Secular Humanism has become a deeply influential and highly successful movement. Our schools, government, mass media, courts, and even our churches have fallen under the sway of ideas that proclaim man's independence from God and assert his freedom to shape his own future. The philosophy that declares "no deity will save us; we must save ourselves" has quietly woven its way into the fabric of our daily lives.
What Is Secular Humanism? probes the origins of this dynamic movement, its momentum through history, its present impact on Western civilization, and its probable future course. With the keen perspective of a professional historian, James Hitchcock shows how Secular Humanism emerged during the Enlightenment as a full-fledged philosophical system, antagonistic toward Christianity, with a distinct program for government, human ethics, and morality. Secular humanist ideas have spread so widely and deeply, he says, that Christians often fail to recognize that these ideas now provide the dominant model for man's view of himself and his world.
James Hitchcock does not simply condemn Secular Humanism, as many do today. Rather, he argues persuasively that Secular Humanism is a betrayal of true humanism. The sickness of Western society-its intellectual exhaustion, moral decadence, social discontent, and political failures-can be traced to its dependence on a system of ideas that work against man's true identity. Hitchcock calls for Christians to lead the way in restoring true humanism-the belief that genuine human progress and fulfillment must be based on the recognition that man is dependent on God.
About the Author
James Hitchcock is well known for both his scholarship and journalism. Editor of the quarterly journal Communio, his books include The Decline and Fall of Radical Catholicism, The Recovery of the Sacred, and Catholicism and Modernity. Dr. Hitchcock is professor of history at St. Louis University.
