If anyone needs a reminder of supernatural religions power over the conservative human mind, note that the European intellectual awakening of the 17th and 18th centuries the Enlightenment centuries later, is still a work in progress.

The movement, characterized as sicle des Lumires in French (literally century of the Enlightened), synthesized radical new attitudes about God, reason, nature and humanity into a human- rather than God-centered worldview, the Encyclopaedia Britannica asserts.

Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration ofreason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness, according to the encyclopedias online description of the movement.

Today, although more than two-thirds of the United States population claims belief in divine beings and an affiliation with Christianity, roughly a fourth of Americans are largely irreligious (many of them atheists) and are unaffiliated with any faith group and the so-called nones (the religiously unaffiliated) are among the countrys fastest growing religion-related demographics. Western Europe is already much further along the path of jettisoning supernatural faith altogether.

It wasnt always this way, and in historical terms, open religious doubt and faithlessness are a relatively new cultural phenomenon. In fact, although religious skeptics and atheists have always existed in human societies, after the eruption of impiety in ancient Greece and until the Enlightenment, divine religions for the vast majority of human beings on the planet were virtually the unquestioned be-all, end-all of existence. Nonbelievers and doubters heretics in medieval parlance were for centuries, even millennia, brutally persecuted and officially executed, often in depraved ways.

So the Enlightenment provided a shockingly welcome window of opportunity for pan-European doubters which were legion, it turned out to say what they really felt about the Christian faith that continued to fundamentally control not only their lives but their thoughts across the continent.

All you need to understand how suddenlyunchained Enlightenment intellectuals felt is to read a few lines from American revolutionary gadfly Thomas Paines scorched-earth assault on institutional Christianity in his arguably atheistic screed Age of Reason (which, today, is a bargain on Amazon at 99 cents for the Kindle edition). Paine was completely unrestrained in his Christianity-bashing fervor.

In Part II, Chapter I (The Old Testament), Paine wrote:

People in general do not know what wickedness there is in this pretended word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! it is quite another thing; it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; for what can be greater blasphemy than to ascribe the wickedness of man to the orders of the Almighty?

Actually, in my view, Paines fraught beliefs are part of a continuing 21st-century infatuation with religion, at least his quasi-Deist philosophy that viewed God as uncaring Nature writ large, not the deity of the Bible who care about and attended to everyone very, very personally. But, still, an invisible divine.

If you read Age of Reason, it is indistinguishable from atheism a no-holds-barred, full-throated trashing of Christian theism and its foundational holy books, except that Paint incongruously also brieflypurports to believe in God. Somewhat.

So, Paine, like many religious skeptics and quasi believers then and now, just couldnt bring himself, publicly or privately, to reject the existence of some kind of divine power. He could comfort himself in the ageless dodge that Nature is so astonishingly complex and majestic it is incomprehensible that it wasnt created by some supreme power beyond objective human confirmation.

After reading Age, I challenge anyone to explain how anyone can still convincingly believe in God who, as Paine does in the book, intellectually demolish every single element of Christianity, sacred or otherwise. Im sure he was not alone his day and age, and this assumption of divine actuality remains deeply embedded in the human family today, if still permanently unverifiable.

Considering that reason, the heart of the Enlightenment, objectively showed the intellectual unverifiability of supernatural claims, one would have thought the movements principles would have logically led to an even more secular future than the Enlightenment promoted at the time.

But, no. Most of the billions of global representatives of our Homo sapiens (man the wise) species are still in absolute thrall to unseen, unsubstantiated, unverified deities.

Yet, happily, pessimism doesnt reign among modern secularists, who are still tilting at what have so far generally proven to be windmills.

The Enlightenment is still winning is the confident-sounding headline in a June 17 post in the Freedom from Religion Foundations blog on the Patheos hub. Author James A. Haught in the piece asserts that the Enlightenment launched the long-running conflict still driving much of politics in the West. He claims that the movement over centuries has won many battles against conservative, reactionary forces against its ideals, including succeeding, for example, in getting evolution taught in American schools.

However, evolution is only partially and often unenthusiastically taught in some American schools today, so the victory is only partial. Lots of Americans, a majority perhaps, still see evolution as a challenge to their belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, and continue to fight its insertion in school curricula tooth and nail (and by subterfuge), as they have for long decades since the Scopes Monkey Trial (if not before).

On and on, through recurring cultural battles, progressive principles that began in the Enlightenment have prevailed, Haught opines.

Perhaps, but history also teaches us that all of that can be lost in a heartbeat if a cataclysm such as war or plague descends on humankind, and people rush back to faith for comfort and hope, as Americans did after the Revolutionary War.

So, lets not take a victory lap just yet, while keeping up the good fight.

