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Home , Charles Francis Potter, Religious humanism

needs of our time," and Edwin H. Wilson, the 1979 Humanist of the Year and former The of editor of The Humanist, says that, " in a naturalistic frame is validly a religion." While I argue in Understanding The Times: The Religious Worldviews of Our Day and the Search for Truth that secular humanism is a comprehensive worldview David A. Noebel that consists of a (), phi- losophy (metaphysical ), ethics Religion: (1.) A worldview i.e., any set of (moral relativism), biology (spontaneous beliefs or system of thought that contains generation/evolution), psychology (self- a theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, actualization), sociology (feminism/ psychology, sociology, economics, poli- homosexualism), law (), poli- tics, law and history—Noebel (2.) tics (globalism), economics (socialism), "Among in this country which and history (French Enlightenment II), do not teach what would generally be con- Kurtz acknowledges the three main pillars sidered a in the existence of are of any worldview viz., theology, philoso- , Taoism, Ethical Culture, phy, and ethics. Secular Humanism and others."—U.S. One of the early voices of Secular Supreme Court (1961) (3.) "Any system Humanism was . of beliefs, practices, ethical values .. . Potter signed the [e.g.], humanism as a religion."— (1933) along with and Roy Webster's New World Dictionary (4.) "A Wood Sellars. Potter was a Baptist minis- system of thought shared by a group that "Secular Humanism is a religion. ter for eleven years and a Unitarian minis- gives members an object of devotion It is a religion because it contains, [God, the state, man, nature], a code of ter for eleven more years before founding as all worldviews contain, the first Humanist in New York ethics and a frame of reference relating a theology." individuals to their group and the uni- City in 1929. In Potter's 1930 book verse."—Columbia Encyclopedia (5.) Humanism: A New Religion he states, " ... is the name for an ideol- worldviews contain, a theology. When "Humanism is not simply another denom- ogy, a new closed worldview which func- Paul Kurtz says in the 1973 Humanist ination of Protestant Christianity; it is not tions very much like a new religion."— Manifesto that "no deity will save us, we a ; nor is it a cult. It is a new type of Harvey Cox (6.) "Over the years, men must save ourselves" he speaks the lan- religion altogether." and women who embrace the philosophy guage of religion. Salvation is a religious It is, as Roy Wood Sellars, author of or known as Humanism have con- experience and concept. While the the 1933 Humanist Manifesto, says, "A tributed significantly toward improving Christian worldview insists that God (or religion founded on realities in a religion the condition of life for all."—American Jesus Christ) alone can save our coming of age." Sellars said this in his Humanist Association (7.) "Pure religion (regeneration) and bodies (resurrection), ground-breaking work Religion Coming ... is this, to visit the fatherless and wid- the secular humanist worldview insists of Age (1928). ows in their affliction, and to keep oneself that reason and science can save humanity Indeed, nearly all the early secular unspotted from the world."—James (1:27) through progressive governmental and humanists admitted that secular - liberal educational programs. ism was a religion. John Dewey, for ecular Humanism is a religion. It is a It is a religion because it possesses and example, in his A Common Faith con- religion because it contains, as all promotes a religious symbol—a fish with cluded his book by stating, "Here are all feet and the name Darwin enscribed. The the elements for a religious faith that shall David A. Noebel, President of Summit religious symbol of the Christian world- not be confined to sect, class, or race. Ministries, is the author of Clergy in the view is either the cross or the fish with the Such a faith has always been implicitly Classroom: The Religion of Secular name Jesus enscribed. the common faith of mankind. It remains Humanism and Understanding The But even more specific is Kurtz's own to make it explicit and militant." Times: The Religious Worldviews of Our declaration in his preface to the Humanist While the has Day and the Search for Truth. Summit Manifestos I and II that, "Humanism is a made the faith explicit, the American edu- Ministries supplements the education of philosophical, religious and moral point cational establishment has made it mili- Christian students attending non- of view." FREE INQUIRY Senior Editor tant. The religion of Secular Humanism is Christian high schools, colleges, and uni- Gerald A. Larue says that humanism is, the only worldview allowed in the public versities. "a religion to meet the psychological schools. All other competing worldviews

