As an example, I’m pro-choice, but one could argue that the individualism and ‘human’ centered ethics allow fetus’s without any ‘human status’ to be unceremoniously destroyed… even into the third trimester. Now I think the arguments for balancing the rights of a woman to control her body are strong, but many on the pro-choice side overstate their case, in a very scary way. And what I mean by this is that in order to defend their rights against anti-abortionists they become unwilling to even discuss the ethics of late term abortions, which are in a much greyer area of ethics.

A similar issue exists with both animal rights activists, some of whom are willing to commit acts of terrorism ‘to save the animals’ and environmental activists who also sometimes put lives in danger (spiking trees for instance). Even civil rights and human rights have been used as excuses for violence. Are they using humanist ethics to support their actions?

All of this is not directly related to simple atheism, but if you are a humanist, then humanist ethics will be your guide and if we aren’t self-critical and vigilant then someone like Stalin could co-opt and abuse the humanist ideology, much like Stalin did to Marxism.

The real question we should be asking is, what aspects of humanism may be prone to abuse… its our duty to make sure history does not repeat itself…. especially making sure its not us doing the repeating.

On this day of the American election, where its conceivable that someone like Sarah Palin could eventually become president…. ask yourself what you would be willing to do if abortion became illegal. What are you willing to do for your beliefs…. for your ideology.

Also: THANKS A BUNCH.