The comment that we all have bits and pieces of every human that walked the earth may have meant that a great deal of the DNA we are made up of is basic for every human (and quite a bit of it common to all life).
Very interesting comment thread as I am new on here. I have seen the term “humanist” and to some extent have found it lacking because I am an atheist and a possibly a humanist. I don’t want to approach humanism from a religious standpoint. I want to work at a non religious food bank, not at a Church food drive. I don’t want to be part of a religion. Is humanism just a way to be part of something if you have no organized religion to join? To me, in this day and age, humanism has to explicitly reject irrational thinking. After all, to me it is about approaching the world based on evidence.
Good questions, but they don’t have simple answers. You may want to search the CFI website, check humanism on Wikipedia and go from there. If you have the patience you may go back in the archives of this forum because all of these questions have been hashed out fairly thoroughly in the past.
In regards to Obama, he identifies himself as black, physically and socially, even though he was raised by his white mother and her parents. His African father abandoned him because he was a deadbeat piece of shit who couldn’t take responsibility for his life. If it wasn’t for his “white side” of the family, he would have been an orphan on the street. I bet Michelle hates that! Race does exist as a biological cocept and a social concept. A little bit of genetic difference is all it takes.
My sons identify as both Black and White, but were raised by me.
George’s posts sometimes remind me of a modern day deep south joke.
A bus with little black and white boys and girls go to the zoo. Along the way the kids are hurling racial insults to each other. This continues even during the visit at the zoo.
Finally it is time for the kids to leave and by this time the driver is sick of the constant bickering. So he gathers all around him and sternly admonishes them that he is sick of all these black and white insults. He tells them that from now on everyone is green, no exceptions.
Then he urges them back onto the bus and reminds them that “dark green sits in the back of the bus”.
I think that is the single largest stumbling block to any large-scale acceptance of humanism. Humanism presumes a literate, thoughtful, intellectually engaged populace willing to openly consider the question of whether it’s own cherished beliefs and assumptions might perhaps be wrong. Such a populace doesn’t exist, not any more, not in America. Honestly, I am starting to suspect that the current level of acceptance of humanist principles may very well be our “high water mark”; it won’t get any better, and will probably get much, much worse. The West—and especially America—is going through a rapid and catastrophic cultural devolution.
intelligentsia; the people regarded as, or regarding themselves as, the educated and enlightened class; intellectuals collectively.
That is all I heard from this post, intelligentsia verbiage.
To me, Humanist and those of like-minds need to get off the high horse and step into the trenches of the common American who has been going through hell. No, many of us do not have the time or money to spend on higher education. Acceptance of the Humanist point of view doesn’t take a degree, nor be intellectually engaged, nor protesting in the streets, nor in using flowery vocabulary at dinner over roast duck with orange-balsamic glaze with a Alsatian white pinot noir served at 7:00.
Our universities are slap full with professor’s and students who are of secular mind and these United States have millions who have secular interests. Question is why label oneself and join membership to an organization that offers nothing new or improved. Just another entity collecting dues such as a church.
Maybe steveg144, these Americans know much more than you lack credit for.
I think that is the single largest stumbling block to any large-scale acceptance of humanism. Humanism presumes a literate, thoughtful, intellectually engaged populace willing to openly consider the question of whether it’s own cherished beliefs and assumptions might perhaps be wrong. Such a populace doesn’t exist, not any more, not in America. Honestly, I am starting to suspect that the current level of acceptance of humanist principles may very well be our “high water mark”; it won’t get any better, and will probably get much, much worse. The West—and especially America—is going through a rapid and catastrophic cultural devolution.
intelligentsia; the people regarded as, or regarding themselves as, the educated and enlightened class; intellectuals collectively.
That is all I heard from this post, intelligentsia verbiage.
To me, Humanist and those of like-minds need to get off the high horse and step into the trenches of the common American who has been going through hell. No, many of us do not have the time or money to spend on higher education. Acceptance of the Humanist point of view doesn’t take a degree, nor be intellectually engaged, nor protesting in the streets, nor in using flowery vocabulary at dinner over roast duck with orange-balsamic glaze with a Alsatian white pinot noir served at 7:00.
Our universities are slap full with professor’s and students who are of secular mind and these United States have millions who have secular interests. Question is why label oneself and join membership to an organization that offers nothing new or improved. Just another entity collecting dues such as a church.
Maybe steveg144, these Americans know much more than you lack credit for.
The extreme you mentioned is true, to a degree. However, knowledgeable scientists and philosophers are needed to identify why humanism is an essential part of human life, so that one can argue “The Case For…....” with confidence and fact.
I think that is the single largest stumbling block to any large-scale acceptance of humanism. Humanism presumes a literate, thoughtful, intellectually engaged populace willing to openly consider the question of whether it’s own cherished beliefs and assumptions might perhaps be wrong. Such a populace doesn’t exist, not any more, not in America. Honestly, I am starting to suspect that the current level of acceptance of humanist principles may very well be our “high water mark”; it won’t get any better, and will probably get much, much worse. The West—and especially America—is going through a rapid and catastrophic cultural devolution.
intelligentsia; the people regarded as, or regarding themselves as, the educated and enlightened class; intellectuals collectively.
That is all I heard from this post, intelligentsia verbiage.
To me, Humanist and those of like-minds need to get off the high horse and step into the trenches of the common American who has been going through hell. No, many of us do not have the time or money to spend on higher education. Acceptance of the Humanist point of view doesn’t take a degree, nor be intellectually engaged, nor protesting in the streets, nor in using flowery vocabulary at dinner over roast duck with orange-balsamic glaze with a Alsatian white pinot noir served at 7:00.
Our universities are slap full with professor’s and students who are of secular mind and these United States have millions who have secular interests. Question is why label oneself and join membership to an organization that offers nothing new or improved. Just another entity collecting dues such as a church.
Maybe steveg144, these Americans know much more than you lack credit for.
The extreme you mentioned is true, to a degree. However, knowledgeable scientists and philosophers are needed to identify why humanism is an essential part of human life, so that one can argue “The Case For…....” with confidence and fact.
Ideally, all parents should have time and knowledge to educate children at homes, up to certain well defined level. But what about social interactions with other kids, black white, green etc.? This is also part of education.
Race does exist as a biological cocept and a social concept. A little bit of genetic difference is all it takes.
