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The Nullifidian Volume 2 Number 04
From ai815@freenet.carleton.caMon Aug 21 11:10:46 1995
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 05:26:09 -0500
From: Greg Erwin <ai815@freenet.carleton.ca>
To: 72724.3223@compuserve.com, Carol.Roberts@mixcom.com,
depearce@lexmark.com, breton@macpost.scar.utoronto.ca, tseditor@aol.com,
TomwFlynn@aol.com, albert.4@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu,
gilletta@uwstout.edu, jimdew@macc.wisc.edu, aa357@freenet.buffalo.edu,
freethnker@aol.com, Jamie.Enns@Eng.Sun.COM, darwnfsh@usa.net,
LaHumanist@aol.com, kris.taylor@smorgasboard.org, lloydk@teleport.com,
ry94ad@badger.ac.brocku.ca, apabel@prairienet.org, perfecto@pcnet.com,
Eric.M.Kidd@Dartmouth.Edu, ftp@locust.cic.net, rblair@shl.com
Subject: April 1995 Nullifidian
Here it is.
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*The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
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###### Volume II, Number 4 ***A Collector's Item!***#####
################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
####################### APR 1995 ###########################
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nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or
belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none +
_fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary
The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of
articles dealing with many aspects of humanism.
We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual
existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental
reality.
We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily
horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive
consequences of allowing religions to be involved with
politics or government.
We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity,
in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of
pie in the sky, bye and bye.
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|| Begging portion of the Zine ||
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There is no charge for receiving this, and there is no
charge for distributing copies to any electronic medium.
Nor is there a restriction on printing a copy for use in
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so without attributing it to the proper author and source.
If you would like to support our efforts, and help us
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Terrasse Eardley / Aylmer, Qc / J9H 6B5 / CANADA. Or buy
our atheist quote address labels, and other fine products,
see "Shameless advertising and crass commercialism" below.
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Articles will be welcomed and very likely used IF:
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godfree@magi.com), or
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they don't require huge amounts of editing; and
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I will gladly reprint articles from your magazine, local
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Recent Equipment purchases.
2. FREETHOUGHT CHAIN LETTER
3. RELIGION and HATRED they're not supposed to be
synonymous, are they?
4. Open letter to prayer advocates, (feel free to
reproduce)
5. Open letter for the next person that calls Hitler an
atheist
6. The Sarva darsana samgraha of Madhava: The doctrine of
the Carvakas, or Materialists
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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Recent Equipment purchases and expenses.
I have registered as a sole proprietor. This makes the
space in the house used for producing the zine tax
deductible. It also cost $180. I have recently been able
to purchase a 386-SX from a friend, but have, as yet, not
paid for it. (Thank you, Colin, for patience.) I also
bought a Zoltrix 14.4 voice/fax/data modem. The store
wanted the money up front. I would eventually like to get a
decent printer, as I can see that actual printed products
are much more likely to be able to be sold for money. I
have also signed up with a local provider of a much better
internet connection, at less than $20 per month. When I can
afford to take the course on setting up a home page, and
learn how to use all the ftp, telnet, finger and other
stuff, big changes may happen. I need the time and the
money to take the course to find out what to do. Further
down the line are a scanner and OCR software, to be able to
capture text from newsletters, old books, and so on; and
then finally an even better computer (486 or Pentium, multi-
media, CD.) Donations, even purchases, have been few and
far between. The main purchases have been of the quote
labels, also few and far between.
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|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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"Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the
occurrence of the improbable." [H. L. Mencken]
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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FREETHOUGHT CHAIN LETTER
From: "TIMOTHEUS(GORSKI)" <72724.3223@compuserve.com>
To: BlindCopyReceiver:;
Subject: Freethought Chain Letter
Message-ID: <950327023432_72724.3223_FHP30-1@CompuServe.COM>
Ever get "THE SAINT JUDE LETTER?" It's a chain letter that
asks you to duplicate and send to others for "luck." Legal,
too, since it's not a money scheme. Richard Dawkins (of
Selfish Gene and Blind Watchmaker fame) and Oliver
Goodenough called the St. Jude letter a "mind virus" and a
"postal parasite" in the 9/1/94 issue of the British journal
NATURE. Below please find a FREETHOUGHT CHAIN LETTER.
Please send it on to as many others as possible. You don't
need to be told of the benefits of spreading the message of
rationalism, or of the dangers of people acting on
principles other than that of reason. For those of you who
get *The Freethought Exchange,* this is a slightly altered
"dumbed-down" version of the letter printed in #17. Let's
send freethought around the world a few times!
REASON, THE ONLY ORACLE
You have been sent this letter for a reason. Its message is
vital to you. It began some 12,000 years ago, somewhere in
what is now central Europe. A scout for a small band of
hunters, his name now lost to us, scratched out "bear
coming" on a stone and threw it to his companions. While
others fled to safety, two of the tribesmen consulted with
their shaman, who announced that the bear was a divine
messenger sent to tell them where to find game. As a result,
the three were fatally mauled by the bear they had been
warned of. This is no joke. Send 20 copies of this letter
to others. Send no money as reason is priceless.
About the year 340 B.C.E., two Roman traders received this
letter, urging them to rely on facts and think rationally.
One of them noticed darkening clouds low on the horizon and
a slight increase in the wind. He decided to delay his
departure by sea. The other merchant was in a hurry to sell
his goods abroad and paid a seer to tell him that it was a
good time to set sail. When the worst storm of the century
struck, the first trader was safe in his house with his ship
tied up at the dock. The other was far out at sea and his
vessel was lost with all hands. Rational thought works.
