POSITIVE HUMANISM
by Gerald A. Larue, Ph.D.
There is a certain aspect of Humanism that inspires a
Humanist to debunk the superstitious and simplistic assumptions of
pseudoscience and organized religion. Perhaps through
overemphasis, Humanism may project a negative image and be seen as
a joyless put-down of everything that does not represent cold,
hard rationalism or analytic science. What is there in the
continuing questioning and debunking of another's way of thinking
or apprehending the world that adds color and depth and insight to
the human scene? What becomes of fantasy and fantasizing, of tall
tales and imaginative reflection on the maybes, perhapses, and
might-have-beens, that so enrich literature, art, and reflective
human thought? Might we be in danger of projecting an image of an
organization opposed to everything and anything that doesn't fit
neatly into our particular framework of rational scientific
thought?
The immediate response is "nonsense." For many, Humanism
provides the acme of freedom to experience, enjoy, and appreciate
the many dimensions of being human. As a Humanist, I am free to
experience and enjoy as many facets of my humanity as I wish,
without appealing to some archaic tradition or without reference
to cultic requirements. For example, during the past Easter
season, I listened to Handel's Messiah, hummed along with the
choruses, paused properly before that last triumphant
"Hallelujah," and smiled at the memory of the person who had once
stood next to me in a choir and who broke in too soon. I also
listened to the rock opera Jesus Christ, Superstar and hummed the
melodies, pondered the role of Judas, sighed deeply and
appreciatively at Mary's song when she tried to get Jesus to
relax, muttered to myself that, "If I am experiencing a male
chauvinistic feeling, then at this level I am chauvinistic" -- I
love to be stroked and caressed! This music belongs to me as much
as it does to the devout Christian. These compositions are
products of human creativity, and they are part of my human
heritage. I need not accept the theology or mythology that is
implicit in each composition, but I can understand what the artist
is attempting to convey of belief, feeling, and interpretation.
Humanists have so many freedoms. Unlike my Orthodox Jewish
friends, and unlike my Roman Catholic father in his observance of
Friday "fish day," I can choose my food without reference to
taboos established several thousand years ago, and I am free of
papal edicts. I have dipped in a common dish with Bedouins,
risking roundworm infection and dysentery, all the while knowing
they would hesitate to do the same thing with me because of Muslim
food laws. I have eaten with Orthodox Jews, knowing that they
could not bring themselves to eat in my home because I do not keep
kosher. I have drunk with drinkers and abstained with abstainers,
eaten vegetables with vegetarians and devoured meat with
carnivores. I have eaten with fingers, chopsticks, knives, forks,
and spoons, drunk from delicate china and from a bottle passed
from one dirty hand to the next. As a Humanist, I am free to set
my own standards, to conform or not conform as I wish. The only
rules are those that are self-imposed because of personal desires
and respect for the ways of others.
In moments of deep passion, I have immersed myself in the art
of Goya, Rembrandt, Raphael, Picasso, and countless others who
have made creative statements in oils, water colors, ink, and
crayons. I have attempted to enter into their art, penetrate
their minds, see life through their eyes, feel their moods, be
part of their art, and probe the humanistic dimensions of their
creativity. The fact that some themes were centered in religious
mythology or beliefs of the past is immaterial -- these artists
are humans perceiving the world. Perhaps, if I am open, I can see
and feel something of what they saw and felt and thereby grow in
my Humanism.
The literature of the world is open to me as a Humanist --
there are no banned books, only those that I consider a waste of
my precious time. I enjoy science fiction and have served as a
"technical consultant" on several films. Despite my presumed
"expertise," the producer is not compelled to follow my
suggestions -- a detail that some writers in The Humanist magazine
fail to understand. I LIKE fantasy and fiction and imaginary
projections. If, as a professional educator, I do my job, my
students will have mastered proper scholarly methods to
investigate the factuality of the claims of fiction science. And
if they have not, well, these programs, too, will pass.
As I speed along the freeway in my little sports car, I often
tune into "old fashioned gospel" radio programs, and in my
euphoric exuberance in response to wind, sun, and air, I roar out
the hymns. Other motorists may think I am a bit mad, but there
are moments when the sheer joy of being cries out for expression,
and hymn-roaring is, for me, one means of expression. I don't
believe the contents of the hymns; I simply enjoy life and living,
love and loving.