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Buy either book on Amazon, here (paperback or ebook editions)

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Religious faithful still ignore the Enlightenment. Thanks, Tom Paine. - Patheos

Lord Buddha's message of solidarity and service to others is more important than ever, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said, affirming that only through global cooperation can the nations deal with the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Secretary Generals remarks came during a belated commemoration of the International Day of Vesak. The commemoration of this years Vesak Day, which marks the birth, enlightenment and passing of Lord Buddha, was postponed from May due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Buddhas teachings can also help remind nations and people of the unity that is needed to meet the COVID-19 challenge, he said on Thursday.

Citing a sutra, "Because all living beings are subject to illness, I am ill, as well", Guterres said this timeless message of solidarity and service to others is more important than ever.

"It is only by combining our energies and expertise that we can address the tremendous fragilities in our world today. Only through international cooperation will we ease the economic and social consequences of the crisis, which are pervasive, but place particular burden on the world's most vulnerable people and countries, he said.

The UN chief said that it is only by strengthening bonds across society that "we will recover better and build a healthier, more inclusive, sustainable, resilient and equitable world.

Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said during the virtual commemoration by Sri Lanka and Thailand that the COVID-19 pandemic had brought untold suffering into peoples lives.

We now, more than anytime else, should remember the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, which teach us to bring the cycle of Dukka or Suffering to an end. As the Buddha said No one saves us but ourselves, he said.

Tirumurti highlighted he importance of embracing the Buddhist values of compassion, service to humanity, peace and non-violence, equality and equanimity and the middle-way practised for 2,600 years.

These values, one way or another, find or should find resonance in the Charter and work of the United Nations in a world where forces dividing us are numerous. As the Buddha said 'In the sky, there is no distinction of East and West', he said.

Tirumurti also recalled that he had overseen the making and gifting by India of the replica of the Buddha of Sarnath to Sri Lanka, assisting in erecting the replica of the 1st century Torana Gate of the Sanchi Stupa in Malaysia and in Indias renovation of priceless Buddhist heritage sites in many parts of the world.

Guterres underscored that the sense of shared fate and collective compassion is both the spirit of the Buddha and the animating force of the Charter of the United Nations, which just marked its own 75th birthday.

President of the General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said the COVID-19 pandemic was putting the world under enormous strain and affecting everyones life.

"We are facing a global health crisis unlike any other in the 75-year history of the United Nations and it affects all of us. In times of great anxiety, faith can be a significant source of comfort and community resilience, he said, adding that the Buddhist teachings and guided practices, such as give, even if you have a little, can be a balm for those grappling with the pandemic today.

Muhammad-Bande said this years Vesak Day commemoration reminded all to uphold the values of kindness, compassion and empathy.

May this commemoration serves as occasion to remind ourselves of the importance of tolerance, mutual respect and understanding - that are enshrined in the Buddhist teachings, he said.

Vesak, the Day of the Full Moon in the month of May, is the most sacred day to millions of Buddhists around the world. It was on the Day of Vesak two and a half millennia ago, in the year 623 B.C., that the Buddha was born. It was also on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha attained enlightenment and passed away in his 80th year.

In 1999, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it recognised the International Day to acknowledge the contribution that Buddhism, one of the oldest religions in the world, has made for over two and a half millennia and continues to make to the spirituality of humanity.

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COVID-19: UN highlights Buddhas message of solidarity and service in belated Vesak commemoration - Republic World - Republic World

David Hume Tower is one of Edinburgh University's most prominent building

A petition calling for Edinburgh University to drop the name of renowned Enlightenment philosopher David Hume from one its most prominent buildings due to his racist beliefs has attracted more than 1000 signatures.

The move comes as universities across the UK and USA have begun to rename campus buildings honouring historical figures who held racist views.

The petition, created by student Elizabeth Lund, is calling for the famous philosopher and Edinburgh University alumnus name to be removed because it is a very simple step that might help create an anti-racist culture at the university.

The petition suggests that the 14-storey building which bears Humes name should instead be named after Julius Nyerere, the first President of independent Tanzania who is also a graduate of Edinburgh University.

David Hume was a Scottish enlightenment philosopher, economist, historian and essayist, famous for his work on human nature and morality.

He is widely recognised as one of the UKs most accomplished philosophers and has been called The Father of the Enlightenment, however he also has a long history of spreading racist views.

In 1754, Hume wrote in an essay: I am apt to suspect the Ne***es to be naturally inferior to the whites.

Ms Lunds petition, which is being hosted on the website change.org, has so far amassed 1,252 signatures.

The petition reads: David Hume wrote racist epithets not worth repeating here. Naming the most prevalent building on campus after Hume sends a very clear message to black, indigenous and people of colour students at Edinburgh that we are willing to overlook this racism for the sake of alumni glory.

We should, however, not boast about the racist alumni of Edinburgh, especially given the institutions long history of involvement in the field of eugenics. The university should be taking great steps to provide further support and resources to BIPOC on campus. This is a very simple step that might help create an anti-racist culture at the university.