The world is sorely in need of it. Accordingly, this
message must leave your hands as soon as possible. Do note
the following: the authorities in a major city during the
Middle Ages scorned as blasphemy this letter's call to
reject superstition and choose rational thinking. They
tried to destroy all copies of its message. When the Black
Death swept into the country, these people and those who
trusted them packed themselves into churches to pray to
their God. Many succumbed to the contagion in this way.
When the letter was again discovered, the Enlightenment and
the Age of Reason followed. Montezuma of the Aztecs
received this letter at about the time that Cortez landed on
the coast of Mexico. Having already supposed the Spaniards
to be supernatural visitors, by the time Montezuma realized
the truth it was too late. Thomas Edison began his long
career of invention and innovation immediately after
following the advice of this letter. Marie Curie, Alexander
Graham Bell, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Robert Goddard,
Alexander Fleming, Albert Einstein, and numerous others all
experienced similar remarkable results. Others gained
fortunes after deciding to apply the principles urged by
this letter. Remember, send no money. And please don't
ignore this note. Your very life and the future of humanity
depend on its message.
LIBERTY OF THOUGHT IS THE LIFE OF THE SOUL
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
REASON
IT WORKS
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The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are
free to do than in what we are free not to do. --Eric Hoffer
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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RELIGION and HATRED they're not supposed to be synonymous,
are they?
*In Northern Ireland, on Halloween 1993, Protestant
terrorists burst into a Catholic pub, shouted "trick or
treat" and opened fire, killing seven and wounding eleven.
*In Bosnia, in 1992, Orthodox Christian Serb gunmen
herded Muslim families into a basement and tossed in
grenades, then joked that the screams sounded 'just like a
mosque.'
*A Catholic man living in Annapolis, Maryland pleaded
guilty of 1994 to beating his mother to death with a small
statue of the Virgin Mary.
*A Beverly Hills, Michigan reverend pleaded guilty in
1991 to robbing 14 banks of $47,000 to pay for his daily use
of prostitutes. He got seven years in prison.
*A Columbus, Ohio televangelist was sentenced to 104
years in prison for child pornography and engaging in sex
with children. He used the video equipment of his church to
make the "kiddie porn."
*A woman evangelist of Pace, Florida, was charged in
1990 with telling a mother to beat her baby daughter in
order to drive out six demons. The mother pleaded guilty to
pummeling the infant to death and the evangelist was
convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to life in
prison.
*In Oregon in 1993, a fundamentalist woman shot an
abortionist clinic doctor and called it "the most holy, the
most righteous thing I've ever done." A Florida man who
killed an abortion clinic doctor was called a "hero" by a
fundamentalist magazine.
HOLY HATRED
^^^^^^^^^^^
Religious Conflicts of the '90s
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
James A. Haught
ISBN 0-87975-922-4/cloth/$21.95/225pgs/photos
Order your copy today!
Phone 800-421-0351
Fax (716)-691-0137
Immediate shipment..
Prometheus Books; 59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228
=========================================================
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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"In every country and in every age the priest has been
hostile to liberty; he is always in allegiance to the
despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his
own." [Thomas Jefferson]
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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Open letter to prayer advocates, (feel free to reproduce)
You recently have called for support for "the traditional
right to have prayer in schools." I do not know where you
find such a right. The whole thrust of the constitution,
the Bill of Rights and the commentary on these documents by
the founders of America indicates an overwhelming desire to
be free from such falsely named "liberties."
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson refused to proclaim days
of fast and thanksgiving, because this would be perceived as
an entanglement of government and religion. Other early
presidents felt and acted the same. They were well
acquainted with, and had a fear of the pernicious aspects of
an established church, an idea which they loathed as much as
they hated the ideas of aristocracy and monarchy. No early
leader would have accepted a knighthood, as did George Bush,
such an action would have been repellent to their
egalitarian convictions.
Let us first establish what we are considering. Private
prayer has, or course, never been banned. Any person too
lazy to study, or who feels comfort in so doing may offer up
private prayer at any time in any place. What is prohibited
is government sponsored prayer, which has serious coercive
aspects, especially in a school context where the victims
would be young, impressionable children.
The history of the objection to the idea of an established
church and forced attendance at prayers and services (as
well as government collection of tithes and other
"donations") is not a history of atheists and communists
trying to break down piety, but that of dissident religious
sects trying to freely practice their beliefs according to
their consciences. You should be well aware that in Great
Britain, the fight for the right not to join the established
church took centuries to win. Before it was won, many
dissident sectarians, such as Quakers, Methodists and
Plymouth Brethren (it seems strange that such mainstream
folks were once considered dangerous cultists) were
tortured, died, paid fines and served prison sentences
rather than violate their consciences, by going to
established church services or paying to support them.
I am sure that, at the time, many Anglicans were outraged
that such radicals wanted to deny them their "traditional
liberty" to have Anglican services in schools and at work,
sponsored and paid for by the government with tax funds
collected from everybody. Of course, in Catholic countries,
everybody has the "right" to be subjected to Catholic
services and prayers, (and to pay for them); and in most
Muslim countries, your "traditional liberty" is currently
the law of the land, and anyone who doesn't participate in
Islamic prayer and services is in danger of life, limb and
liberty. Christian evangelization is outlawed and, in many
countries, such as Saudi Arabia, public Christian services
may not be held. What makes you think that your church will
be the state church?
Because of the history of coercion which they had seen in
Catholic and Protestant Europe and experienced under the
Church of England, the founders of America determined that
the best system would be one in which everybody had the
right to practice a religion, but in which no one would be
forced to practice or support any particular religion, or
indeed, any religion at all.
The horrors of the Inquisition, and then, Protestant
reaction to Catholic tortures were fresh. Books of martyrs
were the stuff of children's reading lists. Protestants
burned at the stake by Catholics, Quakers hanged by
Puritans, Catholics beheaded by Anglicans; for good reason,
the founders of the United States wanted to avoid the
consequences of a state religion.
