Secular Humanist

QUESTION: What is a Secular Humanist?

ANSWER:

The basic tenets of secular humanism are

• Humans have value and can solve human problems.
• Science, free speech, democracy, rational thought, and freedom in the arts go together.
• There is nothing supernatural.

Secular humanism is a philosophical school of thought that advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice, and equality. It appeals to agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, and materialists.

George Jacob Holyoake created the term “secularism” in 1846 in order to describe “a form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life.”

Secular humanism organization can be found in all parts of the world: India, China, Australia, Europe, and North America. Summer and winter solstices are special days for secular humanists, as is Charles Darwin’s Birthday. Darwin was born on February 12, 1809. Secular humanists celebrate Darwin’s use of human reason and empirical science.

Since Secular Humanists do not believe in life after death, many are active in organizations that relieve human suffering. These include rights of refugees, anti-death penalty, and environmental groups. They believe not in God, but that people create their own meaning in life.

Secular Humanism often finds itself in conflict with religious fundamentalism over the issue of separation of church and state. Secular humanists see religious fundamentalists as superstitious, regressive, and closed minded. Fundamentalists believe that as non-believers, secular humanists are a threat as outlined in books such as the Bible and the Qur’an.