Can Christians be humanists and moralists?

[Michael B]

The question is not whether Christians can act moral or not, as they undoubtedly can, but is it also possible for a person who consistently derives their sense of morality from a book as anti-humanistic as the Bible (or if you're Muslim, the Qur'an) to actually be a moralist?--to ponder deeply the difficult moral dilemmas or social conflicts (sorry but you can't apply Jesus' few moral insights, such as the Golden Rule, to the majority of situations this might include) that often throw themselves at humanity--and be relied upon to arrive at sensible, rational, compassionate, and commendable moral convictions?

If any Christian finds my question comically condescending, well, how does it feel to have the tables turned?

It might be worth recalling that the title 'humanist' was first applied to a group of renaissance Christians. Desiderius Erasmus was the poster-boy of this group in the 16th century. I have a lot of sympathy for, and a strong sense of affiliation with, these humanists. They had a passion for education that has not always gripped the rest of the Church (and has not always gripped unchurched societies either). It is perhaps only in the second half of my life that I have learned to value more those subjects, the 'humanities', so valued by humanism (science tends, generally, to lean more towards scholasticism than humanism; and I think that misses something humanists, and the humanities, bring to our wider understanding).

Desiderius Erasmus, 1532