Humanism class

I went to a secular humanism class tonight--my first, The "members" were all very polite and asked my opinion on the topics for the evening (Is there such a thing as a just war? what defines a just war?...) and all-in-all I learned a lot. As nice as they were, the main thing I learned about them is that they will enteryain debate about ANY subject at all, with the exception of religion. Given that, I'd say they score pretty high on the tolerance tote board, since the only thing they detest discussing is that one subject. Dad was right: ya shouldn't bring up politics or religion in a group setting. 😉

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
I went to a secular humanism class tonight--my first, The "members" were all very polite and asked my opinion on the topics for the evening (Is there such a thing as a just war? what defines a just war?...) and all-in-all I learned a lot. As nice as they were, the main thing I learned about them is that they will enteryain debate about ANY subject at al ...[text shortened]... subject. Dad was right: ya shouldn't bring up politics or religion in a group setting. 😉

Was it more like a class or a discussion group? What did they decide on war?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Was it more like a class or a discussion group? What did they decide on war?

More of a discussion group where one guy was sorta moderating. I gathered that they pick a person each time they meet to be the discussion leader, and that person picks a topic, brings some handouts, etc.
They asked each of us to vote 'Just or Unjust" after discussing each war. They started with WW2, covered Korean, Vietnam, Gulf 1, and the current Iraq/Afghanistan conflict. Obviously there were different opinions; I was the only one who voted "Just" on all of 'em! I don't know why--I didn't go in with any preconceived notions--heck I didn't even know what they were going to discuss. But no war got 100% "Just" votes all around the table.
And late in the discussion, it turned to whether or not religion was responsible for more deaths in wars than any other factor. (I voted no, because my guess was that wealth/resources would be #1).

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
More of a discussion group where one guy was sorta moderating. I gathered that they pick a person each time they meet to be the discussion leader, and that person picks a topic, brings some handouts, etc.
They asked each of us to vote 'Just or Unjust" after discussing each war. They started with WW2, covered Korean, Vietnam, Gulf 1, and the current Ir ...[text shortened]... y other factor. (I voted no, because my guess was that wealth/resources would be #1).

Were you the only theist? Are you going back?

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Were you the only theist? Are you going back?

Nope, there was one guy who said he was "still on the fence" as regards a supreme being." I asked if I could attend even though I am a Christian, and was assured I could. So yep--I'll give 'em another try. Except for their outright rebellion at even watching Ben Stein's Expelled, I found them quite open-minded.

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
Nope, there was one guy who said he was "still on the fence" as regards a supreme being." I asked if I could attend even though I am a Christian, and was assured I could. So yep--I'll give 'em another try. Except for their outright rebellion at even watching Ben Stein's Expelled, I found them quite open-minded.

Well, good for you. Please report back with how things go.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Well, good for you. Please report back with how things go.

ToO--do you consider yourself a humanist? And do you think secular humanism and "just plain humanism" are the same thing?

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
ToO--do you consider yourself a humanist? And do you think secular humanism and "just plain humanism" are the same thing?

I never really thought about it. I had to do some research to find out what it entails. I agree with many of the basic tenets, but I don't think I'd call myself one.

Just like anything else, you can categorize any number of ways. So far as I can tell, "secular humanism" is a subset of "humanism" that precludes "religious humanism".

God I hated humanism classes in college. The professors seemed to score well with the fair headed college damsels tough I must say.

Originally posted by badmoon
God I hated humanism classes in college. The professors seemed to score well with the fair headed college damsels tough I must say.

Never took it in college--the closest class to it that I took would be Sociology, or maybe Situation Ethics.