Secular Humanism Similarities

Using proven facts and methodologies, the author supports her argument that various faiths can coexist outside of a singular perspective. Ward acknowledges every faith has defining guidelines followers must embrace, but maintains the

For purpose of this essay, religion will be defined as a collection of institutional beliefs and customs concerning humanity and the purpose of the universe [1]. Key beliefs within religion that will be explored, as well as there relation to reason, are:

Secular humanist believe the starting point of life is nothing breathtaking. The Human life is a result of a great many years of advancement that can be explained through the theory of evolution. There is no god who made life, and that religion is nothing more than the fears of mankind. Secular humanist utilize science, intelligence, and individual feelings as the answer for life’s most troublesome questions.

Religion is a species-specific human universal phenomenon, complex, full of paradoxes, and found in all cultures. Social scientists and anthropologists since the late 17th century have attempted to rationally answer questions about religion, and while we can't evaluate the veracity of religion’s claims, we can attempt to understand its functions.

What is Secular Humanism? It is humanism, with regard to the belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God. Christian worldviews are based on the bible, we believe that God created the all. Secular Humanist are critical thinkers, focused on modern beliefs without having any religious ties. “Many Christians and proponents of secular humanism share a commitment to reason, free inquiry, the separation of church and state, the ideal of freedom, and moral education; however, they differ in many areas. Secular humanists base their morality and ideas about justice on critical intelligence unaided by Scripture, which Christians rely on for knowledge concerning right and wrong, good and evil.” (3)

In a majority of ways, we do adhere to Enlightenment values in terms of social constructs and the duties of society over spirituality, but some of our belief system and church systems tends to actually be something as a third wave that could be said to be more fervent in an emotional sense, recalling both earlier and later methods of conveying faith (Baym 365). As a result, religion has a torn image; many view religion as a uniquely individual experience that would lend itself to Enlightenment principles, where the Catholic Church is still seen as a weaker, but large power institution. An overwhelming image of religious tolerance within “Western” religions and those we are rather unfamiliar with, however it is quite clear that politics plays a major role in tolerance of religion. As seen with recent political discourses, Muslims tend to bear the brunt of American scrutiny, but in theory they are given the same protections and ability to worship as everyone else, despite a sizeable population being inherently biased against them. Freedom of religion can be exercised but the word freedom is scrutinized within certain religions. To create a culture of tolerance of all religions is a pipe dream since wars from the beginning of time have been fought because of

There is an obvious difference between religions being accepted and being tolerated. Tolerance is a virtue that involves self-restraint of one’s self to maintain peace en contrast to fully recognizing and respecting different ideas, people, and beliefs (Tiedemann, 85). Tolerance is a baseline attitude towards things one opposes; it is effortless and solely requires one to not explicitly impinge on another’s way of life. (Wilhelm 2)

Since the beginning of time humans have endeavoured to explain the causes and reasons behind their existence. As a result of this thirst for knowledge many different beliefs and values have been formulated with the aim of explaining this age-old question. Most of these beliefs are prevalent today in the form of institutionalised religions. In order to gain an understanding of the word 'religion', we need to fully analyse and compare the components of religions in order to gain a more cultivated understanding of this enigmatic term. An extremely valuable way of classifying religion and its many aspects is through the Seven Dimensions, developed by Ninian Smart. (See Appendix 1) These dimensions explore the many aspects of religion in a

The founders of the secular humanistic worldview considered it a religion. The ideals of the movement can be traced to ancient philosophers, scientists and poets of classical Rome and Greece and to some extent the Chinese Confucian society, Carvaka movements of India and other ancient moral

Since the dawn of mankind religion has been one of the most significant elements of a society’s social and cultural beliefs and actions. However, this trend has declined due to the general increase in knowledge regarding our the natural sciences. Where we had previously attributed something that we didn’t understand to the working of a higher power, is now replaced by a simple explanation offered by natural sciences. While advocates of Religion may question Natural Sciences by stating that they are based on assumptions, it is important to note the Natural Sciences are based on theories and principles which can be proven using mathematical equations and formulas. Faith however contrasts from the easily visible feasibility of data

A key distinction between naturalistic "secular humanism" and Christianity would be the view of life after death. "Secular humanism," being limited to this world, would not acknowledge

When dwelling into the explorations about science and religion, one can find it quite amusing. "If science and religion are to continue to coexist it seems opposed to the conditions of modern thought to admit that this result can be brought about by the so-called

Religion emerges from the human susceptibility for protection and use it as a tool for liberation from the bitter realities and perplexities of the world. “Religious ideas are teachings and pronouncements about facts and states of external (or internal) reality that convey something one has not discovered for oneself and which assert the right to be believed” (Freud 88). We must object to religious claims because there is no proof to substantiate them and merely ideas we follow for generations. Religious ideas are beyond the control of reasoning, as if we don’t validate our beliefs and behave that our beliefs have a substantial basis of support. Religious ideas are teachings, not the thought that

There are many wider implications when it comes to the belief of God’s existence. The 2 views shapes the way believers see the world and interact with it. One wider implication is social implications. Catholics gather together every Sunday at mass bringing about a sense of community whereas Secular Humanists do not gather to share their beliefs as they do not have any beliefs, this socially impacts them as it means that they have less of a sense of community. This could also be a geographical impact as Catholics all gather together on special occasions such as when a new Pope is elected or during a canonisation, this unites Catholics all around the world together. Another example is that Catholics travel all around the world to see historic land marks to do with Christianity such as Notre Dame which is a famous

Religion is constructed on faith and belief of an individual even though it is the individual choice to follow it or not. It has stirred a lot of debates for years; those who are trying to prove that God exists throughout history and follow to modern day. While, those who are atheist are trying to prove their point of God does not exist. There are still more and more theories and debate over the subject of religious view. It is a matter of theism versus atheism; new and old philosophers have joined the debate and all with different sides to another philosopher’s theory or view on the matter. In this paper, I will attempt to illustrate the reasons given by Louis Pojman of why religion is good or bad, as well as evaluating Bertrand Russell argument about religion. This can define the meaning of life and the creation of life as we know it. It can change views or switch sides for there is always another explanation to exactly what religion is all about and having a superior ruler that created all.