A spokeswoman for the BlackED Movement said: As a Black student at Edinburgh University, it is hard to feel a sense of belonging. The fact that the University still does not have any disciplinary or report measures against racism to protect their BAME students reinforces the sentiment of alienation.

However, with the Black Lives Matter movement, students are gaining strength in their voices to demand changes long due. One of them is renaming David Hume Tower.

There is a danger for the University to continue commemorating a single story about David Hume, disregarding his racist views of Black students. Glorifying Humes bigotry supports white supremacy and the idea that scientific racism was widely used to justify slavery and colonisation. In fact, scholars like Hume helped to justify through eugenics.

The major counterargument to this change was that there is the erasure of Humes achievements in history. The same way we do not need buildings and statues named after Hitler in Berlin to learn about him shows that this is not erasure of history. There are still books and the internet for that. People can still use his theories but the tower should be renamed.

We hope that people will understand the non-overt disrespect, offence, and racism that Black students have to go through at the University of Edinburgh.

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: The University takes issues around acknowledging its past very seriously. We are working with our students, staff and members of the community to thoughtfully explore how we address these matters. As this process continues, we will continue to encourage dialogue to ensure we are fit for purpose in the 21st century.

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Petition calling on Edinburgh University to rename a building named after David Hume attracts over 1000 signatures - East Lothian News

InGroundhog Day, which just might beBill Murrays best movie, jaded weatherman Phil Connors is stuck in a time loop in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Groundhog Day until he can become a better, more enlightened person and turn his life around by finally moving it forward. Now, it sounds like that idea is about to loop back again on all of us, proving once and for all humanity hasnt quite reached the level of enlightenment it needs to yet. According to actor/national treasure Stephen Tobolowsky on the Production Meeting Podcast, aGroundhog DayTV series is in the works.

Tobolowsky didnt reveal any plot, story, or structure details (hey, weve proven time loops work in TV onRussian Doll, why cant they work here too?), but the man who iconically played Needlenose Ned Ryerson in the original film charmingly spilled the beans on how casually he himself found out about the project.

Image via Columbia Pictures

Theres talk about a Groundhog Day series in the works. One of the producers I was working on The Goldbergs or Schooled, one of those shows over on the Sony lot, and one of them saw me and goes, Oh, Stephen! Stephen! Were working on a Groundhog Day TV show. Could you be Ned for the TV show? I go, Sure. Yeah. No problem But its Ned thirty years later. What has his life become?

I am not going to lie: The idea of a Tobolowsky/Ned-centered take where he comes to terms with his identity post-Phil encounter tickles me to no end. Plus: We would actually get to find out which of Phils many groundhog days stuck as the main continuity, as that would be where this shows timeline would kick off (I imagine). Beyond his work in the aforementionedThe GoldbergsandSchooled, Tobolowsky is kicking ass in his regularly occurring showOne Day at a Time, and I would love to see him get more and more leading TV work. Final question for yall: Whats the over-under on Murray ever appearing?

For more onGroundhog Dayand Murray, here are my favoriteSNLstar film vehicles.

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Groundhog Day TV Show in the Works, Says Stephen Tobolowsky - Collider.com

Western societies seem bent on committing suicide. The best lack all conviction, wrote WB Yeats, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. With no moral core to hold them together, societies are falling apart. The cancel culture virus originated in the US, is already firmly implanted in the UK and strains have been found in Australia. Its highly infectious, has no known vaccine or cure and is extremely lethal to the careers of actors, athletes, authors, celebrities, comedians, commentators, editors, journalists and professors. In the drive to cancel history, statues of perceived racists and slave traders Mahatma Gandhi (in Ghana, Washington, London), Winston Churchill, Cecil Rhodes and even sons of slave traders are toppled and vandalised. But Rhodes scholars are reluctant to renounce their scholarship and the role of Africans and Arabs in the slave trade seems curiously neglected. Literary, childrens, movie and TV classics are given the chop.

Like its close chronological cousin the Wuhan virus, initially its main targets were the elderly with mental comorbidities, but now its also infecting the young. The main carriers of the virus are, in the words of Free Speech Union founder Toby Young, offence archaeologists: people who trawl through past pronouncements hunting any objectionable phrase and mobilise an online posse that swarms into action to shame cowering victims and have them fired. Truth is secondary to narrative, facts to feelings and biology to ideology. Innocent kids subjected to massive amounts of harassment because theyve been incorrectly identified are just roadkill on the moral highway of vicious teenage bullies.Theres been a fierce backlash to a Washington Post story about warmed over vindictive behaviour bytwo women of colour, whose 54-year-old Caucasian target was fired from her job.

