1. Becoming a Neo-Christian Humanist

What should be our personal preparation for becoming a Neo-Christian Humanist? The first and fundamental step is practicing a close relationship with God (if one is a believer) and the Teacher by means of short, heartfelt prayers or chants, and by immersing ourselves as soon as possible in our great work, which is the work of the Mission, at the same time looking forward to the future tasks and creativity of the civilization.

We should start the process of immersion in the Mission by acquainting ourselves with the problems of human beings which threaten them with early death or crippling pain. To do this we must delve into compendia such as the National Directory of Non-Profit Organizations, The Giver's Guide, and the Encyclopedia of Associations (available in the United States) which provide needed information on the formal Missions present world-wide and locally. We must seek out the ones for which there is the greatest human urgency, such as famine and deadly epidemic, and we must very devoutly, studiously, and truthfully conduct an examination of conscience to find what is our level of responsibility in these disasters. Then we must decide how much to contribute to their resolution. Once several contributions are made, the formal Missions usually share the donor's name and address with others, and all of them send their publicity, so that the task of learning about areas of need is simplified. Soon, the initiated Neo-Christian Humanist attains to a state of growing awareness and happiness. It is then that he can begin either to rally those who are still in search of the Love that is quest and fulfillment, or to look for other Neo-Christian Humanists in order to form a House.

2. Neo-Christian Humanism--Determination of Untenable Pain

In the main tract which we have called "Neo-Christian Humanism--a Proposal for Our New Venture in Human Love" there is no delineation of what constitutes the unendurable suffering which it is our duty to assuage in human beings. The medical profession is not, in general, in a position to quantify pain without the input of those who suffer. Yet it is recognized by a consensus of doctors in sundry cases of illness or injury that their pain is intolerable, requiring the relief brought by narcotic or other anesthetic drugs. Likewise it is understood by those who work with famine victims that their suffering is beyond all apprehensible limits. For the pain of terminal cancer or AIDS physicians have devised a scale of ten by which patients can gauge their pain, with 1 signifying moderate pain and 10 signifying pain not to be borne. There may be other such quantifying scales for sufferers of severe neurological disorders, for an example. Unfortunately, no such scale is as yet used for some mental disorders whose suffering is unendurably severe.

There is for various kinds of painful ailments the possibility of simulating symptoms, including pain. However, the kind of pain we consider to be within the domain of our responsibility as Neo-Christian Humanists is very difficult to simulate. It is the kind and intensity of suffering that makes the victim obviously dysfunctional over significant periods of time, and often exhibits additional unmistakable earmarks.

In closing, we must say that it is our sacred behest to campaign for the scientific study of dire pain and suffering states so that their physiological and other measurable properties may be found and quantified, enabling us to help those who live them. The importance of this behest cannot be overemphasized.

3. Neo-Christian Humanism and Poverty
by Helen Novak

Neo-Christian Humanism holds saving lives and relieving dire pain as a hallowed duty which humans may not shirk. To the extent dearth of means is a cause of death or inhuman suffering, it is to be dealt with by the Neo-Christian Humanist Mission using the most effective, efficient, prudent and frugal expedients necessary. Thus providing sufficient food and potable water falls within the province of Mission action. The same may be true of sanitation or reinforcing of shelter in areas where deadly contagious disease or lethal exposure to the elements is a problem. However, there is a broad range in which scarcity of possessions is present but is not a life-and-death issue. People living in this range of poverty may still wish to increase their estate, and arbitrary giving to them is still a possibility for the affluent. Fortunately, there have been some developments in the area of empowering able-bodied people to create money-making enterprises for themselves and their families using a minimum of financial backing. One such development is microlending, or borrowing without collateral which is underwritten initially by small amounts from patrons and later becomes self-sufficient (viz. the Grameen Banks). Another kind of financial empowerment is gratuitous training of the poor to develop their resources into profitable enterprise (viz. TechnoServe). In the present climate of inquiry and innovation to find economic solutions for poverty it is likely that other such stratagems will be found so that people who wish to improve their standard of living to a level chosen by themselves can have a chance to do so. It must be stressed, however, that there are many advantages to living simply, which have to do with spiritual and social questions as they apply to the ultimate meaning of life.

