Humanism defined and explained by Frederick Edwords.

This reminds me of the man who pushed himself to the front of the queue at the airport and when he was told to go back he said "Do you know who I am?" The check-in girl then called over the PA "Can security come to the desk; we have a man here who doesn't know who he is".

I’ll call security.

'Looks like atheism is dead
It's done its dash and thrashed around
Yet found its feet on unsafe ground
Its support has all but fled

The party's over
It's time to call it a day
They've burst your pretty balloon
They've taken the moon away
It's time to break-up this sad charade
Take off your makeup
The piper must be paid

Ah! Julio, William and Mona have become great wits and poets. I wonder if they even read the article by Edwords.

Here is one of the bits I found interesting.

"I was once asked by a reporter if this functional definition of religion didn't amount to taking away the substance and leaving only the superficial trappings. My answer was that the true substance of religion is the role it plays in the lives of individuals and the life of the community."

You could declare yourself a Religious Humanist if you took part in a few religious rituals and didn't pay too much attention to the dogma. That is what a lot of people do. It has the added payoff that you don't have to think too much about explaining the inexplicable. You can get on with your life like a Secular Humanist.

William, your rap is pretty good. Mona, your poetry is dreadful but then I might be biased. siliboi9, religious humanists are properly called agnostics.

carusmm, I don't think a Christian Humanist could be called an Agnostic, an Agnostic is someone who doesn't know if there is a God or not. If a person calls themselves a Christian then they obviously have made up their mind that there is.

What I find confusing is the notion that someone can be a TRUE Christian and not at the same time be a humanist. For being a true Christian is to be aware of Humanistic values with all the understanding that is the basis of True Christianity.

You cannot be one without also being the other.

You can't be a Christian and a humanist, Carlos, at the same time. Basic differences over the erotic, for instance, rules it out.

The humanist has peasant tastes.
The Christian basically is a peasant.

The trouble is carusmm, that you have fixed ideas about what you think Humanism is and fixed ideas about what constitutes the basic values of Christianity and neither have much real meaning.

Surely if Humanism has all the values that Humanists on this web site attribute to it, as we have heard so often, compassion, tolerance and understanding, then it must be recognised that these are the same values that make the freedom of real Christianity stand out as the most advancing religious cultures in the world, from which so much of our development has grown.

Agreed, Carlos, but leave the baggage.

Especially for carusmm

The party's over
The candles flicker and dim
And though it seemed to be right
let's turn out the light, the regrets begin
It's time to wind up
All things must end
The party's over, my friend

It's still dreadful, Mona, and there is still the hangover to contend with.

Your words are a dagger to my heart

Christ, Mona, don't faint or anything.

You changed the poem, Mona. I have no regrets, Mona, just a hangover.