In Defense of Secularism

Death is absolute, inevitable and eternal, and anyone who attempts to convince you otherwise is a liar, a fool, or a parasite. Many men believe this, but fear the wrath of the mob will fall upon them if they speak this simple truth.

Religion, in any of it's forms seeks to subjugate the human mind to a non existent superior power and influence behavior by promises of rewards in a non existent afterlife. It is in fact nothing more than a mental affliction cruelly thrust upon children by superstitious parents who can not accept their own mortality, and is the foundation of great evils the world over. Merely a glorified Ponzi scheme, at the root of bigotry, intolerance, hatred and war.

I care not for company of those who believe, with neither preference nor distaste, but I have a furor for those who would use the indoctrination of the feeble minded as a means of usurping power or wealth.

If these zealots who preach to me of their faiths wanted to be taken seriously, I suggest they police their own temples, mosques and churches, and publicly stone those who would use their beloved gods as a means to surround themselves with material gain or political power. Yet by denying the existence of these wolves in clerics clothes, they prove themselves yet again blind to even the most obvious of realities.

As for the rest of you, believe what you may, and conduct your life as you see fit, and I shall do the same. But in the event any of you desire to inflict your beliefs upon me or mine, I must remind you of one point. Not believing in your devils does not mean I do not understand their methods! Rest assured, be it Jihad, or Armageddon, there are some amongst you who do not need to hide behind terms like secularists or humanist. We are in fact QUITE comfortable telling you your god is a lie, and quite willing to defend our beliefs with force if need be.

And in the interim, we shall watch you continue to slaughter each other from afar with great relish.

I don' t believe we live in a secular society, nor should we. We live in a society that believes and is based in the belief that there is a higher power, without subscribing to one in particular. It is with this belief that our fore fathers wrote the constitution that should be the foundation of all proceeding laws. The constitution is not a living, breathing, changing constitution. It is Americas basic freedoms and rights, it is our history that could not and should not be changed. We have God given rights. It is this belief that brought pilgrams to and establish America and also the belief that led to Lincoln to freeing the slaves. Freedom is our God given right, and we will protect and still do protect it with our lives. We are the strongest nation for a reason. Secularism doesn't work in Russia, and it wont work here. Individuals seeking better lives and the persuit of happiness is what drives this country. Big governement and entitlement programs sucks the life and drive out of the free spirit.

EVERY BODY KNOWS VARY WELL THAT THE DEBATES ABOUT SECULARISM GROWING UP IN THE
WORLD.ESPECIALLY IN THE 3.TH IMPROVE??NG COUNTRY SUCH AS IN TURKEY.THIS TROUBLEMAKER
HAS BEEN ORIGINATED PROPHET PRODUCING CENTRE IN (MIDDLE AGE) MIDDLE EAST.
SOME POLITIC??ANS CREATE THESE ARGUMENTS FOR TO ESTABLISH AND HUNT BALLOTS.
BALLOTS

Dowkin's attack on religion gives reason to religious people to speak of hatred and Dowkin calls him self a humanist like people here in Sweden who are actually fighting religious belive as something evil.. Secular people must recognise that they are also belivers and that there is no rational ground to state that some bodys belif is non-existent in his or her's own mind (heart). Ettore Nobis.

Has anyone else noticed that the language used by the ultraconservatives to describe seculars, atheists etc. is frighteningly close to that used by hitler in reference to jews? The aggression of the ACLU and others in defence of the non-religious has been overbearing at times, but justified considering the howles of the paranoid blaming less than five percent of the U.S. population for all of our problems. To not defend yourself in such circumstances is to invite disaster

I think it all boils down to how people cope with their fear of death, collectively and as individuals. Nothingness is a tough sell, of course. Not much upside being a secular humanist, other than not having to say things you really don't believe. As a Humanist Jew, I really don't want to impose my beliefs (yes, we do have beliefs) on anybody else. While I don't believe that theistic beliefs, faith and prayer are necessary for ethical behavior, I certainly don't begrudge others having those ideas and practices.

And Christian 'jihadists' is not a perversion of the Christian faith? Oh... thats ok though huh?

Like Ms. Miller I grew up and attended public schools in the 60???s and 70???s. And at that time ???secular??? was used to imply an impartial form of government where each was free to worship (or not) as each saw fit. And when that was the case, as it was in the 60???s and 70???s and even into the early 80???s that was fine. However, secular humanism has been twisted into a religion in and of itself, practiced with all the fervor and passion of evangelistic Christianity, fundamentalist Islam or ascetic Buddhism. In doing so, it has abandoned its unbiased approach and now stands in direct conflict with any other belief systems that does not recognize it as preeminent and superior to all other beliefs. Secular humanism is no longer an idle bystander, guardian of fairness and keeper of freedom that it once represented. Today it is actively involved in changing the face of our country and government to a form that bears little resemblance to what was originally in place and certainly not what the majority of the Founding Fathers intended. And its activism is what most evangelicals (myself included) stand against. The god of secular humanism, relative truth, stands firmly at the forefront of these changes. Those who disagree and believe that right and wrong DO exist, that truth is NOT relative and that the individual???s primary purpose in life is for the common welfare (which is in the Constitution) rather than self-gratification and self-aggrandizement (disguised by the secularists as self-esteem and personal fulfillment ??? neither of which is mentioned or guaranteed by the Constitution) are under attack by the secular humanists. And this is turned around by humanists to appear to be the opposite ??? that they are under attack rather than the aggressors. A view of the landmark decisions from the past 40 years show the opposite ??? nearly every landmark case was found in favor of secular humanism and every one of them overturned long-standing practices that could be traced to the roots of American independence. In the words of the bard, ???Methinks thou protesteth too much.??? And the final odd twist is this ??? in becoming an active player in politics rather than a guardian, secular humanism has become THE state-sponsored religion. By its own definition, is that not unconstitutional? Interesting ??? in the end we inevitably become what we fear most.???.

I, like Greg Epstein, am a 'humanist'. I'm comfortable being called 'Secular Humanist' because there are those who believe in a supernatural/divine being or force who also call themselves humanists and I am decidedly secular--dealing with things that can be 'defined by time and space', or 'not overtly religious, ecclesiastical or clerical.' I find it interesting how many leaders of the religious right call atheists God-hating. Strange, but why would someone who does not believe in 'God' hate him/her/it/them? You don't hate something you don't believe exists. I have often found that people who feel secure about the validity of their beliefs, or where EVIDENCE for their beliefs is abundant, are comfortable with themselves and have no need to berate those who believe differently or impose their beliefs on others. As society finds less meaning, significance or validity in religious doctrine, people increasingly are becoming more secular. I think this is seen as a threat by some religionists and they therefore lash out at what threatens them. Today, more than ever, it's clear that belief in a God is not the determining factor of moral/ethical behaviour. Moral/ethical people exist both in the God-fearing camp and in the secular/humanist camp.

To be fair, the word "secular" does mean non-clerical, and as a Christian conservative I am firmly opposed to the context in which those who claim to defend my point of view utilize it. I was completely engaged and in agreement with Ms. Miller's article up until the very last paragraph where in the her description of secularism what she attempts to state the forefather's intentions with our constitutional form of government. If you're going to talk about religion and our founding fathers, then why not explain to me why the monuments in Washington, D.C. are riddled with Biblical scriptures - same as many of our founding fathers' historical documents. I tell you what, Ms. Miller, show me - LITERALLY - show me, the article of the U.S. constitution that specifies and explicitly uses the words "separation of church and state." If you can do that, then you will have hands-down won the secularism argument - otherwise, please stop with the attempts to re-write American history.