Announcing the first publication from Humanist Canada Press: This World First by Marc Schaus
Humanist Canada is proud to announce our latest venture – publishing. Humanist Canada Press has been created to showcase Canadian Humanists and their contribution to the important discussions taking place in our country and around the world. And we can’t think of a better author or topic to be the first to bear our imprint. Marc Schaus is a leading voice in Canadian Humanism, and his newest book is a “State of Humanism” in the 21st Century. A positive and forward-thinking book, Marc speaks to leaders in the global Humanist movement to highlight signs of progress, and work that still needs to be done. This World First is available at the Humanist Canada Webstore.
Summary:
If you were to rank every major religious faith group around the world by size, it might surprise you to learn that the nonreligious and unaffiliated would currently rank third overall. A finding like that might surprise you because record-setting numbers of nonbelievers and so-called ‘Nones’ of the census do not tend to dominate our national conversations. But while media outlets and academics tend to focus on other features of faith groups worldwide – the very real and prevalent threats of religious nationalism and extremism, for example – it is nevertheless a game-changing reality that right now, in the year 2021, spiritual disbelief and religious non-affiliation are officially more popular than at any other point in human history.
How are larger numbers of nonbelievers and non-affiliated influencing countries like the United States and Canada? Or Western countries all throughout Europe? Are Middle Eastern theocracies moving any closer to secular values? What are international pro-secular and nonbelief groups doing with increasing influence and what would the goals of a global humanist movement actually be?
In his latest book, research specialist Marc Schaus charts the progress of secular values occurring around the world. Schaus interviews over 25 prominent voices of international secular issues to discuss these questions. Among them, sociologist of secularism Phil Zuckerman, spokesperson for One Law for All, Fitnah (Movement for Women’s Liberation) and former host of acclaimed television program Bread and Roses Maryam Namazie, co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America Sarah Haider, co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation Dan Barker, former Chief Executive of Humanists UK and President of Humanists International Andrew Copson – and many more.
Bio:
Marc Schaus is a professional research specialist across the sciences assisting with lab grant proposals, craft product manuals, and postgrad mentorship. He is the author of Our Livable World: Creating the Clean Earth of Tomorrow and Post Secular: Science, Humanism and the Future of Faith. Marc has written articles for Areo Magazine, Free Inquiry Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Toronto Star, Patheos, and the academic journal Antennae. He currently resides in Ontario, Canada.