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From the Amazon.com description:
In this book, his first, American anthropologist James E
Lassiter offers an alternative to the absolute truths of the Abrahamic
religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – for understanding our place in
Nature, and how we might behave more humanely and responsibly toward each other
and the planet. He describes scientific truth, upon which secularism is
founded, in comparison to religion, as a far more apt corollary to and
explanation of the evolution of the Universe and Life itself.
Both, the practice of science and the evolution of Nature, he argues, are ever provisional, invested in objective realities and natural laws, yet undetermined and ultimately unpredictable. Both are remarkable undertakings that occasionally bring into existence fortuitous opportunities and options, some of which have been favorable for Humankind.
On a more personal level, the book offers a secular path to a more humanistic and rationally moral way of life - a morality that, the author argues, arose from our mammalian evolutionary past yet must be continually re-created in the present by each of us based on personal experience and evidence.
This book should be of interest to secularists, atheists, agnostics, believers, as well as those who are searching for a more embraceable worldview. In his chapter entitled “The Present and Future of Secular Morality” the author reviews the works of a selection of prominent contemporary thinkers who recommend various approaches to secular truth and morality as means of living well without God and religion. The works reviewed also provide guidance for establishing an emergent global morality as an ethical basis for a global civilization.
Finally, in his concluding chapter the author offers a favorable outlook for the future of Humankind. He foresees the successful emergence of a secular global morality based on pluralism, a global civilization based on transnational law and covenants; and the development of a pluralistic world organization for settling disputes, safeguarding human dignity and equality, and providing effective and sustainable human stewardship of Earth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James E Lassiter is a privately practicing cultural anthropologist who resides nearAtlanta , Georgia USA . He earned
his PhD (1983) and MS (1975) degrees in anthropology from the University of Oregon,
and his BA (1974) honors degree in anthropology and evolutionary biology from
California State University, Sacramento. James has over thirty years of
experience studying African societies and cultures, implementing humanitarian
assistance programs in Africa , and living and working on
the continent and elsewhere outside the United
States . He served as Peace Corps Volunteer
science teacher in Swaziland ,
Southern Africa from 1980-1983. James is currently
writing his second book entitled “The Bamasaaba or Bagisu of Uganda: An
Historical Ethnography.” He has also
begun a book he calls "From the Unknown Into Uncertainty: The Past,
Present and Future of Humankind."
Both, the practice of science and the evolution of Nature, he argues, are ever provisional, invested in objective realities and natural laws, yet undetermined and ultimately unpredictable. Both are remarkable undertakings that occasionally bring into existence fortuitous opportunities and options, some of which have been favorable for Humankind.
On a more personal level, the book offers a secular path to a more humanistic and rationally moral way of life - a morality that, the author argues, arose from our mammalian evolutionary past yet must be continually re-created in the present by each of us based on personal experience and evidence.
This book should be of interest to secularists, atheists, agnostics, believers, as well as those who are searching for a more embraceable worldview. In his chapter entitled “The Present and Future of Secular Morality” the author reviews the works of a selection of prominent contemporary thinkers who recommend various approaches to secular truth and morality as means of living well without God and religion. The works reviewed also provide guidance for establishing an emergent global morality as an ethical basis for a global civilization.
Finally, in his concluding chapter the author offers a favorable outlook for the future of Humankind. He foresees the successful emergence of a secular global morality based on pluralism, a global civilization based on transnational law and covenants; and the development of a pluralistic world organization for settling disputes, safeguarding human dignity and equality, and providing effective and sustainable human stewardship of Earth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James E Lassiter is a privately practicing cultural anthropologist who resides near
