GOD IS A HUMANIST John M. Buchanan

Micah 6:6-3, Romans 13:8-10 Broad Street Presbyterian Church
Philippians 4:8-9
September 27, 1981 Columbus, Ohio

A television sequence I shall never forget came in thd middle of the series
on The Holocatist. The SiS, Officet,deeply involved in the administration df the
extermination camps was home for Christmas Eve, enjoying the spirit of the holiday,
singing Christmas carols with his family. The fundamental Christian heresy, it, has
been proposed, is the suggestion that God doesn't care much about the human race:
that it is not only appropriate but proper to keep one's relationship with the
Almighty separate from one's relationship with other members of the human race.

It's the old Greek idea, of course: the suspicion that the tangible, created
order, including human beings, is tainted, evil, tempting, sinful, and that the
function of religion is to remove one from all of that, Thus there has always been
a fatal tendency, inherent in Christianity to love God in the safe abstraction of
piety, and cheerfully ignore the rest of the human race,

Listen, therefore to several scripture teadings which suggest that humanity
is God's mdjor-:concern...that human welfare is His priority, not theological ortho-
doxy - Let us listen for God's word to us -

What shall I brihg to the tiord, the God of heaveh; when f come to
worship him? Shall I britig the best calves tt bith as offerings to
him? Will the Lord be pleased if I bring him thousands of sheep or
endless streams of olive oil? Shall I offer him my first-born child
to pay for my sins? No the Lord has told us what is good, What he
requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and
to live in humble fellowship with our God. (Micah 6:6-8).

Be under obligation to no one - the only obligation you have is to
love one another. Whoever does this has obeyed the law. The command~-
ments, "Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal;
do not desire what belongs to Gomeone alee; all these, and any others
besides, are summed up in the one command, "Love your neighbor as you
love yourself." If you love someone, you will never do him wrong; to
love, then, is to obey the whole Law. (Romans 13:8-10).
The final reading is from St. Paul's letter to the Christian Church in Philippi,
written from prison, around the year 50 A.D. No one ever accused Paul of being
a secular hurt~ist, but these several verses reveal a point of view which is highly
suggestive.
In conclusion, my brothers, fill your minds with those things that
are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right,
pure, lovely, and honorable. Put into practi.:e what you learned and
received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And the
God who gives us peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9).

What the scholars think is behind this extraordinary little paragraph is a
question regarding the appropriate relationship between Christians and their
Philippian neighbors, Philippi was a thoroughly Roman city. In that environment,
under the stress of minority status, ridicule, discrimination and eventually per-
secution, the young Christian churches tended to take a very dim view of the pagan
culture all around them. They weren't paranoid. They were authentically perse-
cuted. As a result an understandable, but arrogant provincialism was emerging in
their midst, a siege mentality. Anything Greek or Roman was wrong. To be a
follower of Jesus was to cut oneself off from the customs, entertainments, arts,
foods, even the values of that Greaco/Roman culture.

—

At the end of his letter to them Paul incorporated this unusual admonition:
"Pill your minds with those things that are good." And then he used a series of
words, most of which appear nowhere else in the Bible: true, noble, right, pure,
lovely, honorable, and excellent. Those are not Judeo-Christian terms. The words,
and the virtues they represent, are quoted directly from Greek Moral Philosophy.
They were lifted verbatim from the religion of Rome and the ethical values the
culture embraced. Paul, that is to say, is calling those Christian people away from
their understandable isolation to a posture within the human race. Their calling
was not to withdraw from the world: physically or intellectually. Their task,
rather, was the far more difficult one of being disciples while ilving thorotighly
in the world. "These human values," he is saying, "are important regardless of
your theological orthodoxy. These are basic human values: they are God's will too.
Make common cause with them and those who advocate them. George Bernard Shaw, in a
letter to Leo Tolstoi asked, "Suppose the world were only one of God's jokes, would
you work any less to make it a good one...?"

There is a strong motif of humanity and humanism in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is there from the Old Testament beginning. But it is fragile and keeps slipping
away when Christian people begin to feel uncomfortable with the particular environ-
ment in which they are living. That is what was happening in Philippi. Union Semi-
nary Professor Roger Shinn, in an article on the current religious situation, ob-
serves: "In times of insecurity, the shaking of old certainties and unanswerable
questions, people yearn for simple answers, for visible enemies, for assurances that
they are right." (A.D., 8/81).

