The Significance of Secular Humanism - Essay Example

?Secular Humanism Secular Humanism is also known as Humanism. The concept of secular humanism is based on a philosophy that identifies the human reasons, ethics, justice and surge for peace of mind and satisfaction as the purpose of man’s life on this Earth. Secular Humanism is similar to some of the religions including Buddhism but only with regards to the human surge for peace of mind because it rejects the idea of religion altogether and believes in the logical happening of things. The concept of supernatural beings and their superiority is totally absent from secular humanism and identifies morality, ethics and values as the only deciding force in human life. Secular Humanism however presents a way of living for the human beings and suggests that following religion does not specifies if a man is good or not, a man can lead a good life by doing good to the people and the environment around him and bringing peace and harmony to everyone in the society. This is the only way he can lead a happy and successful life. Secular Humanism stresses on the logical reasoning of things before accepting them and the concept of accepting things on the basis of religious beliefs is totally rejected. According to the ideology presented by Secular Humanism, humans should utilize their power to think and reason before accepting or rejecting any idea and their decisions should be based on logical reasoning and not on the illogical and inherited religious beliefs. Secular Humanism persuades human mind to indulge in learning and logical reasoning the ability of logical reasoning is developed by learning the arts. Secular Humanism is neither a religion nor follows the dictionary meaning of the word secular because it upholds the concept of human dignity and stresses the followers to practice moral and ethical values in their lives. According to the secular humanism ideology, the aim of life of a human is to achieve high levels in moral and ethical conduct and serve the mankind. The humans are supposed to develop themselves and achieve new heights because the process of evolution is still in progress. According to secular humanism, the human life ends with death and there is no life after death and humans are not answerable to anyone. Therefore it is antagonistic to religious beliefs because the concept of God and life after death is absent however it can still be classified as a religion if religion is defined as a set of beliefs and a way of life. The world today has about 40-50 million followers of this ideology. (428 words) Printing Press and Religion With the invention of the printing press in the 15th century remarkable changers were observed in literature, learning and religion. The idea of printing press and moveable type was first perceived by Gutenberg and he put together paper, winepress and oil based ink, three different technological developments of that time. The arrangement he formulated could be used for printing books and in this way the first printing press was invented. The invention of printing press brought a revolution in reading and writing and this also included the religious reading because prior to this invention, the books and written literature was not accessible to everyone and was also very expensive. The objective of the development and invention of the printing press was to lower down the prices of the books and to produce them in large numbers so that more and more people could learn from books and the Bible. More and more books were made available to the common people and learning and the transfer of knowledge became very frequent. The printing press initiated the information revolution because printing allowed the quick transfer of a large amount of knowledge with ease. The effect of printing was very evident in the population because people started reading and learning new skills and techniques which helped them develop themselves into useful individuals of the society. Moreover with the invention of printing press more educational institutions and libraries were opened and revolutionary changes were observed in the educational setup at that time. The most remarkable effect of the development of the printing press was on the study of religion in general and Christianity in particular. The first major book printed with the help of the printing press was Gutenberg Bible which was highly appreciated by the people. This initiated a trend to use the printing press of the printing of bible and holy books. Muslims soon followed and started printing Quran with the help of printing press and it played a very critical role in spread of Islam during that time. The invention of the printing press was deemed as a solution to various issues faced by the world. With the help of printing press learning and writing was made cheaper, which enhanced the sharing and transfer of knowledge and the current scientific and technological progress which can be seen today was due to the invention of printing press which made the production and reproduction of books easy, cheap and practical and this is evident from the historical phenomena like the rise and development of Renaissance, because printing press has a pivotal role to play in learning and transfer of knowledge. Printing provided a platform to the scholars and prevented the immoral and unethical practices of hand copying and text corruption. The progress in science, technology and scholarship was ensured through uniform text and information for every student and scholar regardless of his background. (481 Words) Corruption in the Church By the end of the middle ages, the corruption in the Catholic Church was the most important issues faced by Christianity and the world because the priests and the member of the clergy became so evident in corruption in the church and started justifying this immoral and detrimental practice. The members of clergy and the priests were illiterate and had a very little knowledge about the performing and execution of religious services. The moral conduct of the priest and nuns was falling down very rapidly with reported incidents of sexual