The Secular Humanist Movement and ideas invaded everything during the twentieth century. Believing that mankind had evolved beyond a need for God or religious institutions, they put their faith in humans and science to lead us into a perfect Utopia. Laying aside faith in God and the restrictions placed by religion, they believed that mankind evolved into creatures of greatness. They taught that Man could find self-actualization and being apart from God. Why were their ideals so quickly embraced and grew unchecked by even the Christians? Because mankind wanted to believe in their own individual greatness, their ideas were embraced and as a society we sought after this Utopia they promised. It was the same lie whispered to Adam and Eve so long ago; but, it came in a new package with great promotional advertisements.
After all, it was what the human heart wanted to hear. With Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, suddenly they held fast to the ideas that we were an evolved society which could through experimentation, science, and new ideals find Utopia without God. If we laid aside our beliefs in God, we could further discover our own Utopia in the here and now. With philosophers such as Karl Marx leading the crusade, we could become a society that truly lived in a Utopia on this planet called earth. What are their Core Beliefs? Well, I shall let their own words answer that question.
CORE BELIEFS OF SECULAR HUMANISM IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Secular humanism is a philosophical worldview proclaiming that through scientific discovery, experimentation, and the “freedom” of human thought; humanity, apart from supernatural ideologies (a belief in God), can achieve “happiness, self-realization, joyful exuberance, creative endeavors and excellence, the actualization of the good life— not only for the individual but for the greater community”[1] in the here and now. Established officially as a worldview in 1933 with the Humanist Manifesto I; they trace their ideals “to the philosophers, scientists, and poets of classical Greece and Rome.[2]” Since then, some ideals evolved leading to later Manifestos. However, these core beliefs remained constant.
What is Most Important to the Secular Humanist?
For the secular humanist, “Man is not only that which he conceives himself to be, but that which he wills himself to be, … man is nothing other than what he makes of himself.”[3] Furthermore, the secular humanist believes that “religion has blighted people’s lives, imposing restrictions and inhibitions in the name of divine commands which thwart people’s aspirations to happiness.”[4] Only through freedom and self-reflection, can one hope to find a deeper meaning to life; unchained, by religious dogma.
However, with this comes a responsibility to all of humanity. Paul Kurtz wrote: “each person is responsible for his or her own future and that of society… improving the lives of everyone on the planet as far as we are capable of doing.”[5] Sartre writes, “man is condemned to be free;”[6] because, without God or a sin nature to blame, humans are “left alone without excuse…. responsible for everything he does.”[7] The future of all of humanity, the earth and the planetary system’s survival rests upon the shoulders of each human born.
Epistemology of Secular Humanists
Placing Scientific Observation, experimentation, and rational analysis as their ultimate source; secular humanists believe “human beings … need to use intelligence and goodwill to solve problems… to negotiate differences rationally and to work out compromises using science, reason, and humanist values”[8] As “part of a vast cosmic scene, a magnificent awe-inspiring universe that we can unravel and comprehend—we need to continue to use our critical intelligence to explore and explain the cosmos: the polarity of chance and contingency, regularity and order, chaos and plurality.”[9]
Yet, skepticism must remain at the forefront of this process. “we need some skepticism about even the reaches of science or the possibilities it provides for reforming our moral life, let alone the pitfalls of religion or ontology or ideology.”[10] Skepticism “is both the beginning and the end of wisdom…It is a corrective, an antidote to the morally intoxicated of every age.”[11]
Source and Nature of Morality According to Secular Humanists
“Morality and moral behavior do not depend on divine commandments but on the development of an internal moral sense and, particularly in the young, the growth of moral character, and the capacity for moral reasoning.”[12] The Humanist Manifesto III declares that humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change. Almost all secular humanists believe in utilitarism. “The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”[13]
Secondly, they believe in objective morality which is the belief that there are things within the universe itself which present a moral code of allowing one to know what is right or wrong. As Paul Kurtz debated, “There is an evolution within human history and civilization and a corresponding development of basic moral principles, and these are often won only after arduous struggles, as in the battles against slavery and racism and for the rights of women.”[14] Somehow, they failed to remember that it was the Christians who lead these battles, not the atheists.
Beliefs Held Tightly
Among the ideals held dearest to the Secular Humanist, as noted in their Second Manifesto, were the belief in sexual freedom, divorce, abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia. They believed Utopia could be found through infiltrating our school systems, teaching our young, taking over the news medias, and overtaking our political arena. Next week we will look further at what went wrong, how they adjusted their ideas to move forward, and how they won the battles even in the Supreme Court. Their ideals, though flawed; promised mankind a way of being “like God” individually; however, their experiments failed. Now we face a society where truth is relative, and the violence of nihilism has split our nation in two.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
We as Americans allowed these ideas to infiltrate the core of our own belief systems with such ease; because, much like Adam and Eve, we wanted to believe that we are good. Although, as God pointed out, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). Without God’s intervening hand of Grace, there would be no good (an argument I will more fully develop as we move forward in this series; but, time limits here today). Jesus provides a way for our hearts to be transformed through faith in Him and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, here and now. He conquered death and sin to rise victoriously. One day He will return. The Utopia our heart so longs for, will be the eternity we live in His presence one day.
The question still remains, what do we as Christians in America do to restore our nation?
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2017
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Credits and Footnotes
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[1] Paul Kurtz, Multi-secularism: A New Agenda, (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2010), 3
[2] Paul Kurtz, A Secular Humanist Declaration, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1980), 14
[3] Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, Trans. Carol Macomber, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007), 22
[4] Richard Norman, On Humanism, 2nd ed. (London: Taylor and Francis, 2012), 16.
[5] Paul Kurtz, Multi-secularism: A New Agenda. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2010), 237
[6] Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, Trans. Carol Macomber, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007), 29.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Paul Kurtz, Multi-secularism: A New Agenda. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2010) 234.
[9] Ibid., 256
[10] Paul Kurtz, “Moral Faith and Ethical Skepticism Reconsidered”, The Journal of Value Inquiry 19, (January 1, 1985), 65
[11] Kurtz, “Moral Faith”, 65
[12] Paul Kurtz, “The Kurtz/Craig Debate: Is Goodness without God Good Enough?”, Is Goodness Without God Good Enough?: A Debate on Faith, Secularism, and Ethic, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009), 25
[13] John Stuart Mill and Roger Crisp, Utilitarianism, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 55
[14] Kurtz, “Goodness without God”, 35
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