Should we confront absolutist arguments?

Published on Monday, 12 April 2010

I describe myself as a humanist and atheist. My moral code comes from my upbringing within a society that values relationship over confrontation.

So rather than confront absolutist arguments that are built on a sense of divine truth, I would rather just go and do good things, help other humans, help other species, work to keep this planet healthy, study what has happened in the past and speculate on where we all are going in the future.

Unlike theists I see my life as finite. I would be delighted to be wrong after I pass on but I have no illusions. It has often bothered me that people of faith see in earthly suffering a way to prepare themselves for a better life after death. To me suffering prepares us for nothing. Helping those who suffer however gives me great satisfaction.

Charles Darwin opened our eyes to give us a better understanding of where we fit in this Universe. It has been very difficult for most humans to accept that we are not the penultimate expression of some super being placed on this planet as steward. I fully understand why this concept is so difficult for so many people. After all I too was a child once when the world revolved around me. I just grew up.