8.0445 Final Rs: On the Meaning of Humanist (2/43)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 4 Apr 1995 00:55:21 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0445. Tuesday, 4 Apr 1995.
(1) Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 03:32:11 -0500 (30 lines)
From: AthAlFLB@aol.com
Subject: Re: 8.0435 Rs: On the Meaning...
(2) Date: Sat, 01 Apr 95 10:40 PST (13 lines)
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 8.0435 Rs: On the Meaning of Humanist (5/161)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 03:32:11 -0500
From: AthAlFLB@aol.com
Subject: Re: 8.0435 Rs: On the Meaning...
As someone who has written several articles on the disparity between the
academic usage of "humanist" and usage within the freethought community, I
must agree that persons seeking the discourse in the domain of the non-theisti
c definition are on the wrong list. The list you are seeking is SECHUM-L;
subscribe via LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU by sending "SUBSCRIBE SECHUM-L
<your name>"
I must make one comment on the previous message, that being the phrase
"uncritical committment to atheism." In my quite extensive experience in the
freethought community, I've rarely met anyone with such an attitude. Indeed,
it is far more often the case that an uncritical committment is made to a
religion. The vast majority of atheists, agnostics, humanists (of that
definition) and freethinkers became so precisely because their critical
mindset led them to examine, and reject, one or all religions. A significant
percentage are former clergy; a far greater number are Ph.D.'s than would be
found in an equivalent sampling of religionists. Thus, assumptions that those
seeking a different definition of humanism have an "uncritical committment to
atheism" merely demonstrate that the closed minds exist here, perhaps in a
greater number than SECHUM-L.
However, I didn't join this list to debate theology, and if Steve DeRose's
comments had been restricted to an explanation of the dual definitions of the
term, instead of slipping in an insult that exposed a personal prejudice, I
would have simply passed along the information on SECHUM-L.
Brent Yaciw
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------210---
Date: Sat, 01 Apr 95 10:40 PST
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 8.0435 Rs: On the Meaning of Humanist (5/161)
Dear Willard, Why not try HUMANISM...? These guys who pick cavils like
nits; a sign of the fanatical times we live in. Has he not head of
Xtian Humanism, etc ? Where was he when the Existentialists routed most
folks after the death human ity, aka WW II? For it may be possible to
say the world ended in 1945, and sin ce the nuclear age we live over,
not beside, the edge of the unfathomable abysm of the Void. Jascha K.
Best wishes, Willard, to you, and all.