The Curse inside Dictionaries.
How are wars started ? one may ask. One starts to write new legislation
in such a way that your goals and agenda fit inside perfectly. This
may go as far as redefining old words with a total different meaning
inside new editions of the authorative dictionaries.
We have seen what happened to the word 'terrorist'. Now its time for
the word 'pagan' :
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English,
by A.S. Hornby with the assistance of A.P. Cowie J. Windsor Lewis
(c)Oxford University Press 1974
1
2 :
pa-gan /`peig3n/ n, adj (person who is) not a
believer in any of the chief religions of the world;
(colloq) any person with no religious beliefs:
They've brought up their children as ~s. `~.ism
/-izm/ n beliefs, practices, of ~s.
Search Oxford Dictionaries Online from the web (c) 2006 :
http://www.askoxford.com/dictionaries/?view=uk
pagan
* noun a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the
main world religions.
* adjective relating to pagans or their beliefs.
- DERIVATIVES paganism noun.
- ORIGIN Latin paganus 'rustic', later 'civilian' (i.e. a person who
was not a 'soldier' in Christ's army).
Now thats quite a difference in what the word 'pagan' boils down to in
practice! In the old days, 1970's, pagan was just someone with _NO_
religious beliefs. Today, in 2006, a pagan is someone with _OTHER_
religious beliefs.
Well, just a RFC for your eyes. Eustace Mullins donates an entire
chapter to explain the difference between Humanism and Humanitarianism
titled 'Secular Humanism'. Searching Oxford Dictionaries Online from the
web (c) 2006 for these two words we get this :
humanitarian
/hyoomannitairi3n/
* adjective concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare.
* noun a humanitarian person.
- DERIVATIVES humanitarianism noun.
humanism
* noun 1 a rationalistic system of thought attaching prime
importance to human rather than divine or supernatural
matters. 2 a
Renaissance cultural movement which turned away from medieval
scholasticism and revived interest in ancient Greek and Roman
thought.
- DERIVATIVES humanist noun & adjective humanistic adjective.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English,
by A.S. Hornby with the assistance of A.P. Cowie J. Windsor Lewis
(c)Oxford University Press 1974
3 :
hu-mani-tar-ian /hju'maeni`te3ri3n/ adj, n (of,
holding the views of, a) person who works for the
welfare of all human beings by reducing suffering,
reforming laws about punishment, etc. `~.ism
/-izm/ n
hu-man-ism /`hjum3nizm/ n [U] 1 devotion to
human interests; system that is concerned with
ethical standards (but not with religions), and with
study of mankind. 2 literary culture (of about
the 14th to 16th cc) based on Greek and Roman
learning.
As you see there's quite a difference between the words humanitarian
and humanism. So what is the meaning of 'Secular Humanism'?
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English,
by A.S. Hornby with the assistance of A.P. Cowie J. Windsor Lewis
(c)Oxford University Press 1974
4 :
secu-lar /`sekjul3(r)/ adj 1 worldly or material, not
religious or spiritual: ~ education; ~ art/music;
the ~ power, the State contrasted with the
Church. 2 living outside monasteries: the ~
clergy, parish priests, etc. ~.ism /-izm/ n[U] the
view that morality and education should not be
based on religion. ~.ist /-ist/ n believer in, sup-
porter of, ~ism. ~.ize /aiz/ vt [VP6A] make ~:
~ize church/property/courts; a ~ized Sunday,
e g when professional sporting events are permit-
ted.
Searching Oxford Dictionaries Online from the web (c) 2006 for secular :
secular
/sekyool3r/
* adjective 1 not religious, sacred, or spiritual. 2 (of clergy)
not subject to or bound by religious rule. 3 Astronomy
denoting
slow changes in the motion of the sun or planets. 4 Economics
(of a
fluctuation or trend) occurring or persisting over an
indefinitely
long period.
* noun a secular priest.
- DERIVATIVES secularism noun secularist noun secularity noun
secularize (also secularise) verb secularly adverb.
- ORIGIN Latin saecularis 'relating to an age or period', from
saeculum 'generation', used in Christian Latin to mean 'the
world'.
Well that should give some insight, at least rest assure to not throw
away old versions of dictionaries to gather a good explanation and
insight in the meaning of things, like e g 'Secular Humanism', where
the Oxford Online edition (c)2006 leaves out the word material when
describing secular, somehow hiding its materialistic nature. Some of
us already knew the game was rigged, but that the curse starts inside
new editions of the authorative dictionaries is amazing.
