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Humanism is a way of life, which centres upon
human values and regards human beings as part of the natural world,
with dignity and worth achieved through the use of reason and
scientific method. Humanists therefore believe that everything
that exists is a result of natural processes, which in time, science
will be able to explain. The creation story given here is the
theory, which scientists believe best explains the facts that
we know about the origins of the universe.
This earth, our home, is a small blue-green planet, orbiting a
minor star on one arm of a galaxy called the Milky Way. A galaxy
is composed of gas, dust and many millions of stars and there
are some hundred thousand galaxies in the known Universe. Recent
observations show that clusters of galaxies are moving apart from
one another as the space between them expands and this must mean
that long ago they were closer together, It is now believed that,
at a certain time in the past, which can be calculated as roughly
15000 million years ago, all the matter and energy in the Universe
was concentrated in a mathematical point with zero volume from
which it burst out in one 'Big Bang' to create the Universe.
After the Big Bang the Universe began to cool and clouds of gas
collapsed under the pull of their own gravity to form starts.
About 4500 million years ago the Earth condensed out of the gas
and dust swirling around our star, the sun. Fossil records show
that the first signs of life appeared soon after - about 4000
million years ago. Lightning and ultra-violet light from the sun
began to break apart the simple molecules of the primitive atmosphere
and these fragments recombined to produce complex molecules, which
could eventually reproduce themselves.
So, over millions of years, different forms of life have evolved;
some species existed briefly then died out, others became extinct
after millions of years. If life on Earth appeared only, then
all living things must be descended from a common ancestor. Now,
for the first time, one species, Homo sapiens. Has the power to
destroy the world; the future of life on Earth is in out hands.
Since human beings are the only creatures
with the knowledge and understanding to be responsible for their
actions. Humanists believe that we should use our knowledge for
the benefit of every lining creature on our planet. Care for the
environment is crucial because, in our ignorance, we could destroy
the delicate balance, which has resulted from the process of evolution.
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