From the moment of his birth, a person seeks to know the world around him, to study himself, to give explanations for incomprehensible phenomena. However, in many traditional societies, children are taught that a person is not eternal and powerless to change his life in any way, that there are higher divine powers that govern the laws of this world. The target is said to be
man in this world - to gain spiritual insight, and this can only be done on condition of obedience to the representatives of the church. There are many examples in history of how religious leaders, with the help of such manipulations with consciousness, unleashed protracted bloody wars with dissidents. What are only the crusades against heretics or "infidels".
With the beginning of the Renaissance, the consciousness of many has changed dramatically. People looked at the world with completely different eyes, and then faith in religious dogmas trembled. Exactly atAt that time, such a philosophical doctrine as humanism arose. It defines a person as the highest value, and considers his right to freedom of speech, action, creativity, self-realization to be undeniable. Humanism in no way puts man at the center of the universe or above nature. On the contrary, he encourages people to live in harmony with it. Personality, humanists teach, has great potential, and in no case should it be infringed upon.
The philosophy of humanism appealed to many and is still relevant today. Featured in
in the Western world, the direction of this current is called secular (secular) humanism. It promotes universal equality, philanthropy, freedom in all spheres of public life, high moral principles. Freedom should be understood not as permissiveness, but as independence of action within reasonable limits. This does not violate the freedom of other members of society.
Secular humanism denies the existence of God or any other higher powers. A person should lead a correct way of life, not under fear of punishment in a future life, but because this is the only true path leading to happiness. However, despite this, humanists are not at all intolerant of people of a different worldview or religion, since one of the basic principles of this movement is freedom of choice.
There are many adherents of the ideas of secular humanism in the world. However, criticism of this philosophy is even more heard, mainly from religious figures. Their main argument is that secular humanism, despiteon propaganda high
ideals and an appeal to the best human feelings, sets the judge of human conscience, not divine law. "Of course," critics say, "some manage to lead an ethical life without violating moral precepts, but these are only a few. For many, secular humanism is an excuse for their selfishness, greed and vanity."
Another direction of the "philosophy of humanity" - Christian humanism - adheres to the same principles as secular, but there is a fundamental difference between them. The atheism of secular humanism is contrasted here with faith in God, the observance of the commandments left to us by the apostles of Christ. Representatives of this trend believe that without faith in the heart a person lives, as if in darkness, without a goal in life, and only God gives us the opportunity to be spiritually reborn and achieve happiness.
