HUMANISM
A Very Short Introduction
By Stephen Law. Oxford University Press. 150 pages. £7.00
ISBN 978 0 199 553 648
As most of us are only too painfully aware, humanistic and secular ideas have come to underpin the thinking of the vast majority of people in this country, as well as shape the policies of local and central government.
Against this background it is imperative that those of us who are evangelical spend time studying these ideas, considering why they are squeezing out the last remaining vestiges of our Christian heritage and making evangelism increasingly difficult. I, for one, have long argued that the greatest threat to our nation is not Islam, it is secularism. In my experience, because secular ideas are so much the norm and taken for granted (even by Christians), we in the church are poor at spotting them and so we underestimate the militancy and proselytising tendencies of their advocates. In the light of these realities, philosopher Stephen Law has provided us with a clear, well-written and accurate assessment of humanist thinking today.
Law is a humanist and clearly anti-Christian; as such, his ideas are promoted and defended in opposition to theistic ideas, especially Judeo-Christian thinking (or as he perceives that to be). Accordingly, the book is a statement of why humanists reject belief in God and embrace atheism, suggesting that that is much more rational and where the evidence leads us.
The main thrust of the book is that humanism is often characterised as diminishing meaning in life and failing to provide an adequate basis for morality. The author goes to considerable lengths to argue that neither of these assumptions is correct. Subject matter ranges from the characteristics of humanistic thinking to arguments for and against the existence of God, to morality and meaning in a humanistic framework. Readers of the book will find that Law explains why much of our society is currently being reshaped as it is (often to our dismay and in some cases fear). For example, political correctness and much of the equality legislation introduced by the Labour government is the natural outworking of humanistic ideas becoming increasingly accepted as not only correct, but self-evident and therefore beyond challenge. For these reasons alone, the book is worth the read. In addition, the book will assist parents to understand why their children in state schools are being taught what they are.
Three concerns
While the book will prove helpful, those who source it would be wise to read it critically and perhaps alongside a work written by a thoughtful evangelical writer looking at similar issues (The Twilight of Atheism by Alister McGrath perhaps).
I shall mention three concerns about the book (many more could be identified). Firstly, although much of this book is a critique of Christianity, Law fails to take the trouble to engage with any serious defenders of Christianity. Failure to do that means that the Christianity he seeks to knock down is something of a ‘straw man’, rather than the genuine article. Any humanist philosopher who fails to engage with, say, Alvin Plantinga’s powerful defence of Christian theism has not done his job properly.
Secondly, and more astonishingly, although Law seeks to dismiss Christianity’s belief in God, nowhere does he discuss Jesus Christ. The fact that a man entered the world some 2,000 years ago (fulfilling countless prophesies), called himself ‘I am’, healed the sick, raised the dead, taught things unlike anyone else has ever taught, died and rose from the dead and appeared to numerous reliable witnesses demands a serious explanation. Any attempt to assess Christianity’s claims without recourse to Christ is wholly inadequate, to say the least.
Thirdly, Law repeatedly insists that decline in belief in God will produce a more tolerant and just society. This is a common and, to my mind, naïve assumption. Is not the existence of a holy, moral and all-seeing God a major limit on human evil, a great spur to noble action and the final reason why evil will one day be crushed and righteousness prevail? Human attempts to build societies upon atheistic foundations have — to say the least — proved themselves to be terrible failures. John Lennon invites us to imagine a world without God, heaven and hell. The truth is that we don’t have to imagine; the records of Communism and fascism speak for themselves. Our own society is reducing our need to imagine still further. In the end, the greatest problem facing the human race is human sin and evil. In underestimating these realities, humanism can never deliver on its promises.
Andrew Carter,
pastor of Therfield Chapel, near Royston, Hertfordshire
