheos.com)
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Startling new evidence is revealing the powerful neuroplasticity capability of our brains.
Image via Wikipedia
The old idea that the brain (thus perhaps a mind set) could not physically change in later life is wrong. Illnesses like OCD, and PTSD can now be successfully treated using computer assisted training to essentially create new neuronal links in the brain. The seminal discoveries are documented in the book “The Brain That Changes Itself” by Doctor Normon Doidge. These new findings pose profound questions for all of us and go to the very roots of our law, science, philosophy, and culture.
“Dr. Doidge takes viewers through the latest research into the specific problems exclusive to the human brain, and human condition. And prepare to be amazed: The program interviews UCLA researcher Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, whose research is giving new hope to people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. In Montreal, Dr. Doidge meets psychologist Alain Brunet, who is currently developing a neuroplasticity-based treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. And in San Francisco, the program visits with Dr. Sophia Vinogradov, who is making groundbreaking advances in dealing with schizophrenia. Like many other researchers, she’s completely rethinking the current methods of treating schizophrenic patients.With Dr. Doidge as capable tour guide, the film confirms that long-held belief that the human brain is remarkably resilient and can adapt to almost any situation.”
RELATED ITEMS (on the same web address)
- Brain (71), Norman Doidge (4), Natasha Mitchell (17), Radio National (40), Howard Florey (3)
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- The brain that changes (grows, heals and repairs) (bipolarblast.wordpress.com)
- Pat Churchland fights for supremacy of the brain (blogs.vancouversun.com)
- Wiring Sexual Tastes to Hairless Genitals…Oops! (psychologytoday.com)
- An advocate for supremacy of the brain – The Vancouver Sun (vancouversun.com)
Another Journalist Revels in Ignorance about Dominionism
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| Frederick Clarkson |  print page  |
| Mon Sep 19, 2011 at 11:00:10 PM EST | |
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The first of these is his complaint that left-wing Jewish writers are primarily responsible for critical work about the role of dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism in evangelical Christianity. Those he names: Sara Diamond, Michelle Goldberg, Rabbi James Rudin, and Rachel Tabachnick do indeed hail from Jewish backgrounds, but there are many non-Jews, including evangelicals, who have prominently written about these subjects. I have written extensively about them myself, notably in my 1997 book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy. Chip Berlet, Senior Analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville, MA has written widely about these things in books and articles. Although we did not coin the term, he and I certainly popularized the use of the term dominionism in the early 90s. But evangelical seminary professors Wayne House and Thomas Ice predated all of our books in this area, in their 1988 book Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse?. Steve Clapp wrote an influential feature article in Christianity Today magazine about Christian Reconstructionism in 1987. Bill Moyers did a TV documentary in 1987. More recently, Rev. Dr. Bruce Prescott a national leader in the moderate Baptist movement published a six-part series (here at Talk to Action) on dominionism based in part on his personal experiences in the right wing takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention; and when the Religious Right, led by a well-known Christian Reconstructionistnamed Steven Hotze, took over the his local Republican Party in Houston in the early 90s. There are many, many such examples. The fact is that these matters have been prominently written about by journalists and scholars, Christian and non-Christian, evangelical and non-evangelical for decades. In any case, writing about these things did not begin in 2006 nor has writing in this area been dominated by Jews.
(For a primer on dominionism and Christian Reconstructionism in the context of the current controversy, see Berlet’s essay ”Inside the Christian Right Dominionist Movement That’s Undermining Democracy.”)
Please continue reading:
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Kidnapped for Christ trailer
Kidnapped for Christ follows the stories of several American teenagers who were sent to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Evangelical Christian reform school in The Dominican Republic.
Category:Film & Animation
Tags:
* Escuela Caribe
* Troubled Teen Industry
* Documentary
* New Horizons Youth Ministry
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What if Islam is true? Sam Harris has some ideas to share.
Childhood religious grooming is unethical and can be emotionally abusive.
Brad Pitt walked away from religion of his childhood
Brad Pitt Turns His Back On Religion:
‘Didn’t Work For Me’
Posted on Sep 16, 2011 @ 06:00PM
Brad Pitt may have been brought up as a good Christian boy in Springfield, Missouri but he has since turned his back on the religion, which is sure to have his devout parents disappointed.
The Hollywood actor has slammed his Godly upbringing saying he didn’t agree with it. “I grew up Baptist, and then the family switched over to more of an evangelical movement, probably right around the time I was in late high school,” he told Parade magazine.
“There’s a point where you’re un-tethered from the beliefs of your childhood. That point came for me when it was finally clear my religion didn’t work for me.
PHOTOS: Brad and Angie Take The Kids To See The Smurfs
“I had questions about Christianity that I could not get answered to my satisfaction, questions that I’d been asking since I was in kindergarten. I realized it didn’t feel right to me, that one question just led to another. It was like going down a rabbit hole, each answer provoking another question. There were things I didn’t agree with.”
But Brad says that although he has a totally different belief system and point of view to his parents, Jane and William, they respect each other’s opinions.
“My family is all devout Christians. Yes, absolutely. We don’t see eye to eye on this one, yet at the end of the day we love each other, we’re still family,” he shared.
PHOTOS: Brad Arrives At Moneyball Press Conference
The father of six is raising his own brood now with Angelina Jolie, and as the couple is not married, it is of no surprise that he does not believe on the orthodox Biblical ban on pre-marital sex.
“My religion was telling me what not to do – what not to even think about doing. Those are the things I would try, because that was my nature,” he said of his rebellious tendencies. “I had to experience things to know what would work for me – say, something as simple as premarital sex. I can figure out what works or doesn’t work.
“I will know. You say that something is wrong for me to do? Well, I know it’s not wrong because I just did it.
PHOTOS: Brad & The Kids Go To The Movies
“I don’t mind a world with religion in it. There are some beautiful tenets within all religions. What I get hot about is when they start dictating how other people must live,” Brad said about the ban in most states on gay marriage. “You grow up in a religion like that and you try to pray the gay away. I feel sadness for people like that.”
Parade hits newsstands Sunday; Brad’s new movieMoneyball hits theaters on Friday, September 23.