relationships between nuns and priests despite vowing chastity. The issue was aggravated by the actions of some of the popes including innocent VIII and Alexander VI who had children. The overall moral condition of the religious body was deteriorating with many abbots and bishops going against the religious norms and values and leading lives of luxury. The role of clergy and their way of living was totally forgotten by the Catholic Church and the corruption and collection of money in the name of God became so common and frequent that the clergy started living in palaces with ornaments and expensive stones. The Church money was never spent for the welfare of the people and the church started treating people as if they were its subjects who were only there to bear the orders and act according to what is told to them. The Church started devising more and more ways of doing corruption and collecting money from the people in the name of God for their own luxury and leisure. The people were told that their sins will be forgiven if they visited holy shrines and relics and the Church started charging the pilgrims of these shrines with money. There are numerous examples in which money was generated illegally by the depiction of these holy relics. In some of the cases the people from the Church also sold some of the relics for large amounts of money and gold which went to their own pockets. In one of the example, a prince of northern Germany, Frederick I had a collection of more than thirteen thousand relics and he earned a lot of money by selling these relics. No criteria were defined for the sale of the relics and sometimes those were even sold to non-Christian people only because they were paying large sums of money. The Church in spite of focusing on the welfare of common people and the followers of Church continued to devise more ways of snatching money from the common people. Another interesting way devised by the clergy for carrying out their corrupt practices was the sale of indulgences about which it was told by the clergy that buying these indulgences can evade the previous sins of the person. One particular indulgence could only remove a limited number of sins; this made the people to buy large amounts of indulgences. The effect of corruption was very bad and the Church lost its credibility and distrust was established in the common man about the Church. (507 words) Impact of Martin Luther Martin Luther was a German priest who is known for his efforts in initiating the Protestant Reformation. He was condemned and disregarded by the Church and the Holy Roman Emperor because he was the first person to raise a voice against the prevalent corruption in the Catholic Church. He refused to admit the prevalent practices of buying pardon from the sins with money and initiated a debate against this concept. He presented a Ninety-Five point Thesis in which he discouraged these practices and gave reasons to abolish the acts of indulgences. Martin Luther debated on the superiority of the pope and the clergy and did not stop from preaching and spreading his teachings. He repeatedly maintained that the pope and the clergy has no role to play in a man’s relationship to the God and the Biblical teachings, not the popes orders will be deemed as guidelines for the leading a successful and peaceful life. Martin Luther started translating Bible into other languages as well and this facilitated the common man to read and acquire knowledge from the bible for which the people were totally dependent on pope and the clergy. This created a feeling of independence among common people who were no more dependent on anyone for acquiring faith and practicing religion. Martin Luther repeatedly suggested and persuaded people towards his theology according to which God is the only one to grant forgiveness and exercise authority on the people and He will decide who to forgive, when to forgive and how to grant forgiveness. He totally rejected the concept of indulgences and openly commented that the clergy and the Church have devised this as a way of collecting money from the members from themselves. Luther’s books explain the settings of the epistles and show the conformity of the books of the Bible to each other. Martin Luther’s teachings were not confined to Christianity but he also commented on Judaism and Islam on several occasions and presented his own theories sand perceptions towards these two faiths. He believed that the Muslims (Turks) were sent to fight against the Christians and are sent as a punishment of the crimes committed by the Christians. The beliefs of Martin Luther about Jews were also based on hatred and he openly encouraged the killing of Jews and considered them a threat to Christianity and the supremacy of God’s will. According to the theology presented by Martin Luther, the amount of faith necessary for salvation is too small to result in good works. He argued that the only way of committing good deeds and carrying out good acts in this world is by saving faith and if there are no good deeds in a community or society, that means faith is missing from that society. The end result is the division of believers with strong faith and weak faith. The believers with strong faith are supposed to impose rules and laws on believers with weak faith however it is the duty of the believers having strong faith that they have to increase the level of faith in believers who have weak faith. To Luther the Church was no longer the institution defined by the apostolic succession; instead it was the community of those who had been given faint. The only way of achieving salvation according to Martin Luther was through faith. Faith was not associated with the Church’s teachings and every man can establish a direct link with the God, and this is a much better way of acquiring faith, logically and spiritually. He translated the bible into German which provided the German population with the opportunity to improve their faith and know the exact facts about faith according to Bible and God and not according to the teachings of the Church. Luther was a prolific hymn writer and connected high art and folk music and