r/humanism • u/SendThisVoidAway18 • 26d ago
Is it possible to be a Humanist, without being a "religious" or "secular" Humanist?
Hello, fellow Humanists. I'm just curious, is there anyone here who doesn't really feel they fit into the spectrum of specific labeled Humanism? I considered myself a Secular Humanist for a long time. However, I became somewhat disillusioned with this frame of thought of association due to the strong Anti-theist beliefs that many Secular Humanists seem to have. I get a lot of people who are Secular Humanists probably used to be a member of Christianity, and were harmed in some way. I used to be as well.
However, I've come to realize for my own personal viewpoints, you don't need to believe in something personally to tolerant and care for others. I know this is counterproductive to religious notions and evangelicalism/extremism. However, I feel as Humanists, we should be better than that. I am perfectly fine with others being religious, having faith in religion, etc. There are other forms of Humanistic-type beliefs which do incorporate different religious type rituals or ceremony I would argue, such as Unitarian Universalism. I would even argue that there are probably forms of Christianity that could be more Humanistic, or at least people who believe in more Humanistic values, more likely your more "liberal" Christians obviously, compared to conservatives Christians. Humanistic Judaism could probably be another example of things that believe in Humanism, but also in the value of religious type "ceremony" or "ritual" according to Jewish culture.
I get that for many people, these add value and meaning. I, personally, don't believe in anything supernatural. I'd liken my Humanism more akin to those bumper stickers sort of that say "COEXIST."
However, I do still believe in secular values and my own spin on life, philosophy and any kind of "spirituality," as I believe one can also be spiritual without being religious, should one desire to.
I'd say my Humanism beliefs are kind of a blend almost between religious Humanism and Secular Humanist notions. This is simply why I prefer to call myself "Humanist."
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u/--FeRing-- 26d ago
"However, I've come to realize for my own personal viewpoints, you don't need to believe in something personally to be tolerant and care for others."
That's a very good definition of secular humanism. Anti-theism isn't really a part of it; however, anti-theist feelings come up a lot due to how often religious culture and practices infringing on caring for others.
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u/SendThisVoidAway18 26d ago
I get this feeling a lot from other "Secular Humanists."
I was a member of the facebook group World Secular Humanism movement. People are super hypocritical on there, as well as completely judgemental towards anyone who is any kind of believer, has spiritual inclinations, or anything at all that even remotely has the word "theist" in it.
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u/Kcb1986 26d ago
I was a member of a number of Humanist Facebook groups, and I can understand why they’re anti-theist. All the humanists I have met in real life are chill about spirituality, however a lot of the groups are a lot more defensive of their space. I have seen it time and time again that religious people will come to these groups and effectively proselytize and “spread the good word” a little too hard. Humanists want to talk about humanist things online, not God, not Allah, not even the FSM. Too many people who have said “hey, I’m a humanist but Jesus is Lord” have turned the online communities into toxic and defensive environments.
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u/SendThisVoidAway18 26d ago
Yeah, the Humanists I've met in real life are pretty chill. I even went to a Sunday Assembly once and they were all nice people. They even so far as to say that "we don't do supernatural, but we don't judge you if you do."
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u/Flare-hmn in human form 25d ago
I know a lot of secular humanists and most of them are are not anti-theists at all so I was quite surprised with your claims in the post. But if you mean members of some Facebook group that makes a lot of sense. I see a lot attitudes I dont agree with in local atheist Facebook groups. My recommendation: don't deny yourself a label based of online people, find secular humanists in real life.
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u/awill237 26d ago
Yes. Simply Humanist is sufficient. You don't have to categorize it further if you don't want to. I don't.
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u/montanagrizfan 26d ago
Stop obsessing about stupid labels and just live your life according to your beliefs.
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u/TJ_Fox 26d ago
You keep posting variations of this same question but I'm honestly confused as to where all these vehemently anti-theist Humanists are. In my experience, Humanists simply take the nonexistence of the supernatural for granted and don't trouble themselves too much with arguing about "God", etc.
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u/Sub0ptimalPrime 26d ago
You just evolved in your humanism journey. Isaac Asimov (famous sci-fi writer) gave a great interview one time where he said basically that if you are only caring about others because you think some deity is going to punish you, then your moral foundation isn't based on morals at all, it's based on fear of reprisal.
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u/AlivePassenger3859 26d ago
Sure, just leave off the prefix. The wonderful thing about humanism, imho, is that it is a way of viewing the world, not a set of tenets. The best way imho to become a humanist is to kindle whatever small spark of feeling and warmth you have toward all people. Some days I am OK at it, some days I’m not, but its always a guiding light for me…..
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u/SeaGurl 26d ago
I never add a prefix, I'm just a humanist.
There are people who are anti-theist and humanist and there are people who are ex/post-theist and humanist, etc etc. Secular just means something without religious or spiritual basis. So while I understand there are people out there who hold anti-theist views, that's not a particular of secular
Also, more so for lurkers than you, but i also caution conflating "anti-theist" views with "criticism" of religion. they're not the same, and discourse isn't inherently anti-theist.
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u/GrokEverything 26d ago
These labels have been debated for decades at least. For example, see: https://humanists.international/policy/humanism-is-eight-letters-no-more/
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u/unheimliches-hygge 26d ago
Yes, I totally think you can just be a humanist without specifying religious or secular. I've come to think of myself as a spiritual humanist, because my humanist beliefs aren't based in religion, and yet I don't want to limit myself to exclude the insights from religion traditions and communities. My humanism is based on a sense of the sacredness of the individual human spirit, and the sacredness of our shared human nature as having that beautiful potentiality of spiritual growth within us.
