Humanism and the Culture War
‘The Emerging Transhumanist Culture’
at Transvision 2004
Jende Huang, field organizer,
American Humanist Association
“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
Progress in Society…
Society envisioned as:
•Progressive
• Democratic
•Pluralistic
• Cosmopolitan
•Secular
• Open
Where Orthodoxy Reigns…
Society envisioned as:
•Traditional
•Monocultural
•Religious
•Autocratic
•Closed
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.
Dominion Theology
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)
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.
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)
Philo Evolution
The Culture War Goes On…
Political Aspects:
Cultural Aspects:
• Marriage rights for
gays
• Faith based initiatives
• Abortion as a litmus
test for judges
• The Passion of the
Christ and Fahrenheit
9/11
• Influence of Christian
entertainment,
especially the Left
Behind series
The Culture War isn’t about what people
think…
…it’s about how people think.
These are banned in Alabama
This is because of Hollywood
The Politicization of Science Policy in
the United States
Rep. Brian Baird
• 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 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.
Rep. Henry Waxman
• 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
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
Science becomes the first victim of
ideology run amok.
The door is starting to closing on
honest, critical scientific debate.
The Bush Administration Takes Steps
Backwards on the Global Stage
• 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 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.
"...the responsibility for our lives and the
kind of world in which we live is ours and
ours alone." -- Humanist Manifesto III