Lavanam
I attended a lecture by Indian atheist, Lavanam, at Harvard University yesterday. Lavanam's view of the world from his lifelong experience as atheist and educator in India seemed quite sympathetic to my own. I found this very encouraging.
Lavanam stressed the current process of dehumanization of institutions in capitalist societies through the utilization of technology to increase profits by eliminating the high costs of human beings as employees and laborers. He sees capitalism as becoming centered on profits, not people. This is no big news to anyone in the U.S.. After all, we have an economic crisis here with nearly 10% unemployment, while the capitalists on Wall Street get richer and richer by the week, buoyed up by public funds to bail them out of their excesses.
Lavanam sees his atheism as I see my humanism. That is, a refocusing of priorities on the quality of the human condition itself. While those in power are focused on trade and GDPs, those of us in humanist organizations are focused on universal human rights and universal justice. Those human rights, as I see them, are the right to free speech and expression, the right to human equality under law, the right to basic nutrition, the right to safe shelter, the right to health care, the right to ongoing public education.
Free-market capitalists, who are currently seeking the control of world politics with money, see many of these human rights as privileges. They see wealth as the key to buying human rights and justice. They are comfortable with a world of elites and impoverished masses. They always have been. And, they look to established religion to bless their world view in exchange for financial support of ministers, priests, imams and rabbis.
The current humanist, or progressive atheist, movement is a chance to refocus the energy and intelligence of brilliant, young minds in colleges and universities. I also agree with Lavanam in this. Perhaps the great movement of the next generations will be a move to humanist values in business and government worldwide. This could be the salvation of the human species and the planet itself.
Lavanam stressed the current process of dehumanization of institutions in capitalist societies through the utilization of technology to increase profits by eliminating the high costs of human beings as employees and laborers. He sees capitalism as becoming centered on profits, not people. This is no big news to anyone in the U.S.. After all, we have an economic crisis here with nearly 10% unemployment, while the capitalists on Wall Street get richer and richer by the week, buoyed up by public funds to bail them out of their excesses.Lavanam sees his atheism as I see my humanism. That is, a refocusing of priorities on the quality of the human condition itself. While those in power are focused on trade and GDPs, those of us in humanist organizations are focused on universal human rights and universal justice. Those human rights, as I see them, are the right to free speech and expression, the right to human equality under law, the right to basic nutrition, the right to safe shelter, the right to health care, the right to ongoing public education.
Free-market capitalists, who are currently seeking the control of world politics with money, see many of these human rights as privileges. They see wealth as the key to buying human rights and justice. They are comfortable with a world of elites and impoverished masses. They always have been. And, they look to established religion to bless their world view in exchange for financial support of ministers, priests, imams and rabbis.
The current humanist, or progressive atheist, movement is a chance to refocus the energy and intelligence of brilliant, young minds in colleges and universities. I also agree with Lavanam in this. Perhaps the great movement of the next generations will be a move to humanist values in business and government worldwide. This could be the salvation of the human species and the planet itself.
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