Press and Perspectives

2006

NJHN Event Press Release

Article in the Daily Nebraskan by John Wenz

2005

In early December of 2005, Joe Fox, Neil Murphy, Lisa and Tim Ridge were interviewed by Robert Zeliger, a regional producer for Current TV, the network launched by Al Gore in 2005.  Robert was commissioned by Current TV to do a podcast story on HumanLight and the alleged "war on Christmas."  Joe and Neil were interviewed before an Equal Time for Freethought radio show at the WBAI studio in New York City.  Lisa and Tim were interviewed in their holiday-decorated North Brunswick, NJ home. (We're not sure where that Catholic League guy was!).

Watch the six-minute video, and please consider registering and leaving a positive comment about our Humanist holiday!

"We can see in all these nature celebrations that they once played an important role in the lives of people. No matter what their gods, or if there were none, their celebrations served a similar human purpose—a way to mark a major transition in the year. In that sense they have been humanistic. They have provided release and a cleaning of the slate before the start of a new activity. This means that such celebration always was and always will be basically human, not the exclusive property of any one religion or even of religion itself. And to the extent that such celebrations relate to our lives today and can retain their positive human value, they are of worth to Humanists.

Therefore on this, our celebration of HumanLight, the specifically Humanist winter celebration, I think we would do well to welcome the whole calendar of festivals. These festivals are a part of our human heritage and they bind us back to nature."

- Fred Edwords
Executive Director of the American Humanist Association
Excerpted from Keynote Speech [full text]
at HumanLight 2005, Bridgewater, New Jersey

2004

Joe Fox on Air America

2003

“Realistic living is the courage to acknowledge the truth, even when it is painful. It is the courage to strive for happiness, even when it is unlikely. It is the courage to make necessary decisions, even when there is uncertainty. It the courage to improve the world. even in the face of overwhelming defeat. It is especially the courage to take both the blame and the credit, even when they are embarrassing. Realistic living is the courage to stay sane in a crazy world. The sun requires no courage to rise in the morning, to shine in the day, to die in the evening. But we, living, breathing, passionate people, we do.”

- Rabbi Sherwin Wine
Founder, Society for Humanistic Judaism
Excerpted from Keynote Speech [full text]
at HumanLight 2003, Parsippany, New Jersey

2002

"HumanLight reflects that we are not only conscious, but caring. We can and must appreciate the value of each individual. We can and must live up to our ideals. We can and must understand the power we each have to make a difference in other peoples' lives and see the importance of taking care of us all.

Perhaps the full meaning of HumanLight is this: It is in our power to use our best hope, the "light" of reason and science, to provide for the future of humankind."

- Barry Klassel
Actor, Director, Writer
Excerpted from published newspaper article
HumanLight 2002, New Jersey

"This holiday celebration we have called HumanLight because, just as we are conscious of how the sun brings light and life to the physical universe, we realize that human beings can bring light and life to one another. Many of us call ourselves Humanists. This means that we are dedicated to bringing light and life to our fellow human beings.

The light we bring, we usually call reason, which means the clearest and best thinking we have to guide our ways through life's challenges. the life we bring is the love, the hope and the compassion we have for our fellow human beings, our neighborhood, our environment and our world.

The life we bring is also a joy in living. We know that life brings sorrows, but it also brings its moments of happiness, enriching relationships, fun and laughter.

Humanlight means all these things."

- Dally Messenger
National President,
Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants
Emcee of HumanLight 2002, New Jersey
Excerpted from welcoming remarks [full text]

Coverage of Little Falls, NJ Celebration from The Bergen Record and The Herald News.

Coverage of Wisconsin Celebration from The Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter

Coverage of Florida Celebration from The Orlando Sentinel.

2001

Coverage from The Verona-Cedar Grove Times and The Montclair Times.