Humanism – An Irreligious Ideology

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“Humanism” is considered a positive idea by the majority of people. It brings to mind notions such as love of humanity, peace and brotherhood. But, the philosophical meaning of humanism is much more significant: humanism is a way of thinking that posits the concept of humanity as its focus and only goal. In other words, it calls human beings to turn away from God their Creator, and concern themselves with their own existence and identity. A common dictionary defines humanism as: “a system of thought that is based on the values, characteristics, and behavior that are believed to be best in human beings, rather than on any supernatural authority.” [1]

The clearest definition of humanism, however, has been put forward by those who espoused it. One of the most prominent modern spokesmen for humanism is Corliss Lamont. In his book The Philosophy of Humanism, the author writes:

[In sum] humanism believes that nature … constitutes the sum total of reality, that matter-energy and not mind is the foundation stuff of the universe and that supernatural entities simply do not exist. This nonrealistic of the supernatural means, on the human level, that men do not possess supernatural and immortal souls; and, on the level of the universe as a whole, that our cosmos does not possess a supernatural and eternal God. [2]

As we can see, humanism is almost identical to atheism, and this fact is freely admitted by humanists. There were two important manifestos published by humanists in the last century. The first was published in 1933, and was signed by some important individuals of that time. Forty years later, in 1973, a second humanist manifesto was published which confirmed the first, but contained some additions relative to some developments that had occurred in the meantime. Thousands of thinkers, scientists, writers and members of the media signed the second manifesto, which is supported by the still very active American Humanist Association.

When we examine the manifestos, we find one basic foundation in each of them: the atheist dogma that the universe and human beings were not created but exist independently, that human beings are not responsible to any other authority besides themselves, and that belief in God has retarded the development of individuals and societies. For example, the first six articles of the first Humanist Manifesto are as follows:

Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.

Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of a continuous process.

Holding an organic view of life, humanists find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected.

Humanism recognizes that man’s religious culture and civilization, as clearly depicted by anthropology and history, are the product of a gradual development due to his interaction with his natural environment and with his social heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is largely molded by that culture.

Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values…

We are convinced that the time has passed for theism, deism, modernism, and the several varieties of “new thought.” [3]

In the above articles, we see the expression of a common philosophy that manifests itself under such names as materialism, Darwinism, atheism and agnosticism. In the first article, the materialist dogma of the eternal existence of the universe is put forward. The second article states, as the theory of evolution does, that human beings were not created. The third article denies the existence of the human soul claiming that human beings are composed of matter. The fourth article proposes a “cultural evolution” and denies the existence of a divinely ordained human nature (a special human nature given in creation). The fifth article rejects God’s sovereignty over the universe and humanity, and the sixth states that it is time to reject “theism,” that is belief in God.

It will be noticed that these claims are stereotypical ideas, typical of those circles that are hostile to true religion. The reason for this is that humanism is the main foundation of anti-religious sentiment. This is because humanism is an expression of “man’s reckoning that he will be left to go on unchecked,” which has been the primary basis, throughout history, for the denial of God. In one verse of the Qur’an, God says:

God says that people are not to be “left to go on unchecked,” and reminds them immediately afterwards that they are His creation. This is because, when a person realizes that he is a creation of God, he understands that he is not “unchecked” but responsible before God.

The basic doctrine of humanist philosophy is the claim that human beings are not created. The first two articles of the first Humanist Manifesto give an expression to this doctrine. According to the first article of the Humanist Manifesto, the universe is self-existing and has not been created. And second article states that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of a continuous process, which in fact implies the theory of evolution. In this respect, humanists maintain that science supports these claims.

However, they are wrong. Since the first Humanist Manifesto was published, the two premises that humanists have presented as scientific facts-the idea that the universe is eternal and the theory of evolution-have collapsed:

The idea that the universe is eternal was invalidated by a series of astronomical discoveries made when the first Humanist Manifesto was being written. Discoveries such as the fact that the universe is expanding have shown that the universe had a beginning, and that it came to be from nothing some 15-17 billion years ago in a giant explosion called the “Big Bang.” Although those who espouse the humanist and materialist philosophy were unwilling to accept the Big Bang theory, they were eventually won over. As a result of the scientific evidence that has come to light, the scientific community has finally accepted the Big Bang theory, that is, that the universe had a beginning, and therefore humanists have no argument.

