66. Fish Stark on How The AHA Is Building a Humanist Revival In America

"If science tells you what's real and compassion tells you what's right, you're a humanist" - Fish Stark

Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association (AHA), joins Humanism Now to unpack what a modern humanist revival could look like in the United States. From creator-led storytelling to legal strategy and mutual aid, Fish shares how the AHA is building power, community, and a clearer public-facing vision of humanism rooted in empathy, agency, and responsibility.

Connect with Fish Stark

• Personal Website – fishstark.com
• AHA Speakers Bureau
• LinkedIn

Topics we cover

• Why Fish believes the moment is right for a “humanist revival” in America
• Humanism as identity, not just ideas: agency, responsibility, and moral confidence
• What the AHA actually does: community-building, lobbying, legal action, and public narrative
• Why the real arena is online, and how the AHA is backing creators to meet people where they are
• Church-state separation under pressure, and how coercion shows up in schools and public life
• Humanist chaplaincy and “parallel place” legal recognition as a strategic advantage
• The American Empathy Project and why mutual aid is humanism in practice
• What comedy teaches about organising: pacing, attention, clarity, and joy

Resources & further reading

• Humanist Manifesto I – American Humanist Association (1933) – https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/manifesto1/
• Peace First – https://peacefirst.org/
• Born This Way Foundation  – https://bornthisway.foundation/
• The Good Place – https://www.nbc.com/the-good-place
• Person-centered therapy (Carl Rogers) overview – NCBI Bookshelf / StatPearls (2023) – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589708/

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Podcast transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors or omissions. They are provided to make our content more accessible, but should not be considered a fully accurate record of the conversation.