Humanist common sense (in the UK)

"Opinion polls and surveys show that humanist beliefs are now very widespread–that this life is the only one we know we have; that science and reason can explain the universe; that morality and meaning are human creations, not divine gifts. Although many people's world views are still fuzzy, with a range of different beliefs and values, many aspects of the humanist approach have become common sense. But there are still not many opportunities for people to encounter explicitly humanist ideas, framed as such. Messages I received from listeners to the podcast often said what a refreshing experience it had been to hear views they shared explained at length, sometimes for the first time in their lives."

— What I Believe: Humanist ideas and philosophies to live by by Andrew Copson

Atomic Whirl

A Version of the Atomic Whirl: Created by the American Atheists in 1963, this symbol represents the idea that scientific inquiry & the scientific method are the best ways to achieve human progress. Has a broken lower loop to represent that all is not known. @atheists.org

NdT on the god of the gaps and “the whole point of science”

https://www.threads.net/@ohgodidontknow/post/DDa1qncpith?xmt=AQGzn-xS57hfn3Er_7fYcnsyOPqY3BPzONCJXGLkhe9esA

The mysterious

"The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery-even if mixed with fear-that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms-it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls. Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavour to comprehend a portion, be it never so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature."

— The World As I See It by Albert Einstein
https://a.co/f80TH0k

the ultimate thanks-giving

"I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure."

When the poetic neurologist Oliver Sacks learned that he was dying, he wrote something almost unbearably beautiful about the measure of living — the ultimate thanks-giving:

https://mailchi.mp/themarginalian/oliver-sacks-gratitude

“A humanist is a person…”

A Mandate of Heaven

Hitch's main objection to dogmatic doctrinal religion:

https://www.threads.net/@travismeadors_/post/DC25vmysye3?xmt=AQGzd8Ih28KSYFYSC9z43s5YMLbLaw9HKbYLXQVOQQnNmQ