Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. Let’s start by talking about humanism.
Often presented as a philosophy associated with atheism and opposed to religion (defined in the sense of the Abrahamic religions), humanism provides an ethical framework without relying on supernatural powers. British philosopher A.C. Grayling, in his book The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism, writes:
“In essence, humanism is the ethical outlook that says each individual is responsible for choosing his or her values and goals and working towards the latter in the light of the former, and is equally responsible for living considerately towards others, with a special view to establishing good relationships at the heart of life, because all good lives are premised on such.”
In Western philosophy, the roots of humanism can be traced back to the Greeks and the fifth century B.C.E. philosopher Protagoras who felt that each person should be his or her own authority. In an entry in The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, Vern Bullough reports:
“Protagoras was impeached for not respecting the gods and was either banished from Athens or had his books burned, depending on which source one consults.”
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, European scholars rediscovered the Greek philosophers and a new humanism began to emerge. With the development of printing technology in the fifteenth century, this new humanism began to reach a wider audience. Vern Bullough writes:
“As this new marketplace for ideas widened, some humanists and scientists grew more keen to challenge ecclesiastical and political censorship.”
The Roman Catholic Church forced some of these humanist writers to recant their words and burned others at the stake.
By the nineteenth century, humanists were defending freedom of thought and championing the idea of tolerance for opposing viewpoints. Vern Bullough reports:
“By the end of the nineteenth century, increasing numbers viewed neither religious revelation nor long-held traditional belief as an authoritative source of knowledge. A few went so far as to deny that either was a source of reliable knowledge at all.”
During the nineteenth century, humanistic organizations began to emerge which offered a non-theistic alternative to the Abrahamic religions. In 1853, for example, the Humanistic Religious Association was formed in London. Vern Bullough reports:
“Its members proclaimed themselves free from contemporary dogmas, myths, and ceremonies of the ancient past.”
Concerning the legal status of humanism in the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 1961 decision, ruled that secular humanists have the same First Amendment protection as other religious practitioners.
Open Thread
This is an open thread—all topics are welcome.
