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Humanism

Aspergers_Aspie

Well-Known Member
I was wondering if anyone maybe could help me with this question. I am wondering if someone isn't a religious person are they automatically humanist?
 
Not necessarily

Classical meaning:
In this use, the original notion appears to be "human" as opposed to "divine," that is, a student of the human achievements of the pre-Christian authors and philosophers, as opposed to the theological studies of the divines. As "this new-old learning had, or was credited with, a tendency to loosen the hold of the Church upon men's beliefs," humanist also gradually came to mean "free-thinker" [Fowler]. Philosophical sense is from 1903, from Comte's Religion of Humanity (compare humanism), unconnected to the two earlier meanings, "though accidentally near one of them in effect" [Fowler].

This is the modern description, which sounds like a bunch of flowery nonsense to me. Here it means someone who self identifies as being on the correct moral side of history and politics i guess?
Humanists stand for the building of a more humane, just, compassionate, and democratic society using a pragmatic ethics based on human reason, experience, and reliable knowledge-an ethics that judges the consequences of human actions by the well-being of all life on Earth.
 
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That is a curious question and the first thing it triggered in me was wondering what motivated it. Here is the thing, from my point of view, religion like politics seeks to distort and manipulate a person's clear view of life, death, and the universe. I have nothing against those who find comfort in it. However, having been raised in the Catholic Church I discovered the underlying hypocrisy that underscores most people's understanding of faith early on and how that can warp someone in ways which they are unaware.

The thing is that few people who claim to be religious do not follow the core of whatever religion they adhere to. The biblical pronouncement to love thy neighbor as you would yourself is forgotten or sporadically applied. 'Not one of us' is the quick fall back in most situations, which leads to a soft form of religious bigotry.

I have the underlying belief that religion and politics are to two single sources of everything that is wrong in the world. Therefore, I do not affiliate with any religious belief system, and I have wasted a fair bit of time researching them one by one.

After all, a religion is much like a political party and seeks to control its membership. You can call me a cynic if you like, but I believe I have as valid a view of the world as anyone on the planet.

In the end, I am only myself and I do not try to force my belief system on anyone. That comes from too many years of catechism classes and the insidious indoctrination that went with it. That's the thing with beliefs of any kind. They attempt to close down critical thinking, leaving no room for questioning or denial.

In any event, I always try to keep an open mind while denying artificial social constructs that I find abhorrent or meaningless to my life. Freedom of expression is paramount and the only thing I adhere to on a daily basis. I do not know what that makes me, but I am not a humanist. I judge no one and mostly just wish to be left alone to live my life the way I see fit, which is difficult when you are in a very small minority with no representation that could actually be a positive force in one's life.

In any event, I still remain quite curious as to the source of your question.
 
I am quite humanist. Plus I believe that the COSMOS is ultimately knowable because it is Naturalistic and Materialistic. I am good with that and believe our awareness is a gift that only lasts our lifetime. Freeing myself from the religious notions of the hereafter or rebirth, I recognize that this is the only life I have and I have an inexorable sadness to come up short at times (very sad, tearful). It makes me want to be better towards people, and sometimes it is hard.
 
I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive because I’m kind of religious but I also believe in (and am very interested in) science, and I think my beliefs and values would classify as humanist.
 
And if you are from Texas, where everything is big, I suppose that makes you also a bigamist.

;)
 
Rather than religious, if you say spiritual (same thing but broader to include non-dogmatic lines of thought) then someone who isn't spiritual would be a naturalist I believe.
"naturalism is the idea or belief that only natural laws and forces operate in the universe"
Is this the dichotomy you were looking for?
 
Rather than religious, if you say spiritual (same thing but broader to include non-dogmatic lines of thought) then someone who isn't spiritual would be a naturalist I believe.
"naturalism is the idea or belief that only natural laws and forces operate in the universe"
Is this the dichotomy you were looking for?
Do not forget uniformitarianism. Put simply, those natural processes we see in the present operate in the same manner throughout time.
 
And if you are from Texas, where everything is big, I suppose that makes you also a bigamist.

;)
full
(No, silly, a bigamist is fog, in Italy...
full
)
 
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That is a curious question and the first thing it triggered in me was wondering what motivated it. Here is the thing, from my point of view, religion like politics seeks to distort and manipulate a person's clear view of life, death, and the universe. I have nothing against those who find comfort in it. However, having been raised in the Catholic Church I discovered the underlying hypocrisy that underscores most people's understanding of faith early on and how that can warp someone in ways which they are unaware.

The thing is that few people who claim to be religious do not follow the core of whatever religion they adhere to. The biblical pronouncement to love thy neighbor as you would yourself is forgotten or sporadically applied. 'Not one of us' is the quick fall back in most situations, which leads to a soft form of religious bigotry.

I have the underlying belief that religion and politics are to two single sources of everything that is wrong in the world. Therefore, I do not affiliate with any religious belief system, and I have wasted a fair bit of time researching them one by one.

After all, a religion is much like a political party and seeks to control its membership. You can call me a cynic if you like, but I believe I have as valid a view of the world as anyone on the planet.

In the end, I am only myself and I do not try to force my belief system on anyone. That comes from too many years of catechism classes and the insidious indoctrination that went with it. That's the thing with beliefs of any kind. They attempt to close down critical thinking, leaving no room for questioning or denial.

In any event, I always try to keep an open mind while denying artificial social constructs that I find abhorrent or meaningless to my life. Freedom of expression is paramount and the only thing I adhere to on a daily basis. I do not know what that makes me, but I am not a humanist. I judge no one and mostly just wish to be left alone to live my life the way I see fit, which is difficult when you are in a very small minority with no representation that could actually be a positive force in one's life.

In any event, I still remain quite curious as to the source of your question.

I am religious. But, independent of churches. I do question things still.
 
Humanism came from the non-secular thinkers from the Church. That the behavior of Christ in human form being God's Will, can be cultivated despite the Sinful Nature of Man. This moved the West specifically away from viewing the world through the lens of Natural Law, that what "is" is God's Will, to Positive Law, that humans can actively manifest through cultivation of what "ought" to be based on God's Will from Biblical and Canonical texts. Positive Law is highly susceptible to Utopianism, hence Thomas More's work, Utopia.

This dichotomy gave rise to the "is-ought" problem in philosophy made popular by David Hume and the fact-value distinction in Aesthetics.
 
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