[ALBSA-Info] American Freethinker, Secular Humanist, Paul Kurtz, speaks out

[Xhuliana Agolli]

      American freethinker, Secular Humanist, Paul Kurtz, speaks out 

      By Mark Sauer 
      COPLEY NEWS SERVICE 


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      Pollsters report that 90 percent of Americans say they believe in God. If that's so, Paul Kurtz might be the most visible and outspoken among the remaining 10 percent. 

      Kurtz, 75, is founder and chairman of the Council for Secular Humanism, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and Prometheus Books. He is also editor-in-chief of Free Inquiry Magazine and professor emeritus of philosophy at State University of New York at Buffalo. 

      The father of four, Kurtz grew up in Newark, N.J., in a family he has described as "independent freethinkers." As an Army sergeant in World War II, he helped liberate Nazi death camps. 

      He has devoted most of his adult life to debunking psychics and scientific and medical quacks, mystics, mediums, men of the cloth and anyone else who promotes the supernatural, paranormal or organized religion. 

      Kurtz laments that he is often labeled a pessimist, but insists he is possessed of an optimistic nature. Recently, he took time for a telephone interview from his home in upstate New York: 


      Q. What is secular humanism? 

      A. We are committed to the proposition that in order to fulfill our best capabilities as human beings, we ought to achieve happiness and enrichment here and now. Secular humanism is a positive philosophy of human fulfillment. 

      We are interested in the separation of church and state, and the idea that the state should not interfere with human liberty. And we are skeptical of supernatural claims - we do not believe there is sufficient evidence for that. We believe in human freedom and human reason. 

      In my view, most Americans are secularist and humanist, but don't know that they are. The Religious Right is in the business of demonizing secular humanism. 

      Q. There seems to be a feeling in our society that you must be a religious person to be a moral person. What is your feeling about this? 

      A. I think that is profoundly mistaken. I don't think you can say all the moral saints are churchgoers and all the wicked people are outside of churches. 

      There have been many infamous wars throughout history fought between religious believers, Muslims and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, to name but a few. In the name of God, people have committed tremendous crimes. 

      On the other side, there are many people who are good and kind and just and thoughtful, yet are not members of a church, synagogue or mosque. People like Mark Twain, for example, and Clarence Darrow, Margaret Sanger. Many fathers of the American Revolution were deists and humanists who did not accept traditional religions. 

      Then you have Einstein, John Dewey, Isaac Asimov, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and many other great people in history who were non-believers, yet very moral. 

      Q. With all the scientific advances mankind has made, how is it that the notion of God and religion, not to mention psychic powers, past-life regression, communication with the dead, etc., still have such a hold on Americans? 

      A. That is puzzling, it really is. I think America is an anomaly today compared with the other great democracies of the world. Religious belief in countries like England, France, Germany, The Netherlands is much less widespread than it is in the United States. 

      As a matter of fact, 60 percent of American scientists are either agnostics or atheists. Over 90 percent of elite scientists fit that category, by that I mean members of the National Academy of Science and other prestigious organizations. This comes from a recent poll that repeats a similar poll done in 1915. 

      I think the United States is suffering a kind of distemper, what with our penchant for communing with the dead, visits with ghosts, reporting of hauntings and all sorts of miracles. 

      Major news magazines do cover stories on angels; TV shows and movies are devoted to them. Our belief in angels is the highest among all major countries of the world. 

      This stuff is played up by TV producers and publishers, who support belief in the paranormal and superstition, and there is not sufficient criticism of this. That is one of our main complaints. 

      We investigate everything, from faith healers and the laying on of hands to Jesus sightings on tortillas. But few others criticize this stuff. It's considered in bad taste to criticize. 

      Q. Can an atheist be spiritual? 

      A. It depends on what you mean by spiritual. Surely an appreciation of the aesthetic dimension of the human experience has to it a moral dimension, a sense of awe about the universe. I have that, and so do my friends. Do I have a spiritual relationship with ghosts? I'm skeptical of that. 

      Q. In the 1960s, we were debating whether God is dead; 40 years later organized religion seems more powerful than ever. What caused this revival? 

      A. Again, I think the United States stands out among countries. The Australian president recently said Australia was sent the convicts, America the Puritans. Maybe we never got over Puritanism. 

      There are 1,350 religious sects in America. Anyone can form a group and get devotees. There is such a wide diversity of beliefs. Just look at (the) Heaven's Gate (mass suicide) in San Diego. The fact is, people are gullible. 

      Wave after wave of immigrants have brought their own religions here. We are the most religiously diverse culture on the planet. 

      Q. What purpose do you think religion serves for most people? 

      A. America is changing so rapidly, with the personal-computer revolution and everything else in the technological field. Many people go back to old traditions as an anchor. They find comfort in that old-time religion. As secular humanists, we say you need to think for yourself. We try to use science and reason to develop a new ethic. 

      Many ancient ethical systems, we think, are not relevant today. We don't think in dealing with the 21st century and beyond that you can go back to the agricultural value systems of the Hindus, of Judaism, or what have you. 

      Q. The notion of life after death and eternal happiness seems such a comfort for many people. Does secular humanism offer anything to replace that? 

      A. Comfort can be found in enjoying life here and now, in finding fulfillment here and now, and in trying to build a better world for everyone without the illusion of immortality. 

      We don't find evidence of life after death. Anyway, can you imagine holding hands and singing hymns throughout eternity? It's so boring. 

      Q. Is the debate over cloning and stem-cell research and other scientific endeavors often associated with Frankenstein becoming a battle between religion and science? 

      A. I hope not. We believe in freedom of research and seeing what great wonders occur through scientific inquiry. There was a great battle between Galileo and church fathers 300 or 400 years ago, and I hope we're not repeating that today. 

      Stem-cell research will be a boon to human happiness, but there remains this great fear of science, and I think that's very unfortunate. 

      Obviously, we need a wise use of scientific research, and we need to avoid abuses. On the other hand, science has had a very positive effect on mankind, helping to extend life and ease suffering and poverty around the world, and we ought to applaud that. 

      Q. Is there an important issue facing us today that gets very little attention? 

      A. Yes. The one thing we're really lacking in America is wisdom. It's very important. We have the old great religious traditions, but what we really need is a new kind of wisdom, an understanding of the universe and our place in it, and we need to develop a moral wisdom, a guide to leading a good life. 

      We need a practical wisdom to try and accept the world for what it is; a long-range wisdom - that is the rarest commodity today. You can't live sound bite to sound bite. 

      There is an information overload today: Vote for this guy; buy that; believe this. People need to develop critical thinking and employ more common sense instead of relying on blind faith. We need to learn to rely on our own reasoning powers in order to live wisely. 



      Publish Date:Thursday September 27 
      
           
              
           
              
              
           
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