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Humanism: 'Now you see me, now you don't'

“Liberal humanists” like the letter writer in today's Independent (17/1/06) can seem to be constantly 'shifting the goalposts' (see last letter under “Dawkins and the Tory children”). It is not, however, that their philosophy is a target at which one is eager to take aim. A more appropriate phrase would be 'ideological gerrymandering': no matter how one tries to determine its boundaries, Humanism always seems to encompass everything that is universally admirable and nothing else. But if its guiding principle is, “people should treat other people as they would like to be treated themselves”, then, to paraphrase the lawyer who questioned Our Lord, one ought to ask, “Who, to the Humanist, is 'other people'?” (cf. Luke 10:29). If, for example, 6 million-plus unborn children (in Britain alone) are simply excluded from the term, then it appears Humanism has a pretty easy way of evading responsibility¹ for mass murder.

Et cetera, et cetera (“Man, you're ill. This isn't Spain, you know. This is England.”)

To date, British Liberalism has largely thrived on being anti-patriotic; however, since its goal is to become the established State ideology, the closer that goal comes to fruition, the more Liberals are obliged to appeal to patriotism to defend that ideology against attack from disgruntled subjects or citizens. So it is that, no matter how many non-liberal policies (i.e. constraints on freedom) are enforced by the British State for the purpose of entrenching Liberalism (i.e. criminality) in the culture, as long as the effects are felt at the level of the individual rather than the group – even though the aggregate result of the “retail” murder of unborn babies and incapacitated patients in Britain far outstrips the wholesale slaughter of the Killing Fields of Cambodia – the Liberal can appeal to the complainer's self-interest in maintaining his or her own comfortable existence (for the time being, at least) while others fall victim to those policies.

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1It seems that whitewashing of responsibilities is also favoured by this Mohammedan polemicist (14/9/06). Presumably he would also like to whitewash the violence that has reportedly been carried out “to protest the Pope's remarks . . . linking [Mohammedanism] and violence” (16/9/06).

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	Humanism: 'Now you see me, now you don't'
	“Liberal humanists” like the letter writer in today's Independent (17/1/06) can seem to be constantly 'shifting the goalposts' (see last letter under “Dawkins and the Tory children”). It is not, however, that their philosophy is a target at which one is eager to take aim. A more appropriate phrase would be 'ideological gerrymandering': no matter how one tries to determine its boundaries, Humanism always seems to encompass everything that is universally admirable and nothing else. But if its guiding principle is, “people should treat other people as they would like to be treated themselves”, then, to paraphrase the lawyer who questioned Our Lord, one ought to ask, “Who, to the Humanist, is 'other people'?” (cf. Luke 10:29). If, for example, 6 million-plus unborn children (in Britain alone) are simply excluded from the term, then it appears Humanism has a pretty easy way of evading responsibility¹ for mass murder.
	Et cetera, et cetera (“Man, you're ill. This isn't Spain, you know. This is England.”)
	To date, British Liberalism has largely thrived on being anti-patriotic; however, since its goal is to become the established State ideology, the closer that goal comes to fruition, the more Liberals are obliged to appeal to patriotism to defend that ideology against attack from disgruntled subjects or citizens. So it is that, no matter how many non-liberal policies (i.e. constraints on freedom) are enforced by the British State for the purpose of entrenching Liberalism (i.e. criminality) in the culture, as long as the effects are felt at the level of the individual rather than the group – even though the aggregate result of the “retail” murder of unborn babies and incapacitated patients in Britain far outstrips the wholesale slaughter of the Killing Fields of Cambodia – the Liberal can appeal to the complainer's self-interest in maintaining his or her own comfortable existence (for the time being, at least) while others fall victim to those policies.
	(Return to category headings)