Evaluation Of Secular Humanism And Its Implications For Morality

The scientific restrictions and scholastic dominance during the dark ages raised so many questions in the minds of thinkers. These questions led to a shift from a restricted pattern of thought to a liberal pattern where human beings started believing that they can solve their problems. This line of thought ushered in humanism. Humanism is an attitude or doctrine which upholds human agency and dignity in problem-solving. It also promotes existence as a mode of living over dependency on the supernatural to solve the problems of man. Morality which is a generally accepted rules or principles of right conduct in a society becomes relative in relation to humanism. This is because a considerable proportion of objectivity is accorded to morality through religion. Religion, in turn, gives a formidable consideration to the supernatural which humanism pays minute attention to. Placing these on a scale, this paper is aimed at demonstrating that humanism has done more harm than good by promoting moral relativism. Until a convincing alternative or substitute is provided to the idea of religion, it still remains the best available answer to the challenge of moral relativism. The historical, descriptive, expository, analytic and evaluative methods will be used for this research.