Donald Clegg: Humanists seek better world without a ‘higher power’

I’d like to revisit my ongoing discussion of humanist beliefs and principles. I’m finally going to take a peek at the inside cover of Free Inquiry magazine, to see what its “Affirmations of Humanism” look like and how they fit with my own.

But first let me catch you up. I began, some time ago, by noting, “I’m an indoctrination-free humanist, as I’ve come to this point of view without formal study of ‘Humanism.’ “

I was going to take a test, of sorts, setting forth my small “h” humanist beliefs with the intent of measuring them against the official big “H” ones of the Council for Secular Humanism.

To have a base for comparison, I stated my first four personal humanist values, saying: “In brief, that I can determine what I believe for myself; what is right and wrong, for myself; that these beliefs don’t come from a higher power; and that people, not God, determine their fates, subject to chance and luck.”

So there we are, and here I am, ready to take my test.

Let’s have a look at the list. There are – let’s see – 21 statements, a bit too lengthy to just copy down. (If you want to read them, just go to the Council for Secular Humanism Web site and click on “affirmations.”) I’ll see if I can summarize them.

The first few look to science and human intelligence to understand the universe and better our own lives. The next six describe, you might say, an attitude toward governance, free of “divisive parochial loyalties” such as “race, religion, gender, nationality,” etc.

Then, that we should protect the Earth, enjoy our lives here and now, work toward moral and creative excellence, as described by these “decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility.”

I skipped the right to privacy, and the next several concern themselves with the role learning has to play in our lives as “citizens of the universe.”

I think the 20th affirmation pretty well sums it up, so I’ll write it in full: “We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.”

The full list is pretty much a humanistic model for society, whereas my few personal statements are more of a simple skeleton, but I think the relationship is clear: that self-determined beliefs do not result in a moral or ethical vacuum and that human beings can create “a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence.”

For those who might believe that the following words – science, atheism, agnosticism, secularism, humanism and skepticism – are nooses around the worlds of wonder, I’d say that there is plenty of room for wonder in these affirmations and that you can find it without resort to a “higher power.”

“We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.”

It occurs to me that, taken as a whole, this list describes a “liberal” attitude toward the world. Let’s look at the stated values from that 20th affirmation: optimism, hope, learning, truth, joy, tolerance, love, compassion, beauty and reason.

And here are a few definitions of liberal: “open to new behavior and opinions and willing to discard traditional values; favorable to and respectful of individual rights and freedoms; and (in a political context) favoring maximum individual liberty in political and social reform.”

Hmmm … something’s just occurred to me. But first, we had better compare definitions. What about the word “conservative”?

My dictionary has it as “holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics and religion.”

Synonyms include: right-wing, reactionary, traditionalist; Republican; conventional, orthodox, old-fashioned, dyed-in-the-wool, hidebound, unadventurous, set in one’s ways; moderate, middle-of-the-road, buttoned-down.

Now let’s look at synonyms for liberal: tolerant, unprejudiced, unbigoted, broad-minded, open-minded, enlightened; progressive, advanced, modern, forward-looking, forward-thinking, enlightened, reformist, radical.

OK, we’re also “permissive, free, free-and-easy, easygoing, libertarian, indulgent, lenient.” These last, I suspect, are what conservatives find most appalling.

Oh, well. But let’s get back to that little brain nudge.

Think of Jesus and comparison-shop terms from my little dictionary and thesaurus.

He was, naturally, a liberal.