Humanism, Relativism, and
Pluralism
 Humanism
is a religion
 Main tenets of humanism
• Atheism
• Evolution
• Relativism
• Autonomy of man
 These
ideas are laid out in “The Humanist
Manifestos”, I, II, and III
 From The Humanist Manifestos
• “Religious humanists regard the universe as self-
existing and not created”
• “As in 1933, humanists still believe that
traditional theism, especially faith in the prayerhearing God, assumed to live and care for
persons, to hear and understand their prayers,
and to be able to do something about them, is an
unproved and outmoded faith.”
• “As nontheists, we begin with humans not God,
nature not deity.”
• “Humans are an integral part of nature, the result
of unguided evolutionary change.”
Tolerant of everything but theism!
 From The Humanist Manifesto I

• “Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe
depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any
supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values.”

From The Humanist Manifesto II
• “We affirm that moral values derive their source from
human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational
needing no theological or ideological sanction.”

From the Humanist Manifesto III
• “Ethical values are derived from human need and interest
as tested by experience”

From II
• “In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant
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attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and
puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The
right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be
recognized.”
“The many varieties of sexual exploration should not in
themselves be considered ‘evil.’”
“…a civilized society should be a tolerant one.”
“Moral education for children and adults is an important
way of developing awareness and sexual maturity.”
[Civil liberty] also includes a recognition of an
individual's right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and the
right to suicide.
 From The Humanist Manifesto I
• “Religious Humanism considers the complete
realization of human personality to be the end of
man's life and seeks its development and fulfillment
in the here and now.”
 From The Humanist Manifesto II
• “We believe in maximum individual autonomy
consonant with social responsibility.”
• “There is no credible evidence that life survives the
death of the body”
 From The Humanist Manifesto III
• “Life's fulfillment emerges from individual
participation in the service of humane ideals.”
 How did humans come to be?
• Charles Darwin gave a humanist answer to this
question – Evolution
 How
have nations risen and fallen without
God?
• Karl Marx gave a humanist answer to this question –
Marxism and class struggles
 How
do we explain the obvious conflict in
humans between the physical and spiritual?
• Sigmund Freud gave a humanist answer to this
question with the conscious and unconscious
 From The Humanist Manifesto I
• “Religious humanism maintains that all associations
and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human
life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation,
control, and direction of such associations and
institutions with a view to the enhancement of
human life is the purpose and program of
humanism. Certainly religious institutions, their
ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and
communal activities must be reconstituted as
rapidly as experience allows, in order to function
effectively in the modern world.” (emphasis mine,
edp)
 In
other words, humanism wants to infiltrate
and change all religious institutions to be
more humanist
 Do not be deceived, YOU and I have been
affected by humanism
 Humanism’s tentacles have reached to
practically every facet of American society
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Entertainment
Government
Education (higher and lower!!!)
Religion
 From
II
• “Free thought, atheism, agnosticism,
skepticism, deism, rationalism, ethical culture,
and liberal religion all claim to be heir to the
humanist tradition. Humanism traces its roots
from ancient China, classical Greece and Rome,
through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment,
to the scientific revolution of the modern world.”
 Many
humanists will fall into the category
described in Romans 1:18-32; 2 Tim. 3:1-9;
and 2 Thes. 2:9-12
 Do not judge, sow the seed!
 Here are some approaches to the
plausibility of God (From Piloting the Strait
by Dave Miller)
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Cosmological proof
Teleological proof (design demands designer)
Moral proof
Evidence for the inspiration of the Bible
 The
existence of the universe is itself
proof of a creator
 The universe is not eternal and is
degrading
 The “Big Bang” does not account for
matter being created from nothing
 There had to have been an uncaused
First Cause
 Intelligent
planning is behind all ordered
design
 Nature is meticulously designed, and that
requires a Designer, an Intelligent
Planner
 Psalm 19:1 and Rom. 1:20 capture this
thought
 Consider the design of the human body
 That
there exist such things as ethics and
morality suggest the existence of God
 That human life is intrinsically valuable is
evidence of the Creator
 Moral decline historically precedes
societal fall
 The existence of a conscience suggests a
creator.
 The
inerrancy of the Bible; it is free from
contradictions
 The historical and geographical accuracy
• One popular example is that of the Hittites
 The predictive prophecies
• Christ was to appear during the Roman Empire
(Dan. 2:44)
• The rejection and crucifixion are prophesied in
amazing detail (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53)
 The
unity of the Bible
 More
practical for us is to work to convert
the deceived humanist
 How do we deal with one who does not
know how much humanism has
influenced him?
• Educate them on the origins of the tolerant,
permissive attitude of our society
• Then, help them to see the fact that absolute
truth does exist
 The
only certainty is that there is no
certainty
 “Keep an open mind”
 “Don’t be judgmental”
 Avoid labeling anyone as “wrong”
 “I’m okay, you’re okay”
 All of these attitudes foster blind
tolerance for beliefs and practices that
are not Biblical
 The
humanists have worked their way into
the faculty of most every college and
university in America
 This has trickled into the “religious
seminaries”
 Examples of their influence on religion
• Explaining away Bible miracles
• Attacking the idea of specific verbal inspiration of
the Bible (the “new” hermeneutic)
• Lengthening the “days” of Genesis 1
• Separating fellowship from doctrinal correctness
 Relativism
is a self defeating philosophy!
It is inherently contradictory!
 Does relativism apply to natural law? Are
there absolute truths in nature?
 Relativism completely undermines all
morality
 If everyone is right, then no one is!
 Where does relativism lead? (Gen. 19:9)
 John
8:32, “You shall know the truth”
 Matt. 4:4, “…by every word…”
 Matt. 9:13 -> Hos. 6:6
 John 7:17
 John 6:45
 2 Tim. 2:15
 2 Thes. 5:21
 2 Cor. 4:2
 Acts 20:30
 2 Pet. 3:16