If these legal and historical arguments do not sway you,
could you please consider the effect that being labelled an
outsider and "different" has on a young child. I know Jews,
Muslims, atheists and Hindus, who had miserable school
experiences because they were singled out as different,
because the Christians in the school insisted on staging
public coercive prayers, in which they could not, in
conscience, participate. You may not believe this, but
atheists have a conscience and this conscience does not
permit them to lie by pretending to pray. Many Catholics do
not feel they can participate in Protestant prayers; Jews
and other non Christians are excluded as well.
Is it not simpler, fairer and more compassionate to let each
person be religious (or not) in the way that he or she
wishes? People can pray communally in church before and
after work or school and all weekend. People can pray
privately all day long, if they so desire. What they should
not be able to do is to force others into a religious
practice, which violates their conscience, and currently
violates the law of the land.
I am hoping that in a future article you will admit your
error and stress that you do not sanction coercing others
into Christian religious practices. As well, you should
study the writings of the founders of the United States and
become acquainted with their revulsion toward an
establishment of religion, and the major steps they took to
avoid it, or indeed, even the appearance of it.
I will close by stressing that this is not an attack on
religion, nor on prayer, or on any other religious practice;
it is simply a request that you recognize that the American
tradition is one of freedom to freely practice any religion,
(as long as no laws are broken) as well as the freedom not
to practice religion. The tradition is also that the
government does not support any particular religion,
including even a vaguely defined Christianity, and should
not support religion or religious activity in any way. This
last "tradition" is being sadly eroded of late. I am sure
that you would object (and rightly so) if any of your tax
money was spent on promoting a cult such as Scientology, or
the "Church" of Satan. I, too, feel that my tax money
should not be spent on religion, while at the same time
wholeheartedly supporting the freedom of each and every
person to practice or not practice religion, whether in
private or in groups.
=========================================================
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
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"While we are under the tyranny of Priests [...] it will
ever be in their interest, to invalidate the law of nature
and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible
therewith." [Ethan Allen, _Reason the Only Oracle of Man_]
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|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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Open letter for the next person that calls Hitler an atheist
Feel free to use this, edited in any way you like, (same
applies to the previous letter) the next time someone refers
to the Nazis as atheists, or remarks that Hitler was an
atheist. This one went to The American Spectator. Changing
the first two paragraphs to reflect the specific offence
that you note should do the trick.
Dear Editor:
Your book review of Cultures in Conflict: Christians,
Muslims and Jews in the Age of Discovery by Bernard Lewis,
reviewed by Francis X. Rocca, contained a totally inaccurate
and slanderous insult to atheists when talking about the
destruction of the Jewish community of Salonika: that the
worst fanatics of the past were no match for the atheistic
killers of our own century.
Perhaps Mr Rocca's Catholicism is his motivation for
displacing the blame for the murders of the Jews and others
from Herr Hitler, life-long Catholic and ally of the Pope,
onto atheists, but the lie just does not work. Hitler and
the Nazis in Germany found no conflict between their desire
to murder the Jews of Europe and their Christianity. In
fact, the history of Christianity was their ally, and an
inspiration to them. I apologize if Francis X. Rocca is not
a Catholic.
For instance, the writings and sermons of Luther provided
ample justification for killing Jews and considering them to
be subhuman creatures. The yellow star on the sleeve, the
ghetto, denial of citizenship, and restriction of
opportunity in business and employment, quotas in
universities, as well as calculated and casual murder, were
all Christian traditions of long standing revived by the
Nazis. It was the atheists and humanists of the
Enlightenment who forced the Catholic and state Protestant
churches of Europe to abolish these disgusting Christian
practices. It was the Christians throughout Europe who
fought against the Enlightenment, with its radical notions
of science, secularism and egalitarianism, until their
champion, Hitler, reintroduced the practices of medieval
Christianity, with their full approval. Until he started to
lose.
In North America, the Catholic priest Father Coughlin had an
extremely popular anti-Semitic pro-Nazi radio show
throughout the 30s. In Catholic Quebec, the nationalist
Abb Groulx contributed essay after essay in Le Devoir
admiring Germany and recommending that Quebec Catholics
follow Hitler's example. And Canada's Prime Minister,
commenting on the possibility of admitting Jewish refugees,
cracked the witticism, "None is too many," happily leaving
them to their fate.
>From the earliest anti-Semitic lies placed in the Bible in
regard to "blood guilt," through the crusades, which often
began with some warm-up slaughtering of the local Jews to
get the Crusaders into the proper frame of mind for killing
other non Christians in the Holy Land, right up to the Nazis
and their Christian collaborators throughout Europe, (there
were willing and eager Jew hunters in every conquered
country, Christians, every one) and even to the post war
Catholics who provided sanctuary and refuge for Nazi war
criminals on the run, to Popes who honour former Nazis with
knighthoods; hatred and murder of Jews has been a basic part
of the holy Christian religion. We honour those who aided
Jews to escape the Nazi net because their help and heroism
were exceptional, and not the rule.
I believe it was when the Nazis started losing the war that
many former allies suddenly began to recognize certain of
their errors. If we hope to learn from history, we must not
let self-serving Christians substitute their lies for
reality.
For those Christians who have started believing their own
lies, and think that Big Brother can rewrite history and
thereby erase what actually occurred, I might recommend Lucy
Davidovitz's War Against the Jews, which has a through
analysis of the Christian roots of the anti-Semitism that
culminated in the Holocaust. By the way, this century was
hardly the first time that organized Christians committed
mass murders of Jews.
