Then the LORD spoke to Moses, Saying,
'Speak to the children of Israel,
and say to them: "I am the LORD your God.
'According to the doings of the land of Egypt,
where you dwelt, you shall not do; and
according to the doings of Canaan, where
I am bringing you, you shall not do;
nor shall you walk in their ordinances.
'You shall observe My judgments and keep
My ordinances, to walk in them:
I am the LORD your God. You shall
therefore keep My statutes and My
judgments, which if a man does,
he shall live by them;
I am the LORD.'
Leviticus 18:1-5
How often do we ignore the Old Testament teaching, inasmuch holding
those teaching to be for the ancient Israelites and have little or no
meaning for us today. God does not change, His laws, judgments,
statutes, and ordinance do not change, the application of them, when it
comes to ceremonial, or health laws, they apply first to the present
situation, then as we become more knowledgeable and have more equipment
to aid us, we then apply those principles of those laws in our lives.
Yet, the moral laws never change for any generation of man. For the
Israelites, they were to have nothing to do with foreign peoples, that
is, to have anything to do with their pagan and false teaching, this
principle applies to day, that when we become knowledgeable about false
teaching we are to remove ourselves and come out from under such
teaching, or better yet we are never to expose ourselves to such
teaching. Yet this is not the case, for many sit under false liberal
Christianity and do not seem to care, they enjoy, the service, the
music, the friendships, more than they care to be holy as we are called
to be: "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest
your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who
called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is
written, "Be holy, for I am holy" (1Peter 1:13-16; cf. Leviticus
11:44-45). When knowledge comes you can no longer claim ignorance,
and you have an obligation to obey the truth, to be holy, and this is
why I am presenting those things which men who are opposed to God and
who have presented their worldview to us and our children and will
continue to do so unless men and women who have come to the truth act
and make the necessary changes, this will protect you, your children,
and your posterity until Jesus comes, and finally it will protect the
Church. Humanist Manifesto I was replaced, rather the first manifesto,
was rewritten and things added and this we must consider Humanist
Manifesto II.
PREFACE:
It
is forty years since Humanist Manifesto I (1933) appeared. Events since then make that earlier
statement seemed far too optimistic.
Nazism, as shown in the depths of brutality, of which humanity is
capable. Other totalitarian regimes
have suppressed human rights without ending poverty. Science has sometimes brought evil as well as good. Recent decades have shown that inhuman wars
can be made in the name of peace. The
beginnings of police states, even in democratic societies, widespread
government espionage, and other abuses of power by military, political, and
industrial elites, and the continuance of unyielding racism, all present a
different and difficult social outlook.
In various societies, the demands of women and minority groups for equal
rights effectively challenge our generation.
As
we approach the twenty -- first century however, an affirmative and hopeful
vision is needed. Faith, commensurate
with advancing knowledge is also necessary.
In the choice between despair and hope, humanist respond in this
Humanist Manifesto II
As
in 1933, humanist still believe that traditional theism, especially faith in
the prayer -- hearing God, assumed to live and care for persons, to hear and
understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an
unimproved and outmoded faith.
Salvationism, based on mere affirmation, still appears as harmful,
diverting people with false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for
survival.
Those
who sign Humanist Manifesto II, disclaim that they are setting forth a binding
credo; their individual views would be stated in widely varying ways. This statement is, however, reaching for
vision in a time that needs direction.
It is also analysis in an effort at consensus. These statements should be developed to supersede this, but for
today it is our conviction that humanism offers an alternative that can serve
present-day needs and guide humankind toward the future.
Paul Kurtz, and Edwin H. Wilson (1973).
The
next century can be and should be the humanistic century. Dramatic scientific, technological, and ever
-- accelerating social and political changes crowd our awareness. We have virtually conquered the planet,
explored the moon, overcome the natural limits of travel and communication; we
stand at the dawn of a new age, ready to move farther into space, and perhaps
and inhabit other planets. Using
technology wisely, we can control the environment, conquer poverty, markedly
reduce disease, extend our life -- span, significantly modify our behavior,
alter the course of human evolution and cultural development, unlock, vast new
powers, and provide humankind with unparalleled opportunity for achieving an
abundant and meaningful life.
