This column is concerning Jason George’s columns which ran on Jan. 5 and 12.We feel compelled to respond to these columns since they distort both Relativism and the Humanism. Students For Freethought is actually a chapter of the Campus Freethought Alliance, which is a project of the Council For Secular Humanism. Paul Kurtz, a key contributor to the Humanist Manifesto II and the author of the Humanist Manifesto 2000, is the head of the Council For Secular Humanism.Both Humanism and Relativism are about having the honesty to admit that all standards and rules come from humans. Neither are about “whatever you believe to be true is true.” In fact, they are actually about “just because you believe something does not make it true.” They do not originate from a desire to be free of some absolute set of moral standards, they originate from admitting that even if there are universal moral standards, no one has any idea what they are.Their followers recognize that the notion that all of us have innate moral knowledge is absurd. Some people feel that homosexual urges are natural and beautiful things, others feel they are disgusting and plainly immoral. Some people feel that women are the equals of men, others feel that it is sinful for women to even wear men’s clothing, let alone carry on as equals to men. Some people feel that eating meat is fine, others find it deeply repugnant. Some feel that we must adhere to strict, moral absolutes, others don’t. The list goes on.Relativism and Humanism also recognize that even if people have written down standards and claim that they are backed by a god, those standards are transmitted to fallible human minds through fallible human senses-not to mention the fact that proof from authority is no proof at all. Even those who have holy rule books must judge the quality of their rule book with the same tools that all of us judge all proposed suggestions for behavior-and just because they say they are right, doesn’t mean they are.However, Humanists and Relativists don’t think anarchy is the answer. They are aware of the common human context. They realize that fundamentally most humans want to be happy, and that most of us want to live in a world with as little pain as possible. Our common (but not universal) desire for these things doesn`t turn our wants into absolutes moral law. It turns them into good ideas that those of us who share these ideas can work towards together! When humanists and relativists condemn the Holocaust, we are not saying “this act was absolutely and unquestionably wrong,” we are saying “that was an astoundingly horrible way to get what we want. We should do our best to make sure nothing like that ever happens again!”Humanism and relativism are not about “anything goes,” instead they are about being honest and wanting to use what resources we do have to make the world a place more like the way we want it to be a better place. No, we won’t tell you some relaxing bed time story about how all the evil people will burn forever and how the good people will live in bliss. But we try to help you honestly see whose suffering and how you can really help them!
This column was provided by August Brunsman on behalf of The Executive Council of Students For Freethought.