#inspiringhumanism

[jafrancis-blog]

Humanism is not only not equivalent to social Darwinism, it is precisely the rejection of social Darwinism. Humanists recognise that competition between groups has been part of our evolution - there is no way to expunge this basic fact from our minds or our history books - but now that humanity has discovered this, we can and must search fervently for healthy, nonviolent ways for groups of people, as well as individuals, to relate to one another. This also means we do not pretend that evolution is the solution to every problem, or that is is always a sweet, innocent story. When thinking about why we cooperate - and shy we are good - we do not shy away from the question: what about the fact that we can be so lousy to one another? Our job as Humanists is not to minimise the role selfishness and brutality have played in human history. It isn't even to overlook or explain away our own temptation to be cruel. In fact, we need to be honest with ourselves because we have to decide - every day, every minute - which is it going to be? Cruelty has evolutionary value. Kindness does too. But we can't have both at the same time. And not only do we compete and struggle with each other, we do so within ourselves. we have all these competing desires and drives: for food, sexual reproduction, loving acknowledgment, dignity. Humanism is the active choice that, whenever possible, dignity gets priority. It means acknowledging and understanding our selfish genes precisely so that we can continue to evolve beyond that.

Greg Epstein

'Good Without God'

[jafrancis-blog]

The enemy of Humanism is not faith - the enemy of Humanism is hate, it is fear, it is ignorance, it is the darker part of man that is in every Humanist, and every person in the world....But faith is something we have to embrace. Faith in God means believing absolutely in something, with no proof whatsoever. Faith in humanity means believing absolutely in something with a huge amount of proof to the contrary. We are the true believers.

Joss Whedon

[jafrancis-blog]

........I have come to resent this characterisation. My lack of faith has, over the years, formed itself into an active ethical position. I don't have a sacred text, or beliefs that I wish to place beyond challenge or mockery. None of my positions are beyond argument. I will change them, if persuaded. My dislike of dogma and my respect (as opposed to "respect") for rational debate doesn't make me weak. Indeed, I hold that the very contingency of my positions are at the core of their ethical force. If you can't point to a line in a book, or the dictates of a religious hierarchy to justify your opinions, then you have to own them yourself. You are fully responsible, and that is, in its own way, as radical and disruptive as submitting to the will of the divine.

Hari Kunzru

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/12/leading-decent-life-not-sole-province-of-religious?

[jafrancis-blog]

...for most, religion is not about belief in an all-seeing deity with a baritone voice and a flowing beard. It is about group identification - the community and the connections we need to live. It is about family, tradition, consolation, ethics, memories, music, art, architecture and more. These things are all good, and no one wants to or should be asked to give them up because of lack of belief in god. The truth is that at the present time, the above list of social goods - family, tradition, memories, music, etc. - is difficult to find communally outside traditional forms of religious affiliation or custom. And in truth, being a good person in a vacuum is not a very satisfying experience. (.....) At the most important times of our lives - when we or our loved ones are sick and dying; when a new baby is born; when we want to affirm our love in marriage; when we want to educate our children not only about facts and dates, but about important values - we need to be part of a group. We need what, at least potentially, can be found or created in a Humanist community: a place where family, memory, ethical values, and the uplifting of the human spirit can come together with intellectual honesty, and without a god.

Greg Epstein

'Good Without God'

[jafrancis-blog]

Humanism is a bold, resolute response to the fact that being a human being is lonely and frightening. We Humanists take one look at a world in which the lives of thousands of innocent children are ripped away every year by hurricanes, earthquakes, and other 'acts of God', not to mention the thousands other fundamental injustices of life, and we conclude that if the universe we live in does not have competent moral management, then so be it: we must become the superintendents of their own lives. Humanism means taking charge of the often lousy world around us and working to shape it into a better place, though we know we cannot ever finish the task.

