The Religious, the Spiritual, and the Secular presents an account of Auroville, a city in contemporary southeast India, and the vision of founder and well-known guru Sri Aurobindo. Auroville's eventual takeover and the promotion of its goals by the Indian government leads to a thought-provoking discussion of the meaning of "secularism" in India.
A national resource for information on gender issues and gay/straight relationships for organizations, businesses, educational institutions, and media outlets such as NBC and USA Today, Robert N. Minor, Ph.D. has been speaking, consulting, and leading workshops for fifteen years.
He is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas where he taught for thirty-three years and was the chair of the Religious Studies Department for six. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received the Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Iowa in 1975 and an M.A. in Biblical Studies from Trinity Divinity School in Chicago.
He is the author of eight books. His first five were scholarly writings on his first specialty, religious thought and practice in South Asia and their relationships to culture. His current research is on gender studies and the relationships of religion, gender, and sexuality. At the University of Kansas one of his popular courses is "Religious Perspectives on Selfhood and Sexuality."Â
His newest book, When Religion is an Addiction was published by HumanityWorks! in St. Louis. Previously he wrote Gay and Healthy in a Sick Society: The Minor Details published by HumanityWorks! in November, 2003, which was a Finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award in 2004, and was named in national reviews as one of the best gay books of 2003. His Scared Straight: Why It's So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It's So Hard to Be Human, also published by HumanityWorks! in 2002 was named a Finalist for both a Lambda Literary Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award. In little more than a month from their publication, Menstuff.org, the premier men's issues website, named each of them "Book of the Week."
Dr. Minor also writes articles including two popular columns -- one a monthly column of analysis and opinion entitled "Minor Details" on issues affecting the progressive and gay communities which is printed nationally in on-line and print publications around the country; the second, "Romance and Dating," a bimonthly column for Baby Boomers on dating, romance, and relationships for the popular website, 50PlusPrime.com.
He is the parent of a thirty-two year old son. In 1994 he was a member of the Values Panel for the Kansas City Star (the daily newspaper for Kansas City) for its award-winning "Raising Kansas City Project."
He was a member of the Communities Against Hate Crimes Task Force of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas and the Diversity Advisory Committee of KCPT, the public television station for Kansas City, MO. He serves on other boards and task forces, such as the Advisory Board of the nationally acclaimed Center for Religious Experience and Study of Kansas City, the LGBT Task Force of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, and the Organizing Committee of Kansas City Jobs with Justice as its Co-Chair.
He is past president of the Board of Directors of the Lesbian & Gay Community Center of Greater Kansas City, and currently a member of the Board of Directors of the American Men's Studies Association and President of the Board of Directors of Ecumenical Christian Ministries of the University of Kansas.
"Bob" leads workshops on gender roles, homophobia, and racism for universities, colleges, churches, businesses, government organizations, and community and religious groups throughout the US as well as workshops for non-heterosexuals on personal growth beyond "coming out" and how to be a healthy activist. He is a regular conference presenter for the NGLTF's "Creating Change " Conference, and for PFLAG, locally, regionally, and nationally. He worked closely with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in its Kansas City "Communities of Faith" projects. In 1999 GLAAD awarded him its Leadership Award for Education.
