Or should I say two hecks of humans? For those of you not familiar with the people in the photo to the right, that's my sister Amy and Bad Religion's Greg Graffin. She was in attendance for Graffin's acceptance of Harvard's awards for Humanism and was awesome enough to get me a signed copy of his book and send along a few pics from the event! So first a big fat thanks to Amy for hooking me up!Humanism is an interesting concept because it's more than simple philoshophy but less dogmatic than religion. Very simply put, humanism says every human is intrinsically valuable and has worth regardless of any supernatural intentions. Or in other words, just by existing you are important. This belief is compatible with some of your non-violent, less judgemental religions but more importantly, it dovetails with agnosticism and atheism on the principal that you don't need a spiritual baby-sitter watching over you to be a good, decent, loving, thoughtful human being. It also loosely compliments the "be all you can be" overtones of determinism without being overly critical of shortcomings.
To sum it all up, humanism is about exploring human potential without the fearful reprecussions of displeasing any supernatural benevolence. I'd write more but this blog just isn't the right forum. I have considered putting up a second blog that is focused more on philosophical thoughts and interpretations of belief but I'd certainly keep that one closed to a select few friends and trusted readers.
Plus it would bore those of you who expect stuff like this to tears.