4. Neo-Christian Humanism and Directing Societal Evolution

One of the global consequences of Neo-Christian Humanism as a creed is the consciously directed evolution of societies. Such directive evolution is the necessary result of the Two Commandments of Love which are the central motivating tenet and Law of this creed. That is, in keeping with Neo-Christian Humanism, the Two Commandments are to embrace all of the social structuring and functioning of the life of our race. Accordingly, they are to shape and dictate all detailed human law and process including all cultural endeavor. The outcome of that shaping and dictating, it is expected, will be a social order which is maximally humane and, in concert with this, maximally enlightened and progressive.

Since Neo-Christian Humanism is a new social development, human beings have not as yet tried to direct consciously the ascent of the civilization. By and large attempts to humanize and improve circumstantially the social domain are lacking excepting the principally randomly ordained, tradition-bound religious, socioeconomic and political order now extant. This order in the main does not reflect a commitment to make the whole civilization follow a rising path which would failsafe its future and provide for the religious and thereby the social and cultural fulfillment of individuals. It is Neo-Christian Humanism that provides such a path. To find it we should therefore seek to make Neo-Christian Humanism a reality among us. How do we go about doing this? We have to raise the consciousness of men to its tenets and social implications, and explain to them its significance to their future on earth. We have to do this using the best, most advanced capacities and stratagems at our disposal. Thus we must avail ourselves of the techniques of such modern and developed fields as public relations, publicity campaigning and advertising. Furthermore, we must infuse the culture matrix with values, themes and idioms which foster Neo-Christian Humanist postures. Such culture "loading" should become a studied and detailed art.

For our preliminary example of culture loading we shall use the training of children. Children should not be exposed to any violence and any militarism at least until the age of fifteen. That means they should not be given toys, videos or other playthings featuring rabidly predatory animals and armaments. They should not watch violence or war on television. Instead, their culture matrix should be loaded with positive themes such as nursing, doctoring, and nurturing siblings, pets and toys with gentleness. They should learn to sing or recite songs about people who save lives and curtail pain, and as they grow they should be given information on formal missions. They should also have exposure to humor and lightheartedness and a wealth of examples of kindness and compassion. For this to happen there must be a conscious effort made to produce songs, verses, stories, films and games of the appropriate kind in much greater supply than is currently available.

After the age of fifteen, young people should be presented with a culture matrix which is rich in pacifist and general Mission loading as well as in Neo-Christian Humanist analysis of the history of the race. This analysis should be based on studies gleaned from all the humanities including new materials such as genetic code research. It is to be hoped that this directive conditioning will produce populations which would undertake to practice Neo-Christian Humanism and make the civilization deal most effectively with death, unendurable pain, social squalor and backwardness.

5. The Economic Feasibility of Neo-Christian Humanism
by Steven Hiller

In the tract "Neo-Christian Humanism--a Proposal for Our New Venture in Christian Love" it has been stated that such a venture would necessitate the development of a post-materialistic global culture. It is the aim of the present paper to expand on this development and explore the nature of the socioeconomic order which could arise in its wake.

As already stated, the needed change would be evolutionary and would represent the transfer of a part of random production and consumption to survival and pain-assuagement-intensive production and consumption embodied in the Mission. This Mission "industry" would involve employment of a work force and marketing of goods necessary to save from death and dire pain increasing numbers of people in its economy of a rising demand for services, research and development. The whole effort would be underwritten by the contributions of the lay Mission and commercial institutions, which would become de-materialized accordingly.

However, the projected de-materialization of the Mission laity and public domain would not necessarily be drastic or result in a serious impoverishment of the common good. The Proposal suggests a model of communal living in which the elders of the community work at tending and teaching children, and providing a kin-keeping net so that the young adult and middle-aged members can work freely and earn more for the Mission and also for their families. Teenagers can likewise work outside of their schooling to support the community. It is expected that both teenagers and elders will benefit from being integrated into the life of active and productive "kin". This work input of both generations would thus be transformed to wealth which would tend to raise the standard of living and the general societal product, diminishing the effect of the outlay for the Mission enterprise. It is therefore feasible to expect that Neo-Christian Humanism would not excessively drain the ordained material bases of societies, and would leave enough for cultural enrichment within reasonable limits.

