|
Navigation
The Rational Response Squad is a group of atheist activists who impact society by changing the way we view god belief. This site is a haven for those who are pushing back against the norm, and a place for believers of gods to have their beliefs exposed as false should they want to try their hand at confronting us. Buy any item on AMAZON, and we'll use the small commission to help improve critical thinking. Buy a Laptop -- Apple
|
Why don't you hear much about secular humanism?
Posted on: August 21, 2007 - 6:12pm
  Offline
Why don't you hear much about secular humanism?
I've always felt perplexed that the words "secular humanist" aren't heard much in media circles? Why is this so? “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” – Carl Sagan
|
|
Copyright Rational Response Squad 2006-2024.
|
I kinda find it ironic when someone tried to tell me I should be a humanist and not a part of the rrs because humanism was about bring people together. Nevermind the group splitting up...
I don't think the person was even a humanist so it wasn't about trying to bring people together for them, but just trying to get me out of the rrs...
You can be both
Humanism in theory is about
a) non-religious rituals to celebrate life/death in the US weddings (weddings are mostly secular in the UK)
b) to keep religion out of politics etc (but not anti religion as such)
We all have many hats you know you can despise something but still work with people with different views for a common aim
Secular humanists always come off (to me) like tree-hugging pseudo hippies. I don't think they make waves or rock the boat, for the most part, and their actions certainly aren't as incendiary to the religious as us godless heathen atheists. I'm not generalizing here, mind you, I don't think their all like that. They just don't seem to have as many among their ranks as atheists do who are outspoken and in direct opposition to, well, anything. Their lack of speaking out seems to be why they aren't really mentioned much in the media. But that's just my opinion, I live in a cave, so take it with a grain of salt, lol.
The darkness of godlessness lets wisdom shine.
Their logo's got no pep. I read a free book one of the orgs sent me called "Fighting Back!" back in the mid nineties. It's just sort of "blah" and indistinct in its message. Even the name sounds like a pseudo-religion.
I love the happy humanist. I think it conveys exactly what humanism entails. It's much better than a symbol of torture, or a star.
“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” – Carl Sagan
A few questions.
1) Why are you perplexed by this?
2) Do you really think that you are attuned to what all media circles report? Or could you be confusing what you hear for what 'the media says'. They are two different things.
"Hitler burned people like Anne Frank, for that we call him evil.
"God" burns Anne Frank eternally. For that, theists call him 'good.'
It should be noted that humanism also involves some unproved premises.
That homo sapiens matters--that we're not just a random carrier of DNA and consciousness a non-meaningful chance occurrence.
If not, then everything's out the window.
Apart from humanist who else performs non-theistic funerals?
So unless you don't think we should have funerals (a different argument) someone needs to do it.
There might well be other organisations in the US but in the UK its humanist funeral or sky fairy funerals
I've been reading the philosophy of humanism recently and it is pretty interesting stuff. Though, it does seem like the term Humanism or even a slightly more narrow term like Secular Humanism is a huge umbrella which draws from an endless number of other phylosophies. It seems to me that Humanism is really just a collection of philosophies from all over (including religious texts) but excludes the supernatural and insistance upon the rationalization of violence.
Corliss Lamont, the fellow that wrote the afore mentioned book, was actually the director of the ACLU for a number of years. So the assertion that the Humanists are not outspoken is pretty weak. Fundamental to their belief system is civil rights and a democratic system to protect said rights but overriding all of it is the insistance that for a system of government to work it must first get rid of superstitious nonsense.
I have not yet seen the homo sapien assumption mentioned earlier. I'm not actually sure what that was referring too.
I'm not a scholar of humanism, just have been taking a look at it recently.
One of the reason that humanism might not get a lot of good press is in their persuit of civil rights. These guys, throught he ACLU, believe that poeple should have their civil rights protected. Where this idea becomes unpopular is when they defend communists and anarchists rights with the same amount of force as they defend those from "acceptable" philosophies.
Just noting that most of us are humanists in that we assign some value or meaning to our species.
A few have made the argument that we're just a random occurring carrier of DNA--if that's the case then nothing really matters.
This, I guess, would be one basis for nihilism. Haven't seen any such advocates in the forum.
Ah ok. Now I see what you were getting at.
To clear up, the principles of humanism that I am aware of do not assign any special purpose to humans over any other organism. In the case of materialist humanism it is actually assumed that there is no difference between anything in the universe (at least in regard to base matter).
I have seen quite a few references on the boards to the fact that "nothing really matters" unless we decide that it does. Even then, it only matters within our personal perception. Certain schools of existentialist thought are similar. However, this information is not meaningful in and of itself. What we choose to assign importance to and live for is meaningful.
But again, the philosophy of humanism is scattered like that of existentialism. They have both been built upon and changed over the expanses of time to become what they are now. I would wager they will be something completely different in another 50 years