During my college years in Kolkata, I fell in love with the beauty, solitude and serenity of Victoria Memorial. Should that symbol of the Raj be destroyed? In an article for the International Herald Tribune, I condemned Talibans destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues. A comparable act of vandalism would be to destroy the Taj Mahal. Taliban are owed an apology. Far from atavistic, they were decades ahead of their time in cancelling history. Universities were once bastions of critical inquiry. Operating behind impregnable ramparts of intellectual freedom, they interrogated every kernel of religious dogma. Todays campuses are hotbeds of enforced right-think. In the name of tolerance and enlightenment they promote bigoted intolerance. Offensive speech is literally violence, but literal violence is speech by other means. David Shor, a data analyst for the Democratic Party, was fired for retweeting a scholarlypaper that non-violent protests are more politically effective.

Like the reign of terror after the French Revolution, mobs are caught in a vicious purity death spiral. Indifferent to context, rejecting human fallibility with the possibility of contrition and redemption in favour of ritualistic confessions and self-abasement as during Chinas Cultural Revolution, policed by wrong-think lynch mobs as the current avatars of the Red Guards: thats a vision of dystopia.The philistines want to cancel history, art, literature and humour. We can be certain that some words and acts of the presently ascendant self-righteous will cause deep moral offence to future generations. Perhaps they should cancel themselves instantly. If nuance is banished because it can become a booby-trapped offence tomorrow, most people will be frightened off from entering the public arena for the contest of ideas on difficult societal challenges.

The Western world has entered a perfect social justice storm with a heady brew of every form of real and confected identity grievance. If you believe all lives matter, there is only one race, the human race, women deserve to be safe in women-only spaces, climate alarmism needs fact-checking: Out! People not personally responsible for past injustice must take the knee but those personally responsible for current violence and looting are celebrated as heroes. The blood-dimmed tide is indeed being loosed upon the world.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Cancelling history: Red Guards and philistines are running riot across the Western world - The Times of India Blog

As baffling as it is to find statues of traitors, slaveholders and killers of Union soldiers ensconced in many a prominent square, consider the historical discordance of Custer County, S.D.

The hard beauty of the Black Hills, sacred land to Native Americans, overshadows the county, the main town and the state park, all named for George Armstrong Custer. The hard history was shaped by the slayer of those native people. Custers willful trespass into territory promised by treaty to the Sioux set the stage for the last violent encounters between New World and Old.

Just under 20 miles from Custer is Mount Rushmore, which President Trump plans to visit this Fourth of July weekend. A mere seven miles from Custer is the Native American Rushmore a still unfinished carving of the Oglala Sioux leader Crazy Horse, 641 feet long and 563 feet high.

Here is the American paradox in a grid of stark geology.

No country can last long without a shared narrative. You wonder, on an Independence Day when the mood of the country is more angry and fearful than its been in a long time, if this nation can ever have such a thing again.

I think we can. But to make that happen, it will take an imaginative projection of the best instincts of those four imperfect men whose visages are chiseled into stone, as well as the Sioux warrior honored just down the road.

Before we get to them, lets talk about him. Trump wants a fireworks display in the pine forest around Rushmore in the middle of fire season. There will be no required social distancing for the crowd. And the worlds most powerful narcissist will be projecting his dream to have his face carved next to those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

There you have it everything that is so awful about him in one appearance, putting the lives of American citizens and a national landmark at risk to protect his eggshell ego.

But what about them? Rushmore was created by Gutzon Borglum, a confidant of leaders of the revitalized 20th-century Ku Klux Klan. Before Borglum took his jackhammers to the Black Hills, he had started work on the largest shrine to white supremacy in the world the bas-relief sculpture of Confederate leaders in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Still, few people think of Borglum when they gaze up at the four presidents. Instead, the visitor is prompted to think of what those men did for a fragile democracy.

Most revolutions dont end well. From the kindling of the Enlightenment, France was consumed by a wildfire of fratricide and state-sanctioned beheadings in the late 18th century. Russias 1917 revolt eventually led to an epic of mass murder rivaled by Hitlers Holocaust. And the Irish finally threw off centuries of British rule only to plunge into a bloody civil war in the 1920s over the terms of that independence.

The American Revolution, birthed in part by the looting of British merchant ships in Boston Harbor, was the exception, until our own Civil War over the Original Sin that had been ignored in the founding documents. The protests of 2020 are a legacy of rage dating to 1619.

Each of the Rushmore presidents furthered the ennobling sentiments of men who tried to fashion a democracy from a revolution. Some may never forgive Washington for his slave ownership. But among the nine presidents who owned slaves, only Washington freed them all in his final will.

He also kept the United States from becoming a monarchy when the Trumpians of the day wanted to make him king.

Jefferson was a slaveholding racist who wrote all men are created equal in the Declaration of Independence. The words outlive, and outshine, the man.

Lincoln needs no defense, except to say that those who want to destroy his statues now should read Frederick Douglasss nuanced take. Lincoln fought the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings, the Trumpians of his day, and ensured that the radical truths of Jefferson would apply to four million formerly enslaved people.