Another issue concerning the economic feasibility of Neo-Christian Humanism is the maintenance of governments and their societal functions through tax revenues. Here a number of points can be raised. First of all, Mission donations would be confined to life saving and pain assuagement, and would not be channeled to poverty per se, which would put a limit on tax deductible income. Following that, the shortfall of taxes owing to the increased spending on tax-free Mission donations could be, at least in part, offset by raising the sales taxation of luxury and spurious goods and services. In the developed world especially this would be a welcome item of restraining undue opulence which breeds greed, insensitivity, and power drives.

Next, over the longer term, as the Mission develops its global peace initiatives, defense spending would be curtailed, the monies saved adding substantially to government funding. Finally, if the above measures are not adequate, special taxes, such as high-value property taxes could be levied to levels which would not overburden populations or deter contributions to the Mission. Thus with all these stratagems to keep societies functional in the presence of the Neo-Christian Humanist enterprise it should be found that a certain, but most likely limited amount of economic austerity is necessary. This de-materialization is a negligible price to pay for the saving of precious human lives and putting an end to untenable human pain.

6. Neo-Christian Humanism and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The emergence of weapons of mass destruction in the previous century is a most terrifying, condemnable and egregious development. It is our proof that the human race is, in many of its members, capable of contemplating, with purpose and completely dehumanized intent, murder on the scale of entire populations. This state of our global polity was not arrived at suddenly. It was ushered in through the rise of aggression and the killing of millions by diverse individual means, such as conventional wars and intentionally caused famines, and by the Holocaust which killed millions in a studied and totally programmatic, mechanistic exercise of deadly hate. All this excrescence of absolute evil has made most individuals either rabid or inured, if that word is sufficient, to the horror hanging above us at all times.

What, then, should be our posture as Neo-Christian Humanists in this regard?

We must treat the supporting of the status quo as direly sinful to our just God, whose judgment and punishment is at hand if we continue our unspeakable folly. Thus we must summarily reject the idea that we should acquiesce to the presence of weapons of mass destruction, using every bit of our courage to campaign for their total obliteration from Earth. Next, we must cast out these " seven demons" and in their place build Love and respect for human life in all the ways we have envisioned in our venturing Quest. To wit, we must understand the roots of the Armageddon that looms before us, starting with the simplest facts of our past history and our evolution, and ending with the most cognitively complex, researched, and fathomed characteristics of our nature, its downfalls and its highest flights, so that we may prevail and live free for all time to come from the blight we have wrought.

7. Neo-Christian Humanism and Terrorism

The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English (1999) gives the following definition for the word "terrorist": a person who uses or favors violent and intimidating methods of coercing a government or community. This general definition is applicable to the terrorism practiced for the past several hundred years. However, it lacks the traits specific to latter-day terrorists, most particularly to those operative at the present time. Some of these traits arise from the technical advances which terrorists can bend to their nefarious ends. Others arise from the evolvement of conviction and purpose for some to sacrifice their lives in order to achieve those ends. The two components: technology and self-annihilation have already cost the world thousands of human beings. Coincidental to this it is likely that the terrorists form an elusive network over several continents, which will be very difficult to track down.

As Neo-Christian Humanists we should insist that the response to the terrorist plot be non-violent and based on international judicial process. We must always stay true to our Pacifist commitment and our opposition to capital punishment. Furthermore, as always, our way is to be cerebral and industrious: our formal Missions must study the etiology of the whole terrorist problem. In particular, we must all understand the genesis of the self-destructive compulsion and the hatred exhibited by these tragically fixated men. We must delve into their history and culture, using our best historians and cultural anthropologists.

We must learn of all their pain and travail. Only then will we be able to overcome such hate and murderous intent. Only then will we be able to forget the dread and the sorrow, and forgive as the Teacher taught us to forgive.

