Humanism?!?

[Hazel]

Ugh had a humanist person come into my school assembly this morning and it's got me really annoyed & stressed so im wondering what are your thoughts on humanism?

Thanks - posted this cause i need this out my system!! otherwise im gonna do something that'll be bad for me in future x

[Animus27]

Why do you have a problem with Humanism? Or rather that particular person?

[Hazel]

It's just the way he portrayed himself it was humanism in genral but he was all like 'i only believe in things with evidence', 'theres no evidence to show there is anything spiritual' and 'i speak for the majourty of england' becuase a survey taken two years ago had results that over 50% of england was none religious - that was two years ago! yeah im a bit stressed about this

[SpiralNature]

none religious isnt the same as none spiritualist. But should it matter what people believe? does that dictate their right to humanity?

I'd be annoyed too :redface:

[Quintessence]

That doesn't sound like Humanism to me. That sounds like scientism, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism) which as a scientist, is a massive peeve of mine. Rejecting all knowledge/thought that cannot be investigated with the scientific method is foolish and reveals a lack of understanding of the limits of that method (and of the sciences that study human nature). The role of science is to descriptively understand aspects of the universe that can be quantified and analyzed statistically. Some aspects of the universe can neither be easily quantified nor analyzed statistically. Such questions are inherently nonfalsifiable and beyond the scope of science (such as ethics). For some questions, asking for "evidence" is absurd and missing the point entirely.

I put evidence in quotes there, because this person that you're speaking with is defining evidence in a very limited manner. I see this often with adherents of scientism. They limit what constitutes "evidence" to that which would be acceptable to the scientific method. The irony is, nobody in day-to-day living holds to such rigid standards of evidence. We do not, for example, reply to our wife saying "I love you" with a "prove that to me scientifically or I won't believe you." We accept our personal experience as a valid form of anecdotal evidence that our wife loves us. It's much the same with religious/spiritual experience. Each type of evidence has its proper place, and I'll grant that anecdotal evidence is frequently misused. However, throwing it out wholesale as this "humanist" does is overdoing it.

[norseman]

Ha ! National Census two years ago in the UK showed the continuous decline of organised religion. Someone is playing fast and loose with the facts !

[Hazel]

Ha ! National Census two years ago in the UK showed the continuous decline of organised religion. Someone is playing fast and loose with the facts !
Thank you - me and one of my christian freinds could relate to something today....that this guy was on borderline RACISM!! ugh god when we were disscusing it no joke my mate was shaking and looking like he wanted to punch something which is unusual for him