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Building Community Beyond Belief, Exercising Progressive Values, and Defending Separation of Church and State

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Last updated 2026-05-08

The Separationist

The Separationist is the newsletter of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, first published in 1994.

The Separationist is a FREE Substack newsletter. Articles are best viewed on Substack, but recent articles are copied below.

You do not need to subscribe, register for Substack or install the Substack app to access any of our content. More information.

Our Archive has many issues, going back to the very beginning.

Recent Posts

The following are copies of our most recent Substack posts. These are best viewed on Substack.

Be an Election Hero!

Be an Election Hero!

  In case you haven’t heard, there is a shortage in poll workers for the 2026 elections. According to election officials, more than 770,000 poll workers managed the last general election but nearly 50% of jurisdictions reported difficulty in hiring people to fill...

May 2026 Calendar of Events

May 2026 Calendar of Events

  🩸May 2 — American Empathy Project: Period Pack Packing Party 🎞️ May 3 — Friendly Infidels Movie Club: Animal Farm 🤔 May 7 — Freethinkers’ Forum: How do you talk about death without religious belief? 🎞️/📚 May 9 — Remarkably Bright Creatures Movie Club / Book...

A Plea to Eligible Voters

A Plea to Eligible Voters

  In just a few short weeks, South Carolina will hold its Primary Elections. This is a plea for you to participate in them. I’m going to tell you why this is important, but first let me give you some facts. Our primary voting record in this state is dismal....

April 2026 Photo Album

April 2026 Photo Album

On Saturday, April 11, 2026, 18 members of the SHL community made a visit to Mother Emanuel AME Church where church historian, Lee Bennett, talked to us about the history of the church. It was a small demonstration, but on Sunday, April 12, 2026 we continued to stand...

The Separationist Archive

The first issue of The Separationist was published in September 1994. Our archive presently has about 190 of the back issues. We’re still searching for missing issues—if you have any, or can help locate them, please email newsletter@lowcountryhumanists.org. You can view our tracking sheet here.

Originally the newsletter was published from September through May of the following year, taking summers off–a reflection of the academic profession of many of the SHL founders. At some point the newsletter did start publishing year round.

The Separationist was a casualty of the pandemic and went on an unplanned hiatus from August 2020 until February 2024, when it was briefly brought back as a monthly email publication. It was published via MailChimp. In June 2025 it was moved to Substack. The final monthly issue was published in January 2026. From that point, articles are published to Substack on an ad hoc basis. An article about the decision to make this change can be read here.

2026

January 2026: Spiritual Fitness or Religious Force?

2025

December 2025: Building Community Beyond Belief

November 2025: SHL Shows Up Big at FFRF Convention

October 2025: From the Epicenter of Book Banning

September 2025: DEI for SHL

August 2025: A Tale of Two Trials

July 2025: “May I pray with you?”

June 2025: Extending the Rainbow

May 2025: Service to America

April 2025: Talking Trash

March 2025: Godless Women

February 2025: The Good News

January 2025: The Resurrection of The Separationist

2024

December 2024: 30 Years of Being Good Without God in the Lowcountry

November 2024: Call for a New Progressive Era

October 2024: The Home Stretch

September 2024: Volunteer Service

August 2024: The Importance of Public Education

July 2024: If You Can Keep It

June 2024: Secular Humanist Values

May 2024: Religion, Government, Elections and Voting

April 2024: Fighting Climate Change Together

March 2024: Celebrating Women’s History Month

February 2024: Celebrating Black History Month