David Sippel's Webliography Project
Secular Humanism
SOME RESOURCES AND LINKS RELATED TO MY
PROJECT
The Council for Secular Humanism Web Site provides timely information concerning the activities of the Council for Secular Humanism and also acts as a general educational resource on secular humanism.
A site that provides a summary of a variety of religious beliefs and groups. The site answers commonly asked questions about Secular Humanism and other Spiritual related questions.
This is a Christian based site that provides a quick run through of Secular Humanism. Although, implicitly biased through means of creative wording, interesting quotations are included.
This site places an emphasis on the importance of youth and classroom content. With articles relating to evolution and humanistic philosophy, this site argues the case for more classrooms to involve humanism-based teachings.
Wikipedia's online encyclopedia offers a comprehensive entry on humanism that includes philosophies, critiques, history, famous advocates, and relevant external links.
SITES RELATED TO SECULAR HUMANSIM
This committee has common ties with the ideologies of Secular Humansim. The beliefs upon which this committee was founded is scientifically grounded in a similar fashion to Humanistic beliefs. In addition, these types of committees seem to function on the enjoyment and ease of debunking paranormal claims.
The Godless Americans PAC grew out of the historic "Godless Americans March on Washington" (GAMOW) held on November 2, 2002 in Washington, DC.
For the first time in history, our nation’s diverse community of Atheists, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and others who do not embrace religious creeds marched together for civil rights, the separation of state and church, and their full recognition as American citizens.
An educational nonprofit group whose purpose is to educate high school and college students around the country about the value of scientific reason and the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and humanistic manifestations.
We offer students and their organizations a variety of resources, including but not limited to leadership training and support, guest speakers, discounted literature and conference tickets, and thought provoking online articles and opinions.
BOOKS REGARDING SECULAR HUMANISM
Are there any ethical values and principles that nonreligious individuals can live by? In a time when many have forsaken otherworldly religions, what does human life mean? What is its significance? Secular humanism attempts to answer these questions in a way that resonates with human aspirations and the findings of science.
In this succinct, engaging overview of the secular humanist perspective, philosopher Paul Kurtz describes the many ways in which secular humanism's scientific, philosophical, and ethical outlook has exerted a profound influence on civilization from the ancient world to the present. Today many schools of thought broadly identify with humanist ideas and values. But Kurtz suggests that secular humanism is especially suitable for the needs of our increasingly secular world because it rejects supernatural accounts of reality and seeks to optimize the fullness of human life in a naturalistic universe. In tune with the most progressive trends of the contemporary world, secular humanism finds meaning in life here and now and expresses confidence in the power of human beings to solve their problems and conquer uncharted frontiers.
Kurtz concludes by emphasizing that secular humanism is a bold new paradigm, which weaves together many historical threads, while adding much more that is relevant to our rapidly emerging planetary civilization.
A preeminent scientist -- and the world's most prominent atheist -- asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.
"Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse."
So begins Letter to a Christian Nation...
HUMANISTIC ORGANIZATIONS WORLDWIDE
"Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the sole world umbrella organisation embracing Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, laique, ethical cultural, freethought and similar organisations world-wide."
"The International Association for Religious Freedom is a registered charity based in the United Kingdom which has the aim of working for freedom of religion and belief at a global level.
Encouraging interfaith dialogue and tolerance is part of their agenda. The organization has 100-year-plus history in this work. They have over 90 affiliated member groups in approximately 25 countries, from a wide range of faith traditions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism and Sikhism, among others.
With member organisations, regional co-ordinators, and national chapters around the world, the International Association for Religious Freedom is well placed to obtain local perspectives on religious freedom concerns and issues."
"The humanist movement is an international organization formed by people of different ages, origins, culture and religion, united by the project to build a truly human society. A society in which the human being, with his needs and aspirations, is the central value. A society in which human rights are completely realized: the right to health, instruction, freedom, spirituality, search for the meaning of life, and an existence with dignity."
VIDEOS
Atheists aren't that bad. This is NOT an argument for atheism... It's a defense of atheists. This video received the award for "Excellence in Humanist Comunications" from the Harvard University Humanist Chaplaincy.
Teller (of Penn & Teller) said, "If a god existed, this video would make him wish he were dead."
Dawkins speaks on CNN about atheism.The topic is "Atheists in America: Non-believers and Discrimination."
Here Dawkins addresses Randolph-Macon Women's College. "There is no such thing as a Christian child, there is only a child of Christian parents. Whenever you hear the phrase Christian child or Muslim child or Protestant child or Catholic child, the phrase should grate like fingernails on a blackboard."
This is a video clip that offers a Christian's perspective on debunking secular thinking. I was unable to track down the origin of the video to determine whether it is a well-guised parody or legitimate Christian propagand.
This is a clip from a Showtime special that Penn & Teller did called Bullshit. Penn & Teller talk about the accuracy of the bible and touch on the consequences believing such literature.
In this interview, Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) professes his explanation for being a "radical atheist."
ESSAYS
In this essay, Berggren takes on the free-will defense, which states that the theodicy problem is undermined by evil stemming from humans with a free will. Berggren demonstrates why this "defense" is erroneous and why, as a result, the existence of evil informs us that God does not exist.
An essay which shows that the Christian god does not exist, since if he did, he would not have produced a revelation like the Bible, which contains errors and ambiguities.
The purpose of this essay is to explain and argue against various common objections to the Argument from Evil (AE). It is necessary to first formulate the argument and explain some of its history. Second, the refutations of various criticisms to AE are generalised in such a way that the reader is able to provide a critique of many of defences and theodicies himself. As an example, these methods are applied to a theodicy developed by Richard Swinburne. Third, the objections used by Ravi Zacharias are examined. Finally, the ‘defensive scepticism’ argued by many philosophers of religion is discussed.
This essay demonstrates that God and natural evil are incompatible. Since the latter exists, the former cannot.
This essay goes on to discuss why the Bible undermines a belief in the Christian god.
This comprehensive essay addresses several different defensive arguements and gives his response to each, again, in support of the non-existence of God.
Ted Drange analyzes the argument that God is the best explanation for the combination of physical constants which allow life.
The following collection of points is simply an entry I found written by an agnostic.
If I believed that the God of the Bible exists, I would reject him. He 1) says that killing people is wrong, but kills some of his most devout and faithful followers with hurricanes, or allows them to be killed with hurricanes, which as far as I and many other people are concerned is exactly the same thing, 2) makes people blind, deaf, and dumb, reference Exodus 4:11, 3) punishes people for sins that their ancestors committed, reference Exodus 20:5, 4) ordered the death penalty for a Jew who killed a Jew, but not for a Jew who killed a slave, reference the Old Testament, 5) killed Ananias and Saphira over money, reference the New Testament, 6) could easily have made many personal appearances and told everyone in the world that slavery, colonization, and the subjugation of women are wrong, but refused to do so, 7) tells people to be merciful, but endorses unmerciful eternal punishment without parole, and 8) refuses to reveal himself to some people who would accept him if they had sufficient evidence to their satisfaction that he exists.
David Sippel
Contact information:
Email: dfsippel@uwm.edu