APA Division 36 2010 Midyear Conference

Division 36 of APA will hold its midyear conference March 26-27, 2010. This is a very affordable way to connect with others who study the psychology of religion. If you need continuing education certificates, you should consider attending the March 25th pre-conference meeting as well. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 8.

Nebraska Religious Discrimination Settlement

A religious discrimination case at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has been settled. The case involved a woman, identified as Jane Doe, who claimed she was dismissed from her job as a youth program director after the university learned that she is a practicing witch. Her lawsuit sought to reinstate her employment, as well compensation for lost wages. The university agreed to settle the suit for $40,000.

Religious discrimination lawsuits occur from time to time, but for some reason this one caught my attention. Perhaps the fact that the subject of the lawsuit was a public university, which typically might be expected to represent tolerance for uncommon personal practices, that grabbed my attention. At any rate, the story might be useful for illustrating to students that religions can play an important role in marking social boundaries, etc.

New Essay on PsyRel: The Virtues of Godlessness

I am pleased to reprint Phil Zuckerman's essay, The Virtues of Godlessness, which appeared earlier this year in The Chronicle of Higher Ed. It offers an application of William James's (among others) effort to judge religion by its effects. In many ways, Zuckerman's analysis addresses some of the same concerns as does Dave Myers, whose Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists I also highly recommend.

Religious Bias Behind University President's Ouster?

Allegations of religious bias have been raised in the decision to not renew the contract of University of Central Missouri president Aaron Podolefsky. Among other things, the story involves a combination of small-town politics and apparent concern by some in the community that Podolefsky, who is Jewish, did not display a Christmas tree.

Sexual Orientation "Conversion" Therapy: Psychiatric Times

Psychiatric Times has an article discussing the American Psychological Association study summarizing research on sexual orientation "conversion" therapy. The APA report received much discussion among Division 36 members at the Toronto meeting. The Psychiatric Times story also includes mention of NARTH, which promotes the idea of sexual orientation change through therapy.

Non-Religion and Secularity

A new group examining non-religion and secularity is launching their organization's first conference next month at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. A friend an sometimes collaborator of mine, Ryan Cragun at the University of Tampa, is joining Colin Campbell (York) and David Voas (Manchester) as keynote speakers at the conference to be held Friday, December 11th. View their site for details and to join the mailing list.