Reviews
FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN HUMANISM
By William
McIlroy
Sheffield Humanist Society
14 pages £0.75
William McIlroy
was for many years the General Secretary of the National Secular Society. This
booklet is the text of a lecture which he gave last year and aims to provide 'a
straightforward introduction to humanism based on the history of the movement.'
After a few introductory remarks, McIlroy describes the development of the
humanist movement through the 19th century, giving examples of the social and
legislative reforms that the movement supported or brought about. The
particular issues touched upon include:
·
Campaigning for Education Reform
·
Opposing the Stamp Duty charged on newspapers and
pamphlets
·
Defying rigid Sabbatarianism and working to 'free up'
Sundays for real enjoyment
·
Demanding non-religious ceremonies for birth, marriage and
death
·
Campaigning against church rates and tithe payments
·
Opposing censorship and blasphemy laws
·
Promoting and popularising birth control (regarded by
McIlroy as one of the humanists' greatest contributions to human welfare thus
far).
Three things
might be said in response to McIlroy's overall historical argument:
1. It must be
confessed that in the 19th century, as in all others, Christians did not always
live out their faith as they should have done. There were instances of
hypocrisy, callousness and bigotry which must have grieved the Spirit far more
than now they scandalise humanists. This, of course, is not an argument against
belief but a challenge to believers.
2. Likewise,
where worthwhile reforms were introduced as a result of the work of humanists,
it is right that these should be recognised and appreciated. However, it is not
possible to regard even those reforms which McIlroy does deal with as wholly
beneficial. A secular education which instructs children to think and behave as
though there were no God, as though the Bible were not infallible revelation from
God, as though life were not about glorifying God, and as though Jesus Christ
were not Lord can hardly be regarded as a contribution to human welfare.
Sundays which have been 'freed up' for merely self-indulgent pleasure-seeking
bring shame not health to a nation. And the moral irresponsibility of 'safe
sex', the selfish attitude towards how many children a couple might 'like', and
the cultivation of a mind-set ready to welcome abortion as a logical next step
are ugly (though not necessary) accompaniments to the promotion of birth
control.
3. McIlroy's
omissions are of such proportions as to almost render his whole thesis
laughable. Who could think to deal with social and legislative reform in the
19th century without mentioning the abolition of slavery, the passing of the
Factory Acts and the care of orphans? McIlroy's silence on these matters speaks
volumes. William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-85),
and Thomas Barnardo (1845-1905) did more to alleviate human suffering, increase
human welfare, and promote true justice than all the freethinking humanists of
the 19th century put together. And they did so as a direct outworking of their
Christian faith.
Finally, a number
of general points about humanism are brought home to the Christian reader of
this lecture:
·
that any claim to do 'good' or oppose 'evil' is
meaningless when coming from an evolutionary, random-universe worldview.
·
that a life of God-denying philanthropy is nothing to
boast of - it is making an idol of human welfare.
·
that the modern Humanist movement is in large measure a
negative thing - a reaction to Christianity. So many humanists are
self-consciously fighting against God even while on the run from him. And it
will be clear to some of them at least that the harder they resist, the more
they sense that there is something to resist.
·
that Christianity is itself the 'True Humanism'. (There is
a 1980 book by J.I. Packer and T. Howard called Christianity: the true humanism which expounds this thesis quite
superbly.) Only in relation to his Maker, only when reconciled to him, subject
to his laws, promoting his glory, and relying on his strength, can man be all
he is meant to be. It is the high calling of all Christian people to
demonstrate this - living lives of humble, loving service to God and men,
displaying the righteousness, power and joy of Christ and so inviting others to
'the life that is truly life'.