A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. Now this is a continuation from the readings of last Sunday, chapter 12 of Saint Luke. The sayings of our lord. So Jesus continues and said to his disciples, of course, there was a big crowd around there too. The beginning of it, we're told that they were trampling one another underfoot to hear Jesus.
So our lord says, I have come to light a fire on the earth. How I wish the blade lighted. I have a baptism to receive. What anguish I feel till it is all over. Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth?
I assure you, the contrary is true. I have come for division. From now on, a household of five will be divided three against the two and two against the three. Father will be split against son and son against his own father. Mother against daughter and daughter against mother.
Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law. Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And this is the good news of the lord. I have come, our lord said in today's gospel, I have come to light a fire on earth. I have come for division, not for peace.
In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Now last Sunday, I asked you to try to read this chapter 12 of Saint Luke in its entirety. And then I gave you a summary of its main points that are the sayings of our lord. It's not a it's not a systematic discourse.
It's it's not certainly a summary of the good news of the gospel. It's far from that. These are sayings of our lord, disconnected. And then it was my intention last Sunday to to give the our blessed lord's view of life. And in one word, this chapter I mean, yes, this chapter is summarized in one word.
Our lord's teaching is to teach us to be unworldly. That's the one word. Unworldly, not of this world. Now remember, a a synonym for worldly is secular. So when we talk about secular humanism, we're talking about worldly sec humanism.
That's everything our lord says in this chapter 12, and he says it very pointedly, severely. There are all kinds of things in this chapter. I wanna run over them very briefly because today I want. I don't always get what I want or do what I want, but I wanna get to this matter of humanism. But first, let us review the main points of this chapter of our lord's sayings.
First of all, he says, be straightforward. Don't think you can keep secrets from god almighty. Everything will be revealed sooner or later. Fear no man. Cast out fear.
Nobody can really hurt you. All they can do is kill you. And then he says, but do fear him who can condemn and destroy you, meaning god. Put all your trust in god, he says. He's worthy of it.
And then he our lord gave the parables of the of the rich man, of the hairs of your head being numbered, the lilies of the field, the sparrows of the air. If god so takes care of them, how much more will he take care of you, oh ye of little faith? And then our then he says, our lord said, if you accept the son of man in this world, he will accept you. If you deny him, he will deny you also. If you accept him, you will have everything.
There's only one unforgivable sin, our lord says, and that's a sin against the holy ghost, which as I said is interpreted as actually a human being doing the opposite, the contrary of what he evidently sees as the truth and his obligation. Our lord says, seek first the kingdom of god. Store up treasures with him. Free yourselves from possessions. Give what you have to the poor.
What our lord is saying, don't be possessed by things of this world. Don't let them be your master or your mistress. Be free. Be free. And then he makes a big point of being very watchful and being faithful, being prepared for the master's return.
And then he has a long parable about that. And and it ends with this, that if you're not faithful, if you're not careful, if you're not prepared for your message return, you will be disinherited, you will be cut off, and you will be thrown into Gehenna, which is another word that might be called hell. Then he says, a great deal will be demanded from those who have received a great deal. You have to use what you have. What you have, not what you don't have, what you would like to have, to use what you have for him, for his kingdom.
And then he goes on again at at length to say that a man's worth, you can't evaluate a human being in terms of what he owns, in terms of his place in society, in terms of the authority he may wield. In other words, a man's worth doesn't come from things from this world. It comes from the fact of Genesis that god made man to his image and likeness. We bear the image of god in our persons. That's a very brief summary of this long chapter, 59 verses.
Now today's reading finishes so that between last Sunday and today, we have read the this whole chapter. But I again ask you, read it quietly and take it in. Because today today remember, it's like CS Lewis' Scroop Tape Letters. Today, we are not being attracted by evil. Remember, no decent tombist ever would think that that we can be attracted by evil.
But the thing is we sort of think that. Remember, the devil is real. And as Lewis points out in those script tape letters, he comes to us in a way that we like him, that it seems good, that it has the veneer of holiness even. Don't forget that. We're not attracted to the sinful, to the ugly, to evil.
Now if there's any philosophy, this is what I didn't get to last Sunday, which I know you will have to suffer and be patient. I hope it hits home. I really do. Now the thing I'm greatly afraid of is this, that it won't. Because, try as I may, I cannot bring it down to earth the way I want because this is in your daily lives.
It's you are being exposed to it day in and day out, hour in and hour out. Everything that assaults you, the media, the every everything in your life in one way or another is attracting you to this thing we call secular or natural humanism. Now you see, as soon as I say that word, I know I'm not getting home. You say, oh, that's like talking about Kantianism or Copernicus or, you know, e even Plato. Right?
