Direction Matters

In our current world we have two primary competing worldviews. A worldview is defined as "a mental model of reality — a comprehensive framework of ideas & attitudes about the world, ourselves, and life, a system of beliefs, a system of personally customized theories about the world and how it works — with answers for a wide range of questions." A worldview provides your basis for interpreting things, answering life questions, determining reality, etc. The current most common worldviews are humanism and theism. (There are certainly others; these are just two, but quite prevalent.)

According to Wikipedia, humanism is "a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition." This worldview is specifically nontheistic, centering instead on humans as the primary determiner of life, the universe, and everything (so to speak). Is it right, wrong, moral, immoral, real, fake, true, false? We decide. We don't need a deity for that. This worldview interprets all of life's questions starting with and ending with Man.

Over against that, theism begins and ends with God. God is the beginning; God is the end. God is the point. All of life -- right, wrong, moral, immoral, real, fake, true, false -- is focused on and determined by God. Science, humans, all of reality is dependent on God. If He says it's so, it's so. If He says it's right (or wrong), it is. Everything in life is explained by God. (Note: I didn't say "can be explained" because if there is, indeed, a God, it is certain that He won't be able to explain to finite human beings everything that He is.)

Now, here's the interesting thing. Both humanism and theism share some values in common. Both argue that humans have intrinsic worth. For instance, both humanism and theism think that shooting school children is a bad thing and we ought to do something about it. Both humanism and theism argue that sexual abuse is a bad thing. Both humanism and theism use terms like "equality" and "rights". Both humanism and theism value things like compassion, integrity, generosity, personal responsibility, and such. In a sense, it appears that both humanism and theism are pretty much alike in their values. That, of course, would be a mistake.

You see, one of the fundamental differences between the two is their basis -- humans or God. As such humanism suffers from a curious lack of support ... for humanist values.

Humanism values human dignity and science. They argue that life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of humane ideals. They seek the best outcome for the most people. Their moral values seek to avoid harm. They expect science and reason to make sense of the world. They champion human rights. One poster I saw said, "I am a humanist. If you are hungry, I will offer food ... I do not do these things in hopes of being rewarded ... I do these things because I know them to be right. I set my own standards and I alone enforce them." And therein lies the problem. Humanism values human dignity, but the basis for that dignity is ... human. It's circular. Which means it's meaningless. "It just is" is not a basis. Science is the primary source of answers, but science by definition is constantly changing. Based on testing, experimentation, hypotheses, asking-answering-repeat, what is true in science today is likely to change tomorrow. But this is their sure footing, their basis for life's answers. Science might tell them that humans evolved and are, therefore, just another biochemical bag more complicated than earlier ones. It is not rational to conclude, then, that this latest evolutionary step is more valuable than earlier ones, but the humanist is quite confident in the value of the human being. Never mind the inconsistency that argues that the human being prior to exiting the birth canal is not of equal value. Never mind the inconsistency that argues that science answers our questions until we ask what gender we may or may not be, in which case we will ignore science. Humanism and its god, Science, eliminate objective reality, which removes the basis for the values it holds dear.

On the other hand, theism begins with God. God declares that Man was made in His image. As such, theism provides a solid basis for the intrinsic value of human beings. Further, God as Creator and Master declares what is right and wrong, good and bad. He does so infallibly; He does so as Good. Thus, morality has its footings in His declarations. One might think that science would not fare well in a theistic worldview, but that would be a mistake. According to J. Robert Oppenheimer, the non-Christian American theoretical physicist that helped develop the atomic bomb, and others, modern science has its roots in theism. The idea was that if a rational Being made all that is, rational beings should be able to make sense of what He made. The entire pursuit of scientific thought has its underpinnings in theism. And the values that theism holds with humanism have their sure foundation in God.

And so it goes. The things that humanism values it cannot support. The things that theism values it supports. There is no basis in humanism for morality or human worth. As the poster I quoted said, "I set my own standards and I alone enforce them." Theism and humanism might share some values, but the basis and, therefore, solidity of those values isn't the same between them. The direction you come at the question really does matter.