What do you think of the Affirmations of Humanism?

Do you agree with them all? Is it akin to a religious creed? Is John Gray correct when he calls humanism “"a secular religion thrown together from decaying scraps of Christian myth” in his book Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals?

The Affirmations of Humanism:
A Statement of Principles

* We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.
* We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.
* We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.
* We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities.
* We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.
* We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.
* We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
* We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves.
* We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.
* We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.
* We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest.
* We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.
* We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity.
* We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.
* We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion.
* We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.
* We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos.
* We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.
* We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.
* We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.
* We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.

Yes, these affirmations are extraordinarily hard to criticize.  But, let me pick at the concept of normative.

Natural selection acting on groups, a group being a collection of hunting bands in the aboriginal case for humanity, rewards the specialization of individuals even into different normal curves.  This is obvious after being pointed out, but I have no source for this idea other than the writing of Howard K. Bloom.  So, behaviors such as giftedness, gay orientation, and opportunistic predation even, likely do not lie on a single bell curve. And, these may then be more common or less common than selection acting on isolated individuals would allow for.  This would be because the temporary survival of a group has changed the environment of individuals in and around it. And, even depression might be selected for.

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Michael J. Burns

The Manifesto is Liberal Because ...

A psychologist’s report concludes that morality develops from a basis of two or more built-in sensitivities, rather than the older or psychoanalytic idea that morality comes from internalization of role models.

Sociopaths lack these sensitivities, as another book concludes, and make up as much as 4% of the population.

The common sensitivities are those toward harm and fairness.  The Manifesto prominently responds to these concerns.

But conservatives have additional sensitivity to issues of in-group boundaries, respect, and authority.  So, the only trace of conservatism in the Manifesto that registered with me is the mention of norms.

Lakoff also notes the central conservative and libertarian value of patriarchy that is lacking in liberals.

So, conservatives might think of liberals as scofflaws, but is that difference innate or psychoanalytic?

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Michael J. Burns

I do agree with all of these principles, they are rational and reflect most of my own internal beliefs.  However, I don’t feel any of these principles are exclusive or specific to those who would declare themselves a Humanist.  I’m not personally drawn to the title or classification of Humanist, the label sounds a little restrictive for me but I do share their values.  My perspective on their “Statement of Principles” is that it is akin to a religious creed, just like the Ten Commandments, which are both a good set of rules to live by.  However, my gut feeling is that the true motivation behind this “Statement of Principles” is simply a free-thinking set of values published to dispute Religious claims that “Atheists don’t believe in anything,” that “Without a belief in (their) God, man has no moral compass, and therefore without (their) God, there can be no good in the world, only evil will rein Supreme.” Free-Thinkers have a strong moral compass, we are good compassionate people, we are out to protect and serve our fellow man while protecting our own religious freedoms and searching for verifiable truth in our lives.  I have not read John Gray’s book but I don’t see humanism as “a secular religion thrown together from decaying scraps of Christian myth.” Christian myth to me is spiritual, magical, unverifiable miracles based upon exaggeration and fear mongering.  I see Humanism as one of the branches from the non-conformist’s tree of Free-Thought who’s truth’s benefit all mankind, regardless of religious perspective.

Dave