Apol 104 Secular Humanisn and Christianity

“In contrast to the secular humanists’ belief that humans have evolved from non- living matter.” (Hindson). Christians believe that God created the universe and every living creature. Christians are certain that “God spoke everything in to existence”. (Version Gen 1:1) despite the fact that we were made from nothingness it was God who made man.

Christianity is one of the most influential religions on both ancient and modern Western society, with the religion based on the teachings of the prophet Jesus Christ who lived approximately between the years of 5 BC and 33 AD. It is claimed that Christ was the son of God whose spirit was embodied and sent to Earth as a human being to bring peace and prosperity to the less fortunate, and absolve the world of its sin. Jesus preached a doctrine of a supreme monotheistic god who ruled over the universe, as well as ethics and morals especially centred on the concept of faith and forgiveness. If one was to live their life in accordance to the Will of God and the teachings of Christ found in the written word of the Holy Bible, one would be absolved of their sin and ascend to the spiritual realm of God, known as Heaven, after their physical death.

How might these questions about human nature, purpose, and flourishing, be answered by those holding a Pantheistic or Atheistic (choose one) worldview?

Humanistic perspective is a psychological perspective popularized by Carlo Rogers and Abraham Maslow that emphasizes the human capacity for choice and growth. This perspective offers a very positive viewpoint of human nature and potential. It suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. “The humanistic approach emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human

In L. Russ Bush’s Christian apologetic work, The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age, he details the development and apparent fallacy associated with the modern naturalist worldview. Bush, a professor at Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary, focuses on the idea of inevitable progression within the modern worldview and provides an overview of this view’s promulgation within epistemology. Bush asserts

Humanists feel very strongly about the importance of human life and the utilization of the time you spend on Earth. Fredric March, President of the Humanist Society of New Mexico, describes his opinion of the humanist social agenda as: “…freedom of religion and freedom from religion…” (March 19). He later states that they feel strongly about social equality, secular democracy, and the health of our ecosystem. March also describes investigation of religion. He believes that cognitive science explains all questions unanswered while individuals question what the believe in. While they depend on cognitive science for some religious inquiries, humanists see fault in our political motives and actions (March 16). Nigel Tubbs feels that Capitalism abates the value of each humans life, and stirs greed causing desecration of the natural environment. He believes that citizens are dehumanized by the non-secular government and the needs of of those who are supposed to be served are replaced (Tubbs 478).

Analyse the key beliefs of a religious and secular world view in relation to ultimate questions – Taylor Murfitt.

In theology, man is not only a crown of creation, but also a subject of special protection. The Bible makes a double description of human origins. Human beings precede God's holy economy before creation. The view of evolution on human origin sees consensus in that human beings are derived from the body and soul of lower animals by a completely natural process wholly controlled by the innate forces. The leading feature of evolutionary theory is the emphasis on thorough continuity between the animal world and humans.

Based on the DMOZ’s data in 2016, humanism claims that god is totally absent. The answer of survival of human race is not related to god. Humanists believe in the ability of human being rather than supernatural. To illustrate, when Alice became a patient of Alzheimer’s disease, she did not go to church for praying to god. She accepted the reality and struggled with her bad disease.

In this report I will be comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between the religious tradition Christianity, with the world view of Secular Humanism.

Despite the fact that Young Earth Creationism is a small percentage of Christianity, their ideas are still representative of one perspective from the religion (Gallup, 2015). A common characteristic of strongly anthropocentric religions is a view of god as a paternalistic father-deity who created the cosmos with humans as the focal point of the universe (McAdamis, 2011). Christians believe that incarnation occurred only once, on Earth, for human beings. Theologians in the church have frequently speculated about creation in its largest scope, inclusive of ‘‘other worlds’’ that may or may not reside with the stars in the sky. While different sects within Christianity may differ slightly in details and in emphasis, these human centered doctrines are at the core of the religion. These questions posed are independent of scientific

Secularism and Christianity, two of the most common religion in the world, had an ongoing battle against each other for decades about the ultimate truth of the world human live in. Despite having similar questions about the reason behind the creation of humanity, Christianity and Secularism’s view are so different to the point that there is barely any room for agreement. Secularists deem people as god and those who does not share the same worldview of secularism are erroneous people. Even though secularist believed that their view about morality, societal function are corrected and supported by historical and scientific evidences, their worldview is still inferior to Christianity because of various errors in their view and belief.

Secularism obviously is one of the concepts that derives from human, and contradict with Christian worldview. As people are moving towards modernization, they feel religion as

Many Christians believe in the fact that there is an intelligent designer who created the earth and the species that inhabit it (Patterson, R, n.d.). There are no true accounts or eyewitnesses of the creation of origin of life (Patterson, R, n.d.). The Bible is one of the ways people account for the creation of species, resulting from an intelligent designer (Patterson, R, n.d.). For a Christian how life came to be is nothing to worry about, the bible clearly states that God called all animals, plants, and human to be in his likeness. An example of natural selection that evolutionists would use if is someone had a half eye, what is the use of a half eye? (Leone, B. 2002). How could natural selection use an eye that is nowhere near to perfect, basically a flaw (Leone, B. 2002). This would suggest of a perfect system, something that could not fault and would have no faults in it (Leone, B. 2002). If there was such a complex and perfectly designed system against evolution if would provide a huge problem (Leone, B. 2002). God gave breath to him and gave him life (Origin of Life). Some could say that Adam, since he was created from the dust of ground would say that he came from a non living organism as evolution would want someone to think. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (NIV

Man is called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and show as many people the way to eternal life, as possible. Because we live in a world of philosophical, cultural, and religious diversity, it is imperative that we interact with people from all walks of life. Christian dialogue with others from various religions can be enlightening – solidifying what we believe as followers of Christ. Accepting people with their various faiths allows us as Christians the ability to gain insight into other beliefs, value systems, and the connections between culture and religion – as well as inspiring personal reflection.