The Moral Argument – Humanism

Posted on by L Reese Cumming

HumanismSymbol

Recently, a good friend of mine read my essay on Pluralism & Relativism, and asked the question if I could comment on Secular Humanism. As I had started a series of moral arguments, it seemed practical that the next one may as well be on such an “ism”.

I also have to note, with great emphasis, that this essay quickly became a satire and a screed, and for that, I apologize. It just became so ridiculous examining the humanist point of view and then dealing with it in a mature and educated fashion. So I took the gutter. And while the gutter is smelly, dirty, and offensive, it still leads us to where we need to go; to the understanding of the very dangerous nature of Humanism.

In taking a hard look at Humanism, it became efficient to deal with the primary doctrines of this movement of man, and for accuracy’s sake I went to the source: The American Humanist Association (AHA). Within their website I found the three, basic humanist manifestos; generated in 1933, 1973, and 2003. Though there are other affirmations of their common goals to be found, and well worth the read, I am going to concentrate my discourse on the three manifestos as noted in order to contain the content of this essay. Yes, the devil is in the details – in this case the applications of Humanism into our American society – and I do believe it is the Devil who writes any doctrine that attempts to usurp the authority of God.

Continue reading The Moral Argument – Humanism

The Rights of Evil – Part 6.

Posted on by L Reese Cumming

Father's Love 1God’s Nature – What Man Resists

God’s nature is love in the full, self-sacrificial form.  To experience Him is to feel at first  an impulse to the kindness one should show to others, and given good soil to grow in, it becomes a devotion to the demotion of one’s personal desires for the good of all, knowing that in turn one receives the highest quality of humanity; happiness, contentment, and peace.  It is a virtue of humanity that cannot be replicated through man’s own endeavors.

Anyone who would contend that their engagement and successful navigation through life is due to their singular force is selfishly ignoring the backs of others upon which they climbed or the receiving nourishment of one order or another from others.  No matter how hard one may try, the inevitable truth of God’s work in one’s life is unmeasurable.  While the atheist can deny He exists, the atheist cannot deny the assistance of others in his or her life.  There, the potential of God always resides and the atheist cannot shake it off.  There, the self-sacrificial nature of God and His call for mankind to demonstrate a similar nature resides to lift man away from his inclinations to himself to the aspirations of man in God’s form; a society for the benefit of all. Continue reading The Rights of Evil – Part 6.

On the Pride of Self-Regard

Posted on by L Reese Cumming

A Jewish man blows the Shofra at the Western Wall in the Old City of JerusalemA few days back I memorized the Act of Contrition, a Catholic prayer of confession of sin. It is a beautiful prayer of repentance, intent, and hope that I will repeat daily throughout the remainder of my life.  Recently I had the opportunity to look deep into this prayer’s meaning and use by modern man as I drove my car on an errand.

Turning on my radio, I found myself listening to a discussion on EWTN radio regarding the matter of sin in our American society.  The protagonist speaker continually referred to those secular or atheist people who viewed sin as if it were a moral strength or virtue.  He noted that our media, whether it be television entertainment programming or skewed journalism (I agreed with him that there is no unbiased news reporting anymore), has saturated our society’s essence with acts of sin – adultery for example – portrayed as justifiable behavior for an intelligent, caring human being.   I agreed with him.  It is the primary reason our family has no television in our household.  There simply is no way to exclude such sanctions of illicit behavior when watching and listening to television programing.

As I listened, I knew one thing and then affirmed another.  First, that I have heard this discourse many times before.  The spiritual prophets are many who see our destruction through the corruption of our media – the great providReality TV 1er of knowledge, freedom, and television based upon some form of reality (supposedly) in people’s lives.  That thought, in itself, did not urge me to change the channel, but it did lead me to an affirmation of a belief that I have long acknowledged and wish to discuss here.

This recurring theme, by our well-meaning, Christian prophets, of a call to our secular society to repentance and “to sin no more” – quoting the Act of Contrition – can be an exercise in futility.  Not because the goal is unattainable.  All men and women are loved by God, no matter what the quality of their nature, and they all have an equal opportunity to seek God, to find His grace and forgiveness, and to become justified through repentance and a sincere desire to lead a life in avoidance of temptation to sin.  What makes the prophets’ call to repentance potentially unattainable is that they assume too much of their listening audience. Continue reading On the Pride of Self-Regard