From P Z Myers: Kent Hovind has been working on “Dinosaur Adventure Land”, Part Deux, on a pretty piece of property in Lenox, Alabama, and it’s gotten him a credulous, friendly online interview. If you want to see what it looks like, Hovind himself gives a video tour — there doesn’t seem to be much at all there. This one photo says it all.
Man, it must be rough when he and Ken Ham get together, if they ever do. It’s a toss-up whether Hovind would be mortified in the competition over who has the fancier big boat, or Ham who would be shamed by the fact that Kent is offering the same amount of scientific information that he is.
Hovind relishes it all. “Some atheists and scoffers online hate me. That’s OK. I’d be embarrassed if they didn’t. I think they hated Jesus, didn’t they?”
Uh oh, should I be embarrassed that atheists do not hate me?
If Dr. Swamidass continues with the excellent job he is doing with Peaceful Science engaging people of various beliefs and non-beliefs in humanitarian and scientific issues, he may find himself getting a Secular Humanist Award from FFRF.
Is that a carrot or a stick? In all honesty, I am convinced A Secular-Confessional Society is of foundational importance in our fractured context. This is a major place of common ground I have with FFRF. To get there, “secularism” needs to move from being an “atheist” concern to being a concern of all people.
Honestly, I do not think I can adopt the term “secular humanist” or “humanist”, which is too associated with atheism. Remember, I am a Christian. I believe that God exists, is good, and wants to be known. I follow Jesus, and this is why encourage secularism. The Jesus I see in Scripture has no need for the coercive power of the State.
I’m not a secular humanist in the usual sense. I am just a Christian who has come to a view of power reordered by an encounter with Jesus.
Don’t fight it, embrace it. Religion should not be above criticism, and anyone who understands that should appreciate the joke.
And in fairness, atheism should not be above criticism either, at least in regard to what any one atheists may believe. I don’t think we could pin down the beliefs of all atheists at once.
I understand not wanting to be labeled, but humanistic values generally overlap with religious values in a good way. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, we can be nice to other people without first nailing someone to a tree.
I don’t think there is any reason you can’t be a Christians Secular Humanist just like you are a Christian Physician and a Scientist who is Christian. Dr. Collins as a scientist and Director of the NIH is one who adheres to the ideals of secular humanism while being a Christian.
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