"The Good Book"

This is a new publication written by A.C. Grayling, UK philosopher.

The Good Book: The Humanist Bible

My understanding of humanism is that everyone is free to be human and to make up their own values and to change those values at will. They often brag about not needing anyone or any institution that will tell them what to think. The younger humanists sneer at people who believe in God and refer to their object of worship as the Flying Spaghetti Monster or other pejoratives like "space fairies".

Introducing a book to "tell other people what to think" roundly violates this philosophy.

Of course, Grayling is telling the rest of the world what humanists believe, not ordering humanists to think or to behave in a certain way. The same is true of the Bible; it isn't telling you what to think. It's putting forth its worldview and either you agree or disagree, the same as Grayling's "The Good Book".

The humanist church (a Unitarian-Universalist church) I attended was intensely focused on "We're too smart to need to be told [by the Bible] what to think." If they took that criticism seriously, they now have to apply the same criticism to this book as well.

That is, if they want to be consistent.