Teddy Roosevelt was no friend of the continents original inhabitants. But he evolved. His Rough Riders were multiracial warriors. And as the 20th centurys most influential progressive president, he invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him, the first time any president had broken bread with a Black man at the White House. This, at a time when it was difficult for a Black man to get a meal in a restaurant.

Each of them pushed the revolution closer to an ideal of true equality. And Roosevelt was the first to add universal health care among the truths we hold self-evident.

You can honor the work they started, and desperately needs to be finished, by ignoring Trumps ahistoric histrionics this weekend and watching Hamilton, which is streaming to many parts of the world starting Friday. This founder was an orphan, son of a whore, Washingtons better half, and in the person of Lin-Manuel Miranda, hes a face of the American tomorrow.

At the core of the musical is the founding reimagined, re-mythologized, rough-edged. A mess of contradictions, like this nation on its 244th birthday.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

Timothy Egan (@nytegan) is a contributing opinion writer who covers the environment, the American West and politics. He is a winner of the National Book Award and the author, most recently, of A Pilgrimage to Eternity.

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Lets Finish the American Revolution - The New York Times

STOP WHINING AND feeling sorry for yourself, we often hear people say. Why dont you just learn to count your blessings? Youd be so much happier if you did.

Unfortunately, such urgings no matter their good intent rarely help us. Why?

Because shifting our focus from what our lives lack to the abundance that is always present is difficult spiritual work.

It takes practice. And if youre like me, it takes daily practice.

Gratitude is the expression of appreciation for what we have, independent of monetary worth.

Spontaneously generated from within, it is an affirmation of the gift and goodness of life.

It is a recognition that we are not alone, that life has meaning, and that there is reason to be giving thanks even when life has brought us to our knees.

Yes, it is true: gratitude will make us happier.

It strengthens relationships, reduces stress, improves our health and helps us stay resilient in the face of hardship.

Whether we choose to write a few sentences in a gratitude journal or simply take a moment to silently acknowledge all that we have, giving thanks transforms us in many important and helpful ways.

So, how do we ground ourselves in gratitude when so much in life seems difficult and uncertain?

Cultivating gratitude starts with noticing the goodness in life, such as the natural beauty, clean air and abundant water of the Olympic Peninsula.

Or the people who care about us, make us laugh or inspire us with their music, art and ideas.

Or the animals that bring us delight with their antics.

Or the fact that our hearts are still beating and another day beckons.

These types of gifts are so easy to overlook while living in a materialist culture that encourages constant wanting, and that names possessions as the primary source of happiness.

Its so human to forget about them while being consumed with the pandemic details, the political debates or with our human tendency to separate humanity into us versus them.

Unfortunately, envy, fear, judgment and cynicism are the very thieves of gratitude. They are of no help to us now.

No matter the challenges in our individual lives, each of us has so many reasons to be grateful today and every day.

Recognizing this helps us stay open to life, and to become more aligned with the loving goodness at the heart of creation.

But if you are still struggling to find your way to gratitude, allow me to share some tips from someone who has experienced great suffering and yet is known the world over for his joy, the Dalai Lama:

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.

I am not a Buddhist, but I like many of the Dalai Lamas perspectives on living a good and meaningful life.

He argues that the purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility and forgiveness.

I think hes onto something.

Staying open to life during stressful times is not an easy thing to do.

Whining and venting do have their short-term benefits, and I wouldnt ask anyone to forgo them completely. But if youre tired of being stressed out, grumpy and unhappy, Id like to suggest grounding yourself with the practice of gratitude today and every day.

________

Issues of Faith is a rotating column by five religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. The Rev. Kate Lore is a minister at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Port Townsend. Her email is [emailprotected]

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ISSUES OF FAITH: Be grounded in gratitude, compassion - Peninsula Daily News

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Men Jeans Market Segmented by Applications and Geography Trends, Growth and Forecasts 2024 - 3rd Watch News

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Thousands of Vermonters attended protests and rallies over the last month to stand in solidarity with Black Americans, but not all were free from disruption. To some, this didn't come as a surprise.

People around the state joined in national protests against the deaths of Black Americans, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, at the hands of police. Events stretched beyondBurlington, regarded as one of the more left-leaning hubs. But calls for Black Lives Matter in Vermont, with awhite population of 94%,have not been openly receivedby all.

"I believe that Vermonters think of themselves as very enlightened advocates of racial equality," said Stephen Wrinn, author of "Civil Rights in the Whitest State: Vermont's Perceptions of Civil Rights, 1945-1968." The book explains "why residents' reactions to the movement did not conform to their self-perceptions of racial enlightenment."

He pointed out that Vermont was the first to prohibit slavery and sent large droves to fight in the Civil War.

