To Bash Or Not To Bash: The Debate Secular Humanists Do Not Need

Some of us are bogging down in a debate over whether the promotion of secular humanism should involve "bashing" religion, or whether we should only focus on presenting humanism in a positive light. The answer is that both are necessary components of the secular humanist message, depending on the individual circumstances of each encounter, each audience, and each forum.

When speaking to college women, for instance, it may be necessary to show them ... Full Story »

Posted by Dale Penn

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Dale Penn
3.5
by Dale Penn - Oct. 1, 2008

Today, commentary from within the Council of Secular Humanism discusses the tactics for spreading the ideas of secular humanism. My personal style is to avoid bashing anyone, as I don't like to be bashed myself. But the author raises valid points about religious ideas being given preferential treatment in the realm of all ideas for far to long, while discussions of atheism and secular humanist philosophy have mostly been relegated to the ivory tower. In the mean time the churches have railed away at straw men they had carefully erected to make secular humanism appear evil (so they bashed first). I don't think the tone of this article serves the secular humanist community well, but it probably wasn't written with the intent that it would be subjected to review by NewsTrust. See you on the discussion pages!

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