Purpose of Life

On moral and social issues there has been slow but steady progress, and humanist and humanitarian values are the basis of this progress, not religious values, which have often been reactionary and intolerant. We have widened the circle of our moral concern, and we care more about other races and peoples, women, children, and the disabled, than we did centuries ago. Slavery and the exploitation of children are widely condemned. We no longer burn witches at the stake or torture heretics to death. We are more tolerant of different ways of life, and we are less confident than our ancestors were of our right to colonise, convert or civilise those of other cultures. Democracy is generally accepted as the best system of government and there is general assent to the concept of human rights, even if they are not universally enforced. We are more sensitive to cruelty to animals and have learnt to value bio-diversity and the environment, though we still have to learn to make the sacrifices needed to safeguard them. Free-thinkers, who have had much to gain from this progress, have usually been in the forefront, with the churches and other religions often trailing behind, holding on to traditional ideas and ways of life.