declared it equally acceptable for all the classes including clergy, men, women and children etc. Luther actually revived the Christian faith and destroyed the authority and hold of the Church in the masses as well as in governments. (679 words) Influence of Protestantism of Europe The Christian faith exists in the form of three major divisions and Protestantism is one of the three major divisions of Christianity, Catholicism and Orthodoxy being the other two. The origin of Protestantism is based on the movements against the dominance of the Catholic Church during the middle ages and the prevalent corruption in the Catholic clergy and the Church. The teachings of Martin Luther played a pivotal role in the establishment of Protestantism because he refused to accept the concept of buying forgiveness from since which was practiced under the Catholic Church. Martin Luther changed the religious make up of Europe forever. He took the advantage of the rapidly increasing discontent towards the Catholic Church and created a scenario which triggered the European Reformation. The teachings of Martin Luther initiated protests against the Roman Catholic Church and a Protestant Reformation was formed in whole of Europe. The Protestant Reformation was felt across whole of the Western Europe but the impact was most remarkable in the Northern areas and it is evident from the present demographic statistics that the southern regions remained the followers of the Roman Catholic Church. These regions include Italy, Spain and Portugal, and these countries still have a majority of population as Catholics. On the other hand Scandinavian kingdoms which include Denmark, Sweden and Norway accepted the theology presented by Martin Luther and the people started practicing the Protestant Reformation as presented by Martin Luther and their religion is still close to Lutheranism. There are some countries in which Lutheranism and Protestant Reformation was adopted in the modified form for example the French preacher named Calvin modified the theology present by Martin Luther to give rise to a new branch of Protestant Reformation known as Calvinism. According to the teachings of Calvin, the destiny of human beings to go to hell or heaven is decided on their birth and he cannot do anything to change his destiny. This branch of Lutheranism is practiced in France, Netherlands, Switzerland and France. In England Protestantism was adopted which resulted in the origin of Church of England. The overall effect of Protestantism was very remarkable in Europe and more than half of the European population converted to Protestantism from Roman Catholic in the original Lutheranism form or modified it according to the teachings of local scholars and clergy. Many European countries adopted Protestantism as their official religion. (403 words) Changes in the Catholic Church The Roman Catholic Church was the greatest power in Europe prior to 1500. With almost all the lands owned by the Church and heavy taxes enforced on the followers resulted in the decrease in popularity of the Church. The pope exercised ultimate authority and was more concerned about the monetary affairs of the Church than the spiritual affairs. In such a scenario the corruption of the Church was very evident. As a result Martin Luther came up with a new theology in which the Church and the pope had no role in gaining faith from the God and he repeatedly maintained that all human beings can form a direct relation with the God and acquire faith. This theology gained a lot of popularity in many countries of Europe and the pope and the Roman Catholic Church’s clergy took a notice of these developments in the religious scenario of Europe. The Catholic Counter Reformation was the church’s response to the events of the Protestant Reformation. When thousands of people started converting towards Protestantism the Church decided to bring about reforms in the Church, firstly from within. Many individual scholars and priests were also involved in the reformation of the Catholic Church; one of them was Ignatius Loyola. He tried to combine the concepts of Humanism and Catholic Church and by incorporating humanism in this modified form of Catholicism; he expected that his suggested theology will gain support in the political and economic groups. By the year 1540 it was very evident on the people that the reformation of the Roman Catholic Church was in response to the Protestant Reformation. The crux of the reform could have been to destroy the hierarchical dominance of the Church under the pope however the reformers of the Catholic Church decided the other way round and maintained an aggressive attitude towards the Protestants. The regions in which the Catholics were in power they captured and killed the Protestants. The Catholic reformers under the renaissance started reforming the Catholic Church and the first step they took was to educate people about the new Catholic theologies and beliefs. New schools and universities were built throughout Europe and the architecture of the Churches was also changed and was based on the renaissance art and architecture in which pictures and sculptures of angels ascending the sky. The council of Trent met in 1545 to redefine the duties of the Church. The Church still remained powerful with all the final decisions of Bible resting with it. The Catholics initiated Counter Reformation against the Protestants and used repressive measures to do so. The books were censored and the Protestant ideas were not allowed to reach the people. Moreover the Catholic Church did not stop to grow and change, the change was continuous and ultimately resulted in the modern Catholic Religion that we now have. (472 words) Works Cited Kung, Hans, and John Bowden. The Catholic Church. N.p.: Random House Publishing Group, 2003. Print. Kurtz, Paul. What is Secular Humanism? N.p.: Prometheus Books, 2007. Print. Moran, James. Printing Press: History and Development from the Fifteenth Century to Modern Times. N.p.: University of California Press, 1973. Print. Winrod, Gerald. Martin Luther and the Reformation. N.p.: Kessinger Publishing, 2010. Print. Read More