The Nazis actually had implemented many of the policies that
modern Republicans and conservative Christians are
clamouring for: they had a state church, daily prayers in
the schools and compulsory creedal statements; they forbade
abortions, rejected feminism, outlawed homosexuality, and
would not allow non Christians in government or business.
The Nazis were not atheists, they were the Christian
Coalition in power. They were allies of the Pope, and were
acknowledged by Christians throughout the world as bulwarks
against atheistic socialism and defenders of western
Christian civilization. Until they began to lose.
I will admit that it is possible that your reviewer is
simply an incompetent researcher and grossly ignorant of
history, rather than a deliberate liar.
Please print this and retract the lie.
=========================================================
|| END OF ARTICLE ||
=========================================================
'...the Bible as we have it contains elements that are
scientifically incorrect or even morally repugnant. No
amount of "explaining away" can convince us that such
passages are the product of Divine Wisdom.' -- Bernard J.
Bamberger, _The Story of Judaism_
===========================================================
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
===========================================================
This is a medieval text from India. There was a materialist
school of philosophy. The religious people brought forward
their usual (and only) counter-arguments: murder and book
burning. This fragment survives in a quote by an opponent.
The Sarva darsana samgraha of Madhava
The doctrine of the Carvakas, or Materialists
There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in
another world,
Nor do the actions of the four castes, orders, etc., produce
any real effect.
The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the ascetics's three staves,
and smearing one's self with ashes,
Were made by Nature as the livelihood of those destitute of
knowledge and manliness.
If a beast slain in the Jyotistoma rite will itself go to
heaven,
Why then does not the sacrificer forthwith offer his own
father?
If the Sraddha produces gratification to beings who are
dead,
Then here, too, in the case of travellers when they start,
it is needless to give provisions for the journey.
If beings in heaven are gratified by our offering the
Sraddha here,
Then why not give the food down below to those who are
standing on the housetop?
While life remains let a man live happily, let him feed on
ghee even though he runs in debt;
When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return
again?
If he who departs from the body goes to another world,
How is it that he comes not back again, restless for love of
his kindred?
Hence it is only as a means of livelihood that Brahmins have
established here
All these ceremonies for the dead,ÄÄthere is no other fruit
anywhere.
The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons, knaves, and
demons.
All the well-known formulae of the pandits, jarphari,
turphari, etc.
And all the obscene rites for the queen commanded in the
Asvamedha,
These were invented by buffoons, and so all the various
kinds of presents to the priests,
While the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by night-
prowling demons.
The doctrine of the Carvakas, or Materialists
Free Translation
If you are not familiar with all of the specifically Hindu
religious mumbo jumbo, this is a cultural as well as
linguistic translation.
There is no heaven, no nirvana, no immortal soul.
Nor do prayers, sacrifices, or pilgrimages produce any real
effect.
Masses, Bibles, priests' robes, and images
Were put in the world to be the livelihood of the stupid and
cowardly.
If baptism removes all sins and the sinless go straight to
heaven,
Why not kill your babies as soon as they are baptised?
If prayers on earth could help the souls of the dead,
Then there would be no need to give travellers provisions
for their journey.
If sacrifices on earth could feed the heavenly host,
Then a table set on the street could feed the workers on the
roof.
While life remains, live happily, eat caviar even though you
are in debt;
When the body has rotted, how can it return?
If the soul of the dead one goes to another world,
How come love of family doesn't draw it back?
All of this is a swindle that the priests have established
here.
All of the ceremonies for the dead, they don't really do
anything.
The authors of all Holy Books were buffoons, knaves and
crooks.
All the priestly prayers, "Pater Noster," "Hail Mary," and
so on
And all the mumbo jumbo for crowning thieves, kings,
And all sorts of nonsense whether with water, ashes, oil,
fire, bread or wine,
These were invented by fools. And thieves invented presents
to beggars and priests.
And cranks invented the prohibitions of different foods.
===========================================================
|| BEGINNING OF ARTICLE ||
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>From the American Humanist Association
The complete texts of
HUMANIST MANIFESTOS I AND II
=============================
Humanist Manifesto I
--------------------
The Manifesto is a product of many minds. It was designed
to represent a developing point of view, not a new creed.
The individuals whose signatures appear would, had they been
writing individual statements, have stated the propositions
in differing terms. The importance of the document is that
more than thirty men have come to general agreement on
matters of final concern and that these men are undoubtedly
representative of a large number who are forging a new
philosophy out of the materials of the modern world.
-- Raymond B. Bragg (1933)
The time has come for widespread recognition of the
radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern
world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional
attitudes. Science and economic change have disrupted the
old beliefs. Religions the world over are under the
necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by
a vastly increased knowledge and experience. In every field
of human activity, the vital movement is now in the
direction of a candid and explicit humanism. In order that
religious humanism may be better understood we, the
undersigned, desire to make certain affirmations which we
believe the facts of our contemporary life demonstrate.
There is great danger of a final, and we believe fatal,
identification of the word religion with doctrines and
methods which have lost their significance and which are
powerless to solve the problem of human living in the
Twentieth Century. Religions have always been means for
realizing the highest values of life. Their end has been
accomplished through the interpretation of the total
environing situation (theology or world view), the sense of
values resulting therefrom (goal or ideal), and the
technique (cult), established for realizing the satisfactory
life. A change in any of these factors results in
alteration of the outward forms of religion. This fact
explains the changefulness of religions through the
centuries. But through all changes religion itself remains
constant in its quest for abiding values, an inseparable
feature of human life.