The
future is, however, filled with dangers in learning to apply the scientific
method to nature and human life, we have opened the door to ecological damage,
over-population, dehumanizing institutions, totalitarian repression, and
nuclear and bio -- chemical disasters.
Faced with apocalyptic prophecies and dooms day scenarios, many flee in
despair from reason and embrace irrational cults and theologies of withdrawal
and retreat.
Traditional
moral codes and newer irrational cults both fail to meet the pressing needs of
today and tomorrow. False
"theologies of hope" and messianic ideologies, substituting new
dogmas for old, cannot cope with existing world realities. They separate, rather than unite peoples.
Humanity,
to survive, requires bold and daring measures.
We need to extend the uses of scientific method, not renounce them, to
fuse reason with compassion in order to build constructive social and moral
values. Confronted by many possible
futures, we must decide which to pursue.
The ultimate goal should be the fulfillment of the potential for growth
in each human personality -- not for the favored few, but for all of
humankind. Only a shared world and
global measures will suffice.
A
humanist outlook will tap the creativity of each human being and provide the
vision and courage for us to work together.
This outlook emphasizes the role human beings can play in their own
spheres of action. The decades ahead
call for dedicated, clear -- minded men and women able to marshal the will,
intelligence, and cooperative skills for shaping a desirable future. Humanism can provide a purpose and
inspiration that so many seek, it can give personal meaning and significance of
the human life.
Many
kinds of humanism exist in the contemporary world. The variety is an emphasis of naturalistic humanism, including
"scientific," "ethical," "democratic,"
"religious," and "Marxist" humanism. Free thought, atheism, agnosticism, skepticism,
deism, rationalism, ethical culture, and liberal religion all claimed to be
heir to the humanist tradition.
Humanism traces its roots from the ancient China, classical Greek and
Rome, through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, to the scientific
revolution of the modern world. But
views that merely reject theism are not equivalent to humanism. They lack commitment to the positive beliefs
in the possibilities of human progress and to the values central to it. Many within religious groups believing in the
future of humanism, now claim humanist credentials. Humanism is an ethical process through which we all can move,
above and beyond The divisive particulars, heroic personalities, dogmatic
creeds, and virtual customs of past religions or their mere negation.
We
affirm a set of common principles that can serve as a basis for united action
-- positive principles relevant to the present human condition. They are a design for a secular society on a
planetary scale.
For
these reasons, we submit this new Humanist Manifesto for the future of
humankind. For us it is a vision of
hope, a direction for satisfying survival.
RELIGION:
FIRST: In the best sense, religion, may inspired dedication to the
highest ethical ideals. The cultivation
of moral devotion and creative imagination is an expression of genuine
"spiritual" experience and aspiration.
We believe, however, that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian
religions. That place revelation, God,
ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to the human
species. Any account of nature should
pass the tests of scientific evidence, in our judgment, the dogmas and myths of
traditional religions do not do so.
Even at this late date in human history, certain elementary facts based
upon the critical use of scientific reason have to be restated. We find insufficient evidence for belief in
the existence of a supernatural, it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the
question of survival and fulfillment of the human race. As a non-theist, we begin with humans, not
God, nature not deity. Nature may
indeed be broader and deeper than we now know, any new discoveries, however,
will but enlarge our knowledge of the natural.
We appreciate the need to
preserve the best ethical teachings and the religious traditions of humankind,
many of which we share in common. But
we reject those features of traditional religious morality that deny humans a
full appreciation of their own potentialities, and responsibilities. Traditional religions, often offer solace to
humans, but as often, they inhibit humans from helping themselves or experiencing
their full potentialities. Such
institutions, creeds, and rituals often impede the will to serve others. Too often traditional faiths encourage
dependence rather than independence, obedience rather than affirmation, fear
rather than courage. More recently they
have generated concerned social action, with many signs of relevance appearing
in the wake of the "God is Dead." theologies. But we can discover no divine purpose or
providence for the human species. While
there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or
will become. No deity will save us, we
must save ourselves.