Fall 1996 7 have been declared illegal by the U.S. functional definition of religion in order to of Minnesota the "U of M Atheists and Supreme Court and effectively eliminated include non-Christian and non-theistic Humanists" are identified under bit by bit-1962 (prayer), 1963 (the religions. Secular humanism, for better or "Student Organizations—Religious." Bible), 1980 (Ten Commandments), and worse, falls under this nontheistic func- Listed with "U of M Atheists and 1987 (God). tional definition of religion. It is, in reality, Humanists" are such groups as the Curtis W. Reese edited numerous vol- a nontheistic, natural religion, with a natu- Buddhist Association, Baptist Student umes entitled Humanist Sermons and in ralistic deity viz., natural selection. Union, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1931 wrote a work for the MacMillan Secular humanist lawyer Leo Pfeffer Catholic Student Association, Muslim publishing company entitled Humanist wrote in a 1977 issue of the Journal of Student Association, University Unitarian Religion. Reese had no problem with the Church & State that secular humanism Universalists, and Women of Virtue. notion that Secular Humanism was a reli- would triumph over three religions— Writing in the August 1991 issue of gion. That problem came later when the , Catholicism, and Judaism. Commentary magazine, Irving Kristol Paul Kurtzes of the world began to realize His article "The Triumph of Secular identifies secular humanism as the "new that secular humanism was in danger of Humanism" makes it clear that Human- religious impulse" that stands in contrast having to withdraw from the public edu- ism is not merely a philosophical or polit- to "the traditional biblical religions that cation square under the same interpreta- ical movement. Only religions triumph formed the framework of Western civi- tion of the separation doctrine that over other religions. Only triumph lization." Kristol argues that this new reli- Humanists cleverly used to eradicate over other faiths. gious impulse "is more than science" Christianity from the public schools. Paul Kurtz, writing in the Winter since it makes all kinds of inferences But that was yesterday. What about 1986/87 issue of FREE INQUIRY, admits about the human condition and human now? Basically nothing has changed. In that the organized humanist movement is possibilities. He insists that this religion fact, the evidence is stronger today that put in a quandry over the question of reli- of secular humanism is "the orthodox Secular Humanism is a religion than sev- gion. Why? Because the Fellowship of metaphysical-theological basis of the two enty-five years ago. Religious Humanists, the American modern political philosophies, socialism The 1994 Humanists of the Year, Lloyd Ethical Union, the Society for Humanistic and liberalism." and Mary Morain, co-authored a work in Judaism, and the American Humanist But let me conclude with an example 1954 titled Humanism as the Next Step: Association "all consider themselves to be from Harvard. The Harvard University An Introduction for Liberal Protestants, religious." Indeed, Kurtz laments the fact Gazette (July 9, 1993) contained a front- Catholics, and Jews. Chapter One was that the American Humanist Association page article by Debra Bradley Ruder enti- "The Fourth Faith." The Morains sin- has "a religious tax exemption" (p. 5). tled, "Humanist Chaplain Serves Ethical cerely believe, as did Sellars, that secular [This has since changed.—EDs.] `Nonbelievers."' The chaplain, Thomas humanism is the historically logical and In a follow-up article on the same sub- Ferrick, is one of thirty-four full- and rationally based religion to follow in the ject (FREE INQUIRY, Fall 1991) Kurtz part-time chaplains at Harvard and wake of the other three religions. Indeed, states that the American Humanist Radcliffe, and serves as executive direc- there are few differences between liberal Association "still retains its religious tor of the Humanist Association of or liberated Protestantism, Catholicism, exemption ... [and] continues to empha- Massachusetts. Ferrick, a former Roman Judaism, and Humanism! All speak and size that its Counselor program is reli- Catholic priest, left the priesthood over understand the language of theological gious and performs `pastoral' and 'minis- the issues of evolution and homosexual- , ethical situationism, biological