Oh, who cares about those guys? But the point I'm making this thing called humanism, you can't escape it. You cannot escape it. I'm not saying it's going to prevail over you. I pray to god that it won't, but you can't escape its presence in your life.
Just recently, a good mother was complaining about the school her a college her son went to. I said, what was wrong with it? After all, they chose it. They said, my son has two this this is a a young man, a very good Catholic family, good Catholic schooling, and everything. He he has two ambitions, money and power.
That's absolute humanism. Because as he says, I can get anything I want if I have money and power. I'll make this a better world. That is humanism down to earth with the disappointment of this good mother and father in what their son got out of their his college. So so don't think I'm talking up here in abstract terms.
Oh, I'll have to use abstract terms. But the thing is they're not abstract when they hit you between the eyes, when they influence your decision, when it influences what you buy, the school you go to, the books you read, the papers and all the rest of it. This is what is is attacking you, and I say insidiously. By insidious, I mean, in a way that you do not realize or see. Because let me tell you right I I was I was absolutely startled to hear somebody quote me as saying last Sunday that I said humanism had no principles.
Well, that's absolutely absurd. I went out of my way to say that humanism does have its principles and a lot of them are very good. A lot of the things humanism stands for, it is very good. It's excellent. A lot of it.
Now, this word humanism can throw you. It's very slippery because all all it is is humane or human or man. As far as I can figure, the word itself goes back to about the fourteenth century to Petrarch. And and here he was what an Italian scholar in the fourteenth century, mind you. He goes well, his great ambition as a humanist was to to show how the cultural classic past, even of the ancient pagans, could be led into Christianity and to the Catholic church.
That was his ambition. He was a good god fearing scholar. Humanism became the theme of the renaissance as you all know. And again, it did not of itself reject god, immortality, the church, and religion. Not at all.
It did in some instances. But remember, Erasmus and Saint Thomas More in the sixteenth century were very good humanists. The leading humanists of England were all good Catholics in the beginning before the reformation. We have a man like Karl Barth, the great Protestant theologian. Karl Barth said that the the you cannot have a humanism without the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And even some Catholic theologians will tell you that Catholicism is humanistic. Why? Because it insists upon the unique character of the human being as a creature, as a creation of God. So, obviously, the world humanism can be used in a very good sense, but that's not the sense in which I'm using it today, folks. I'm using it humanism as it's defined by its own champions, as it was explicitly publicized in 1933, in 1949, in 1977, and the latest in 1988.
They call themselves naturalistic humanists or secular humanists. It's an organization. It's international. It is potent. Potent.
It's well organized and when you read what they have to offer and what they're in their manifestos, their first manifesto was in 1933. The second was in second one was in 1977. And the one that I'm going to stress this morning was in 1988, which was last year, not a million years ago. He's not dead with the dodo bird. Now, I can't go into all of because I wanna dwell upon the nineteen eighty eight manifesto.
But I here is just that the first manifesto was signed by about 33 scholars, philosophers. The leading name was John Dewey. Now that should ring a bell. John Dewey of Columbia fame, Teachers College, the successor of William James, the pragmatist, the man who more than any single person has influenced public school education and given us what we have today. We are today reaping its consequences.
John Dewey and his pragmatism, or as he called it instrumentalism. Why? Because he said education must be a tool for life. And what life? Here in this world, secular.
Then, as I say, in 1949, there was published a statement in which the association proclaimed that humanism was the philosophy of The United States Of America, and they were not wrong. It was arrogant. They hadn't no. They didn't take a gallop pole. They didn't have to.
These were men and women who knew what was going on. This is 1949, right after the second world war. They knew. They spoke very truthfully because that's the way it is. If you can speak of any philosophy of The United States, it would be called some kind of humanism, which rests upon pragmatism, secularism, positivism, all the rest of the isms.
And of course rejects entirely entirely any such thing as the supernatural or a god or any obligations we have based upon that. Now remember, in the beginning in 1933 and even down to the present time, see, they do not proclaim that they're atheists. It would be better to say they are non theists. But what they're saying is that it's irrelevant, that religion and God and what they call the myths of religion have no meaning for the practical affairs of life. Now, that 1930 manifestos define human as a faith or a belief in man's personality and in the social well-being or welfare.
These are the two goals that human beings should fulfill their personality and that we should all work and even sacrifice for the common for society, for the social good. They do not use the word common good, of course. That was 1933. Then in '49, they offered this statement, the declaration that humanism is the philosophy of The USA, and they were right. Not of all people here, but if anything could be called USA philosophy, that's it.
Now in 1977, they offered their second manifesto. They brought it up to date. And at the danger of boring you, I wanna read you the net some of the signers of that. These names are very significant. Sydney Hook, the philosopher.
