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Ethical Implications of Public Policy
Brief commentary on public policy issues from the perspective of a Humanist who derives an ethical standard from the teachings of Jesus--integrity, human dignity, compassion, freedom and commitment to the common good. click here. Services to Gay Teens Senator Portman Changes His Tune Making Schools Unsafe for Kids Sequestration and Social Security Christians v. Republicans Rebranding the Catholic Church Making Democracy Work Islamic Destruction of Culture The Lesson of Newtown Click here. Essays and ArticlesClick on essay title to open it
Humanist Perspectives on the Abortion Debate The Sad Strange Story of Samuel Patronus Celibacy is the Church’s Problem Torture and Ethics: Defusing the Ticking Time Bomb Planned Parenthood is the Wrong Target Be Afraid—The Imminent Danger of Socialism Homophobic Christians Attack Lutheran Ministers Private Religion and Public Life: Do Obama’s Religious Views Matter Anti-abortion Terrorists and the Absurdity of the Roeder Argument On Good Friday The Church Crucifies Itself! The Privilege of Paying Taxes Forgiveness For Priests And Other Child Molesters? Is the United States a Christian Nation? Since When? Tax Day—Renewing The Case For Fairness The Unbelievers: Ministers Who Conclude There Is No God Liberal Disenchantment With Israel's Policies The Enigma of the Tea Party Conflict of Values: Patriot, Traitor or Scoundrel? The National Day of Prayer – A Day of Political Posturing |
Christianity Without GodIntroduction
Belief in a god has become difficult for people today but many of these same people also find it difficult to walk away from Christianity. So we ask ourselves whether it is possible to be a Christian without believing in god, and the answer I came to for myself is that being a non-theistic Christian is not only possible, it is necessary for those of us who find the life and teachings of Jesus attractive and compelling as a guide for life but who have difficulty with the concept of god as understood in traditional Christian theology. The various articles on this website—and in my book The Possibility of Christian Humanism—make the case for a form of Christianity that does not involve a belief in god, a non-theistic non-religious form of Christianity that we call Christian Humanism. Religionless Christianity “Put another way, once we have worked our way through the mythological and theological baggage that has accumulated through the ages, we are left with a fundamentally important truth—those who had met this itinerant teacher and who heard his teaching were sufficiently captivated by his personality and engaged by his message that they were compelled to take up the cause for which he had been killed and to continue his teaching….” Read more > Confession of a 21st Century Christian “…. When we have questions about our physical world we rely on the principles of science for what we can know and how we know it, whether the subject is matter, forces, energy or the universe. Whatever we mean by the “truth” of the creation story, we accept the premise that it is not intended to be a process description of an event in time….” Read more > Diary of a Religious Pilgrim “….The object of this struggle, so far as I was concerned at least, was to figure out what was essential in Christian faith and what was not, and to see if the pieces I was left with at the end of this phase of the struggle for faith were enough to feel comfortable that I was still within the boundaries of what could reasonably be called Christian faith….” Read more > Frustration and Disillusionment “I believed fervently that Christianity would become increasingly irrelevant to many in our world unless we found a way to communicate what was essential in it and learned to separate out that essential core truth of Christianity from the mythical trappings in which it was entangled and the historical baggage that it carried from earlier times ….” Read more > The Peculiar Character of Religious Language “….The languages of myth and poetry are similar in their structure and function. When we say of a story that it is a myth, at least as the term is used in history and theology, it does not mean that the story is not in some sense true but rather that the truth of myth is not literal….” Read more > The Death of God “….At its most basic level ‘god is dead’ means that we as modern persons live in a secular rather than a religious world, the teachings of the Church no longer have the power to convince or persuade us, we have lost interest in religious ideas, or we no longer feel the need to use ‘god’ as an explanation for what we do not know or understand….” Read more > The Futility of Arguing our Way to God “….You cannot prove God. You cannot conclude God at the end of a syllogism. You cannot argue your way to God. There is no verification principle to substantiate that the term "god" has a referent. With a few rare exceptions, theologians and philosophers agree on these observations….” Read more > Christian Humanism is a Viable Option “….To put this another way and to continue the thesis argued earlier, what is valid and important in Christianity needs to be reinterpreted and translated into the language and conceptual forms of our generation or it will not make any sense to us and we will have lost what is vital, valid and important about Christian faith that is relevant for our world and in our time….” Read more > Jesus -- The Place to Begin “….To say that ‘god was in Christ’ means that in Jesus we see the realization of authentic humanity, the model as it were toward which we are to strive, the highest and best that we know, the actuality of authentic human life that demonstrates our possibility….” Read more > A Basis for Christian Ethics “….When we refer to Christian ethics we mean the core values that have been extrapolated from the life and teachings of Jesus that form the foundation of the moral life of the Christian and that provide guidelines for his behavior and decision-making and a basis for self-examination and judgment. The claim to be a Christian implies an invitation to others to evaluate the behavior, the value commitments and the personal conduct of those who define themselves as Christians….” Read more > The Kingdom of God and the Duty of Man “….From the collected sayings we get a pretty good picture of the sort of world Jesus envisioned, the type of behavior he championed to bring about a better world, and what he expected of those who claimed to be his followers….” Read more > |
Arthur G Broadhurst
The writer/editor of Christian Humanism is the Reverend Arthur G Broadhurst, Vero Beach, Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and Colgate Rochester Divinity School, with degrees in ancient history and languages and the philosophy of religion. He is a minister of the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association and has taught at college preparatory schools and at public and private colleges. He retired in 2001 as CEO of School, College and University Underwriters, Ltd., a Bermuda reinsurance company owned by major universities. In retirement, writing and grandchildren are his passions.
We have published a collection of folk tales and legends from the bible. These stories have influenced our literature, our art, our drama, our music, our traditions, our politics, our sense of values and our culture. Familiarity with these stories is important for children and adults not because they are literally true but because they are important culturally to those of us who are the inheritors and beneficiaries of the Judeo-Christian religious tradition.
Humanist societies as well as some of the more liberal Christian churches may find these a good resource for discussion. The stories have been rewritten for accuracy and comments have been added at the end to put each story in cultural context and clarify references that may not be clear. Warning—as in other myths and legends of the ancient world, there is violence, rape, incest and murder in these stories. The target audience is high school and adults. For a link to this book, and other books by the author, click <here>. For more about the book click <here>. To obtain an E-book version on Amazon, click <here>. To see samples of the stories, click <here> or go to the link at the top of this page. 
The Possibility of Christian Humanism argues for a form of Christianity that does not depend on god. Christian Humanism is religionless Christianity that begins and ends with the teachings of Jesus as a guide to ethical behavior. It is available from the publisher in both paperback and in Ebook format. Click <here> to obtain a copy.
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