"Despite that attitude," Wrinn said, "I think the perception from outside of Vermont is, you know, they talk the talk. But do they walk the walk?"

The state has had a fractured relationship with race through the years.

"Vermonters were very much in favor of the national Civil Rights Movement when it was an effort to desegregate the south in the north's image," Wrinn said, an enthusiasm that didn't always sustain in Vermont when it came to the state changing its own laws and practices.

Wrinn pointed toracial unrestthat has come to the forefront of Vermont's history, including:

More: Kiah Morris: The Vermont incidents that led to a black lawmaker's resignation

The "Protest for George Floyd!" filled Battery Park, and then during a march spilled onto North Avenue and the parking lot at the Burlington Police Department.(Photo: Leonora Dodge/courtesy)

Recent efforts to address racism have seen support across the state. But they also received some local push back last month.Examples include:

A video posted on Twitter showed an altercation between an individual and protest attendees at a Black Lives Matter protestin Craftsbury.

The video opens with a shot of a pickup truck, with two individuals seated in the bed. One held a Confederate flag, the other a "Don't Tread on Me" flag. Someone can be heard repeatedly asking the driver of the truck if he doesn't believe Black lives matter. The man eventually yelled that he does not.

"Is that what you wanted?" he asked. At the end of the video, he said he doesn't have a problem with Black Lives Matter. "I have a problem with what most of it stands for."

Pablo Coddou, one of the organizers of the protest, said he expected maybe 30 attendeesto show up to the rally, but estimated the actual turnout likely exceeded 200. He wasn't surprised the incident occurred but didn't necessarily expect it, either.

He has since come to acknowledge that this is part of the reality. Coddou didn't think his rally brought problems into town, but just exposed what was already there.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 14, 2020, the Montpelier Police Department located spray painted graffiti applied to the city sidewalk and Vermont Statehouse walkway across from 120 State St. The messages referenced government spending and did not appear to reference the Black Lives Matter community mural project nearby.(Photo: Courtesy of Montpelier Police Department)

Hundreds gatheredin Montpelier last month to create a mural replicated across the country, as large yellow letters declared "Black Lives Matter" in front of the statehouse.

More: Black Lives Matter mural in Vermont vandalized with mud, oil

It didn't last untouched for long.

The mural got "smeared with mud, dirt and oil"that same weekend, according to police. Graffiti included messages like "Put it back call Trump."

"Sadly, I wish I were really more shocked that somebody vandalized this," City Manager William Fraser said.

While it might not be the majority, acurrent of racism exists in Vermont, he said. Fraserfelt mostin Montpelier supported messageslike those expressed in front of the statehouse.

"But not all."

"The First Amendment protects speech that a lot of us would find incredibly offensive," Gene Policinski said. "There's nothing in the 45 words that says we have to be polite, even make sense and certainly nothing that prevents us from being crude andrude and insulting."

Policinski is thechief operating officer of the Freedom Forum Institute, an organization dedicated to advocacy and education surrounding the First Amendment.Not all speech is fair game, including that which can be interpreted asa true threat.

Policinski offered an example: Getting into an argument with someone and saying you hope a meteor flies out of the sky and kills them likely won't fit this standard. Holding a knife during an argument and threatening to kill someone with it, however, could be interpreted as a true threat.

"The antidote to speech you don't like is not to try to suppress the speaker you don't like," he said. "But to speak out loudly with your point of view."

The Institute defines a few other categories that are generally not protected by the First Amendment. These include:

More: Winooski man accused of hate crime in verbal assault case involving child

More: Black Lives Matter: Burlington crowd protests for George Floyd, marches to police parking lot

More: Black Lives Matter flag in Milton torn down, stolen

Contact Maleeha Syed at mzsyed@freepressmedia.com or 802-495-6595. Follow her on Twitter@MaleehaSyed89.

This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.Sign up today for a subscriptionto the Burlington Free Press.

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Contending with racial justice in Vermont goes back years. So does the backlash. - Burlington Free Press

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From goatherd to Olympic medalist

The son of a pedicab driver and a market stall attendant, Eko Yuli Irawan didnt dream of much beyond tending to goats, which he did every day after school to help his family make ends meet. Seeing potential, a local coach let Irawan train for free at his weightlifting gym, a decision that changed Irawans life.

Today, the 30-year-old athlete from Sumatra is a three-time Olympian, having won bronze medals in Beijing and London and a silver in Rio de Janeiro. The fact that hes done this and more despite his tiny stature of 5ft 2in has made him a national hero in his native Indonesia. After winning gold at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, he has his sights set at the top of the podium in Tokyo next year, and eventually wants to be recognised as the greatest of all time, a different kind of GOAT altogether.

See also: TatlerHot List: The Most Influential Voices In Asia Right Now

Grassroots activist giving hope to the hopeless

Singaporean Noor Mastura had a tumultuous childhood, living for years without a home or enough to eat. At one point, it got to be too much, and Mastura ascended the highest building she could find, fully intending to jump. But a voice in my head said Not like this, not now, says Noor. She eventually climbed down from the ledge, telling herself that things would get better.