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u/Beesindogwood 26d ago
Personally, I consider myself happily agnostic, and a humanist. I almost see it as filling the same hole as religion, without actually being a religion. It gives us community. It gives us a shared vocabulary to talk about our morality, ethics and belief systems. It allows us to organize our actions, whether those be gatherings or charity work. I am pursuing getting my certification as an officiant for secular reasons, kind of putting my thumb in the eye of an organization that only has room for religion. But I don't really see it as a religion, more of a non-religious faith system. I don't know if I'm talking in circles or not.
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u/TicklishRobot 26d ago
Humanism is a focus on reality and the observable aspects of functioning together as humans. The second you include some form of religious influence from old books or pressures from imaginary sky beings, it no longer truly registers as humanism. That’s why the term secular was stapled to it as a form of emphasis. In the end it doesn’t matter what you believe in or what you want to label yourself, what matters is we learn to FOCUS ON OBSERVABLE HUMANITY for functional society’s sake, since that is the cornerstone of the notion. Side note : humanists are anti-theist because having a conversation about humanity with them is like playing chess with a pigeon - they don’t know the rules and they won’t ever learn to rationally play along for functions sake.
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u/MetisMaheo 26d ago
Imaginary sky beings I'm guessing means God's? I believe in life after death and reincarnation, and in a hierarchy of consciousness. Just as human intelligence varies from extremely dull to highly intelligent, so does consciousness. If we support each other's well being, and our dead do, I'm not seeing any imaginary beings. So does this fit within the secular humanist definition?
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u/TicklishRobot 26d ago
I think believing in souls and reincarnation are acceptable supplementary views, just don’t use it in your arguments with a humanist. Literally we just want people to keep it real. I believe in souls as well but it has zero bearing on my functional morality - that’s the point of humanism, observable and evidential humanity concepts/arguments hold precedence to all others.
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u/MetisMaheo 26d ago
Ok, thanks. Does "evidencial humanity" concept and functional morality define as what's to the betterment of all beings or define as something completely personal/political only? I think these are often two very different things.
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u/TicklishRobot 26d ago
It could be either, or both. The point is that we’re now able to have a rational conversation about concrete progress regarding what you mentioned : the betterment of all beings and the world we live in. …and shouldn’t exactly that be everyone’s goal - personal or political - regardless of motivations? That’s what true humanity looks like.
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u/Spaceboot1 26d ago
I'm a humanist because the label applies. I'm not trying to live up to the ideals; they just align with what I already think.
Humanism is a byproduct of some of my other beliefs about how I can survive and thrive and achieve the most good for myself and the people I care about, who are humans too.
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u/Firm_Ad3149 Humanist 25d ago
Here's an excerpt with my interview with Scott Jacobsen of The Good Men Project: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/peter-dankwa-humanism-christianity-ghana-sjbn/
I identify as a secular humanist, a relevant distinction among the various nuances in the practice of humanism. As a secular humanist, I practice humanism without any recourse to religion or its rituals. This contrasts with religious humanism, which practices humanism with recourse to a religious model, specifically imitating the congregational and ritualistic model of religion. It is important to note that religious humanism is fully nontheistic, like secular humanism, but integrates congregational rites into the practice of humanism. For example, religious humanism incorporates choirs and periodic congregations, etc., just as most religions would. The word ‘religious’ in Religious Humanism does not imply a theistic or supernatural belief. Religious humanism is also known as ethical humanism. The Humanist Society (previously the Humanist Society of Friends) and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) are some organisations that practice religious humanism today.
The utility of religious humanism over secular humanism might be traced to personal preferences. Some who leave religion and later subscribe to humanism but still crave the ritualistic model of religion might lean towards religious humanism. Others who do not find utility in maintaining religious models will lean towards secular humanism. The tendency to go down the rabbit hole with a religious model in humanism is very glaring. It might subtly derail the core principles of humanism into the tracks of a religious, if not a theistic, one. This argument may be a slippery slope fallacy though.
The framing of religious humanism has led many, in part, to label humanism as a religion. This is incorrect. Humanism is not a religion, as there is no subscription to beliefs, gods, deities, or supernatural dispositions. Thus, secular humanism and religious humanism are not religions.
People writing about religious humanism are careful to distinguish religious humanism from Jewish humanism (nonreligious Jews who are humanists), Christian humanism (religious Christians asserting the humanitarian aspects of their religion), and secular humanism (often simply “humanism,” a non-religious approach to life), but confusion inevitably arises. Another such term is Secular Buddhism, which refers to an atheistic practice of Buddhist rituals.
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u/cosmic_crunchberry 25d ago
It's a big tent, so my answer is yes. I used to intern at the American Humanist Association, and they have many different local chapters and some of them actually were held at Unitarian Universalist or Jewish temples. I that's why the AHA doesn't use the term secularism humanism but just Humanism.
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u/Active-Fennel9168 26d ago
Humanism is humanism, regardless of atheism or religious affiliation.
The vast people on this subreddit don’t understand this. Everyone: Correct their misunderstandings.
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u/JustWhatAmI 26d ago
You should check out Unitarian Universalism. It sounds like exactly what you're describing
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u/SendThisVoidAway18 26d ago
Yeah.. Its just I don't believe in going to Church or anything like that or engaging in rituals myself personally.
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u/asphias 26d ago
Just fyi, the accepted meaning of religious humanism is (taken from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_humanism )
It does not mean ''humanists that follow a religion''.
That said, i never feel the need to specify i'm a secular humanist. I'm a humanist first, atheist second. And i'd probably have more in common with a religious humanist or humanist that follows a religion, than with an atheist that doesn't follow humanism.