SECOND: Promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation
are both illusory and harmful. They
distract humans from present concerns, from self -- actualization, and from
rectifying social injustices. Modern
science discredits such historic concepts as the "ghost in the
machine." and the "separable soul." Rather, science affirms that the human species is an emergence
from the natural evolutionary forces.
As far as we know, the total personality is a function of the biological
organism transacting any social and cultural context. There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the
body.
We continue to exist in our
progeny, and in the way that our lives have influenced others in our culture.
Traditional religions are surely
not the only obstacles to human progress.
Other ideologies also impede human advance. Some forms of political doctrine, for instance, function, religiously,
reflecting the worst features of orthodoxy and authoritarianism, especially
when they sacrifice individuals on the altar of Utopian promises.. Economic and political viewpoints, whether
capitalist or communist, often functioned as religious and ideological
dogma. Although humans undoubtedly need
economic and political goals, they also need creative values by which to live.
ETHICS:
THIRD: We affirm that moral values derive their source from human
experience. Ethics is autonomous, and
situational needing no theological sanction.
Ethics stands from human need and interest. To deny this distorts the whole basis of life. Human life has meaning, because we create
and develop our futures. Happiness and
the creative realization of human needs and desires, individually and in sheer
enjoyment, are continuous means of humanism.
We strive for the good life, here and now. The goal is to pursue life's enrichment despite debasing forces
of your vulgarization, commercialization, and dehumanization.
FOURTH: Reason and intelligence are the most effective instruments
that humankind possesses. There is no
substitute, neither faith, nor passion suffices in itself. But controlled use of scientific methods
which have transformed the natural and social sciences since the Renaissance,
must be extended further in the solution of human problems. But in recent must be tempered by humility,
since no group has a monopoly of wisdom or value. Nor is there any guarantee that all problems can be solved or all
questions answered. Yet critical
intelligence infused by a sense of human caring is the best method that
humanity has for resolving problems.
Reason should be balanced with compassion and empathy, and the whole
person, fulfilled. Plus, we are not
advocating the use of scientific intelligence independent or in opposition to
emotion, for we believe in the cultivation of feeling and love. As science pushes back the boundary of the
known humankind's sense of wonder is continually received, and art, poetry, and
music find their places, along with religion and ethics.
THE
INDIVIDUAL:
FIFTH: The preciousness and dignity of the individual person is a
central humanist values. Individuals
should be encouraged to realize their own creative talents and desires. We reject all religious, ideological, or
moral codes that denigrate the individual, suppress freedom, dull, dehumanize
personality. We believe in maximum
individual autonomy, consonant with social responsibility. Although science can account for the causes
of behavior, the possibilities of individual freedom of choice exists in human
life and should be increased.
SIXTH: In the area of sexuality we believe that intolerant
attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and puritanical cultures,
unduly repress sexual conduct. The
right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized. While we do not approve of exploitive,
denigrating forms of sexual expression, and neither do we wish to prohibit, by
law or social sanction, sexual behavior between consenting adults. The many varieties of sexual exploration
should not in themselves be considered "evil." Without countenancing mindless
permissiveness or unbridled promiscuity, a civilized society should be a
tolerant one. Short of harming others
or compelling them to do likewise, individuals should be permitted to express
their sexual proclivities and pursue their lifestyles as they desire. We wish to cultivate the development of a
responsible attitude toward sexuality, in which humans are not exploited as
sexual objects, and in which intimacy, sensitivity, respect, and honesty in
interpersonal relations are encouraged.
Moral education for children and adults is an important way of
developing awareness and sexual maturity.
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIETY:
SEVENTH: To enhance freedom and dignity the individual must
experience a full range of civil liberties in all societies. This includes freedom of speech and the
press, political democracy, the legal right of opposition to governmental
policies, fair judicial process, religious liberty, freedom of association, and
artistic, scientific, and cultural freedom.
It also includes a recognition of an individual's right to die in
dignity, euthanasia and the right to suicide.
We oppose the increasing invasion of privacy, by whatever means, and
both totalitarian and democratic societies.
