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Entering Our New World Humanism in the Twefltyfirst Century Summer 1988 e Vol. 8, No. 3 $3.75 Entering Our New World • Humanism in the TwefltyFirst Century • Onïy if we invest our fates into . a fierce love of this • • planet and all the life on it, only if • we raise a commitment •to individual dignity and wisdom high above all religions and • ideological beliefs, can• humanity as a whole - hope to reach safe ground . Ark —E. O. Wilson • • • A Symposium Gina Allen • Levi Fragell • Ronald Lindsay Robert Rimmer Renate Bauer Anna Marie Franchi Tim Madigan Elie Schneour Ruth Bennett Yves Gali&et Delos McKown Matthew les Spetter Bonnie Bullough Henry Gordon Lester Mllbrath Svetozar Stojanavic Bern Bullough Roger Greeley • Lester Mondale Harry Stopes-Roe Mario Bunge • Herbert Hauptman • John Money • Richard Taylor Joe Chuman Robert Hohnes Henry Morgentaler Robert Thompson • Jose Delgado Lester Kirkendall Indumati Parikh Harry Wagschal Albert Ellis Marvin Kohl Jean-aaude Pecker E. O. Wilson Roy Fairfield Paul Kurtz Howard Radest Sherwin Wine Antony Flew Lisa Kuhmerker Jonathan Reichert SUMMER 1988, VOL. 8, NO. 3 ISSN 0272-0701 Contents 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 38 ON THE BARRICADES 62 IN THE NAME OF GOD ENTERING OUR NEW WORLD—HUMANISM IN THE 21st CENTURY: A SYMPOSIUM 14 Introduction by Paul Kurtz. With Gina Allen, Renate Bauer, Ruth Bennett, Bonnie Bullough, Vern Bullough, Mario Bunge, Joe Chuman, José Delgado, Albert Ellis, Roy Fairfield, Antony Flew, Levi Fragell, Anna Marie Franchi, Yves Galifret, Henry Gordon, Roger Greeley, Herbert Hauptman, Robert Holmes, Lester Kirkendall, Marvin Kohl, Lisa Kuhmerker, Ronald Lindsay, Tim Madigan, Delos McKown, Lester Milbrath, Lester Mondale, John Money, Henry Morgentaler, Indumati Parikh, Jean-Claude Pecker, Howard Radest, Jonathan Reichert, Robert Rimmer, Elie Schneour, Matthew les Spetter, Svetozar Stojanovic, Harry Scopes-Roe, Richard Taylor, Robert Thompson, Harry Wagschal, E. O. Wilson, Sherwin Wine 40 Kicking the Religion Habit Thomas Vernon 44 A Case of Immaculate Abortion? Gary P. Posner, M.D. 46 Another Physician Refuses to Cooperate Gary P. Posner, M.D. 48 Threats of Futility: Is Life Worth Living? Kurt Baier BOOKS 53 Was Socrates a Humanist? Paul Kurtz 55 Unity in Diversity? Tim Madigan 56 The Secular Requiem Richard Chon Editor: Paul Kurtz Senior Editors: Vern Bullough, Gerald Larne Associate Editors: Doris Doyle, Steven L. Mitchell, Lee Nisbet, Gordon Stein Managing Editor: Andrea Szalanski Executive Editor: Robert Basil Assistant Editor: Tim Madigan Contributing Editors: Robert S. Alley, professor of humanities, University of Richmond; Paul Beattie, Unitarian Church, Pittsburgh; Jo-Ann Boydston, director, Dewey Center; Paul Edwards, professor of philosophy, Brooklyn College; Albert Ellis, director, Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy; Roy P. Fairfield, social scientist, Union Graduate School; Joseph Fletcher, theologian, University of Virginia Medical School; Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading University, England; R. Joseph Hoffmann, chairman, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Hartwick College, Oneonta, N.Y.; Sidney Hook, professor emeritus of philosophy, NYU; Marvin Kohl, philosopher, State University of New York College at Fredonia; Jean Kotkin, executive director, American Ethical Union; Ronald A. Lindsay, attorney, Washington, D.C.; Delos B. McKown, professor of philosophy, Auburn University; Howard Radest, director, Ethical Culture Schools; Robert Rimmer, author; Svetozar Stojanovic, professor of philosophy, University of Belgrade; Thomas Szasz, psychiatrist, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse; V. M. Tarkunde, Supreme Court Judge, India; Richard Taylor, professor of philosophy, Union College; Sherwin Wine, North American Committee for Humanism Editorial Associates: Jim Christopher, Fred Condo Jr., Thomas Flynn, Thomas Franczyk, James Martin-Diaz Executive Director of CODESH, Inc.: Jean Millholland Systems Manager: Richard Seymour Typesetting: Paul E. Loynes Art Director: Alain Kugel Audio Technician: Vance Vigrass Staff: Steven Karr, Jacqueline Livingston, Valerie Marvin, Anthony Nigro, Alfreda Pidgeon FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published quarterly by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH, Inc.), a nonprofit corporation, 3159 Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14215. Phone (716) 834-2921. Copyright ©1988 by CODESH, Inc. Second-class postage paid at Buffalo, New York, and at additional mailing offices. National distribution by International Periodicals Distributors, San Diego, California. Subscription rates: $20.00 for one year, $35.00 for two years, $48.00 for three years, $3.75 for single copies. Address subscription orders, changes of address, and advertising to: FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Buffalo, NY 