Humanists Need God????
Some members of our Humanist community have recommended that we add ‘god’
to our statement of principles in order to entice more people to join. They
are of the opinion that Humanists need to accept and support ANYONE who
wants to call themselves Humanists. They think we should, in the effort of
building Humanism, go for quantity rather than quality.
Some of the members who have been the most vocal, about this concern, also
are members of the First Unitarian Universalist Church here in Columbus
(UUs). UUs have been connected with Modern Humanism for decades, including
helping draft the Humanist Manifesto I. It is a church that gives its
members the function of a church without the dogma and Bible. Recently,
they have sponsored a Humanist discussion group that meets each month.
The UU Humanists operate using several slogans including ‘All stories are
sacred ‘ and ‘All are welcome here’. The UU Humanist’s attempt to include
anyone who is humanistically incline and use Theistic words such as
’spirit’, ‘god’, and ‘religion’ with definitions that depend on the person
who uses those terms. This seems to be an effort to help people who may
still believe in the supernatural to express their humanist side.
Even though they try and include everyone, some people, specifically
Atheists are not as welcome. Atheists are allowed to attend services and
participate in various discussion groups the church sponsors, but when
Atheists attempt to question views that are opposite of their own, such as
those which use words like ’spirit’, ‘god’, and ‘religion’, they are not
held in a positive light even with the supposed openness of the 1st UU
church. Atheists have been called arrogant, smug, bigots, and similar words
that have also been heard from Theists from mainstream religions. The UU
Humanists confuse the principle of tolerance with agreement. Tolerance
means that you do not coerce and put down someone whose comments do not
agree with yours not that you agree with them.
What does this have to do with the Humanist Community? Since its founding
HCCO has been a Secular Humanist group. A secular Humanist follows a
philosophy of life that rejects supernaturalism and focuses on living in
the here and now. A secular Humanist doesn’t use theistic words in
describing our Humanism. What troubles a secular Humanist about using
theistic words, redefined or not, is that they dilute our message and
equivocates. Those kinds of words lend support to supernaturalism.
As Secular Humanists, we need to concentrate on developing strategies for
living without gods which contrasts with the 1st UU’s strategy of salvaging
and redefining religious terms. (ex. “I don’t believe in ‘god’ , but I just
use the word for its poetic emotional effect.”). Instead we forward notions
that stem from the core precepts of Modern Humanism like reason, science,
compassion, democracy, knowledge, kindness, courage, and service.
Atheism, in the common usage of the word, is a philosophy of life without
any god beliefs. Atheists, as well as other non-theistic groups such as
Agnostics, then can find like minded folks in Secular Humanism. An average
Atheist has more in common with Humanism, than an average Theist does. The
main similarity is that the Atheist has no god beliefs, while a Theist, by
the very term, has god beliefs.
If a theist feels uncomfortable in a Secular Humanist meeting they have
many places to go, including the 1st UU church, where they may feel more
comfortable. An Atheist, on the other hand, really has no other place to
go, that will affirm their non-theistic views and allow them to be
Humanists. HCCO has worked to be that shelter for Atheists and Agnostics.
The Humanist Community of Central Ohio’s mission is to support a secular
philosophy that values people, emphasizes reason, and focuses on the world
we live in. To undermine that mission by including anyone who wants to call
themselves Humanists is something I don’t want to be a part of and fails to
include a group such as Atheists and to some extent, Agnostics.
We will not change our Statement of Principles for the sake of bringing in
more members. We want to provide a safe space for Humanists without the
divisiveness of ‘god-talk’. We want curious people to attend and learn more
about Modern Humanism and they can’t through the fog of ‘god-talk’. Like
ANY group we welcome anyone who supports our mission and considers
themselves in substantial agreement with our Statement of Principles. If an
individual has trouble doing that then they have the option not to join.
Modern Humanists focus on this world and how to cope with it, not on
‘gods’.
This article, Doug Berger, appeared in the March/April 1996 issue of the Central Ohio Humanist newsletter.