We would safeguard, extend, and implement the principles of human
freedom involved from the Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights, the Rights of Man,
and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
EIGHTH: We are committed to an open and democratic society. We must extend participatory democracy in
its true sense to the economy, the school, the family, the workplace, and
voluntary associations. Decision-making
must be de-centralized to include widespread involvement of people at all
levels, social, political, and economic.
All persons should have a voice in developing the values and goals that
determine their lives. Institutions should be responsive to expressed desires
and needs. The conditions of work,
education, devotion, and play should be humanized. Alienating forces should be modified or eradicated and
bureaucratic structures should be held to a minimum. People are more important than decalogues, rules, proscriptions,
or regulations.
NINTH: The separation of church and state and the separation of
ideology and state are imperatives. The
state should encourage maximum freedom for different moral, political,
religious, and social values and society.
It should not favor any particular religious bodies through the use of
public monies, nor espouse a single ideology and functioned thereby as an
instrument propaganda or oppression, particularly against dissenters.
TENTH: Humane societies should evaluate economic system not by
rhetoric or ideology, but by whether or not they increase economic well --
being for all individuals and groups, minimize poverty and hardship, increase
the sum of human satisfaction, and enhance the quality of life. Hence the door is open to alternative
economic systems. We need to
democratize the economy and judge it by its responsiveness to human needs,
testing results in terms of the common good.
ELEVENTH: The principal of moral equality must be furthered through
elimination of all discrimination based upon race, religion, sex, age, or
national origin. This means equality of
opportunity and a recognition of talent and merit. Individual should be encouraged to contribute to their own betterment. If unable, then society should provide means
to satisfy the basic economic, health, and cultural needs, including wherever
resources make possible, a minimum guaranteed annual income. We are concerned for the welfare of the
aged, the infirmed, the disadvantage, and also for the outcasts -- the mentally
retarded, abandoned, or abused children, the handicapped, prisoners, and
addicts -- for all who are neglected or ignored by society. Practicing humanists should make it their
vocation to humanize personal relations.
We believe in the right to
universal education. Everyone has a
right to the cultural opportunity to fulfill his or her unique capacities and
talents. The schools should foster
satisfying and productive living. They
should be opened at all levels to any and all; the achievement of excellence
should be encouraged. Innovating and
experimental forms of education are to be welcomed. The energy and idealism of the young deserve to be appreciated
and channeled to constructive purposes.
We deplore racial, religious,
ethnic, or class antagonisms. Although
we believe and cultural diversity and encouraged racial and ethnic pride, we
reject separation which promote alienation and set people and groups against
each other; we envision an integrated community where people have a maximum
opportunity for free and voluntary association.
We are critical of sexism or
sexual chauvinism -- male or female. We
believe in equal rights for both women and men to fulfill their unique careers
and potential allergies as they see fit, free invidious discrimination.
WORLD
COMMUNITY:
TWELFTH: We deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic
grounds. We have reached a turning
point in human history where the best option is to transcend the limits of
national sovereignty and to move toward the building of a world community in
which all sectors of the human family can participate. Plus we look to the development of a system
of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal
government. This would appreciate
cultural pluralism and diversity. It
would not exclude pride and national origins and accomplishments nor the
handling of regional problems on a regional basis. Human progress, however, can no longer be achieved by focusing on
one section of the world, Western or Eastern, developed or undeveloped. For the first time in human history, no part
of humankind can be isolated from any other.
Each person's future is in some way linked to all. We just reaffirm a commitment to the
building of world community, at the same time recognizing that this commits us
to some hard choices.
THIRTEENTH: This world community must renounce the resort to
violence and force as a method of solving international disputes. We believe in the peaceful adjudication of
differences by international courts and by the development of the arts of negotiation
and compromise. War is obsolete. So is the use of nuclear, biological, and
chemical weapons. It is a planetary
imperative to reduce the level of military expenditures and turned these
savings to peaceful and people -- oriented uses.
FOURTEENTH: The world community must engage in cooperative planning
concerning the use of rapidly depleting resources. The planet Earth must be considered a single ecosystem. Ecological damage, resource depletion, and
excessive population growth must be checked by international concord. The cultivation and conservation of nature
is a moral value; we should perceive ourselves as integral to the sources of
our being in nature. We must free our
world from needless pollution and waste, responsibility guarding and creating
wealth, both natural and human.
