Starboy

I don't see that your beliefs in god, non-religious or otherwise, would exclude you from secularism. As far as I know the only thing that would keep someone from participating in secularism would be the inability to tolerate and get along with people of other beliefs or faiths or lack thereof. In other words those that can't keep it to themselves would have a hard time in a secular society. Secularism is simply a social arrangement for people of diverse beliefs to get along.

I see your point about the Secular Web�s mission statement. A secular society would not just refrain from openly promoting religion but it would also refrain from openly promoting non-theism as well.

Starboy

DropOut

Secular Pinoy,
Again,with different terminology,how can I substantiate a statement,when I have no evidence to support the statement?

It's hard for me to answer a question until the question is posed.

Q.)Why is it important for me to maintain that all roads (eventually) lead back to the same destination?
A.)My convictions push me to that conclusion.
Q.)What are my convictions based upon?
A.)To a degree,they are based on my life-time's experiences and who I am genetically.Yes,this makes them subjective to me.
Q.)Why should anyone else accept my subjective convictions as evidence to back or substantiate a position?
A.)They shouldn't, and I'm not asking them to do so.

Do you have a specific question? If so,please understand that my answer has no scientific data to support it.Take my words on face value,and if a question arises,
ask.

2human,
I'm interested in hearing more about these "Brights".Is this an actual organization?

DropOut

Starboy,

Did I make that point? If so, it was purely coincidental.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great point to make,and I'm happy to accept credit for it.

Starboy

Oops! This line threw me off:
I assumed that you inferred this definition from the site's mission statement. I think my understanding of the term secular may be more in line with what you seem to understand it as then what appears to be implied in the mission statement.

Starboy

DropOut

Starboy,
I haven't read this site's mission statement.The quote which inspired this thread,came from the secular-lifestyle forum's guidelines.
This thread was appropriately started in that forum, with the forum's guidelines at the heart of the issue.
It was subsequently moved to "GRD" because it wasn't "much of a support issue",and the "current nature of the discussion".
I'm not sure if the moderator was referring to a perceived "religious" nature,or a somewhat combative nature,but I assume the former based on the forum we ended up in.

Regardless how the point was made,it is a valid point.
Thanks.

2human

Dropout you asked me about

2human,
I'm interested in hearing more about these "Brights".Is this an actual organization?

Well they are an Internet constituency with a lot of voluntarily activists.
Visit their site http://www.the-brights.net/

Welcome to the home page
of The Brights, an International
Internet Constituency top
A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview
A bright's worldview is free of
supernatural and mystical elements.
The ethics and actions of a bright
are based on a naturalistic worldview.


and read a kind of brief history about them here

http://www.skeptic.com/brightBrouhaha.html

The Big �Bright� Brouhaha

An Empirical Study on an Emerging Skeptical Movement

Michael Shermer

The �Brights� Are Born


At the April, 2003 conference of the Atheist Alliance International in Florida, at the behest of the organizer I spoke about this labeling problem in the context of what �we� should call ourselves: skeptics, nonbelievers, nontheists, atheists, agnostics, heretics, infidels, free thinkers, humanists, secular humanists and the like. Apparently there was some discussion amongst the organizers about whether or not I should be invited to speak because in my book, How We Believe, I defined myself as an agnostic instead of atheist, by which I mean, as Huxley originally defined the term in 1869, that the question of God�s existence is an insoluble one. I suggested, rather strongly, that dividing up the skeptical and humanist communities because of a disagreement over labels was not dissimilar to the Baptists and Anabaptists squabbling (and eventually splitting) over the appropriate time for baptism (infancy v. adulthood).


Mynga Futrell

My lecture was followed by a formal PowerPoint presentation introducing a �new meme,� by Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell, from Sacramento, California,

DropOut

2Human,
Thanks,for the info & links! They made for some interesting reading.