I would think that’s a fairly narrow definition of humanism, to be honest. There can be a good humanism that’s in line with the Church. More expansively, we might say humanism is a philosophy which recognizes the value and agency of human beings, and insofar as this is done in recognition of the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God, humanism can be a good thing. We most often associate it with the arts and sciences and the promotion thereof, and the Church has always been one to do that. Promoting the use of our God-given gifts wouldn’t be wrong, I wouldn’t think.
Depends on what you mean with being against it. You’re free to disagree with everything and everyone you like. Just don’t try to outlaw humanism and we’ll get along fine.
Even in my perfect theocracy, the only “religion” outlawed would be devil worship.Depends on what you mean with being against it. You’re free to disagree with everything and everyone you like. Just don’t try to outlaw humanism and we’ll get along fine.
The teacher didn’t explain it that way! And though she’s very nice, I think she actually believes, as does our textbook, that indulgences are sold.
What of parody “religions”? For example, Last Thursdayism, Pastafarianism, etc.
Then perhaps you should look into some other resources about what humanism is and whether there can be a good and a Christian humanism. Perhaps you should ask your teacher about this as well.
Last Thursdayism? That’s a new one. I have a friend who claims to be a Last Tuesdayist.
When people talk about humanism nowadays, they often mean secular humanism. I think edward_george is talking about renaissance-humanism that included good catholics like Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus.
This RationalWiki article says:Last Thursdayism? That’s a new one. I have a friend who claims to be a Last Tuesdayist.
Ed
And heretics as well, if I be not mistaken.
Dear friend,
I am at a public high school. I’m have the Catholic book because I near went insane in 8th grade, thanks to my teacher.Dear friend,
It’s more than okay to oppose atheistic humanism. Obviously, everything should be done as a means to attain union with God, so humanistic principles done in union with Catholic teaching, and for God are indeed very good.
You are probably learning about the rise of secularism in Europe, about 1400-1600. Though humanism is a good thing in the sense that the Church benefitted from technology to travel and do missionary work, make beautiful paintings and sculptures, and increase literacy to read holy and pious books, there is always a negative side to this as well.
So you can oppose this if it’s meant to replace union with God.
Though your textbook may be created by a catholic book company, it may still have biases in favor of secularism and religious indifferentism. It might also have “BCE” and “CE” instead of “BC” and “AD”, which can indicate that it isn’t very catholic.
PS. I had AP world history at a public high school, and I can relate to you
And here’s an article on humanism from the Catholic perspective:
catholic.com/encyclopedia/humanism
Hi,
Not really. The doubts I had mainly stemmed from an atheist video I watched. I already doubted after he insulted religious belief(I never saw his arguments).