The HALVASON FORUM

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The HALVASON Forum is a place for members to read about topics of possible interest, to see what others think concerning the topics, and to express their own thoughts on the topics.   Send inputs on current or new topics to webmaster@halvason.org or carl@halvason.org to get your comments added to this page.  Short comments of a paragraph or so may be inserted in-line on this page.  Longer articles may be placed in a separate page, referenced from this web page.

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Forum Topics
Latest Forum Entries

The New Humanism
Attitudes in the humanist/freethought/atheist community seem to be evolving into two camps that might be called the "new atheists and the "new humanists".  The new atheists are represented by the anti-religious militancy of writers Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation), and to a lesser degree by Daniel Dennett.  The new humanism (which isn't really new) does not seem to have such clearly defined statesmen, but is characterized more by trying to put a positive face on humanism, to give people reasons to honor and respect humanism for its values and accomplishments.  The new humanism stresses inclusiveness and multiculturalism, and understands that humanism is more than science in that it needs to address people's emotional (and spiritual) needs, and their need to belong to supportive communities -- Carl Kaun
  • (03/21/2007) There is an interview with Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain of Harvard in the April 2007 issue of the Humanist magazine that summarizes much of what I think are important elements of the new humanism. -- Carl Kaun
  • (5/10/2007) Who and what is a Humanist?  In a letter to the American Humanist Association, long-time San Diego Humanist Francis Mortyn objects to the dilution of the Humanist identity via the current association with unbelievers in general, and proposes a closer focus on the principles established in Human Manifesto 3.
  • (6/10/2007) It's more about the new atheism than the new humanism, but interesting all the same.  A Wall Street Journal article examines a rising atheistic militancy in Europe, including the development of atheistic Moslems.
  • (6/20/2007) Author Jane Haddam says she is not a member of AHA because it pursues a liberal social agenda.  Must the new humanism have a reduced liberal profile in its social agenda, or is this agenda entwined with Humanist aims?  The Humanist Manifesto III suggests, at least broadly, support for traditional liberal goals.
  • (9/10/2007) Michael Shermer's open letter to Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins and Dennett (New Humanism) advocates stressing the positive aspects of atheism if it is going to "sell", and asserts that the rational way for atheism is a tolerant one.
  • (9/19/2007) In a Rosh Hashanah message, Jim Levinson observes that atheism is growing more rapidly than any Western religion, and takes to task some of the claims of the new atheists.  He "would challenge any of these authors to come also to our interfaith events that facilitate understanding among the religious faiths and that promote justice to undercut religious-based violence at its source and find them lacking in meaning."  I see in his words a useful aspect of religion to emphasize instead of evangelizing, and that is in seeking interfaith tolerance and understanding. -- Carl Kaun
  • (11/21/2007)  I believe that different interfaith initiatives address the inclusiveness and multiculturalism of the New Humanism.  Here in Las Vegas, Mel Lipman is a member of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada, and many of us have attended at least one of the Interfaith Forums sponsored by that group.  Elsewhere, the Amazing Faiths Project coordinates small gatherings in private homes intended to foster tolerance and understanding of religious differences through dialog, conversation and fellowship, thereby creating an atmosphere of understanding, respect and reconciliation.  Those who are registered or willing to register with the New York Times can read an article about this project for more information.  Common Tables takes much the same approach.  I increasingly think that the best think we as Humanists can do to encourage growth among our numbers is to do much the same ... to interact with many elements of society as openly Humanist, to show them that we have the same problems and concerns as most other people, and that religious belief is not needed to address them. -- Carl Kaun


Morality and Ethics
What does our morality, our sense of ethics, arise from?  The religious types say it comes from God.  I think it arises from the fact that we have evolved as social animals, and have as a result developed traits like empathy and altruism, among others, that underpin our moral sense. I'd like to explore issues concerning the morality of humanists here. -- Carl Kaun
  • There is an article in the 3/20/2007 New York Times (Science section) titled "Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior" that provides some intriguing insights into the sources of our ethical behavior.  A correspondent points out that "There are clear precursors of morality in nonhuman primates, but no precursors of religion." -- Carl Kaun
  • (3/21/2007) Segueing from Congressman Pete Stark's public admission that he is nontheistic, an editorial in The Cinncinati Post argues that morality cannot be exclusive property of any religion, that it is shared by humanity, regardless of its source.  This is an approach worthy of the new humanism.  Now if we can only get the religionists to agree :-) -- Carl Kaun
  • (9/19/2007)  Where does morality come from?  An article in the New York Times reviews the work of Jonathan Haidt, a moral psychologist at the University of Virginia, who has been constructing a broad evolutionary view of morality that finds two separate mental systems (one pre-language and intuitive, the other post-language and rational) controlling our behavior.  Perhaps surprisingly, we are mostly unable to distinguish the two.


Christian Nationalism

The United States was founded on the ideas of the Enlightenment, by men who were in no small measure non-religious in their beliefs and utterances, and has for more than 200 years seen the prospering of both the nation and  religions in that nation as a result of the wall of separation of church and state.  This does not sit well with a class of Christians known (in part) as Dominionists, and these Dominionists are doing all they can to break down Jefferson's wall and make us into a "Christian Nation" of one sort or another.  They approach this by a variety of means, but notable among them are the attempts at historical revisionism, to try to make it seem as if our country was somehow founded on Christian principals, or is otherwise a Christian nation. -- Carl Kaun


How Many Unbelievers?

There seems to be some uncertainty about how many people do not believe in a deity, with estimates ranging from 1% to as high as 15% of the U.S. population.  I personally think it as at least 3%, but whatever it is, this section of the Forum will try to provide pointers to data concerning the issue -- Carl Kaun
  • (6/10/2007) A recent Gallup poll finds that the number who proclaim unbelief depends a lot on specifically what question is asked, but it looks to me like the number of unbelievers is around 7%. -- Carl Kaun.