NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - October 30, 2014) - The authors of a new book announce the launch of The ReThink Prize: a competition to publicly crowdsource a modern alternative to the Ten Commandments, with prizes totaling $10,000. Prominent thought leaders on the diverse judging panel will include a popular TV personality, a National Medal of Science Winner, a Harvard University Chaplain, and the Executive Director of The Richard Dawkins Foundation.

In conjunction with the release today of their new book ATHEIST MIND, HUMANIST HEART (Rowman & Littlefield), authors Lex Bayer, a technology entrepreneur, and John Figdor, a Humanist chaplain at Stanford University, wish to provide a public forum for people to examine their beliefs from the ground up. The book guides readers through their process for establishing and testing principles for living a reasonable, ethical and happy life without God. Their goal is for the competition to spark a national dialogue around a question as simple and personal as: "What do you believe?"

Anyone can vote or submit their beliefs through the website www.TheReThinkPrize.com. The contest will run through November 30th. A panel of 12 judges will review the submissions and choose the ten beliefs they feel best address our lives today. The panel includes:

Adam Savage from the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters"

National Medal of Science recipient, Gordon Bower

Harvard University's Humanist Chaplain, Greg Epstein

Executive Director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation, Robyn Blumner, and

Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association, Andrew Copson

The competition is being run in association with the American Humanist Association, the Secular Student Alliance, the Richard Dawkins Foundation, and the Global Secular Humanist Movement, among other organizations.

"Writing the book was a humbling experience, because it required us to cast aside everything we thought we knew and start at the beginning," said Bayer. "We thought many people would enjoy this process of self-reflecting and discovering the values they care most deeply about."

The results of the Prize will be announced on December 17th.