A different opinion of secular humanism

A different opinion of secular humanism

I REFER to the the edited excerpt from Professor Thio Li-ann's speech on Wednesday, 'No 'bright line' between religion and politics'.

Prof Thio's statement that secular humanism 'dogmatically asserts the absence of God, without any empirical evidence' is incorrect. Secular humanists assert neither the absence or presence of God. Rather, their starting position is that, as the assertion of God is a positive one, the burden is on those who make that assertion to provide evidence to support their claim. In the absence of satisfactory evidence, the secular humanist view is that it is logical and reasonable to assume that God does not exist.

Individuals (whether religious or not) should have the right to express their views on issues in the public space. The question is whether arguments which are based on religious convictions can have any value if their claims cannot be justified on other grounds.

Tan Teck Howe

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