Today I interviewed James Edward Nickels Jr., the acting president of the Society for Humanistic Mormonism.
There are some who leave the LDS Church for philosophical reasons but still want to maintain many of the cultural traditions of the Mormon lifestyle. Humanistic Mormonism aims to provide that experience without the dogma.
http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism
http://societyforhumanistic.wix.com/sfhm#!the-13-articles-of-reason/c16cc
http://societyforhumanistic.wix.com/sfhm#!a-proclamation-on-comedy/c95k
http://mormon.org/beliefs/articles-of-faith
President James E. Nickels, Jr. serves as the Acting President in the First Presidency for the Society for Humanistic Mormonism and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the Society for Humanistic Mormonism. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Comparative Literature (double major) from Indiana University, 1970, a Master of Science in History in History with graduate minors in English Literature and Humanities from Indiana State University, 1971, a Master of Science in Education from Indiana University, 1974, a Master of Arts from Union Institute & University in Creativity Studies with a concentration in Creativity & Process Theology, 2012. He is lovingly referred to as both the “Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Gandalf and the John the Baptist of Humanistic Mormonism.”
He is now working on a 4th Master’s degree from Union Institute & University in Psychology and at the same time he is working on an Associate of Arts degree from Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend, Indiana in Criminal Justice. He has career certificates in Creative Writing and Business Management. He served in the United States Air Force and worked for the Department of Public Welfare in Indiana for 16 years in Child Welfare Placement, Child Protective Services, Public Assistance, and State Quality Control. He served on the Board of Directors for the North Shore Community Health Care Clinic, Portage, Indiana, the largest free and sliding scale health care clinic in Northwest Indiana for 5 years. He has two grown sons, James Edward Nickels, III and Brett Alexander Nickels. At 64 years old, he is now a retired married man who decided to go back to school
