From: cj.mccormack@btinternet.com   
      
   "Ron Peterson"  wrote in message   
   news:1142002211.497877.93100@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...   
   >   
   > Son of Cormack wrote:   
   >> "Ron Peterson"  wrote in message   
   >> news:1141967321.406465.225270@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...   
   >   
   >> > What do you think should be the goal of humanism?   
   >   
   >> The goal of Humanism is to provide a framework for Human social and   
   >> personal   
   >> life that while consensually moral and ethical, enables *all* Humans to   
   >> live   
   >> the life that we choose to be happy in, and which allows us to fulfill   
   >> our   
   >> individual and societal potentials and ambitions.   
   >   
   > I think of humanism as a method using science and reason for the   
   > purpose of improving human society.   
      
   And I would not disagree with you, but where is the action, how are Secular   
   and Philosophical Humanists improving society. What does that position give   
   you as a person, how does it strengthen you, how does it make the trials and   
   tribulations of your life easier to bear??   
      
      
      
   >   
   >> It cannot continue to just be a negative reaction to Theist religion. If   
   >> that is all it is about then once the Theist religions finally die off   
   >> (and   
   >> they will) we will belost in the wilderness.   
   >   
   > Many humanists are realizing that all people regardless of religious   
   > beliefs need to work together to solve society's problems and as a   
   > result not making elimination of religious belief a goal of humanism.   
      
   True Humanists should have the elimination of Theist religion as a goal, not   
   by the persecution of those who hold it but by their gentle re-education, by   
   showing them the freedom of a Humanistic world view.   
      
      
      
   >   
   > I don't think that you're right in thinking that theist religions will   
   > die off. It is more likely that they will just have another name.   
      
   It is already happening, the christian faith to name just one, loses more   
   and more members every year. Islam will only be strong while the countries   
   it is rooted in remain deviod of the kind of affluent lifestyles we have in   
   the western world. You only have to look at the majority of western born   
   Muslims who would rather go out drinking on a friday or drive their high   
   powered sports cars around than pray at the mosque to know that it will not   
   last long in evolutionary terms.   
      
   The problem is that while they still exist we are being held back as a   
   species, we as rational Atheists should be hastening the demise of these   
   religions in whatever way we can.   
      
      
      
   >   
   > I don't see how anyone will be lost by not having a religion.   
      
   As social animals we like to feel like we belong to something, the winning   
   team. Religion gives us that it, is a glue that binds us together for the   
   common benefit.   
      
   Imagine a religion that you could have no doubts about because it was based   
   only upon what you could see with your own eyes, whose goal was ensuring   
   that everybody has everything they need and that the race as a whole   
   continued to prosper and develop, and fulfill it's potential.   
      
   Wouldn't that be something worth having   
      
      
   --   
   SoC   
      
   Coming soon - L I B E R  H U M A N U S   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)