At the risk of inciting more anti-Humanist Manifesto III feelings, I am going to stubbornly continue through the list. 🙂 Next up is one which is even less specific than the last: Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships. By my standards, at least, that is more of a New-age philosophy than it is a Humanist philosophy. It feels vaguely like something taken from a Depok Chopra self-help book. Still, we will soldier on. Read on…
Creationists make it sound as though a “theory” is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. Read on…
The fourth of the Humanist values from the 2003 Humanist Manifesto III has always seemed a little soft for me. It says, “Life’s fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals.” One supposes they meant it to be that way, since it can mean so many things to so many different people. Personally, I would be happier of it mentioned some concrete possibilities. The sentiment is clear, in any event. There is reason to believe that ethical … Read on…
The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
The true meaning of religion is thus, not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion.
— Matthew Arnold Read on…
Marx was wrong. Religion is not the opiate of the people. Opium suggests something soporific, numbing, dulling. Too often religion has been an aphrodisiac for horror, a Benzedrine for bestiality. At its best it has lifted spirits and raised spires. At its worst it has turned entire civilizations into cemeteries.
— Phillip Adams, Adams vs. God Read on…
“We are always making God our accomplice so that we may legalize our own inequities. Every successful massacre is consecrated by a Te Deum, and the clergy have never been wanting in benedictions for any victorious enormity.”
“A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism or doubt.”
— Henri FrĂ©dĂ©ric Amiel Read on…
Yes, that’s what is says. Apple pie with pork gravy. Let’s look at those two things to make sure we understand them.
Apple pie: An apple pie is a fruit pie (or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples.
Read on…
“Religions are conclusions for which the facts of nature supply no major premises.”
“Camels and Christians receive their burdens kneeling.”
“Christian, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.” Read on…
This third value espoused by the 2003 Humanist Manifesto is perhaps more complex than the first two, and requires what I see as a divorcement between the concept of ethics and the concept of morals. In its entirety, this third item reads: Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience. Read on…
“The position of the atheist is a clear and reasonable one. I know nothing about God and therefore I do not believe in Him or it. What you tell me about your God is self-contradictory and is therefore incredible. I do not deny “God,” which is an unknown tongue to me. I do deny your God, who is an impossibility. I am without God.”
— Annie Wood Besant Read on…