Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by T A A on March 25, 2011 at 7:19am

We're up to 46 voters, I'm hoping to double that number. thanks for your vote.

Permalink Reply by Loop Johnny on March 28, 2011 at 3:30pm

I would like to define myself as a relativist.

Permalink Reply by T A A on March 28, 2011 at 6:13pm

I also, but I'm getting the distinct impression from this vote tallys up that we're in a clear minority, it's looking like 83% ThinkAtheist users are Humanists, which I find utterly surprising, but I'll reserve any further opinion to a more extensive sampling, it's taking so long :( Being "Featured discussion" only doubled the votes from 20 to 40. Maybe I should spam this question across to all members? Certainly there are more than 50 active Think Atheist members??????

Permalink Reply by Todd Pence on March 29, 2011 at 4:03pm

 

>t's looking like 83% ThinkAtheist users are Humanists, which I find utterly surprising

 

Maybe not so surprising. But it is certainly appalling.

Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on March 29, 2011 at 4:27pm

Appalling?  Why?  I did read your comment that you consider the movement to be 'leftist political', but this survey doesn't indicate that 83% of members are marching lockstep to the beat of Secular Humanist organizations.  Some may simply identify with the general ideology of philosophy.

Permalink Reply by Todd Pence on March 29, 2011 at 6:24pm

Okay, granted, and admittedly I myself would have probably subscribed to those ideals - - - at a time before I saw the way real, organized, secular humanists operate with my own eyes. Before a time when I sat in an audience and watched the National Executive Director of the Secular Humanist Society, Roy Speckhardt, state flatly that undesirables like myself were not permitted to join the lofty ranks of the Humanists. Could a Fundamentalist Church have done any worse? Could a Neo-Nazi organization?

 

Not that I in the slightest lament the fact of being denied membership in any group that would permit a douchebag like Speckhardt to be their National Executive Director . . .

I consider myself a freethinker, not a humanist. (The terms apparently appear to be currently mutually exclusive). It has also become quite clear to me over the past couple of years that the organized secular humanist movement is most probably the greatest current enemy to the atheist movement, an enemy far more dangerous than any fundamentalist or church organization,

Permalink Reply by T A A on March 29, 2011 at 5:09pm

Maybe my poll post is attracting humanist members more than non humanist members, maybe a voting bias? I'd still want at least 100 votes for it to mean anything at all :(

Permalink Reply by Ryan E. Hoffman on March 30, 2011 at 11:18pm

honestly, i'm not exactly sure what humanism means other than the belief that we should treat each other with respect, no chosen people, and that we're the highest authority, etc. The basics of humanism apply to me, but don't actively use it in my philosophy. I voted as a request, but voted in ignorance, so maybe I should not have participated.

Permalink Reply by T A A on March 31, 2011 at 1:02am

Not at all, not at all, self perception is key here!  I'm sure the American Humanist Association is happy for all your interest in their organisation no matter the definition. As for the survey, we're up to 53 participants.

Thank everyone, keep them coming. Remember to only answer once.

Permalink Reply by Angela Gorman on March 30, 2011 at 3:12am

I think I need to state what I understand to be the humanist philosophy, that is "What you see is all there is" and "We do not need to have a belief in a divine being to lead what would be traditionally regarded as a christian life." It's simple, easily understood and I believe, does not conflict with atheism.. or have I just been very lucky with my humanist contacts and information?

Permalink Reply by T A A on March 30, 2011 at 5:23am

I both agree and disagree with your assessment. I think you're missing a particularly important part of Humanism, the human replaces god... Humanism is a religion of two categories religious and secular, but in fact, both are religious in nature. What present self-identified Humanists would like to see Humanism become, does not change what Humanism has been, or is, officially. I think a great many people also conflate the official doctrine of Humanism with a general humanitarian sentiment. My principal disagreement with Humanism, though it's only one point of many, is the ethical stance, that which reveals the most about any doctrine, and the ethics of Humanism are stated thus:

Ethics: We affirm that moral values derive their source from human experience

As a biologist, I simply cannot condone any doctrine which prioritizes human value above and beyond the intrinsic value of a balanced ecosystem, where all natural non technology modulated entities have equal systemic value.

I agree when you define Humanism "We do not need to have a belief in a divine being to lead what would be traditionally regarded as a christian life." That is also how I perceive Humanism, godless Christianity 'Abrahamism', which is why I disagree with it.

But anywho....

It's the reason I specified in the question 'self-identified'. When official Humanist organisations and publications list Humanist statistics, they don't distinguish people who may not be applying their own definition of it or not.

Thanks for voting :)

Permalink Reply by Oxidiz3r on April 27, 2011 at 5:48am

I don't know if I can accurately answer this question. I do subscribe to the ideal in many ways, but I was raised in a religious light and taught to be these things. I see and feel now that they are right for me and others. 

 

Even if I was influenced--by religion-based morals--into being this way, does that mean that I can't genuinely call myself humanist? And if I recognize that it was because of that, yet I still subscribe to them without attributing it to something God would want me to do, does it negate that I've been influenced? 

 

Also, I don't associate these ideals with any kind of organization political or religious.

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