Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Thu, 10 Sep 1992 00:43:40 EDT
Comments:     Converted from PROFS to RFC822 format by PUMP V2.2X
From:         Angela Zimmerman <AMZIMM01@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
Subject:      Secular Humanism

Item Retrieval Assistant, DADS
Phone: 588-6757

Ok, the long-awaited flyer......


The Affirmations of Humanism:  A Statement of Principles and Values

*  We are committed to the application of reason and science to the
   understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.

*  We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain
   the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.

*  We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to
   the betterment of human life.

*  We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the
   best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites
   and repressive majorities.

*  We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.

*  We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of
   resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.

*  We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with
   eliminating discrimination and intolerance.

*  We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that
   they will be able to help themselves.

*  We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race,
   religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or
   ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.

*  We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future
   generation, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.

*  We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative
   talents to their fullest.

*  We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.

*  We respect the right to privacy.  Mature adults should be allowed to
   fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to
   exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and
   informed health-care, and to die with dignity.

*  We believe in the common moral decencies:  altruism, integrity, honesty,
   truthfulness, responsibility.  Humanism ethics in amenable to critical,
   rational guidance.  There are normative standards that we discover
   together.  Moral principles are tested by their consequences.

*  We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children.  We
   want to nourish reason and compassion.

*  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 to untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to
   novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.

*  We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair
   and ideologies of violence and as a source or rich personal
   significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.

*  We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair,
   learning in place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than
   guilt or sin, tolerance in place of fear, love instead of hatred,
   compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason
   rather than blind faith or irrationality.

*  We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are
   capable of as human beings.


Well, there it is.  If you want to comment on it, please don't comment
on the whole thing at once.  Break it up in several parts so that
there won't be a bunch of large mail messages being mailed to the list.
There are some I want to get opinions about specifically, but I'll
wait and see what the response is to this.  All the typos are mine,
and I claim them proudly (hey, I never claimed that I could type!  (:  ).
After all, everyone should be proud of *something*!  :)
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