Friday, May 11, 2007

Why is it a bad word to right-wingers?

What’s wrong with being a secular humanist? I know many who are more moral than fundamentalist Christians. A humanist is one who’s way of life is centered on human interests or values. As a philosophy it asserts the dignity and worth of man and his capacity for self-realization through reason. It often rejects supernaturalism as explanation for human actions. This description describes our founding fathers philosophy to a tee. More than any other belief they thought that through reason and logic man could govern himself and if he failed he would have no one to blame but himself. This explains the content of the Constitution. In today’s right-wing political/religious world, humanism is looked down upon as some kind of evil conspiracy to replace religion and supplant it with a Godless lifestyle. Jon Paul Satre was one of the foremost humanists and he wrote much about the philosophy. Like our founding fathers he believed that man was the ultimate arbiter of his own destiny. The basis for his belief was that man is responsible for his actions and he couldn’t blame a God or religion for the evil actions that man takes in the name of God or religion. If we engaged in a little more humanistic behavior in our international relations don’t you think we would have a more peaceful society? How many times do we hear religions’ act viciously toward others and justifying their actions through religious dogma? Muslims and Christians might learn a little from reading some humanist writings. Maybe if O’Reilly, Rev. Dobson and many other uninformed right-wingers stopped attacking things they don’t understand they too could learn something but for those who reject science and embrace superstition that may be a little too much to ask.

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