• "Humanism involves far more than the negation of supernaturalism. It requires an affirmative philosophy . . . translated into a life devoted to one's own improvement and the service of all mankind." Corliss Lamont

• "The beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny. Human beings can achieve this good life, but it is by the cultivation of the virtues of intelligence and courage, not faith and obedience, that we will most likely be able to do so." Paul Kurtz

HumanismQuotes

• "There is no evidence that God ever interfered in the affairs of man. The hand of earth is stretched uselessly towards heaven. From the clouds there comes no help." Robert Ingersoll

HumanismQuotes & Background

• In 1928 the Humanist Fellowship was organized, mostly of students at the University of Chicago.

• In April 1928 the fellowship published a journal entitled the New Humanist.

• A few years later, in 1933, some members of the fellowship suggested that Roy Wood Sellers (a philosophy professor at the University of Michigan) draft “A Humanist Manifesto.”

• The Manifesto contained fifteen short theses.

Those who signed the Manifesto (total of 34 signers):• Mostly professors, writers/newspaper editors, and

ministers• The most renowned signer was John Dewey, philosophy

professor at Columbia University.• Other professors were from Harvard Divinity School; a

comparative religions professor at the University of Chicago; a philosophy professor at Cornell; a philosophy professor at Columbia.

• One Reformed Jewish Rabbi.• Most of the ministers (15 UU ministers) who signed had

a Unitarian affiliation.

HumanismWho Signed It?

“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.”

HumanismExcerpts from Manifesto I

MEANING? Times have changed, we are much smarter now, everyone now must see the need to revamp religion for the purpose of bettering human earthly 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.”

HumanismExcerpts from Manifesto I

MEANING? Man is so much smarter now, we must change the purpose of religion and focus on THIS life (“social and personal satisfaction”). This will be very different from previous religions!

“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:”

HumanismExcerpts from Manifesto I

MEANING? The only useful religion is one that helps people improve THIS life.

1. Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.

a) If the universe is eternal, there is no need for a Creator or a First Cause. If there is no God, then man is left to his own devices… (Psalm 14:1).

b) Nature demands a cause (Gen. 1:1; Rom. 1:20)!

c) Design necessarily implies a Designer (Heb. 3:4)!

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

2. Humanism believes that man is part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of a continuous process.

a) Rejects “special creation of humans”, affirms theory of evolution.

b) Nature DENIES evolution…

1. Missing links… still missing.

2. Irreducible complexity at all levels of biology.

3. Law of Biogenesis, Law of Entropy, Etc.!

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

3. Holding an organic view of life, humanists find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected.

a) Aim? Deny belief in immortality. Humanists believe that consciousness is a function

of the brain; when the brain is destroyed, consciousness is also, so it is impossible for consciousness to continue beyond the death of the organism.

b) Man is not just flesh (Gen. 1:26; Mt. 10:28).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

4. 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 the interaction with his natural environment and with his social heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is largely molded by that culture.a) Meaning? When social situations change, religion evolves accordingly…b) Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:25-33; 13:1-2;

John 4:24; Rev. 22:18-19).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

5. Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values... Religion must formulate its hopes and plans in light of the scientific spirit and method.a) Denies revelation, affirms only science.b) Makes values subjective and only for earthly benefit.c) Natural man vs spiritual man (1 Cor. 2:14; John 3:3-6; John 12:48).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

6. We are convinced that the time has passed for the theism, deism, modernism and the several varieties of “new thought.”

a) Meaning? Christianity has changed so much that it is too misunderstood and corrupt. Solution? Discard the old faith entirely and developing a new one based on a naturalistic understanding of the universe!

b) Professing wisdom, the became fools (Romans 1:21-22)!

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

7. 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.a) Meaning? Nothing sacred! Nothing more important than man (1 Cor. 11:34)!b) First shall be last… (Luke 13:30).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

8. 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.a) “Self realization” & earthly fulfillment… only.

b) “But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee… So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20-21).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

9. In 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.

10. It follows that there will be no uniquely religious emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with belief in the Supernatural.a) Teaches people to be blind and senseless to spiritual truth (2 Pet. 1:9).b) Teaches people to have hardened hearts (Heb. 3:13).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

The next points state social goals…11. Man will learn to face the crises of life in

terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability.

12. 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.

13. Religious humanism maintains that all association and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life.

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

14. The humanists are firmly convinced that existing acquisitive and profit-motivated society has shown itself to be inadequate and that 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.

(Anti-private property pro-socialism/communism “for the good of society”) (cp. Acts 5:4)

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

15. We assert that humanism will: (a) Affirm life rather than deny it; (b) Seek to elicit the possibilities of life, not flee from it; (c) Endeavor to establish the conditions of a satisfactory life for all, not just a 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.

a) Humanism (Pro-abortion! Anti-spiritual life).

b) We are made to live for God (Rom. 14:7-8).

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

Humanist Manifesto I (1933)

HumanismFirst Manifesto’s Fifteen Points

Humanist Manifesto II (1973)"No deity will save us; we must save ourselves,"

Humanist Manifesto III (2003)

A Secular Humanist Declaration (1980)

Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for New Planetary Humanism (book by Paul Kurtz)

Many Humanist Organizations…Many Individuals in Religion, Education, Media, Authors… spreading their influence.Some would rather there be no God… Would We?

THE QUESTION: “What shall we do?”

THE ANSWER: “Repent, and be baptized… for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38)Did Peter tell them to do

something BECAUSE OF or IN ORDER TO what they were asking?

About what? Their SINS (Ax 2:23, 37)!