Humanism

I was reading "The God Argument" by A C Grayling who is the professor of Philosophy and master of London's New College of the Humanities. His latest book consists of two parts: (a) Against Religion and (b) For Humanism. I suppose many will not share his argument on the former; however, his argument on the latter touches me greatly. I would like to share the following excerpts with you...

"Cicero in his De Senectute (On Old Age) held that people should be free to think for themselves, because they possess rights; but at the same time they should be conscious that their rights define their responsibilities to others. Our ethics should be premised, he said, on the fact that all humanity is brotherhood: 'There is nothing so like anything else as we are to one another,' he wrote in On Laws; 'the whole foundation of the human community' consists in the bonds between people, which should reside in 'kindness, generosity, goodness and justice'. The possession of reason places on individuals a duty to develop themselves fully, and to treat others with respect and generosity. These ideas are the essence of humanism today."

"Ideas of a distinctively humanist stamp are however not restricted to the Western tradition. Equally ancient in their roots, they are central to Confucianism and the tradition of non-theistic ethical schools of India."

"That the human good is for human responsibility to discern and enact, without reliance upon, or invocation of, any of the many religions which claim a transcendental source of authority, and posthumous rewards or punishments for obeying or failing to obey."