
Against humanism (2010) - kawera
https://newhumanist.org.uk/playdice/2419
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baldfat
TL/DR I love Philosophy and Theology and the Modern Humanist has taken over a
word and changed it to the point that the study of Humanism will be slanted by
this modern view. No one should re-define a word so drastically.

> For him, “humanism” was a word parallel to “theism”. It just altered the
> object worshiped, substituting humanity for God. He called it the “religion
> of humanity” and devised ritual forms for it that were close to traditional
> Christian ones.

Historical Humanism has been replaced by a modern definition that has no
connection to the past. I went on a 5 day discussion on Reddit with the
president of the American Humanism Association about this one thing.

Historically all the Reformation was founded by Humanist Philosophy. The
founders of Humanism actually were translator of the Bible, but now for some
strange reason Atheist/Agnostics want the term to reassemble them and it
really frustrated me.

Humanist were Theologians and Philosophers and now Humanism is try to mean
Atheist/Agnostic and that is not accurate to the Humanism movement.

To me it is dangerous to take over a term that has centuries of history and
then simplify it to mean Humans over God.

~~~
gnaritas
Words are defined by their use, not by what you want them to mean; use changes
over time, and words have multiple meanings. The historical meaning is still
there, it's simply not the only one anymore.

> Historical Humanism has been replaced by a modern definition that has no
> connection to the past.

Yes, it has, so accept that and move on. The word has taken on a new meaning,
to a new group of people who are now the primary reason the word is used and
thus rightfully what the word means to most people today.

~~~
baldfat
Just go with Atheist or Agnostic why does it need another word?

~~~
gnaritas
Because they aren't even close to the same thing. It's not another word, it's
an entirely different word describing an entirely different thing, a set of
beliefs, something that atheism is not.

~~~
baldfat
That is not what the American Humanist Society states. That is ALSO my point.
[http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism](http://americanhumanist.org/Humanism)

~~~
gnaritas
Incorrect. Just because humanists are atheists, doesn't mean atheists are
humanists. You've failed to understand the difference. Humanism is a belief
system some atheists follow, all atheists are not humanists. Being an atheist
doesn't make one a humanist, surely you can understand that distinction?

Knowing someone is an atheist doesn't tell you what they believe, it tells you
what they don't believe; knowing they're a humanist tells you exactly what
they do believe. Humanists are a sub-category of atheists.

