John Loghry was recently elected president of the Oklahoma City chapter of American United for Separation of Church & State (www.okau.org, www.au.org), one of the more publicly active chapters in the country.
In his acceptance remarks to the membership Mr. Loghry spoke of the age-old idea of fairness in a society based on civil law and a diverse population:
"I think we may already live by this mantra, but I want to make it explicit: it is more important to be fair than to be right. The people we oppose are so convinced they are right—so convinced of their righteousness—that they feel no compulsion to be fair to those of us that do not share their convictions. This is not to say their convictions are not valid; but being unfair makes a person wrong, no matter how right he was before. We are coming up against communities that demand bias from their members and their representatives, and it is important to remember that it is sometimes dangerous for persons in religious communities to be fair—that is, failing to act in a heavy-handed way is often seen by the community as a betrayal. We will be working with people who are wedged between these two demands—the demand for bias from their religious communities and the demand for fairness by the AU. As we move forward into the next two years, I would like us to carry this idea with us—that it is better to be fair."
John holds two Master’s degrees, one in Clinical Psychology from the Fuller Seminary School of Psychology, and one in Depth (or Deep) Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and is completing a PhD in Depth Psychology.
His dissertation work is focused on artificial intelligence and its potential to critique and advance epistemological frames. He is a member of AOK (the Atheists of Oklahoma) and the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies. His research interest is the psychology of religion, specifically what underlying factors cause certain religious behaviors, and he will be presenting a paper on this subject at a meeting of AOK in October.
His dissertation work is focused on artificial intelligence and its potential to critique and advance epistemological frames. He is a member of AOK (the Atheists of Oklahoma) and the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies. His research interest is the psychology of religion, specifically what underlying factors cause certain religious behaviors, and he will be presenting a paper on this subject at a meeting of AOK in October.
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