We seem to be fully in the midst of such a time. The most dramatically mus-
cular variety of religion today fits that description to a "I". Simple answers,
visible enemies, assurance of rightness. David Read comments: "The possibility of
a live religion that is intelligent, human, consistent with a full participation in
contemporary culture, and yet basically orthodox, is dismissed out of hand." (The
Faith Is Still There, p.57).

Instead, we are witnessing the emergence of reactionary religion from far-
right obscurity to a position of unprecedented influence and power. The Moral
Majority is a very large and very powerful organization. It represents a way of
thinking that corresponds with Roger Shinn's analysis. It is absolutely certain
of the truth and rightness of its agenda for the nation, its answers are simple,
evoking nostalgia for the past and ignoring contemporary realities and it knows who
the visible enemy is. The culprit is something called "Humanism"..."secular
humanism", That is one of the problems I have with the Moral Majority - their
overuse and misuse >f the tern humanism. Students know humanism as a school of
philosophy characterized by atheism anu concentration instead on humanity.

In fact, there is an organization of Humanists. It began with a Humanist
Manifesto in 1933 and experienced a little attention when a second Humanist Mani-
festo was drafted and signed in 1973. That document, signed by a group of dis-
tinguished scholars, writers, scientists, said things like "No diety will save us:
we must save ourselves." That is a secular statement with which we disagree. In
fact, given humanity's track record, it is a silly statement. The humanists also
said, "We believe that traditional, dogmatic, or authoritarian religions that
place revelation of God, ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a
disservice to the human species." I do not disagree with that. It's exactly what
Micah said several thousand years ago. But it makes the Moral Majority very
nervous - and it provides an easy target, and a vague enemy which can be described
as a conspiracy.

« % &

Classical Humanism is an idea born at the time of the Rennaisance with the
recovery of the art and literature of Greece and Rome. The attention of the human
race shifted to humanity at the end of the Middle Ages, Art historians point out
that the Rennaisance allowed human body and nature to become subjects of art once
again, instead of religious topi¢s only. The Rennaisance released a wave of
creative energy in the arts and letters that had been pent up for a thousand years.
Luther and Calvin were humanists, by 16th century standards. Newsweek defined
Humanism in a special essay as follows: "In Western tradition, humanism is an
attitude that recognizes the dignity of man and the importance of culture to his
full development. It emphasizes, as T.S,Eliot put it, the superiority of breadth,
tolerance, and sanity, over narrowness, bigotry and fanaticism." (Op.city. p.45).

What Mr. Falwell means when he says "Secular humanism has become the religion
of America" is that there are people who don't agree with his particular political
agenda, or his vision for America. A secular humanist, according to Mr. Falwell,
is one who advocates one or more of the following: ERA, Freedom of Choice for
Abortion, Arms Limitation, Gun Control, Federal Responsibility in Voting Rights,
Nutrition, Education and Environment.

Tim LaHaye, head of a Radio Network and who has Bunker Hunt money to spend,
declares that "America is controlled by 375,000 humanists." In a book he wrote on
the humanist conspiracy LaHaye criticizes Thomas Acquinas for using pagan Aris-
totelian logic as his theological base, and Michaelangelo for sculpting a nude David.
LaHaye comments: "Rennaigance obsession with nude ‘art forms' was the forerunner of
the modern humanists demand for pornograph in the name of freedom." (p.50).

The battleground today, more often than not, is the School Board meeting, or
the Library Governing Committee. Advocates of the Moral Majority position have
succeeded in intimidating public officials so that several states now include the
Genesis I account of Creation as science in school curriculum, and in many schools
and public libraries, have managed to remove from the shelves literature which they
find offensive such as J.D.Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, and works by John Stein-
beck, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley.

Only recently have prominent educators, politicians and church leaders under-
stood what is happening and begun to respond. Barry Goldwater, not exactly a
flaming liberal, with typical candor, had a bit to say about the religious right's
tactics during Justice O'Connor's Senate confirmation hearings. And Yale President
A. Bartlett Giamatti welcomed this year's Freshmen with an address which accused
the Moral Majority in no uncertain terms of assaulting the dearest values of
Western civilization, freedom of inquiry and expression.

