10 Humanist Commandments

11/23/09

Every once in a while a Humanist somewhere gets the great idea of compiling a set of Humanist commandments to replace the famous 10 commandments in the Bible.  The latest version is by Dr. Rodrique Tremblay who has a new book coming out, The Code for Global Ethics: Ten Humanist Principles. The book is by Prometheus Press and is available at Amazon.com.  

I applaud his effort and like the principles he has chosen for a Humanist code.  I think the problem that we all run into as Humanists is extreme wordiness.  We use way to many words.  The biblical commandments are all catchy.  Thou shall not kill.  And thou shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.  Dr. Tremblay’s version is ‘Respect the life and property of others at all times.’  It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Anyway – I thought I might try to simplify his version so that perhaps we can make a catchier version that might just actually have a chance of catching on beyond the geeky readers that make up the current Humanist movement.