Exploitation of natural resources, uncurbed by social conscience, must
end.
FIFTEENTH: The problems of economic growth and development can no
longer be the result of one nation alone; they are worldwide in scope. It is the moral obligation of the developed
nations to provide -- through an international authority that safeguards human
rights -- massive technical, agricultural, medical, and economic assistance,
including birth control techniques, to the developing portions of the
globe. World poverty must cease. Hence extreme disproportions in wealth,
income, and economic growth should be reduced on a worldwide basis.
SIXTEENTH: Technology is a vital key to human progress and
development. We deplore any neo --
romantic efforts to condemn indiscriminately all technology and science or to
counsel retreat from its further extension and use for the good of
humankind. We would resist any moves to
censor basic scientific research on moral -- political, or social grounds. Technology must however, be carefully judged
by the consequences of its use, harmful and destructive changes should be
avoided. We are particularly disturbed
when technology and bureaucracy control, manipulate, or modified human beings
without their consent. Technological
feasibility does not imply social cultural desirability
SEVENTEENTH: We must expand communication and transportation across
frontiers. Travel restrictions must
cease. The world must be opened to
diverse political, ideological, and moral viewpoints and evolve a worldwide
system of television and radio for information and education. We thus call for full international
cooperation in culture, science, the arts, and technology across ideological
borders. We must learn to live openly
together or we shall perish together.
HUMANITY AS A
WHOLE:
IN CLOSING: The world cannot wait for a reconciliation of competing
political or economic systems to solve its problems. These are the times for men and women of good will to further the
building of a peaceful and prosperous world.
We urge that parochial loyalties and inflexible moral and religious
ideologies be transcended. We urge
recognition of the common humanity of all people. We further urge the use of reason and compassion to produce the
kind of world we want -- a world in which peace, prosperity, freedom, and
happiness are widely shared. Let us not
abandoned that vision in despair or cowardice.
We are responsible for what we are or will be. Let us work together for a humane world by means commensurate
with humane ends. Destructive
ideological differences among Communism, capitalism, Socialism, conservatism,
liberalism, and radicalism should be overcome.
Let us call for an end to terror and hatred. We will survive and prosper only in a world of shared humane
values. We can initiate new directions
for humankind; ancient rivalries can be superseded by broad -- based
cooperative efforts. The commitment to
tolerance understanding, and peaceful negotiation does not necessitate
acquiescence to the status quo nor the damming up of dynamic revolutionary
forces. The true revolution is
occurring and can continue in countless nonviolent adjustments. But this entails the willingness to step
forward onto new and expanding plateaus.
At the present juncture of history, commitment to all humankind is the
highest commitment of which we are capable; it transcends the narrow
allegiances of church, state, party, class, or race and moving toward a wider
vision of human potentiality. What more
daring a goal for humankind than for each person to become, and I feel as well
as practice, a citizen of the world community.
It is a classical vision, we can now give it new vitality. Humanism is interpreted as a moral force
that has time on its side. We believe that
humankind has the potential, intelligence, good will, and cooperative skill to
implement this commitment in the decades ahead.
We the undersigned, while not
necessarily endorsing every detail of the above, pledge our general support to
Humanist Manifesto II for the future of humankind. These affirmations are not a final credo or dogma but an
expression of a living and growing Faith.
We invite others in all wins to join us in further developing and
working for these goals.
End of Manifesto II
Read this, reread this, understand this manifesto, for this is what is being taught to our children and has been taught to us, in some manner but with their worldview always in sight, never forgotten and they are willing to do whatever it takes to bring their views, ideologies to fruition. There is one more important manifesto to bring to your knowledge and this I will do tomorrow. Are you tired of being duped? Are you willing to do something about this, that is to turn to God's word, His Doctrines and live by them? I pray that this is so.
For there are many insubordinate,
both idle talkers and deceivers,
especially those of the circumcision,
whose mouths must be stopped,
who subvert whole households,
teaching things which they ought not,
for the sake of dishonest gain.
Titus 1:10-11
Remain Faithful Your Reward Is Certain
Richard L. Crumb