I happen to believe that one can start with the Bible and end up supporting
all the causes Mr. Falwell finds distasteful. I happen to believe that one can
start with scripture and end up with a very different set of political goals. I
do not believe God is a Republican, or a Democrat. I do not believe He favors
supply side economics or the ideas of John Maynard Keynes. I do not believe we are
well served by the absolutism which claims absolute right, “ivine inspiration in
support of or in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. In fact, I believe the
Judeo Christian tradition is a value system in which people of differing political
positions can debate with one another in pursuit of a truth much bigger than either
of them. The victim in the overheated atmosohere today is the humanism and humanity
and respect for others which is part of the tradition from the very beginning. God
doesn't dictate the way the poor are to be cared for. But He most certainly has :
said that a nation better do it; and that He is most intensely concerned about

justice, fairness compassion.

It is simply impossible to read much of the Old Testament without realizing
that the God described on its pages is profoundly interested in the human situa-
tion. You simply can't read very far without sensing that this God is interested in
human hysiene, diet, and health, that beauty in nature is His creation, and human
beauty as well. "O lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth." From
beginning to end the God of the Old Testament cares about how people are getting
along: politically, economically, sexually. Nothing human escapes His attention: the
weights on the scales in the market place, the price of grain, the rules for the
sale of cattle. The God of Old Testament is deeply and profoundly involved in the
human situation.

The humanism of Jesus is evident in the Gospels. He cared about people in
their wholeness. He cared about their physical distress, their hunger, their fevers
and labor pains. He dealt with bodies, not just spirits. He wept and laughed and
loved and drank wine and lived a human life. The humanism of our religion is its
priceless legacy. It has been the creative energy behind our best efforts: Bach,
DaVince, Dante, Milton, Michaelangelo, Bernstein, Picasso, Casals. It has borne the
human values which are the glory of our civilization: freedom, tolerance, civility,
duty, integrity. Those values are gifts of God to be applauded and preserved and
celebrated wherever they exist.

You don't have to water down Christian orthodoxy to embrace humanism. The
salvation Christianity proclaims is not an escape from the human situation, but a
way of Living humanly.Salvation has to do with eternity, but, it also has to do with
living more, loving more, caring more, hurting more, being more human now. To be
saved is not to turn away from one's own humanity, but to accept it, to rejoice in
it...to affirm one's place in the created, human order. The humanism of God is its
very bedrock. Hans Kung said it memorably:"The human face of God." We will remem-
ber 3 months from now, but our faith starts with the word becoming human. Incarna-
tion begins, not in a splendid, ornate temple ritual, but in that most human phen-
omena...conception, gestation, labor, birth. Jesus Christ - God incarnate, was a
little child once, and had parents and brothers and sisters and friends and played
games and ran races and skinned his knees and even had passionate, unreasonable,
little boy arguments with his chums. Jesus of Nazareth was human, and loved people
and wedding parties and quiet walks beside the sea and chaotic, pushing crowds on hot
summer afternoons and hard work and good bread shared at night with special col-
leagues. The redemptive event for us, is not a sterile transaction of the spirit,
but a public execution on the city garbage dump. Resurrection is not a private
vision of eternity, but the encounter on the road at the end of the day with a
strong and capable friend.

‘The salvation brought by Christ" David H.S. Read writes, "means much more
than an escape from hell...and a promise of heaven. It has to do with the discov-
ery here on this earth of ail that reflects the goodness, truth and beauty of the
God who made us." (Op.cit. p.69). Of course, we do not agree with the secular
humanism that sees no transcendence, no truth but human reason, no morality beyond
expediency. Of course we do not agree with the pessimism and cynicism which result
when your God is dead. Of course we deplore the degradation of humanity in por-
nography, and the materialism which turns children of God in worshippers of the
Golden Calf. Equally ‘gmeaning, howevar, is the suggestion that we were created for

a oem

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anything other than this like life together, on the earth, human life. It is not
a footnote to the Gospel.

The best of all news is that God is a humanist: that He cares about us and
that nothing about us or our situation is outside His concern and love and mercy.
It's important to remember that. His will is more humanity, not less. He intends
for us to love our humanness: to delight in our humanity; to celebrate the beauty
and love and kindness we are capable of producing, to rejoice in the image He has
created in us. What a shame to miss that - that humanism of God‘

Amen.

Dear God, we are grateful for our humanness. The years teach us the value
of life, the importance of love and kindness. For that we give you thanks. And
for Your son, our Lord, who showed us how to live in love with one another and in
peace with You, we are grateful. For truth and beauty - nobleness ~ honesty -
duty - for all Your gifts we give thanks. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.