Isaac Asimov, the great novelist. Francis Creeck, a very well known biophysicist. Sakharov, the Russian dissident. Betty Frieden, the founder of n o w, National Organization of Women. Alan Guttmacher, president of Planned Parenthood.
B. F. Skinner, the great psychologist who brought who put his baby in a in a pen. These are some of but then notice these are these are outstanding men in The United States. These are leaders.
Sydney Hook has been an outstanding he's still living. Skinner is still living. Most of these people are living. They're all still living. Very influential.
Now these are not crackpots. These are good people. They signed it. Now in 1988, the New York Times had a half a page, and it's called a joyous life affirming philosophy that relies on reason, science, and democracy. 10 basic principles of humanism.
This is a message that was printed with the authority as a public service by Corliss Lamont and by Beth Lamont, humanist advocate. They have their own I mean, the humanists have their own publication called The Humanist. Now these have hit this article in the New York Times for April eighty eight puts down 10 basic principles. Now I'm going to I there are 10. There are four that I wanna stress, and they are not the positive ones.
They're not the good things that the that humanism stands for. So let us begin with some of the good things it stands for. Humanism stands for individuals that they attain a good life, a harmonious life, self development, significant work for society. Humanism believes in the widest possible development of art, awareness of beauty, appreciation of nature, and so forth. Humanism advocates a far reaching program in of the United Nations.
They're against nuclear bombs and so forth. They're for racial, ethnic, and nationalistic to get rid of all those prejudices. Humanist organizations the world over cooperate with the international humanist ethical union. Humanism upholds full freedom of expression, civil liberties in areas of economics and politics of culture. The unfettered pursuit of truth in The United States, the right to know.
And we now listen. And we I'm quoting. And we remember that Jesus in religion and Socrates in philosophy were both courageous civil liberties martyrs. They take that's very serious. Don't be cynical about it.
Tenth, humanism in accordance with scientific method, that's the method of the laboratory, encourages the unending questioning of basic assumptions, convictions in every field of thought. It includes philosophy, naturalistic humanism, and so forth, religion, and all of it must be submitted to experimentation, to testing, to newly discovered facts, and to more rigorous reasoning. Who can quarrel with most of that on the surface? Don't forget that. Now, here's the said contra.
But I'm going to read this a little bit. First point the very first principle, naturalistic humanism believes in an ethics of morality that grounds all human values in this earthly experience and relationships, and that holds as its highest goal, the happiness, the freedom, the progress of all humanity in this one and only life. Second, humanism with its nontheistic view, that is the rejection of god, of the universe rejects all supernatural belief as myth and considers infinite and inspiring nature as the totality of existence. And nature, of course, is written with a capital n. What that means?
God. Third, humanism with its ultimate faith in the human race believes that we have the power or potentiality of solving our own problems. How? Through reason, scientific method, and democracy, of course. Now their fifth principle, opposes oppose, I'm quoting.
Humanism opposes all religious theologies. However, it embodies ethical ideals from various religions, especially Christianity. America and the world need nothing so much as the precepts of the 10 commandments, such as thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not kill. Jesus Christ in the New Testament gave voice to such humanistic hopes as social equality, human brotherhood, peace on earth. Now I've been racing against time.
And and when you do that, you're you really are not going to be fair to your opponents. I know that. But what else can I do? Please, humanism believes in principles. These are good people.
They are very, what we would say, practical. And that word practical is a beautiful word. It means to do, to achieve, to work at, to make, to accomplish. And their basics basic argument is, look at your religions. They don't solve your problems.
This will solve your problems. And with the tools we have, namely reason, science, and democracy. Now whether you accept that or not is another question, but this is consistent. It's forceful. It's mighty attractive, mighty attractive, and you're meeting it every day.
You're meeting it every place you go. You're meeting in your paycheck, in your employment, in your job, in your dreams, your ambitions, everything. You're meeting it all the time because you can't escape being human. And much of what they want is certainly good. We all want it.
The question is how valid is it? What does it rest on? Well, all I can say, I have many more time, is to say with Dostoevsky, if there's no God and if there's no immortality, everything is lawful. Everything is lawful. If there's no God, no immortality.
He wrote crime and punishment to prove it. He wrote brothers Karamazov to prove it. This is a structure which has mighty, mighty it's magnificent in its view. I forgot a very important point that it rest upon non theistic evolution. These are all wonderful theories.
Where is the foundation for any of it? Why should I, in the last analysis, make any sacrifice for anybody? Why should I? If I'm willing to pay the penalty for my actions. And so I I have really thought about this a lot.
It we talk about the devil, we talk about the love of money and all these things, you know, but the basic thing is that we are we are attracted to what seems the good, the true, and the beautiful. It's attractive. The only thing is that the devil can put on the garb of the true, the good, and the beautiful, and the devil is real. In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.