An Enlightening Compendium Excerpts From - The Enlightenment A Secular Mini-Journal for Inquiring Minds By Donald A. Hatch Table of Contents Introduction 5 Imagine – By John Lennon 8 Section I - Humanism What is Humanism – By Dr. Rod Martin 9 Are You a Humanist? – By Duncan Watterworth 15 Humanist Associations – DAH 16 Humanist of the Year – About Pat Duffy Hutcheon 16 Amazing Life – By Pat Duffy Hutcheon 18 The Long Past of Humanism – By Dr. Rod Martin 19 Humanist Blessings – DAH 24 Five Humanists of Note 25 Mary Wollstonecraft – By Adriaan Mak 25 Percy Bysshe Shelly – DAH 26 Simone de Beauvoire – DAH 27 Richard Dawkins – DAH 28 Christopher Hitchens – DAH 29 The Human in Humanism – By Dr. Rod Martin 30 Faith, Reason and Atheism – By Dr. Rod martin 36 Life is a Stream Evolving – By Pat Duffy Hutcheon 40 Section II - Secularism Suma Secularia – DAH 41 The Advantages of Secular Societies – DAH 46 A Tale of Two Societies -Scandinavian and American – DAH 48 Secularism as Guarantor of Social Harmony – By Dagmar Gontard Zelenkova 50 How to be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom – By Jaques Berlinerblau 52 Godless – By Dan Barker 55 Living the Secular Life – By Phil Zuckerman 57 Free Thinkers: A History of American Free Thinkers – By Susan Jacoby 58 Atheism For Dummies – By Dale McGowan 59 Section III - Science The Pale Blue Dot – By Carl Sagan 62 Ann Druyan’s Comments on Her Husband’s Death 62 What an Amazing Wonder – This Pale Blue Dot – DAH 63 What a Wonderful World – By Luis Armstrong 68 Science Versus Metaphysics and Theology 69 The Wonders of Science 70 2 Table of Contents (Continued) Section III – Science (Continued) A Few More Scientific Articles 78 Climate Change 78 Gaia – Goddess of The Earth – Proposed by James Lovelock 79 A Conscious Universe – Proposed by Phillip Goff 80 Accepting Darwin – Why is it Taking so Long? – DAH 81 A Momentous Breakthrough- Discovering the God Particle – About Peter Higgs 83 The Greatest Show on Earth – By Richard Dawkins 86 Defiant Earth: The Fate of Humans in the Anthropocene – By Clive Hamilton 86 Section IV - Philosophy Why Study Philosophy? – By Peter Hacker 87 Where Philosophy Began – DAH 87 A Few Philosophers of a Humanist Bent - DAH 88 Aristotle – By Edith Hall 93 Aristotle vs Plato – Is Plato Responsible for the Founding of Christianity? – DAH 98 Epicurus – DAH 99 The Swerve – By Stephen Greenblatt 100 The Future Role of Philosophy - DAH 101 Section V – Religions How Did Religions Come About? – DAH 103 Three Religions One God – Judaism, Christianity, Islam – DAH 103 The Invention of Christianity – DAH 107 Jesus of Nazareth: Son of God, Wise Teacher, or Imposter? – DAH 113 The Invention of Mormonism – DAH 118 Cults and Religions – Was Jesus Celibate? – DAH 120 Some Biblical Humour – By Catholic School Children 122 Section VI - Ethics and Morality Sources of Ethics and Morality – DAH 124 You May be Moral, but Are You Ethical? – By Dr. Goldwin Emerson 128 Bullying is no Fun for the Victim – By Dr. Goldwin Emerson 129 Capitalism Needs Controls to be Moral – By Dr. Goldwin Emerson 130 The Ethics of War – By Dr. Goldwin Emerson 131 Ethics and Integrity in Politics – By Dr. Goldwin Emerson 132 Who is Right and Who is Wrong About Rites? – by Dr. Goldwin Emerson 134 The Silver Rule – DAH 135 3 Table of Contents (Continued) Section VII - Equality and Inequality Equality – DAH 136 Inequality – DAH 137 Imagine our Economy as a Game of Monopoly – By Jill Richardson 137 Looking for Solutions – DAH 138 Section VIII - Four Book Reviews (Reviewed by Don Hatch) A Personal History of Awe – By Scott Russell Sanders 142 The Bonobo and the Atheist – In Search of Humanism Among the Primates - By Frans De Waal 144 The Age of Greed: The triumph of Finance and the Decline of America - By Jeff Madrick 145 A Review of Democracy and Its Crisis – By A. C. Grayling 147 Section IX - The Last Days The Last Days – DAH 150 Aging With Optimism – By Dr. Goldwin Emerson 150 Hume’s Deathbed – No Recanting for David – By Dennis Rasmussen 154 When Those Death Thoughts Intrude. – By Duncan Watterworth 155 Is Death Really the End? -DAH 156 How We Will Live On – By Robert (Bob) Thompson 157 Addendum - DAH 158 Appendix I - Principles of Humanist Canada 159 4 Introduction This book is a compendium of selected articles that have appeared in The Enlightenment, originally a newsletter for the Humanist Association of London and Area (HALA) in Ontario, Canada. The first issue was published in April 2005. The early issues contained information on the activities of humanist organizations locally and elsewhere. But the publication soon developed into a “mini-journal” covering subjects as diverse as the existence or non-existence of God, religions, philosophy, science, ethics, secular societies and more. It started out as a quarterly publication, but soon became bi-monthly and then monthly. It was