14215-0005. Manuscripts, letters, and editorial inquiries should be addressed to: The Editor, FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Buffalo, NY 14215-0005. All manuscripts should be accompanied by two additional copies and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or publisher. Postmaster: Send address changes to FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Buffalo, NY 14215-0005. perience" lays the necessary foundation in the Letters to Editor child to carry these beliefs into adulthood. The psychological and sociological influences in all cultures encourage, reinforce, and channel this process into the belief system of the specific culture. An Indian View ourselves, without waiting to have solutions offered to us. Eric Schauer When I visited the United States in July and Salem, Ore. August 1985, as an Indian Radical Humanist, Edward A. Nol I made it a point to watch morning television Birmingham, Mich. discourses by the American televangelists and the Indian godmen settled in the States. I William Bainbridge presents his thesis in a found Jimmy Swaggart to be the most nutshell: "Religion can require a person to abusive, bigoted, and demagoguic of them William Bainbridge's article does raise many await delivery in the afterlife or in some other all—especially in his denunciations of the points for further discussion. To the extent plane of consciousness attainable by the humanists and the United States Supreme that this sociological work is good science, faithful." Religion also reflects the level of Court for the spread of immorality and weaknesses (if any) will occur in the theo- intelligence and education of its believers— pornography. Now that Swaggart has been retical assumptions and in the evidence. compounded by sociopolitical conditions and caught red-handed by Marvin Gorman, a To state that religion is inevitable is to wishful thinking. rival evangelist, indulging in an act of claim that humans want something more What does Bainbridge expect of a coun- pornography with a prostitute in a motel, than reality. Clearly the human imagination try that will not adopt the Equal Rights and now that he has confessed before the will always be creating a variety of concepts Amendment or enact an adequate gun- Assemblies of God leadership that he has had and scenarios that have no basis in nature. control law, engages in such escapades as "a near life-long obsession with pornog- These need not have a religious character nor Vietnam and Nicaragua, turns its foreign raphy," will he take back his words against need they be bad. We can expect an unending policy over to Oliver North, and elects, the humanists and the Supreme Court? succession of pleasurable novelties from the sometimes overwhelmingly, people like Among the Indian godmen, I listened to arts, for example. But more fundamental Nixon and Reagan? We do not need such Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who is supposed than trying to prove that people must have books such as those by Allan Bloom and to have liberated Americans caught in the religion is to examine what people's hang- E. D. Hirsch to tell us that the American rat race of life by his Transcendental Medi- ups are about reality. Of course, many of mind is closed and that this is a nation of tation (TM). In one of his discourses on us would like the impossible opportunity to cultural illiterates: The American mind is as television he said, "TM can solve all human live our lives over again and better; but, closed to religion as it is to history, problems. You sit in your house and get the instead of becoming obsessed, we can simply philosophy, literature, and the other arts. apple from your garden by practicing TM." learn from past experience. Does this make sense to anyone? There are more alternatives to religion Howard A. Burton One thing common among the American than science and politics. Overlooked are the Riverside, Calif. televangelists and the Indian godmen is that creative arts, sex, and philosophy— huma- they are both experts in making a fast buck nism in particular. by turning religion, God, and morals into commerce. John Mauldin Pueblo West, Colo. The First Easter M. A. Rane Bombay, India I was much taken by John Naland's evalua- tion of "The First Easter" (FI, Spring 1988). I believe that the basic answer to the ques- I agree with him on most points and found tion "Why have humans traditionally pos- particularly interesting his argument for the Is Belief Inevitable? sessed religion?" is not to be found in human primacy and authenticity of Mary Magda- psychology or sociology, but rather in an lene's experience of the empty tomb. How- William Sims Bainbridge ("Is Belief in the aspect of human biology that—among ever, I think there is a better candidate than Supernatural Inevitable?" FI, Spring 1988) others—distinguishes humans from animals. Joseph of Arimathea for one who
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