Today man's larger understanding of the universe, his
scientific achievements, and deeper appreciation of
brotherhood, have created a situation which requires a new
statement of the means and purposes of religion. Such a
vital, fearless, and frank religion capable of furnishing
adequate social goals and personal satisfactions may appear
to many people as a complete break with the past. While
this age does owe a vast debt to the traditional religions,
it is none the less obvious that any religion that can hope
to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today must be
shaped for the needs of this age. To establish such a
religion is a major necessity of the present. It is a
responsibility which rests upon this generation. We
therefore affirm the following:
FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as
self-existing and not created.
SECOND: Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and
that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process.
THIRD: Holding an organic view of life, humanists find that
the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected.
FOURTH: Humanism recognizes that man's religious culture
and civilization, as clearly depicted by anthropology and
history, are the product of a gradual development due to his
interaction with his natural environment and with his social
heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is
largely molded by that culture.
FIFTH: Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe
depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any
supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values.
Obviously humanism does not deny the possibility of
realities as yet undiscovered, but it does insist that the
way to determine the existence and value of any and all
realities is by means of intelligent inquiry and by the
assessment of their relations to human needs. Religion must
formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific
spirit and method.
SIXTH: We are convinced that the time has passed for
theism, deism, modernism, and the several varieties of "new
thought".
SEVENTH: Religion consists of those actions, purposes, and
experiences which are humanly significant. Nothing human is
alien to the religious. It includes labor, art, science,
philosophy, love, friendship, recreation -- all that is in
its degree expressive of intelligently satisfying human
living. The distinction between the sacred and the secular
can no longer be maintained.
EIGHTH: Religious Humanism considers the complete
realization of human personality to be the end of man's life
and seeks its development and fulfillment in the here and
now. This is the explanation of the humanist's social
passion.
NINTH: In the place of the old attitudes involved in
worship and prayer the humanist finds his religious emotions
expressed in a heightened sense of personal life and in a
cooperative effort to promote social well-being.
TENTH: It follows that there will be no uniquely religious
emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with
belief in the supernatural.
ELEVENTH: Man will learn to face the crises of life in
terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability.
Reasonable and manly attitudes will be fostered by education
and supported by custom. We assume that humanism will take
the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage
sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking.
TWELFTH: Believing that religion must work increasingly for
joy in living, religious humanists aim to foster the
creative in man and to encourage achievements that add to
the satisfactions of life.
THIRTEENTH: Religious humanism maintains that all
associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of
human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation,
control, and direction of such associations and institutions
with a view to the enhancement of human life is the purpose
and program of humanism. Certainly religious institutions,
their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and
communal activities must be reconstituted as rapidly as
experience allows, in order to function effectively in the
modern world.
FOURTEENTH: The humanists are firmly convinced that
existing acquisitive and profit-motivated society has shown
itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in
methods, controls, and motives must be instituted. A
socialized and cooperative economic order must be
established to the end that the equitable distribution of
the means of life be possible. The goal of humanism is a
free and universal society in which people voluntarily and
intelligently cooperate for the common good. Humanists
demand a shared life in a shared world.
FIFTEENTH AND LAST: We assert that humanism will: (a)
affirm life rather than deny it; (b) seek to elicit the
possibilities of life, not flee from them; and (c) endeavor
to establish the conditions of a satisfactory life for all,
not merely for the few. By this positive morale and
intention humanism will be guided, and from this perspective
and alignment the techniques and efforts of humanism will
flow.
So stand the theses of religious humanism. Though we
consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers no
longer adequate, the quest for the good life is still the
central task for mankind. Man is at last becoming aware that
he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of
his dreams, that he has within him- self the power for its
achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: There were 34 signers of this document,
including Anton J. Carlson, John Dewey, John H. Dietrich, R.
Lester Mondale, Charles Francis Potter, Curtis W. Reese, and
Edwin H. Wilson.]
===========================================================
Humanist Manifesto II
---------------------
-- Preface --
It is forty years since Humanist Manifesto I (1933)
appeared. Events since then make that earlier statement seem
far too optimistic. Nazism has shown the depths of
brutality of which humanity is capable. Other totalitarian
regimes have suppressed human rights without ending poverty.
Science has sometimes brought evil as well as good. Recent
decades have shown that inhuman wars can be made in the name
of peace. The beginnings of police states, even in
democratic societies, widespread government espionage, and
other abuses of power by military, political, and industrial
elites, and the continuance of unyielding racism, all
present a different and difficult social outlook. In
various societies, the demands of women and minority groups
for equal rights effectively challenge our generation.
As we approach the twenty-first century, however, an
affirmative and hopeful vision is needed. Faith,
commensurate with advancing knowledge, is also necessary.
In the choice between despair and hope, humanists respond in
this Humanist Manifesto II with a positive declaration for
times of uncertainty.
As in 1933, humanists still believe that traditional theism,
especially faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to live
and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers,
and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved
and outmoded faith. Salvationism, based on mere
affirmation, still appears as harmful, diverting people with
false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to
other means for survival.
Those who sign Humanist Manifesto II disclaim that they are
setting forth a binding credo; their individual views would
be stated in widely varying ways. This statement is,
however, reaching for vision in a time that needs direction.
It is social analysis in an effort at consensus. New
statements should be developed to supersede this, but for
today it is our conviction that humanism offers an
alternative that can serve present-day needs and guide
humankind toward the future.
-- Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson
(1973)
The next century can be and should be the humanistic
century. Dramatic scientific, technological, and
ever-accelerating social and political changes crowd our
awareness. We have virtually conquered the planet, explored
the moon, overcome the natural limits of travel and
communication; we stand at the dawn of a new age, ready to
move farther into space and perhaps inhabit other planets.
Using technology wisely, we can control our environment,
conquer poverty, markedly reduce disease, extend our
life-span, significantly modify our behavior, alter the
course of human evolution and cultural development, unlock
vast new powers, and provide humankind with unparalleled
opportunity for achieving an abundant and meaningful life.
