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From: lied@ihlts.UUCP (Bob Lied)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Challenge to Humanist/Materialists
Message-ID: <469@ihlts.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 19-May-84 01:42:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihlts.469
Posted: Sat May 19 01:42:25 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 19-May-84 07:09:27 EDT
References: <779@akgua.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 19

Aarrgh!  Why does every challenge to humanism include the
assertion that humanism is selfish? It is not.  The fundamental
rule of humanism is the Golden Rule.

The idea is simple: we have enough intelligence to foresee some
of the results of our actions.  Therefore, we choose the actions
that seem the most beneficial.  We can make this choice entirely
based on our previous experiences and our ability to reason about
the results.  The reasoning includes considering effects on other
people and society in general.  We do not need the heavy
baggage of absolute good and evil; we do not need the heavy
baggage of faith in untestable beliefs; we do not need the
heavy baggage of threat of punishment.

Humanism has flaws, but selfishness is not one of them.

Maybe next time I'll even answer the question that was asked :-).

    Bob Lied    ihnp4!ihlts!lied