Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UU Collective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-21T12:55:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/files\/2016\/01\/IMG_0467-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Breeden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Breeden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/\",\"name\":\"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-21T12:55:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-21T12:55:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#\/schema\/person\/b300adc411d9be68fce36f08dde96008\"},\"description\":\"Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/\",\"name\":\"UU Collective\",\"description\":\"Quest for meaning\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#\/schema\/person\/b300adc411d9be68fce36f08dde96008\",\"name\":\"David Breeden\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3c7770bbe5a6dbfa229ef59c1ff2cab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3c7770bbe5a6dbfa229ef59c1ff2cab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Breeden\"},\"description\":\"The Rev. Dr. David Breeden is Senior Minister at First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He became a minister after a career as a university professor, teaching creative writing and literature. He has written several books on theological topics and translates the writings of philosophers of classical antiquity. More information is available at www.wayofoneness.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.wayofoneness.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/author\/davidbreeden\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0","description":"Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0","og_description":"Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/","og_site_name":"UU Collective","article_published_time":"2016-01-21T12:55:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/files\/2016\/01\/IMG_0467-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"David Breeden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Breeden","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/","name":"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-21T12:55:42+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-21T12:55:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#\/schema\/person\/b300adc411d9be68fce36f08dde96008"},"description":"Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/","name":"UU Collective","description":"Quest for meaning","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#\/schema\/person\/b300adc411d9be68fce36f08dde96008","name":"David Breeden","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3c7770bbe5a6dbfa229ef59c1ff2cab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3c7770bbe5a6dbfa229ef59c1ff2cab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Breeden"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. David Breeden is Senior Minister at First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He became a minister after a career as a university professor, teaching creative writing and literature. He has written several books on theological topics and translates the writings of philosophers of classical antiquity. More information is available at www.wayofoneness.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wayofoneness.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/author\/davidbreeden\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4054,"date":"2016-01-21T05:55:42","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T12:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/?p=4054"},"modified":"2016-01-21T05:55:42","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T12:55:42","slug":"relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2016\/01\/relax-humanism-is-not-mack-the-knife\/","title":{"rendered":"Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I know these reactions well, because one of the oddities about my position as a minister at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis is that many people I meet know up front that I\u2019m a Humanist. Often I get asked to speak various places because<\/i> I\u2019m a Humanist, but sometimes I meet up with a hostility that surprises me. I\u2019ve even had people say out of the blue, \u201cI KNOW there\u2019s a God!\u201d To which I don\u2019t have much of a response . . . \u201cThat\u2019s nice for you\u201d? Or should I take the time to explain that Humanism isn\u2019t really much about that question?<\/p>\n

There seems to be a fear that Humanism is a corrosive force that must be contained, a genie in a lamp that must be kept bottled up at all costs. Now, sure, I know that there are those in the freethought community, especially among newly-converted atheists, who do wield reason like a sharp razor. But I\u2019m not one of those, and most Humanists aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The power of humanist ideas is that we know that we don\u2019t know a whole lot of things, and we\u2019re good with that.<\/p>\n

Admittedly I do grow weary of hearing how the Enlightenment screwed everything up. The fact that we all have the right to say what we think . . . or feel . . . is a product of the Enlightenment. So is medicine that actually works.<\/p>\n

Oh, and then there\u2019s that head\/heart thing. Sometimes I do get snippy about that. Yes, most people know that the whole body contributes to thought. Once upon a time that fact was explained by the head and heart thing; then there was much talk contrasting thoughts occurring in the amygdala and the frontal cortex. Now it appears that different thoughts have different circuits but that all of the brain is involved, all the time. And the rest of the body.<\/p>\n

OK, I understand that the head\/heart thing is about trusting subjectivity. Sure\u2014I may say \u201cto-may-to\u201d and you say \u201cto-ma-toe.\u201d But, as Radiohead reminds us, \u201cJust because you feel it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s there.\u201d Subjectivity makes for an interesting subject of discussion, but it doesn\u2019t guarantee truth claims that are true for everyone.<\/p>\n

Such a conviction doesn\u2019t make me\u2014or Humanism\u2014a corrosive force to be contained, or a straight razor to be feared. We aren\u2019t Mack the Knife out to ambush anybody\u2019s Sunday morning. We\u2019re merely part of that diversity thing . . . a good Enlightenment ideal. $\"HUU\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/huumanists.org\/local-groups<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"