The future is, however, filled with dangers. In learning to
apply the scientific method to nature and human life, we
have opened the door to ecological damage, over-population,
dehumanizing institutions, totalitarian repression, and
nuclear and bio- chemical disaster. Faced with apocalyptic
prophesies and doomsday scenarios, many flee in despair from
reason and embrace irrational cults and theologies of
withdrawal and retreat.
Traditional moral codes and newer irrational cults both fail
to meet the pressing needs of today and tomorrow. False
"theologies of hope" and messianic ideologies,
substituting new dogmas for old, cannot cope with existing
world realities. They separate rather than unite peoples.
Humanity, to survive, requires bold and daring measures. We
need to extend the uses of scientific method, not renounce
them, to fuse reason with compassion in order to build
constructive social and moral values. Confronted by many
possible futures, we must decide which to pursue. The
ultimate goal should be the fulfillment of the potential for
growth in each human personality -- not for the favored few,
but for all of humankind. Only a shared world and global
measures will suffice.
A humanist outlook will tap the creativity of each human
being and provide the vision and courage for us to work
together. This outlook emphasizes the role human beings can
play in their own spheres of action. The decades ahead call
for dedicated, clear- minded men and women able to marshal
the will, intelligence, and cooperative skills for shaping a
desirable future. Humanism can provide the purpose and
inspiration that so many seek; it can give personal meaning
and significance to human life.
Many kinds of humanism exist in the contemporary world. The
varieties and emphases of naturalistic humanism include
"scientific," "ethical," "democratic," "religious," and
"Marxist" humanism. Free thought, atheism, agnosticism,
skepticism, deism, rationalism, ethical culture, and liberal
religion all claim to be heir to the humanist tradition.
Humanism traces its roots from ancient China, classical
Greece and Rome, through the Renaissance and the
Enlightenment, to the scientific revolution of the modern
world. But views that merely reject theism are not
equivalent to humanism. They lack commitment to the
positive belief in the possibilities of human progress and
to the values central to it. Many within religious groups,
believing in the future of humanism, now claim humanist
credentials. Humanism is an ethical process through which
we all can move, above and beyond the divisive particulars,
heroic personalities, dogmatic creeds, and ritual customs
of past religions or their mere negation.
We affirm a set of common principles that can serve as a
basis for united action -- positive principles relevant to
the present human condition. They are a design for a
secular society on a planetary scale.
For these reasons, we submit this new Humanist Manifesto for
the future of humankind; for us, it is a vision of hope, a
direction for satisfying survival.
-- Religion --
FIRST: In the best sense, religion may inspire dedication
to the highest ethical ideals. The cultivation of moral
devotion and creative imagination is an expression of
genuine "spiritual" experience and aspiration.
We believe, however, that traditional dogmatic or
authoritarian religions that place revelation, God, ritual,
or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to
the human species. Any account of nature should pass the
tests of scientific evidence; in our judgment, the dogmas
and myths of traditional religions do not do so. Even at
this late date in human history, certain elementary facts
based upon the critical use of scientific reason have to be
restated. We find insufficient evidence for belief in the
existence of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or
irrelevant to the question of survival and fulfillment of
the human race. As nontheists, we begin with humans not
God, nature not deity. Nature may indeed be broader and
deeper than we now know; any new discoveries, however, will
but enlarge our knowledge of the natural.
Some humanists believe we should reinterpret traditional
religions and reinvest them with meanings appropriate to the
current situation. Such redefinitions, however, often
perpetuate old dependencies and escapisms; they easily
become obscurantist, impeding the free use of the intellect.
We need, instead, radically new human purposes and goals.
We appreciate the need to preserve the best ethical
teachings in the religious traditions of humankind, many of
which we share in common. But we reject those features of
traditional religious morality that deny humans a full
appreciation of their own potentialities and
responsibilities. Traditional religions often offer solace
to humans, but, as often, they inhibit humans from helping
themselves or experiencing their full potentialities. Such
institutions, creeds, and rituals often impede the will to
serve others. Too often traditional faiths encourage
dependence rather than independence, obedience rather than
affirmation, fear rather than courage. More recently they
have generated concerned social action, with many signs of
relevance appearing in the wake of the "God Is Dead"
theologies. But we can discover no divine purpose or
providence for the human species. While there is much that
we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or
will become. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.
SECOND: 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. Modern science
discredits such historic concepts as the "ghost in the
machine" and the "separable soul." Rather, science affirms
that the human species is an emergence from natural
evolutionary forces. As far as we know, the total
personality is a function of the biological organism
transacting in a social and cultural context. There is no
credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.
We continue to exist in our progeny and in the way that our
lives have influenced others in our culture.
Traditional religions are surely not the only obstacles to
human progress. Other ideologies also impede human advance.
Some forms of political doctrine, for instance, function
religiously, reflecting the worst features of orthodoxy and
authoritarianism, especially when they sacrifice individuals
on the altar of Utopian promises. Purely economic and
political viewpoints, whether capitalist or communist, often
function as religious and ideological dogma. Although
humans undoubtedly need economic and political goals, they
also need creative values by which to live.
-- Ethics --
THIRD: We affirm that moral values derive their source from
human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational
needing no theological or ideological sanction. Ethics
stems from human need and interest. To deny this distorts
the whole basis of life. Human life has meaning because we
create and develop our futures. Happiness and the creative
realization of human needs and desires, individually and in
shared enjoyment, are continuous themes of humanism. We
strive for the good life, here and now. The goal is to
pursue life's enrichment despite debasing forces of
vulgarization, commercialization, and dehumanization.
