“The least [initial] deviation from truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.” (Aristotle, On the Heavens)
“Humanism” and its pragmatic-synonym, “secularism,”[1]
make similar bold social claims:
“Humanism is a progressive philosophy
of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and
responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the
greater good of humanity.”[2]
While this treatise on “ethical” potential raises several
questions, the one aspect of ethics I choose to contest is the humanist claim
that we have an autonomous[3] capacity to “lead
ethical lives.” And my challenge is further
heightened because the plan they envision entails not merely individualistic betterment;
but overhauling a national order!
Any claim that that goal can improve America solely by repudiating the “sins”
of our Founders is utterly naïve.[4] The fact that humanistic college academicians[5] give a “pass” to the conduct
of 20th Century-Marxists[6] while vilifying Washington
and Lincoln is, on its face, absurd. It
is on the one hand true that secularism has tolerably coexisted alongside
our republican democratic social order for a century. Nevertheless, in terms of social considerations,
their “success” has occurred not as if they collaborated in a positive way, but
because of their parasitic reliance on the social resources, drawn from a
parent society, that are rooted in the Bible.[7]
My point is NOT to begrudge their free ride, but rather to highlight the reality that the promises cited in our Declaration of Independence have their source NOT in humanistic ideology, but in the principles that flow from a Christian worldview. Though secularists will undoubtedly mock this assertion by charging “those Christian sinners” (meaning “us”)… with “hypocrisy,” the points they miss include (1) the universality of sin in that everybody without exception breaks the golden rule, (2) in an absence of a universal moral code, societies will naturally degenerate into tyrannical-chaos,[8] and (3) in a spirit of defiance of authority, the expected result can only be that law-breakers will loot the defenseless. In addition to the Covid19 onslaught, our society has recently suffered from devastating rioting over a hundred days, vis-a-vis the gross neglect by Leftist authorities to protect their citizens. According to Rom. 1:18f., such misery naturally results from their defiant denial of the moral law of God.[9]
This entire article can be accessed at my website: www.christianityontheoffense.com/articles
[1] https://www.secularism.org.uk/what-is-secularism.html
[2] The Humanist Manifesto III, 2003 (boldface
mine). https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/manifesto3/. Boldface mine. **
[3] The term “autonomous” affectively means self-powered
(pun intended). Think “automobile.” Consider also the word, “innate.”
[4]
[5] Ibid.
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/11/07/lessons-from-a-century-of-communism/
[7] “That the founders of [our nation] believed in a
religious basis for our society can be illustrated abundantly from their
speeches and writings.” Russell Kirk. The Roots of American Order.
(Regnery Gateway, 1991), p. 433.
[8] Think of a society where each driver is permitted
individually to abide by their own laws.
[9] St. Paul writes, “Do not be deceived: God is not
mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 5:7).
[10] Robert Conquest. “Reflections on a Ravaged Century.” https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/asreview.htm
[11] BIOLA University Prof., Clay Jones concludes from extensive study that they were mostly normal people shielded from threat of punishment.
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