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July 25, 2006 Here is my response to this article by John Waters. [Note to the reader: do not miss the quotes at the end] I keep “babbling on” about humanism because John keeps bringing it up. I tried to disassociate humanism from stem cell research and abortion as a whole, but John wouldn't have it. All of his articles directed my way are basically attacks on humanism. It's these parts that, I'd wager, bother John the most, for, while he is on-board with atheists and others in claiming that the Christ story is a myth, he has other supernatural beliefs that he clings too, beliefs which don't stand up to secular humanism's standards: Need to test beliefs - A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith. Reason, evidence, scientific method - Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions. My writing style of late has been to adopt the writing style of those to whom I'm replying. The point of my article about weeping for babies was indeed to poke fun, to raise eyebrows, to turn the tables. Weeping for stem cells which will never become adults is indeed misplaced emotion. Picking on those propagandists, or those caught in their hypocritical, nonsensical, trap, who call stem cell research advocates murderers is the real evil. That bit of vile and oft repeated language ought to be the target of ridicule. Accepting this, my “name calling” was reasonable, after all, being called a supporter of murderers and representing a “potential scourge to modern times” is less than flattering. Pro-lifers aren't used to this kind of reversal. They've had lots of practice showing pictures of tiny bloody hands and beating hearts and other techniques with high shock-value and zero substance. In John's two responses, he hasn't mentioned stem cell research, yet, that was the focus of my original article. He hasn't addressed how his “potential” argument breaks down, since, those stem cells have no practical real potential to become adults; they are fertility clinic cast offs. Where is John's article attacking those fertility clinics? And, accepting John's view of potential, where is his article attacking contraception in general? The number of potential humans “killed” by contraception surely dwarfs those “killed” by abortion! Of course I'm glad that my parents didn't abort me, but John was careful to avoid the rest of my response along those lines. I'm also glad that, during that particular night, they decided to have unprotected sex, that they were attracted to each other, that they were born in the first place. Each junction was crucial to my existence. I also don't weep for all of the sperm that lost the contest - the ones that reached the egg second, the ones that lost the chance to merge with the egg and fertilize it. John is a smart guy, at least from his writings. He seems like a basically nice guy too, but some of his empathy is a bit misplaced, and his dislike for humanism, atheism, and yes, science as an institution and even science as it comprises the folks who practice it, is overly simplistic, misguided, silly, mean spirited, and often, wrong. And now, more about humanism! Here are quotes from some famous humanists (religious and secular) that I found relevant, for the most part, to the discussion above: “If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them. “ -- Issac Asimov “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” -- Issac Asimov “Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.” -- Carl Sagan “I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another. ” -- Thomas Jefferson “We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.” -- Gene Roddenberry "It speaks to some basic human needs, that there is a tomorrow - it's not all going to be over in a big flash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids - human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard. And 'Star Trek' is about those things." - Gene Roddenberry “The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.” -- Arthur C. Clarke “There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.” -- Arthur C. Clarke “A God who could make good children as easily a bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell -- mouths mercy, and invented hell -- mouths Golden Rules and foregiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him!” -- Mark Twain “I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue.” -- Bertrand Russel “The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion.” -- Bertrand Russel “What science cannot tell us, mankind cannot know.” -- Bertrand Russel ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. I now have a blog that I will start to increasingly maintain and update. Here is the link: fredsuberview.blogspot.com/ About my personal background and life: I was born, I got some education, worked, ate, and had some kids. It seems I like to write � something that was unknown to me until relatively recently...How's that for detail? ;) Hate mail is welcome unless you are from the Army Of God. Please! It's not that I mind seeing pictures of aborted fetuses in my inbox, but once you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all... Email: dahlek65@gmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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