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"Humanism is the transformation of this Christian doctrine of salvation into a project of universal human
emancipation. The idea of progress is a secular version of the Christian belief in providence." (John Gray in "Straw Dogs" )

Matias 8 June 14
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0

Jesus didn't care about the world or anyone else except the Jews! He even calls gentiles "dogs" and never forgives a gentile of their sins like he did to so many Jews in the Christian bible. Humanists focus on the present world and what we can do to help it, Christianity focuses on the fantasy spiritual world and even says to give up this life for a life in heaven! Salvation focuses on spiritual and Humanism focuses on factual! Christians try to claim that they are the reason for everything good in the world and the truth is they are just a bunch of lying haters.

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Here's the first three paragraphs from The Goal of Humanism. It is on their Truth Magazine website at [truthmagazine.com]

As a philosophy, humanism has several goals. Among some of humanism's positive goals are: (1) freedom in the realm of civil liberties; (2) world peace; (3) elimination of poverty; (4) world unity; etc. These aspirations may be summarized by saying that humanism hopes to make this world "heaven" on earth. Humanists deny life after death and are concentrating their energies on improving this world.

Promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices.

Man's most sacred duty, and at the same time his most glorious opportunity, is to promote the maximum fulfilment of the evolutionary process on this earth; and this includes the fullest realization of his own inherent possibilities.

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Perhaps the original teachings of this man called Jesus but the kind of Christianity practiced today does nothing to improve the conditions of humanity. We should be kind to one another simply because we are all traveling on the same rock

And because, eventually, what affects "them" will affect us.
And because, if we teach ourselves not to care or help, we are likely to turn in to little trumpets

2

1st Christian: Hey look a good idea
2nd Christian: Let's steal it and say it came from God.

0

Especially funny considering humanism was mostly developed by Jews.

4

I'm not aware that humanism has ever defined itself in terms of, or as an elaboration of, Christianity. That's giving Christianity WAY too much credit.

It has ideological roots back to 2nd century Rome and has, so far as I know, always avoided any form of transcendentalism. I'm sure there are individual theists who adopted humanism as an abreaction to or even embellishment of their faith, but I'm with @Rossy92 ... don't perpetuate the notion that humanism is derivative of Christianity.

So, so agree!

4

Just stop it please. I'm no expert on Humanism, but I know enough not swallow that definition above. Perhaps Christian values have an influence, but so do many others, including those of the Enlightenment. That aside, I find it hard to find fault with idea of structuring a society you would want to live in not knowing what gender, race, mental or physical capacity you were going to be born with.

0

Rotten Tomatoes gives this movie a 41% rating, I’ll just leave it at that...

2

ALL religions put their god(s) above humans and everything else. Some might have become a little more compassionate toward their fellow humans, but they certainly are not humanists.

@Matias which again shows contradictory religious thinking, as a flawed being cannot be any version of a god, even a little one, unless one believes in flawed gods, which sadly some do. But your point about humanism is questionable: humanism is about values, not a position of superiority above or outside nature, it seems to me. We certainly wouldn't want to assert false equivalency here.

@jlynn37 Quite so.

@McVinegar
Yes, we are, and to destroy any of the natural world lessens us all.

0

I think secular humanism is a modified version of Judeo-Christian values. It adds values such as equality for minorities and subtracts laws such as stoning adulterers. But I've never actually read a mission statement of a secular humanist group so I don't know how they express their goals and values. I have a fear that as the average Western person loses awareness of Judeo-Christian values and the average secular humanist tends to be academic or intellectual, there will be a huge proportion of people in society with no sense of objective values at all.

@Matias Whatever way you look at it, humankind is a marvellous thing. We have developed, some say over-developed, an awareness of ourselves and the universe we inhabit to the extent that we even come to discuss how, to use the term in the Truth Magazine, we might try to make a 'heaven' here on earth. This is what Judeo-Christian thought proposed to do in real terms. It is what secular humanism proposes in figurative terms.

4

No, I think humanism led to the transformation of Christian doctrine from fundamentalism to Christian humanism, supposedly and theoretically (though questionably) practised by modern Christians.

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