They did, and after struggling to make herself and her family more financially secure, Mastura vowed to do what she could so that no one else in Singapore would go hungry, founding non-profit Back2Basics in 2013 to deliver free groceries to underprivileged families and homebound older people. Two years later she co-founded her other non-profit, Interfaith Youth Circle, to encourage dialogue between religions. For her work with both organisations, she was named Singaporean of the Year 2018 by The Straits Times. Not one to lay low, Mastura recently launched Being Bravely Woman, a platform to tackle issues of female empowerment specific to the Muslim world.

From gangster to CEO

Chiau Haw Choon grew up in a good family. He spent his days playing in the hardware shop founded by his grandfather in the small Malaysian town of Megat Dewa. But his life went off the rails when he was 13, after his family moved to Alor Setar, a much larger city, so his father could expand the family business into cement trading. Chiau dropped out of school and became involved in gangs. Two years later, he was caught up in a criminal investigation and thrown into a police lockup for five days. He didnt return to school until he reached the age of 17, after a period of self-reflection.

Once he applied himself to his studies, Chiau unexpectedly found himself taking the reins of the family company in his early twenties, when his father suddenly became ill. I didnt expect to be taking over so soon, he says. The only experience I had was as part of a gang. Nonetheless, Chiau quickly expanded the business. Within three years, the Chin Hin Group had moved far beyond cement trading, becoming Malaysias largest distribution company for building materials. The firm eventually evolved into two separate publicly listed companies, making Chiau, who is now 36, the youngest head of a publicly listed company in Malaysia.

Giving hope to millions with mental illnesses

As a child, Hana Alfikih never fit in. Bullied at school and miserable at home, the Jakarta resident turned to drawing to soothe her nerves and distract herself from the impulse to self-harm. Only much later, at university, was Alfikih diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Today, she continues to use art as therapy, but for the benefit of her thousands of social-media followers, who know her by the moniker Hana Madnessreportedly named for her fondness of UK ska band Madness, rather than her global advocacy for mental health causes. Her illustrations feature colourful characters named after mental illnesses and medications, such as Bipo, Skizo and Medico, designed to amuse and disarm. Her mission is to reduce the stigma around mental health in Indonesia, where the practice of pasung, or confining mental illness sufferers in cages and removing them from society, is all too common. Alfikih tackles the issue head on in a recently released documentary, In Chains.

See also: TatlerHot List: 25 Entrepreneurs Who Are Shaping Our Future

Journalist and human rights activist

As a journalist, human rights activist and LGBTQ ally, Nalutporn Krairiksh is a fierce advocate for those who struggle to have their voices heard in her native Thailand, speaking up for inclusion in all its forms.

Frustrated by the lack of access and consideration offered to disabled people, Krairiksh, who was diagnosed with ALS as a child and is wheelchair-bound, is also the founder of ThisAble.me, an online platform that publishes news and human-interest stories about disability rights, using her writing to bring awareness to subjects that dont usually receive the spotlightfrom less glamorous issues such as public transport access to systemic bias.

Krairiksh is also a founding member of the Future Forward Party, now the social group Move Forward, which is focused on social justice issues and made significant inroads in the 2019 Thai election.

Showing Hong Kong the Lion Rock Spirit

Elite rock climber Lai Chi-wai was one of the worlds best, regularly winning competitions and ranking in the top 10 professional climbers in the world. In 2011, a traffic accident left him paraplegic when his wife was seven months pregnant with their first child. Seeing his newborn son, says Lai, was all the motivation he needed to continue to live life to the fullest.

Lai continued his rockclimbing career, moving into coaching to help train the next generation. Five years after his accident, in December 2016, he inspired millions by scaling Lion Rock, Hong Kongs most famous peak.

Lai used his arms alone to ascend the 500-metre rock face over a gruelling 10-hour climb. The Lion Rock Spirit has long been a part of every Hongkongers identity, said to represent the tenacity that gave rise to the citys socio-economic development over the decades. In Lai, that spirit is alive and well.

See also: Learning From Lockdown: Lessons From Our Tatler Community

Singapores modern-day Beethoven

Globally recognised concert pianist Azariah Tan has played at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, won numerous international competitions and has a doctorate in piano performance. Something that makes Tan unique among his peers, however, is that he has reached these milestones and more despite having lost most of his hearing ability due to a degenerative condition. Tan only has 15 per cent of his hearing remaining and continues to suffer an additional loss of 5 per cent a year. He is likely to be deaf within the next few years.

Rather than let his condition slow him down, Tan draws inspiration from Beethoven, famously deaf, and wants to perform as often as he can in order to give hope to others. Hes raised funds for hearing-impaired children worldwide and played countless charity and outreach shows. In 2017 Tan was a finalist for the Singapore Youth Award, the nations highest youth accolade, in recognition of the inspirational role he exemplifies.