Greg Epstein

'Good Without God - What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe'

[jafrancis-blog]

'Voice For Justice UK' speaker Lynda Rose raised awareness about the alarming fact that militant atheism is the reason why Christians are now persecuted in the UK: "... now, apparently, the newly claimed sexual rights of a minority are being prioritised over all other traditional rights, to the extent that ‘religious’ rights are now being assigned a separate, and seemingly subsidiary, category." It’s a bit disconcerting that Lynda – who is a lawyer – makes this mistake: there are no ‘rights of a minority’. She was referring to a couple in the UK who had their existing right to their sexuality enforced. Lynda not only makes it sound as if a sexual minority (gay people) have special rights; she then asserts that there is something called ‘traditional rights’. First, of course, there are no special rights, and in fact, everyone has the same rights. And further to this, no civilized country in the world recognizes ‘traditional rights’. After all, once it is determined that something is unethical (such as slavery, or the right to discipline your disobedient wife), it is done away with, all ‘tradition’ be damned. ‘Traditional’ never trumps ‘just’. Most importantly, though, there scarcely any special rights attained only through adherence to a particular religion in the UK, restrictions on ascending to the throne notwithstanding. Today it is one law for all. Or at least it should be, anyway. What we do see here – and we’ll see this again – is the feeling of entitlement: people are loath to give up privileges that they used to have. In this case, it is the privilege of imposing one’s own view of sexuality on others, something which Christianity has enjoyed for over two millennia, but has now been curtailed.

http://humanistlife.org.uk/2014/06/26/militant-atheism/

[jafrancis-blog]

One of the upshots of secular humanism is that it encourages us to look towards the future and the needs of our descendants when shaping our values, goals, and policies—instead of living selfishly and only in the demands of the present. As such, one of the major topics that secular humanists need to begin seriously discussing is how we are to take care of our homelands, both in a national sense and in a global sense, in the 21st century and beyond. As we move into a new era of progress and change, having abandoned so many decrepit past systems of practice and belief, we must continue to root out those systems still in place that are antiquated, no longer serving us most effectively or justly. Where these systems have decayed, we must replace them; where they have become destructive, we must reformat them entirely. It is only by this self-evaluative process that citizens of advancing nations—and especially of the United States—can truly hold themselves as good custodians of their country and protectors of their people.

http://civitashumana.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/three-problems-that-the-united-states-must-address-by-the-mid-21st-century/#more-403

[jafrancis-blog]

Go slowly,” Dave told me. He pointed to a spot across the river. “Always look ahead at the other bank and where you want to end up. Don’t look down at the water.” “Why not?” I asked. “Because you’ll lose your way and end up way downstream–or worse, you’ll lose your balance and fall off your horse. You need to be looking ahead to tell the horse which way to go. He’ll worry about what’s in the water. You worry about getting the two of you to the spot on the bank you want to reach.” That made sense, so we proceeded. The river was very shallow at this spot and only about twenty feet across, barely more than a brook or creek really; I don’t think the water ever hit higher than a few inches below the horse’s belly. I did my best to direct Mr. Chill, whose ears lay back but who did what I asked until we emerged on the other side of the creek more or less where I’d wanted to be. I turned back to look at Dave and his new horse, who was clearly not as easy-going or as confident, as they slowly made their way to join us. He really did have a good hand with horses; I enjoyed watching. I’d never seen anything like it, like how he coaxed that animal inch by inch, back a foot, forward a few feet, until they emerged onto the bank. We continued on our way, but the lesson learned here never left me. If you think about it, it makes sense; most of us just keep our heads down and are too busy concentrating on how to get across the river to even think about where we’ll pop out on the other side. We need to keep perspective so we don’t end up getting ourselves lost or washed downstream. We need a clear view of the riverbank. When we don’t have a clear view of the riverbank, when the goals are shifting or impossible to hit, when we’re unable even to define our terms or figure out exactly what we mean by this or that word, then we’re at risk of being victimized by someone who claims that he or she has that clear view that we lack. When it comes to religion, especially, anybody who tells you that he or she has a clear view of the other bank is lying to you. Nobody can actually see the other bank. We have to work out what that means for ourselves, each and every one of us, work out our own river’s meaning and where the opposite bank lies, and get to it our own way. We need to be the rider with the perspective, not the horse being told where to go.

https://rolltodisbelieve.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/horses-are-bastards/