Our humanist community should be thinking more about demonstrating the fundamental truth that goodness requires neither God nor the belief in God by organizing together as a community to do good. Less money spent on billboards that just make us feel good about ourselves and more on soup kitchens and organized visits to the sick and dying.
Interpretation
Goodness can exist independent of religious beliefs, and communities should focus on altruistic actions rather than self-congratulatory displays.
This quote by Rebecca Goldstein emphasizes the notion that moral goodness does not necessitate the presence of God or religious faith. Instead, she advocates for humanist communities to actively engage in practical acts of kindness, such as supporting those in need, rather than solely investing in promotional efforts that serve to bolster their own egos. The call to action highlights that true goodness is found in collective efforts to aid others, embodying the principles of empathy and solidarity.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a community service event to inspire participants.
Math . . . music .. . starry nights . . . These are secular ways of achieving transcendence, of feeling lifted into a grand perspective. It's a sense of being awed by existence that almost obliterates the self. Religious people think of it as an essentially religious experience but it's not. It's an essentially human experience.
In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do.
April 27. Incapable of living with people, of speaking. Complete immersion in myself, thinking of myself. Apathetic, witless, fearful. I have nothing to say to anyone - never.
The prevalent fear of poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral disease from which our civilization suffers.
A world in which there are monsters, and ghosts, and things that want to steal your heart is a world in which there are angels, and dreams and a world in which there is hope.
Oh, am I a feminist? I usually say that I was an accidental feminist. Really, I was just being me.
Give obedience where 'tis truly owed.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.