FOURTH: Reason and intelligence are the most effective
instruments that humankind possesses. There is no
substitute: neither faith nor passion suffices in itself.
The controlled use of scientific methods, which have
transformed the natural and social sciences since the
Renaissance, must be extended further in the solution of
human problems. But reason must be tempered by humility,
since no group has a monopoly of wisdom or virtue. Nor is
there any guarantee that all problems can be solved or all
questions answered. Yet critical intelligence, infused by a
sense of human caring, is the best method that humanity has
for resolving problems. Reason should be balanced with
compassion and empathy and the whole person fulfilled.
Thus, we are not advocating the use of scientific
intelligence independent of or in opposition to emotion, for
we believe in the cultivation of feeling and love. As
science pushes back the boundary of the known, humankind's
sense of wonder is continually renewed, and art, poetry,
and music find their places, along with religion and ethics.
-- The Individual --
FIFTH: The preciousness and dignity of the individual
person is a central humanist value. Individuals should be
encouraged to realize their own creative talents and
desires. We reject all religious, ideological, or moral
codes that denigrate the individual, suppress freedom, dull
intellect, dehumanize personality. We believe in maximum
individual autonomy consonant with social responsibility.
Although science can account for the causes of behavior, the
possibilities of individual freedom of choice exist in human
life and should be increased.
SIXTH: In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant
attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and
puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The
right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be
recognized. While we do not approve of exploitive,
denigrating forms of sexual expression, neither do we wish
to prohibit, by law or social sanction, sexual behavior
between consenting adults. The many varieties of sexual
exploration should not in themselves be considered "evil."
Without countenancing mindless permissiveness or unbridled
promiscuity, a civilized society should be a tolerant one.
Short of harming others or compelling them to do likewise,
individuals should be permitted to express their sexual
proclivities and pursue their life-styles as they desire.
We wish to cultivate the development of a responsible
attitude toward sexuality, in which humans are not exploited
as sexual objects, and in which intimacy, sensitivity,
respect, and honesty in interpersonal relations are
encouraged. Moral education for children and adults is an
important way of developing awareness and sexual maturity.
-- Democratic Society --
SEVENTH: To enhance freedom and dignity the individual must
experience a full range of civil liberties in all societies.
This includes freedom of speech and the press, political
democracy, the legal right of opposition to governmental
policies, fair judicial process, religious liberty, freedom
of association, and artistic, scientific, and cultural
freedom. It also includes a recognition of an individual's
right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and the right to
suicide. We oppose the increasing invasion of privacy, by
whatever means, in both totalitarian and democratic
societies. We would safeguard, extend, and implement the
principles of human freedom evolved from the Magna Carta to
the Bill of Rights, the Rights of Man, and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
EIGHTH: We are committed to an open and democratic society.
We must extend participatory democracy in its true sense to
the economy, the school, the family, the workplace, and
voluntary associations. Decision-making must be
decentralized to include widespread involvement of people at
all levels -- social, political, and economic. All persons
should have a voice in developing the values and goals that
determine their lives. Institutions should be responsive to
expressed desires and needs. The conditions of work,
education, devotion, and play should be humanized.
Alienating forces should be modified or eradicated and
bureaucratic structures should be held to a minimum. People
are more important than decalogues, rules, proscriptions, or
regulations.
NINTH: The separation of church and state and the
separation of ideology and state are imperatives. The state
should encourage maximum freedom for different moral,
political, religious, and social values in society. It
should not favor any particular religious bodies through the
use of public monies, nor espouse a single ideology and
function thereby as an instrument of propaganda or
oppression, particularly against dissenters.
TENTH: Humane societies should evaluate economic systems
not by rhetoric or ideology, but by whether or not they
increase economic well-being for all individuals and groups,
minimize poverty and hardship, increase the sum of human
satisfaction, and enhance the quality of life. Hence the
door is open to alternative economic systems. We need to
democratize the economy and judge it by its responsiveness
to human needs, testing results in terms of the common good.
ELEVENTH: The principle of moral equality must be furthered
through elimination of all discrimination based upon race,
religion, sex, age, or national origin. This means equality
of opportunity and recognition of talent and merit.
Individuals should be encouraged to contribute to their own
betterment. If unable, then society should provide means to
satisfy their basic economic, health, and cultural needs,
including, wherever resources make possible, a minimum
guaranteed annual income. We are concerned for the welfare
of the aged, the infirm, the disadvantaged, and also for the
outcasts -- the mentally retarded, abandoned, or abused
children, the handicapped, prisoners, and addicts -- for all
who are neglected or ignored by society. Practicing
humanists should make it their vocation to humanize personal
relations.
We believe in the right to universal education. Everyone
has a right to the cultural opportunity to fulfill his or
her unique capacities and talents. The schools should
foster satisfying and productive living. They should be
open at all levels to any and all; the achievement of
excellence should be encouraged. Innovative and experimental
forms of education are to be welcomed. The energy and
idealism of the young deserve to be appreciated and
channeled to constructive purposes.
We deplore racial, religious, ethnic, or class antagonisms.
Although we believe in cultural diversity and encourage
racial and ethnic pride, we reject separations which promote
alienation and set people and groups against each other; we
envision an integrated community where people have a maximum
opportunity for free and voluntary association.
We are critical of sexism or sexual chauvinism -- male or
female. We believe in equal rights for both women and men to
fulfill their unique careers and potentialities as they see
fit, free of invidious discrimination.
-- World Community --
TWELFTH: We deplore the division of humankind on
nationalistic grounds. We have reached a turning point in
human history where the best option is to transcend the
limits of national sovereignty and to move toward the
building of a world community in which all sectors of the
human family can participate. Thus we look to the
development of a system of world law and a world order based
upon transnational federal government. This would
appreciate cultural pluralism and diversity. It would not
exclude pride in national origins and accomplishments nor
the handling of regional problems on a regional basis.