intended that Enlightenment articles would dovetail with the purpose of HALA as stated in its Constitution: The purpose of The Association shall be to educate and increase the public’s understanding of the principles of secular worldviews, including humanism, through the provision of seminars, conferences, and newsletters. My aim in compiling this book is to fulfill the same purpose with an emphasis on education. The Humanist Association of London and Area, consisting of about eighty paid-up members, operated successfully in London for twenty years, but came to an end on December 31st, 2019, due to an inability to attract a sufficient number of volunteers to keep the Association active. When HALA ceased to exist, a number of Enlightenment readers inquired as to whether it would be possible to keep it going. I quickly assessed the situation and decided to keep the publication going on a monthly basis, using the subtitle, “A Secular Mini-Journal for Inquiring Minds.” It is emailed to about one hundred people as well as to five individuals who are not online and get it by regular mail. When I first became aware of humanist organizations in the early 2000s, and joined the group that was newly formed in London, Ontario, I observed there were members who thought the way to promote the attributes of humanism was to shout from the roof tops that “there is no God,” and at the same time bash religions. Then I observed that of the twelve Principles of the Humanist Association of Canada (now Humanist Canada) only one (number 10) dealt with the supernatural and the absence of God. The remaining eleven were concerned with other subjects including human rights, democracy, the scientific method, the freedom of each individual, the kinship of all humanity, world peace, and the preservation of the environment, among other things. These admirable attributes are well outlined in Humanist Canada’s definition of Humanism, which states: Humanism is a philosophy or life-stance based upon a profound respect for human dignity and the conviction that we are all ultimately accountable to ourselves and to society for our actions. Our worldview is deity-free and affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical and meaningful lives without the reliance upon a belief in the supernatural. As Humanists, we believe that reason and science are the best ways to understand the world around us. And we believe that dignity and compassion should be the basis for how we act towards others. Humanist Canada is committed to advancing free thinking and freedom of choice in Canada so that we can all live in a fair and equal society. Through our ceremonies, educational services, affiliate groups and partnerships, we bring Humanism to communities across the country while also raising awareness on the national stage. A further understanding of Humanism can be gained from the four articles in this compendium authored by Dr. Rod Martin. In these chapters Rod presents a comprehensive analysis of what Humanism is all about, particularly as it applies to humanist organizations and their members. 5 But it must be recognized that the above definition is only one explanation of the word humanism, because dictionaries offer three. It turns out that the word humanism is a homonym. A homonym is a word with one spelling and while sounding the same, can have two or more meanings. The word bark is an example. It can be the outer layer of a tree trunk or the sound a dog makes. The three dictionary definitions are: Humanism – The cultural movement of the Renaissance, based on classical studies. Humanism - The doctrine emphasizing a person’s capacity for self-realization through reasoning: rejecting religion and all things supernatural. Humanism – The doctrine that it is the duty of governments and citizens to promote the well-being of all humans, i.e., all of humanity. Consistent with the first definition, the word humanism was first used in the early 1800s to describe the revival of the study of Greek and Roman classics, including philosophy. This book contains a Section on philosophy. Definition number two defines the humanism of humanist associations and their members as mentioned above. In 1927 the newly formed “Humanist Fellowship” chose the word Humanist as part of the title of their organization. This group became the American Humanist Association in 1941. The word Humanist has appeared in the title of most Humanist Associations ever since. Definition number three is coming to the forefront more often now that inequality is increasing in many societies. It implies that concern for the well-being of all citizens should trump the quest for the almighty dollar by the few. Compassion should replace greed. In addition to the Section on Humanism, there is a Section on Secularism, so I think it would be helpful to point out a difference between the two.