At times I feel very close to poorly informed, new converts
to Christianity, to those who have lifted out of the morass of
Christian theological meanderings an impulse to love and forgive,
to understand and reach out in compassion. These values are not
uniquely Christian; they are supremely human. I could care less
what the individual believes; we meet on the ground of human
concern. Should that individual attempt to convert me, the
situation changes. If a gentle response to the effect that I
have my own belief system fails to dissuade, I can and will
debate. Because I am a professional ancient Near Eastern
historian, these persons generally fail badly. I do not want to
hurt or upset them -- I feel no missionary call to convert the
world to Humanism -- but I am committed to the preservation of
freedom of and from belief systems and to the maximizing of the
human person.
Religious expression can move me and touch me deeply, because
religious expression is part of the human tradition. In the
ancient Egyptian temple of the god Amun, I feel chills run along
my spine when I realize that, where I stand, the pharaohs of Egypt
stood in worship millennia ago. This very spot was believed to
have been the first soil to emerge from the primeval abyss. If I
listen, perhaps I can hear the footsteps of the ancient priests of
Amun echoing in the peristyle hall. I can feel with the pilgrims
at the legendary birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, where for
centuries millions have come to worship. In a Roman Catholic or
Greek or Russian sanctuary, I can let the music move me as I watch
the sunlight filter through clerestory windows and seemingly hang
suspended in the air. At the same time, I am sharply aware of
human stupidities perpetrated in the name of the sacred and that
these sanctuaries built to honor a god are really statements
honoring the humans who designed, built, and contributed to
them.
I excavate a tomb and remove the personal ornaments from a
skeleton -- a violation of human dignity in the name of scientific
archaeology. With some reverence, I place these bones in a
plastic bag and rebury them in another setting where they will not
be disturbed or destroyed as a token of respect for the
personality of which they were once a part. There are no rules to
say I must do this, only my responses to and respect for others
and for myself. I am free to be as romantic and unrealistic as I
wish without losing contact with the cold hard facts of human
survival, human cruelty and indifference, human abuses of power
and privilege, and human bigotry and bias. A mixture of
romanticism and realism -- but we are all mixed bundles, we
humans, and, as an individual Humanist, I express my particular
blend.
There is much more to be said about the positive virtues of
Humanism -- about freedom to be, to express, to dare, and to
attempt to extend our outreach and burst our societal and
inherited bonds. Each Humanist can write a personal narrative;
indeed, I think each should be prepared to give a personal
"testimony" (to use the language of evangelicals). It is
absolutely essential that we continue to express the impact of
rational and scientific analysis on modern life and thought. It
is imperative that we take stands against sloppy thinking, against
the imposition of ancient mythic interpretations on modern life
and living, against the efforts to impose religious teachings and
interpretations on society, against anything that inhibits freedom
for all. We have excellent means of confronting vapid,
inconsistent, muddled, shallow, unreasoned, nonscientific
arguments by debates, lectures, and publications. We must also
express through like means the positive virtues of Humanism.
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Gerald A. Larue is professor emeritus of biblical history and
archaeology at the University of Southern California and
chairperson of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of
Religion. He has served on the board of directors of the American
Humanist Association, as president of the Hemlock Society, and as
leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles. Among his
many honors, Larue was named the 1989 Humanist of the Year by the
American Humanist Association.
"Positive Humanism" is the lead essay in Dr. Larue's book, The Way
of Positive Humanism, published in 1989 by Centerline Press and
available from the American Humanist Association. This material
originally appeared in volume 21, number six, of Free Mind, the
membership newsletter of the American Humanist Association.
(c) Copyright 1978 by Gerald A. Larue
So long as profit is not your motive and you always include this
copyright notice, please feel free to reproduce and distribute
this material in electronic form as widely as you please.
Nonprofit Humanist and Freethought publications have additional
permission to publish this in print form. All other permission
must be sought from the author through the American Humanist
Association, which can be contacted at the following address:
AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
PO BOX 1188
AMHERST NY 14226-7188
Phone: (800) 743-6646
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