Humanism Humanism In Thomas Jefferson, Statesman of Science by Silvio A. Bedini, there is an interesting passage describing a discovery made by Jefferson when he was a law student.
During the course of these studies, Jefferson was struck by hte relization that the Bible had inadvertently become part of the common law of England, and that consequently of the common law of the English colonies in America. It was on the basis of this principle that witches had been hanged, for example, and that labor was forbidden on Sunday.
After considerable effort he discovered source in one of the ancient law books in which the author had converted the words "ancient scripture" to "Holy Scripture." He was able to prove that the original statement meant exactly what it had stated, namely, the ancient writings and the old records of the Church, not the Bible. He traced the use of the term back through his law books to Sir Mathew Hale who had written, "Christianity is parcel of the laws of England." He discovered that Hale provided no source for his statement "but rests the opinion on his own; which was good in all cases in which his mind received no bias from his bigotry, his superstitions, his visions about sorceries, demons, etc. The power of these over him is exemplified in his hanging of the witches."
Jefferson traced the error further to the time it had resulted in the establishment of laws making it criminal to write against Christianity or to utter words implying disbelief of it. The English Jurist Sir William Blackstone, whose four-volume work on English law was published in the eighteenth century, incorporated the doctrine in his commentaries, and the British judge, WIlliam Murray, Earl of Mansfield, in his decisions prnounced "the essential principles of revealed religion are part of the common law.."
As he continued his research, Jefferson traced the error back into antiquity as far as the seventh century, when Christianity was first introduced into England. Examining every source from King Alfred to Henry de Bracton in the thirteenth century he was unsuccessful in finding any trace of the adoption of Christianity, formal or informal, as part of the common law. (pg 41-42, Bedini)
.Jefferson studied the history of common law in so much detail that he learned Old English without the aid of a dictionary, except for the one he compiled himself.
Jefferson was among the first in the American colonies and in English speaking nations to make a study of the Anglo-Saxon language. After tracing thousands of English words to the ancient sources in Old English, he arranged the resulting roots alphabetically to form the first Anglo-Saxon dictionary."(pg 48, Bedini)
From the preface to Out of My Life and Thought by Albert Schweitzer, as translated by Lemke:
"I want to be the pioneer of a new Reniaissance. I want to throw faith in a new humanity like a burning torch into our dark times." So Albert Schweitzer proclaimed in his book Civilization and Ethics in 1923."
"Out of My Life and Thought...is the key to understanding the man, his thought, and his work. It is the testimony of this pioneer whose philosophy of respect for all life is essential if we are to succeed in moving from the dark ages of religious and political strife toward a new Renaissance embracing the recognition of human rights, of environmental responsibilities, and of political interdependence." [Out of My Life and Thought, pgs vi,vii]
from "The Humanist Alternative" :
"The present century [1973] has been proclaimed as the Humanist century - the century in which anti-Humanist illusions inherited from previous ages have been seriously questioned and shattered. Humanism has historic roots in human civilization; yet it is only in recent times that these have begun to bear fruit. Using the powerful critical tools of science and logical analysis, modern man now recognizes that the universe has no special human meaning or purpose and that man is not a special product of creation. Anthropocentrism has been at last laid to rest. Modern man now realizes that he is responsible in large measure for his own destiny. Living on a minor planet on the edge of a small galaxy in a vast universe, man has come to see that he cannot look outside himself for salvation. His future, if he has any, is within his control."
"But events are moving so rapidly that what is now at stake is the very survival of the human species itself. Science has emancipated man from the bondage of dogmatic religous mythology and it has provided him with instruments for remaking and reordering his life, improving and enhancing it immeasurably. But whether he will be able to create a new and better world with vision and daring, or will destroy himself in the process is the real option that he now faces. The Humanist alternative offers him a realistic appraisal of the human condition and the promise of ameliorating it."
"Humanism thus provides a critique of alienating and depersonalizing tendencies, whether the source is religion, ideology, bureaucracy or technology."...
"To most Christians immorality is a sin that ought to be a crime. In theory it may include almost any act of commision or ommision, but the New Tesament and convention have combined to equate it with a sexual pecadillo. Humanists respond first of all by saying that this is too narrow and too trivial an assesment. There are more important ethical concerns than sexual lapses; cruelty, greed, intolerance, slander, intrustworthiness. Nor do Humanists neccessarily accept the culpability pronouncements of Christians in sexual fields."
"The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional attitudes. Science and economic change have disrupted the old beliefs. Religions the world over are under the necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by a vastly increased knowledge and experience. In every field of human activity, the vital movement is now in the direction of a candid and explicit humanism."Humanist Manifesto
There is a common element to all religious experience, although it is seldom found in a pure form. Einstein calls it "cosmic religious feeling." He says of such cosmic religious feeling that "it is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who is entirely without it, especially as there is no anthropomorphic conception of God corresponding to it." Einstein's Writings on Science and Religion