Asshat Quote of the Day

The new humanism spends little time exalting man as an ideal. It says nothing, or next to nothing, about faith, hope, and charity; is scathing about patriotism; and is dismissive of those rearguard actions in defense of the family, public spirit, and sexual restraint that animated my parents. Instead of idealizing man, the new humanism denigrates God and attacks the belief in God as a human weakness. My parents too thought belief in God to be a weakness. But they were reluctant to deprive other human beings of a moral prop that they seemed to need. - Roger Scruton

Great example of a straw-man argument.

The "new humanism" says nothing about "belief in God", or even "God" for that matter. It says a lot about the behavior of people as a result of that belief.

There's a big difference.. and Scruton (whoever he is), and Andrew Sullivan are too stupid to understand that.

Humanism also says nothing about "patriotism", but a lot about "blind and underserved loyalty".

...

Here's the thing.. Religious freaks like Sullivan have a vested interest in attacking secular humanism as a philosophy. I don't think Sullivan is so stupid as to not know the obvious distinctions I've demonstrated here. I think they're inherently (intentionally) dishonest in their attack. They know they are misrepresenting humanism, because they know, ultimately, that they are on the losing side of a very simple debate.

It's much easier for them to completely make up, out of thin air, what "humanists" believe.. or what the philosophy values, and then argue against it.

They are simply liars.. and not very good ones at that.