Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the most recent meeting for Texas Secular Humanists, but I was able to see pictures from the meeting. In one of the pictures, a member of the club was putting the finishing touches on a sign that listed “Cookies” and “God”, each with a check box, with only the “Cookies” box checked. It is clever and funny, and I hope that it was effective, but something about it bothered me when I saw it. I realize now that it is the strong emphasis on the lack of God in the humanist belief structure. I am going to make the case for de-emphasizing the link between secular humanism and atheism. I am not suggesting that there is no link, that it should be ignored, or that it is unimportant. The link is undeniable. Depending on what definitions you choose, secular humanists are necessarily a subset of atheists, and I would not say that any reasonable pair of definitions can completely separate the two. The atheistic aspects of secular humanism are important. The fact that we believe in taking moral responsibility for our own condition and that of our fellow humans is made much more meaningful by the fact that we believe we must do this on our own, and without the help of someone or something from outside the natural world. Still, there are important reasons why we should shift our focus so that we are humanists first, and secular second.
The first reason is mainly tactical. There is a large number of highly visible atheists and atheist organizations in the US. Some of them come across as assholes, some come across as insecure nerds, and some fight unpopular legal battles. There is not necessarily anything wrong with this; I could certainly be described as a nerd-asshole who supports legal battles to remove “In God We Trust” from US legal tender. These people and organizations are our close allies, and we need them. We do not need to distance ourselves from them. However, we do need to distinguish ourselves from them. Many people are tired of it of these issues and the way they are pushed, or they simply don't care about them. Many people are atheists, but think that merely being an atheist is not reason enough to form a club, pay dues to a national organization, or go to a conference. Secular Humanism, on the other hand, is about being a good person and also being a nonbeliever. This is something that will get the attention of people that never cared before. We need to demonstrate that we represent a unique segment of nonbelievers, so that those who did not care before have a reason to care.
The second reason for this emphasis is ideological. We should not need to constantly remind ourselves and others that we do not believe in God. Our primary characteristic, and the thing that really drives us and brings us together should not be a lack of belief; it should be a desire to work together to understand each other and the world around us so we can make the world a better place. The fact that we do not believe in God should only factor in when others’ beliefs somehow factor into the picture. When we reach out to other nonbelievers and ask them to join us, it is not because we think it’s cool to be atheists, it is because they are likely to empathize with us and help us form a strong community, and because they may need help navigating the sometimes difficult social and political landscape that we all encounter as a misunderstood minority. We do not gain anything by “practicing” atheism, if that means anything. What we can practice and what we should try to spread around is humanism. If we want to live in a world in which being a nonbeliever is unremarkable, we should start acting like it.
