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Humanism and the Culture War

Humanism and the Culture War. ‘The Emerging Transhumanist Culture’ at Transvision 2004 Jende Huang, field organizer, American Humanist Association.

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Humanism and the Culture War

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  1. Humanism and the Culture War ‘The Emerging Transhumanist Culture’ at Transvision 2004 Jende Huang, field organizer, American Humanist Association

  2. “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as the Cold War itself.” –Patrick Buchanan at the 1992 Republican National Convention

  3. Progress in Society… Society envisioned as: • Democratic • Cosmopolitan • Open • Progressive • Pluralistic • Secular

  4. Where Orthodoxy Reigns… Society envisioned as: • Traditional • Monocultural • Religious • Autocratic • Closed

  5. The Culture War battles that the Humanist movement takes part in will not guarantee a transhumanist future… …but Humanists can create a culture where transhumanism has the opportunity to thrive.

  6. Dominion Theology Followers of dominion theology, more commonly known as Christian Reconstructionists, view the government, law, education, science, religion and the family as a few of the areas where God’s “dominion” must be reestablished. Based on Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'” (NIV)

  7. Postmillennialism “Postmillennialism is that view of the last things which holds that the Kingdom of God is now being extended in the world through the preaching of the Gospel and the saving work of the Holy Spirit, that the world eventually will be Christianized, and that the return of Christ will occur at the close of a long period of righteousness and peace called the Millennium.” –Loraine Boettner, The Millennium (1966)

  8. Philo Evolution

  9. Political Aspects: Marriage rights for gays Faith based initiatives Abortion as a litmus test for judges Cultural Aspects: The Passion of the Christ and Fahrenheit 9/11 Influence of Christian entertainment, especially the Left Behind series The Culture War Goes On…

  10. The Culture War isn’t about what people think… …it’s about how people think.

  11. These are banned in Alabama

  12. This is because of Hollywood

  13. The Politicization of Science Policy in the United States

  14. Limits on questions asked Limits on methods used Limits or elimination of funding provided Biased people in government agencies Active suppression of information Raising unjustified claims about research or scientists Punishment for asking the wrong questions Retribution Rep. Brian Baird

  15. Rep. Brian Baird Continued… • Disregard for science • Placement of ideological scientists to international panels These Factors Result In: A scientific community which has created an atmosphere of self-censorship.

  16. Appoints people with scant scientific credentials but strong industry ties Stacks advisory committees with numerous pro-industry or ideological appointees Appoints nonexperts with right-wing ideological agendas Opposes the appointment or reappointment of qualified experts, including some of the most respected scientists in their fields, on the basis of political litmus tests Rep. Henry Waxman

  17. HHS “…the current practice in which the WHO invites specific HHS officials by name to serve in these capacities has not always resulted in the most appropriate suggestions.” –William R. Steiger, Ph.D., Special Assistant to the Secretary for International Affairs

  18. Science becomes the first victim of ideology run amok. The door is starting to closing on honest, critical scientific debate.

  19. Reinstating the Mexico City Policy Refusing to sign onto the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Deciding against ratifying the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court Withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The Bush Administration Takes Steps Backwards on the Global Stage

  20. The Culture War isn’t about what people think, it’s about how people think. Our fight is against an absolutist mindset that claims to already know the answers.

  21. "...the responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone." -- Humanist Manifesto III

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