8. Neo-Christian Humanism and the Aged and Enfeebled

We have not as yet dealt with the problem of those persons of old age who suffer from deterioration of their physical or mental state or both. So far we have concentrated on those who can work for the lay Mission as leaders, teachers and kin-keepers and find that their activity tends to make them energetic and continent in body and mind.

What is to be done with those who become frail and helpless?

First of all we must support the research, which is already ongoing, to find ways of controlling the various kinds of senility. Until such research gives results one option, which we strongly suggest because it is the most loving, is for the lay Mission to organize centers where the aged enfeebled can be tended by those who have a special affinity for them (and there are such people everywhere). These centers would be ordained near the lay Mission locations so that frequent visiting would be possible. They would feature good food and modest circumstance.

Any situation where dependents are taken care of by professionals must be made failsafe against abuse. This in developed countries can be achieved by technical (e.g. electronic) means. In the less developed world, where there is larger work force, frequent inspections by trustworthy Mission members can failsafe the facilities.

It goes without saying that people in decline need a great deal of love and, most particularly, respect. They should not be treated like children and spoken to by their first name. Their societal designations ought to be maintained, and attention should be given to what they say, especially if what they are communicating is words of complaint. In short, their last years should be spent in comfort among solicitous and caring people, in keeping with Neo-Christian Humanism.

9. An Idea for Funding Grameen Banks to Combat Hunger
by Steven Hiller

While famine is a top priority responsibility for adult Neo-Christian Humanists, and must be attacked with every urgency, there will come a time when it will become preventable owing to extenuating Mission efforts. At that point the priorities concerning dearth of food will shift to treating suffering from non-lethal hunger. One possibility of doing this which comes to mind is the installation of Grameen Banks in areas where such hunger exists. By that time the adults in the Mission system will be engaged in other problems demanding immediate attention, and it is not at all certain that they could shoulder this responsibility as well.

The idea then arises that Mission children could raise money for those who are hungry by organizing sporting events in which the spectators (usually the parents) would pay a modest fee. This would be collected and sent to a Grameen Bank Fund, which would be distributed to areas of need. Such an "adult" enterprise would give the young ones the happiness and pride of redeeming from the pain of hunger other human beings, without dealing with the issues of death and untold tragedy encountered in famine, issues they are ill prepared to handle at their age.

Here it should be said that sports are an important part of culture, teaching the youthful to be brave, resourceful, enduring and, in a special way, esthetic. They can strengthen people of all ages and relieve them of animal impulses. They are also a source of pleasure to millions. Thus they are a very valuable preparation for the Mission and for further civilizational endeavors. As such they can be considered a special kind of spirituality in which men honor their Creator by the prowess which is his gift to them to share with each other, benefiting all.

In our venture to free men from early death and intolerable pain we have been guided by Christ's active example taken directly from the Scriptures, where it is very clearly stated. A less emphatic, but very likely example is that of Jesus in regards to children. The Gospels depict him as expressly solicitous of children, whom he lovingly gathered to himself, saying; "Suffer the little children to come to me, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

What, as Neo-Christian Humanists, can we make of this example in our times? Obviously, we should provide for deprived children in the world, making sure that they do not suffer and that they are properly schooled. Since the Mission provides only for extreme cases of suffering and deprivation, we must find another source of revenue for the nurturing and schooling of indigent children. It appears we must seek a sector of humanity which is affluent enough, populous enough, and willing to become a prestigious global grouping of patrons to finance preschools and schools (complete with meals and psychological support) in the Earth's poorest areas. Such a group, we think, is the aggregate of the world's professional athletes. We believe they would feel very gratified, fulfilled, and appreciated to contribute so substantially to the welfare of impoverished children and thereby to increase the intellectual and hence the socioeconomic and cultural level of the race. We would like to call their union "The Teacher's Sporting Host" in honor of sports, which develop such excellent qualities in human beings, and are so highly celebrated by so many children worldwide--and also in praise of the noble tradition of sportsmanship.