Nontheists in America

Having finally found a "home" in secular humanism for my personal world view, last year I purchased an annual subscription to the monthly publication of the American Humanist Association. After a couple of issues though, I concluded the organization was rabidly anti-religion and hell-bent on making me that way, too. I was hoping for something they didn't provide -- maybe just a bit more company in my comfortable little philosophical sandbox.

The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that, "Atheists challenge the religious right". Once you get past the challenging headline (atheist is such a dirty word in America!), it's pretty interesting reading. "Seven organizations of nontheists - including atheists, freethinkers, humanists, and agnostics - began the Secular Coalition for America (SCA), a lobby seeking to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in the United States." I like their central position: We affirm the secular form of government as a necessary condition for the interdependent rights of religious freedom and religious dissent.

As for company....
A 2006 survey by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life asked, "What is your religious preference?" and 11% responded, "No religion, not a believer, atheist, agnostic." While 56% responded as Protestant and 23% as Roman Catholics, other categories (Jewish, Mormon, Orthodox Greek or Russian, Islam/Muslim, and other religions) totaled 8%. That means that in the United States there are more atheists and agnostics than there are Jews, Presbyterians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Roman and Greek Orthodox combined. I need a bigger sandbox.

Occasionally I have to remind myself, and others when they ask, of just what a secular humanist is. Wikipedia has a good summary of the tenets:

Secular humanism describes a world view with the following elements and principles:
Need to test beliefs - A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.
Reason, evidence, scientific method - Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.
Fulfillment, growth, creativity - A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
Search for truth - A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
This life - A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
Ethics - A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
Building a better world - A conviction that with reason, an open exchange of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

So what do you think would happen if the majority of the U.S. population suddently became secular humanists? I think we'd create a better world. I think it's quite possibly the only path that can save our world.

Further "Dangerous Readings"

And finally...a blog that made me think of Andy again: "No matter how cynical you become, it's impossible to keep up"