The theory of evolution, the most important scientific justification behind the first Humanist Manifesto, started to lose ground in the decades after it was written. It is known today that the scenario proposed for the origin of life by atheist (and no doubt humanist) evolutionists, such as A. I. Oparin and J. B. S. Haldane in the 1930’s, has no scientific validity; living things cannot be generated spontaneously from non-living matter as proposed by this scenario. The fossil record demonstrates that living things did not develop through a process of small cumulative changes, but appeared abruptly with their distinct characteristics, and this fact has been accepted by evolutionist paleontologists themselves since the 1970’s. Modern biology has demonstrated that living things are not the result of chance and natural laws, but that there are in each organism complex systems indicating an intelligent design that is evidence for creation.

Moreover, the erroneous claim that religious belief was the factor that prevented humanity from progressing and drew it into conflict has been disproved by historical experience. Humanists have claimed that the removal of religious belief would make people happy and at ease, however, the opposite has proved to be the case. Six years after the first Humanist Manifesto was published, the Second World War broke out, a record of the calamity brought upon the world by the secular fascist ideology. The humanist ideology of communism wreaked, first on the people of the Soviet Union, then on the citizens of China, Cambodia, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba and various African and Latin American countries, unparalleled savagery. A total of 120 million people were killed by communist regimes or organizations. It is also evident that the Western brand of humanism (capitalist systems) has not succeeded in bringing peace and happiness to their own societies or to other areas of the world.

In short, the supposed scientific justification behind humanism has been proven invalid and its promises vain. Nevertheless, humanists have not abandoned their philosophy, but rather, in fact, have tried to spread it throughout the world through methods of mass propaganda. Especially in the post-war period there has been intense humanist propaganda in the fields of science, philosophy, music, literature, art and cinema. The attractive but hollow messages created by humanist ideologues have been insistently imposed upon the masses. The song “Imagine,” by John Lennon, soloist of the most popular music group of all times, the Beatles, is an example of this:

Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today… Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too… You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as oneé 

This song was chosen as the “song of the century” in several polls that were held in 1999. This is a good indication of the sentimentality with which humanism, lacking any scientific or rational foundation, is imposed on the masses. When the promises of the 1933 I. Humanist Manifesto proved vain, forty years passed after which humanists presented a second draft. At the beginning of the text was an attempt to explain why the first promises had come to nothing. Despite the fact that this explanation was extremely weak, it demonstrated the enduring attachment of humanists to their atheist philosophy.

The most obvious characteristic of the manifesto was its preservation of the anti-religious line of the 1933 manifesto:

As in 1933, humanists 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 unproved and outmoded faithé We believe …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… As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. [4]

However, the efforts of humanists to describe faith in God and monotheistic religions as groundless and outmoded creeds is actually not a new undertaking; it is the emulation of a claim that has been made for thousands of years by those who reject God. In the Qur’an, God explains this age-old argument propounded by the unbelievers:

Your God is One God. As for those who do not believe in the hereafter, their hearts are in denial and they are puffed up with pride. There is no doubt that God knows what they keep secret and what they make public. He does not love people puffed up with pride. When they are asked, “What has your Lord sent down?” they say, “Myths and legends of previous peoples.”                                                       (Qur’an, 16: 22-24)

This verse reveals that the real reason of the unbelievers’ rejection of religion is the arrogance hidden in their hearts. The philosophy called humanism is merely the outward manner by which this age rejects God. In other words, humanism is not a new way of thinking, as those who espouse it claim; it is an age-old, antiquated world-view common to those who reject God out of arrogance. (For further reading, see “Global Freemasonry” by Harun Yahya)

Notes:

[1]  Encartaé World English Dictionary é 1999 Microsoft Corporation. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

[2]  Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism, 1977, p. 116

[3]  http://www.jjnet.com/archives/documents/humanist.htm

[4]  Patrick Glynn, “God: The Evidence, The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Post secular World”, Prima Publishing, California, 1997, p. 61

Harun Yahya is a prominent Turkish intellectual.

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