Brad Alles

My new book, Starting at the End, focuses on worldviews and their vision of the future.  Here is what Secular Humanism sees.

“Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task.” That’s how the Humanist Manifesto I ends. Written in 1933, it describes life as it should be—according to the Secular Humanist. Forty years later, in 1973, Humanist Manifesto II continued this vision of the future:

“We further urge the use of reason and compassion to produce the kind of world we want—a world in which peace, prosperity, freedom, and happiness are widely shared…commitment to all humankind is the highest commitment of which we are capable; it transcends the narrow allegiances of church, state, party, class, or race in moving toward a wider vision of human potentiality. What more daring a goal for humankind than for each person to become, in ideal as well as practice, a citizen of a world community.”

Starting at the end is essential for understanding why people are advocating their worldview. But notice that “commitment to all humankind is the highest commitment,” greater than your commitment to family, country, or God. Why? Because God doesn’t exist. And man “alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams.”

This world of humanity’s dreams would be a global government to make life a heaven on earth (since there is no afterlife—just this physical reality). Returning to the Humanist Manifesto II, the authors state that “we deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic grounds…Thus we look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal government.”

In other words, having separate countries is bad, so a “transnational” or global government is needed to form a world community. This is not an isolated idea.

Visions of world government can be traced back to the early 1910’s. For example, take the 1912 World Peace Foundation pamphlet, International Good-Will as a Substitute for Armies and Navies, by William C. Gannett. This document calls for international order based in five areas which are pursued today in the name of global government. These five areas are: 1) a world judicial system; 2) an international parliament or congress; 3) world laws; 4) a global military force; and 5) a unifying architecture to ensure global compliance and security under an international protectorate. This is why it’s no mere coincidence that today we actually have the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, United Nations treaties and resolutions, and the United Nations peacekeeping force.

In addition, through the past one hundred years, various people have weighed in with their thoughts on what this international authority should do. Recently, the World Federalist Movement, the largest global government lobbying group, advocated reform of the United Nations, development of a world tax, and the construction of a new global currency. As an example of this potential new global currency at the G8 Summit in 2009, Russian President Medvedev held up a coin that was stamped “United Future World Currency.” Even Pope Benedict XVI called for a “true world political authority” to manage the affairs of the world.

So what will create heaven on earth?  A global government.  That’s the end game of Secular Humanism, and we need to know that to understand the times today.  We need to start at the end.