The British Humanist Association (BHA) has expressed its sadness in hearing of the death of humanist Arthur C Clarke, one of the BHA's 'Distinguished Supporters of Humanism.'
Interviewed for the American humanist magazine, 'Free Inquiry', Sir Arthur said:
'One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion. So now people assume that religion and morality have a necessary connection. But the basis of morality is really very simple and doesn't require religion at all. It's this: "Don't do unto anybody else what you wouldn't like to be done to you." It seems to me that that's all there is to it.'
'I suspect that religion is a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species. And that's one of the interesting things about contact with other intelligences: we could see what role, if any, religion plays in their development. I think that religion may be some random by-product of mammalian reproduction.'
Notes
You can watch a video of Arthur C Clarke’s 90 th birthday reflections here .
British Humanist Association
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