Human progress, however, can no longer be achieved by
focusing on one section of the world, Western or Eastern,
developed or underdeveloped. For the first time in human
history, no part of humankind can be isolated from any
other. Each person's future is in some way linked to all.
We thus reaffirm a commitment to the building of world
community, at the same time recognizing that this commits us
to some hard choices.
THIRTEENTH: This world community must renounce the resort
to violence and force as a method of solving international
disputes. We believe in the peaceful adjudication of
differences by international courts and by the development
of the arts of negotiation and compromise. War is obsolete.
So is the use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
It is a planetary imperative to reduce the level of military
expenditures and turn these savings to peaceful and
people-oriented uses.
FOURTEENTH: The world community must engage in cooperative
planning concerning the use of rapidly depleting resources.
The planet earth must be considered a single ecosystem.
Ecological damage, resource depletion, and excessive
population growth must be checked by international concord.
The cultivation and conservation of nature is a moral value;
we should perceive ourselves as integral to the sources of
our being in nature. We must free our world from needless
pollution and waste, responsibly guarding and creating
wealth, both natural and human. Exploitation of natural
resources, uncurbed by social conscience, must end.
FIFTEENTH: The problems of economic growth and development
can no longer be resolved by one nation alone; they are
worldwide in scope. It is the moral obligation of the
developed nations to provide -- through an international
authority that safeguards human rights -- massive technical,
agricultural, medical, and economic assistance, including
birth control techniques, to the developing portions of the
globe. World poverty must cease. Hence extreme
disproportions in wealth, income, and economic growth should
be reduced on a worldwide basis.
SIXTEENTH: Technology is a vital key
to human progress and
development. We deplore any neo-romantic efforts to condemn
indiscriminately all technology and science or to counsel
retreat from its further extension and use for the good of
humankind. We would resist any moves to censor basic
scientific research on moral, political, or social grounds.
Technology must, however, be carefully judged by the
consequences of its use; harmful and destructive changes
should be avoided. We are particularly disturbed when
technology and bureaucracy control, manipulate, or modify
human beings without their consent. Technological
feasibility does not imply social or cultural desirability.
SEVENTEENTH: We must expand communication and
transportation across frontiers. Travel restrictions must
cease. The world must be open to diverse political,
ideological, and moral viewpoints and evolve a worldwide
system of television and radio for information and
education. We thus call for full international cooperation
in culture, science, the arts, and technology across
ideological borders. We must learn to live openly together
or we shall perish together.
-- Humanity As a Whole --
IN CLOSING: The world cannot wait for a reconciliation of
competing political or economic systems to solve its
problems. These are the times for men and women of goodwill
to further the building of a peaceful and prosperous world.
We urge that parochial loyalties and inflexible moral and
religious ideologies be transcended. We urge recognition of
the common humanity of all people. We further urge the use
of reason and compassion to produce the kind of world we
want -- a world in which peace, prosperity, freedom, and
happiness are widely shared. Let us not abandon that vision
in despair or cowardice. We are responsible for what we are
or will be. Let us work together for a humane world by
means commensurate with humane ends. Destructive
ideological differences among communism, capitalism,
socialism, conservatism, liberalism, and radicalism should
be overcome. Let us call for an end to terror and hatred.
We will survive and prosper only in a world of shared humane
values. We can initiate new directions for humankind;
ancient rivalries can be superseded by broad-based
cooperative efforts. The commitment to tolerance,
understanding, and peaceful negotiation does not necessitate
acquiescence to the status quo nor the damming up of dynamic
and revolutionary forces. The true revolution is occurring
and can continue in countless nonviolent adjustments. But
this entails the willingness to step forward onto new and
expanding plateaus. At the present juncture of history,
commitment to all humankind is the highest commitment of
which we are capable; it transcends the narrow allegiances
of church, state, party, class, or race in moving toward a
wider vision of human potentiality. What more daring a goal
for humankind than for each person to become, in ideal as
well as practice, a citizen of a world community. It is a
classical vision; we can now give it new vitality.
Humanism thus interpreted is a moral force that has time on
its side. We believe that humankind has the potential,
intelligence, goodwill, and cooperative skill to implement
this commitment in the decades ahead.
We, the undersigned, while not necessarily endorsing every
detail of the above, pledge our general support to Humanist
Manifesto II for the future of humankind. These
affirmations are not a final credo or dogma but an
expression of a living and growing faith. We invite others
in all lands to join us in further developing and working
for these goals.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Thousands of names have been added to the
list of signatories which followed the original Humanist
Manifesto II, published in the September/October 1973 issue
of The Humanist magazine by the American Humanist
Association. You may become a signer yourself by contacting
the AHA at the address below.]
------------------------------------------------------------
(C) Copyright 1973 by the American Humanist
Association
So long as profit or gain is not your motive and you always
include this copyright notice, please feel free to make
limited copies of this material in electronic form. Local
nonprofit Humanist organizations have additional permission
to reprint this in print form. All other permission must be
sought from the American Humanist Association.
AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
PO BOX 1188 AMHERST NY 14226-7188
Phone: (800) 743-6646
==========================================================
|| END OF ISSUE ||
==========================================================
Once again: ISSN: 1201-0111 The Nullifidian Volume Two,
Number 4: APR 1995.
(*) There is no footnote, and certainly not an endnote.
--
Autumn wind: Where there are humans Greg Erwin, pres., Humanist
gods, Buddha-- you'll find flies, Association of Ottawa
lies, lies, lies and Buddhas. ai815@freenet.carleton.ca
--Shiki --Issa godfree@magi.com
