Religion aptly offers comfort and a system of insurance of a fulfilling life. Religion provides one with a sense of worth and accomplishment.
Religion enshrines one in the self-induced ignorance that comes with the dogmatic declaration of faith. Religion breeds fundamentalism and in-group superiority that follows from the embodiment of dogmatism and faith.
Now take the term Secular Humanism and place it in both paragraphs. Do you notice how it fits snugly within the first paragraph, but seems more out of place than a vegan at a dairy farm in the second? Secular Humanism is like a gift that we’ve crafted on our own, developed over time, and wrapped in pretty bows, but neglected despite its obvious benefits. It offers us all of the benefits of religion, and none of its side effects. That is, as far as we can tell.
I often find myself brooding in deep perplexity over the small acceptance of Secular Humanism as a lifestyle choice. If Secular Humanists do in fact have this world-bettering gift, then why aren’t people unwrapping it and indulging in its delight?
Well, I’m sure there are many reasons. To assume something so complex would beget a simple explanation is absurd based upon previous experiences, except, of course, in the world of science, where evolution offers a beautifully simple explanation. For the sake of time, I want to focus on just three reasons why I think people reject Secular Humanism – four if you count the reason that people don’t even know what it is.
1. Cold and Meaningless
The first reason is that people regard Science as cold and devoid of meaning, and if Secular Humanism relies so heavily upon the information of science then people tend to think that Secular Humanism must be cold and empty as well. But, of course, the whole is more than just one of its components and Secular Humanism adds exactly what Science, on it’s own, doesn’t provide us with – meaning. It directly addresses this first of reasons for its own rejection. Meaning, in the light of scientific evidence, gives us comfort and fulfillment without the bullshit. Secular Humanists don’t have to rely on appeals to faith and a higher power to gain meaning. Meaning comes from pleasurable traits that we’ve acquired throughout our evolution. It comes from loving another and being loved back, from getting caught up in the moment of something you enjoy doing, from helping another in need, from a sense of accomplishment etc,. Humanism implies that we, Humans, are the arbiters of our own meaning.
2. Lack of Community
The second reason I believe people reject Secular Humanism is that it doesn’t provide one with a community atmosphere like Religion does. Religion has buildings devoted to harboring community, and admittedly, much of the good that does come from Religion comes from its devotion to building stronger communities. Secular Humanism has relatively small numbers to form such strong communities.
However, Secular Humanists are building a strong presence on the internet. Many in the online community see the recently apparent cultishness around Richard Dawkins as dangerous, and against what Humanists stand for. I see it as community alongside a romanticizing of ideas. We must realize that communities sprout from the ranks of leaders, and Dawkins is one of them. There are pedestals to stand on in this world. The religious have theirs with Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Xenu etc,. We, the science minded folk, have the likes of Dawkins, Sagan, Darwin, and Gould.
3. No Afterlife
And finally, the third reason I believe people reject Secular Humanism is because of their fear of death. Religion provides one with the insurance of an afterlife, while Secular Humanism, to put it bluntly, doesn’t. That is, unless we let go of the traditional meaning of the afterlife.
From the movie Troy:
Boy: The Thessalonian you’re fighting…he’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t want to fight him.
Achilles: That’s why no one will remember your name.
An afterlife is defined as “a life or existence believed to follow death.” So then what about our self-made legacy; the love we shared with others; the things we’ve made; the work we completed; the contribution to the insurance of a future generation that lives longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives than us? This is our afterlife. It is not selfish. It is humble and noble. And it is romantic in the fact that we are standing on the shoulders of past giants, contributing to this great play we call life, so that others can stand upon ours and hoist the good life up to the next generation.
From Afar…
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008From afar, our planet is tiny, blue and fragile, held in a fistful of darkness. Pockmarked by light emitted from surrounding stars, some of which have travelled billions of years to reach us. The silence of space eclipses the spinning globe, as a sun growls in the distance. The beauty of the earth’s blue and green face is veiled like a bride by white clouds. Its fragility quivers with a sense of surrounded silence, surrounded darkness and spiralling away from fellow planets. Utterly alone, it sinks like full-stop at the end of a muted sentence.
And its future is held within the palms of beings who could be bacteria: ourselves. Palms which have developed poor thumbs, bodies with over-sized adrenal glands and decaying eyesight. These are the creatures within this pale-blue beauty that will decide her future. Already fragile and temperate, it is us, her children, her keepers, her creatures who will decide her impact. In 6 billion years, that growling dog of a star will be let loose from its chain and devour the planet. Those same creatures, we with the poor digestive systems, will not be here. Those creature whose eyes will hold the exploding sun will be as different from us, as the first eukaryote from our evolutionary past. But our impact this century, in our lifetimes, can make our planet into an exclamation mark on the unending sentence, or the tapering off into ellipses…
The great philosopher AC Grayling poses a problem we all should contemplate. Suppose there is only one species in the whole universe which has advanced consciousness, to realise its presence, its future, its past. Suppose there is only one such advanced species: it would have to be us. This means, according to our view of happiness, we decide the happiness of this universe. We will decide how much happiness, fulfilment and liberty is accorded throughout the universe. The sentence is undeterred, the universe is indifferent and indifference is popularly known as the opposite of love. Even if the universe hated us – which, at times to our egotistical selves, seems to be the case – at least it means acknowledging us. Such is not the case. Therefore, we have the entire responsibility of the universe in our hands. How much happiness are we going to bring, how much of an exclamation mark can we make our existence into the quiet, cold universe? Are we to render our bride, our mother and our planet into a place of decay, madness and violence? Are we to view her as a necessary stepping-stone to “something better”, as many religious fanatics would have it?
Even if she is a stepping-stone, what a stone she is. A man himself is but paltry next to the unfathomable beauty on the earth upon which all men were born and all will die. King Henry the Fifth, in the Shakespeare play of the same name, says: “A good leg will fall, a straight back will stoop, a black beard will turn to white, a curled pate will grow bald, a fair face will wither, a full eye will wax hollow, but a good heart, Kate, is the sun … for it shines a bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly.” Even on this stepping-stone, which is to be our gravestone, nothing should detract us from loving our planet. Nothing should stop us from caring for it.
The maddening fact of life is that we are in it. The sobering fact of life is that we are on this great planet. Yet it takes a simple click of a button, or the turning of a page, to see her as no one before has. The simple fact is that we are part of the first group of humans to see the planet upon which we make our home. And what a home it is. If ever we feel ourselves consumed with rage, anger or absolute love or passion, we must simply remember: Spinning, slowly, calmly, held in a fist of darkness, surrounded by blinking eyes of stars, standing before a growling star, is a pale-blue dot we call home, veiled in white and awaiting the final placement by the actions of tiny creatures on its surface.
Tags: ac grayling, beauty, earth, ego, life, Meaning, planet, science
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