Dancing into a nations hearts

The 2008 Sichuan earthquake killed almost 70,000 people and left millions devastated. On that fateful day, dancer Liao Zhi was inside a building that collapsed completely. She lost her 10-month-old daughter, whom she was holding in her arms, and both her legs. Liao was the buildings sole survivor, rescued after being trapped for 30 hours beneath the rubble.

Remarkably, she returned to the stage just two months after the incident, her performance inspiring a nation still in mourning. Liao eventually adjusted to dancing with prosthetic legs, learning to accept the constant pain as her new normal. In 2013, she won the nations hearts again, coming in second place in a TV dancing competition, Dance Out My Life. The same year she released an autobiography to tell the world of her ordeal, which was later adapted into a Hong Kong play, Angels Psalm. More than a decade since the earthquake, Liao remains a symbol of tenacity and courage, continuing to inspire millions to never give up.

See also: Tatler Hot List: 16 Women Fighting For Fairness in Asia

From delivery boy to the head of Chinas FedEx

Born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, Wang Wei skipped university to begin a career in the manufacturing industry. After realising how difficult it could be to move goods across the China-Hong Kong border, he founded Shun Feng Express, now known simply as SF, from a small shopfront in Hong Kongs Mong Kok district in 1993. In the early days, Wang, along with his six employees, would personally load boxes into vans and haul freight across the border. Today, the company operates 66 aircraft and employs almost 300,000 couriers.

Known as the FedEx of China, SF is arguably more innovative than its US counterpart. After obtaining Chinas first licence for delivery drones, in February this year the company used the devices, which can travel up to 18 kms and carry 10 kgs, to send medical supplies to Wuhan hospitals at the peak of the citys coronavirus outbreak. Wang still owns 60 per cent of the companys shares and is the tenth richest person in China. Tatler was unable to confirm if he still personally makes deliveries.

From criminal to social-media philosopher

Sean Buranahiran was bullied relentlessly as a child. He learnt martial arts, he says, to bulk up and take on his attackers. It didnt work out exactly as he had planned, as Sean wound up going to jail for his violent conduct.

After serving his time, Buranahiran told himself he needed to turn his mind, rather than his body, into the powerful weapon. I wanted to win the war without fighting, he says, and dedicated himself to learning from the great philosophers. Now he is one of Thailands top social media thought leaders, coming to prominence with 51 Weapons of The Wise, his bestselling book based on his experience of turning his life around. His viral videos on life, love and philosophy have been shared by millions, including, says Buranahiran, dozens of high-profile leaders such as the Crown Prince of Dubai. He is also an in-demand motivational speaker and runs his own life lessons course, IVM: The Way of Sean Buranahiran.

From living on the streets of Manila to the citys youngest elected mayor

As a child, Isko Moreno would rifle through garbage to find his familys next meal, eking out an existence in the alleyways of Manilas Tondo district. After being discovered by a talent scout at a neighbours wake, he began an acting career, making a name for himself in teen-focused movies before graduating to more serious roles. But Moreno felt the call of public duty, and in the Philippines, where celebrity often carries political cachet, he felt the jump to elected office was within reach.

After a couple of unsuccessful runs at the Senate, last year he became Manilas youngest ever elected mayor, building a nationwide profile. A shining light in the countrys scandal-prone politics, Moreno is admired for his everyman style, inspiring millions with his If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone refrain, and avoiding the trappings of his office. His only indulgences, he says, are the cups of Starbucks coffee he drinks to get through his packed schedule. This is my pat on the back, he says. Every cup reminds me to be grateful because now I can afford to spend 120 pesos for coffee, when once upon a time I could not.

Turning personal tragedy into hope for her community

Jazz Tan always knew her father was involved in a criminal gang, but her life turned upside down at the age of 14 when he was murdered by his cohorts in their Penang family home. Losing the familys sole wage earner, Tan took jobs washing plates and whatever I could do to just keep us alive, she says, and eventually won a scholarship to put herself through university.

While at school, Tan established YouthsToday, a platform that raises money to fund creative projects that encourage young people to remain in education, find their passions and stay away from criminal activity. I didnt want other youth to follow in my dads footsteps, says Tan. YouthsToday matches student projects with corporate sponsors; in return, students run campaigns with their newly learned skills, such as photography, to help brands market to the universities. Since it was established in 2013, nine years after the death of her father, YouthsToday has supported 50,000 young people, working with brands including Sony and KFC. If youre revengeful for whats happened to you, youll end up feeling very emptyeven if you take revenge on the person who did you wrong. Instead, channel your energy into making yourself successful, she says.

See also: Tatler Heroes:IndividualsAround Asia Leading The Fight Against Covid-19

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