A big thank you to Patty Civalleri and her wonderful book, “Florence – a Traveler’s Guide to Gems & Giants” from which I got a lot of this background information. Not only did this guide provide information on all of Florence’s sites, but also included mini-biographies of the many fabulous people who heralded from Florence and the history of the Renaissance.

This is now my third and final blog inspired by my recent 18-day vacation to Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain. The final day of the cruise portion of the trip included a day trip to explore Florence, Italy, often thought of as the birth place of the Renaissance. Many of the scientific and artistic leaders who pushed the world to come out of the “Dark Ages” heralded from Florence.

The Roman Catholic Church and superstitions before this time basically dictated how people lived their lives. Most people were confined in heavily walled cities and venturing out was frowned upon. After the Bubonic Plaque wiped out over 60% of Europe’s population, a few brave souls wandered out of their cities to explore the larger world.

Travelers discovered ancient writings that spewed “odd ideas” such as free-thinking, creativity, questioning, and the importance of human individualism. A philosopher named Petrarch coined the term “humanism” to describe this collection of concepts. And since it was dangerous to speak one’s mind against the reigning oppressive authorities, art became the expressive voice of humanism that eventually drowned out the Dark Ages.

So often art is one way of speaking out

Today’s dictionary definition of humanism is, “an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.”

So why are some people making “humanism” a bad word? What are they trying to suppress or control?

Interestingly enough, Thomas Jefferson studied and embraced Enlightenment philosophy and the ideas of the Age of Reason, which is a critical approach to religious, social, and philosophical matters that seeks to repudiate beliefs or systems not based on or justifiable by reason.  And this inspired him when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

But now much of the Republican party over the past few decades has fully embraced the language of Jerry Falwell, who declared that ““We’re fighting against humanism; we’re fighting against liberalism…we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today….”

Wow!! Equating humanism to Satan?

Let’s not be fooled. The founders of our country and crafters of our constitution clearly understood the virtues of humanism and made it a founding principle of the USA. All the rhetoric from Christian Nationalists sharing their warped opinion about the intentions of our founding fathers is nothing but a bunch of bunk.