terial' duties" (p. 5). ity, to take up the Humanist chaplaincy at evolution, political correctness, sexual Secular humanist groups on our Harvard. experimentation, and the "gospel" of tol- nation's campuses are routinely placed in Ferrick's support comes from the erance and broadmindedness (except for the religious sections of student directo- American Humanist Association, the Eastern Orthodox and Evangelicals). ries. For example, in the Auburn American Ethical Union, the Fellowship The U.S. Supreme Court noted in University student and faculty directory of Religious Humanists, the Humanist Torcasco v. Watkins (1961) that secular for 1985/86 under "Auburn Pastors and Association of Massachusetts and Dr. humanism was indeed a religion in the Campus Ministries" one finds the . Lamont, who died last same vein as other world religions like Humanists listed with Dr. Delos McKown year, was the author of The Philosophy of Buddhism and Taoism. When the U.S. as "Humanist Counselor." McKown, a Humanism and frequent writer for The Supreme Court identified secular human- contributing editor for FREE INQUIRY Humanist magazine and even FREE ism as a religion it did so, according to magazine, wears two hats at Auburn— INQUIRY. For Corliss Lamont, a long- James Davison Hunter, by expanding the philosophy professor and humanist priest. time, hard-core, true Humanist believer, meaning of religion. At one time the Court In the University of Arizona student to financially support a Humanist chap- used the term religion in its substantive handbook for 1990/91, the "Humanists" lain at Harvard and help establish an form, e.g. Davis v. Bacon (1890) and are listed alongside of Ambassadors for endowment fund for such a chaplaincy Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States Christ, American Baptist Campus speaks volumes about the true nature of (1892), but beginning in 1943 (United Ministry, Baptist Student Union, Campus Secular Humanism. States v. Kauten) the Court began using a Crusade for Christ, etc. At the University The Gazette article states that

8 FREE INQUIRY there are humanists who, for whatever of Humanism: A Statement of Principles." religious people could embrace them as reason, embrace the tenets of humanism Every three months when I receive FREE well—as long as they believe in human but don't want to let go of their religious INQUIRY I read this affirmation. What reli- worth and potential. feelings. gion could offer more? It reminds me that Is the Earth round? Not exactly. By label, I'm a Unitarian Universalist, I am a moral person, that I have values, Technically, the Earth is a sphere and not a denomination resulting from the merger that I have worth. quite round. of two groups—the Unitarians, who Any nonreligious person with a love Is humanism a religion? Not exactly. believe in one God, not a Trinity; and the for humankind could easily embrace each Technically, humanism is a belief system Universalists, who believe in universal of the twenty-one humanist tenets. Many that is not quite a religion. salvation. A church founded today on those tenets would be on the fringes of Christianity. Many Unitarian Universal- ists churches have moved so far from the What Is ? group's original tenets that one could ask, "Is Unitarian a religion?" I've often been amused when visiting Unitarian Universalist churches across Mason Olds the country. Sometimes I can't tell if the members are religious people trying to Religions, as a component of culture, be humanists, or humanists trying to be re creations of human beings. They "In traditional Western religions, it religious. were created so that human beings might is believed that in order to be Now, here's a thought to consider: live better. Religions then are not intrinsi- religious one must believe in God Could the power or force often referred to cally good, but they have value in so far as and in personal immortality. as God be a natural, but, as yet, a scientif- they contribute to the living of good lives. However, the advocates of ically undiscovered force? If so, then one It is possible for a particular religion to religious humanism maintain that could believe in the existence of this life serve its useful purpose in a particular one can be religious without force—and even call it God—and still not time and circumstance, and, when the sit- giving intellectual assent to either be considered religious because it is belief uation radically changes, the religion is no of these beliefs." in a natural, not a supernatural force. longer useful and so it is discarded. It After all, lightning and thunder, earth- seems that this is exactly what happened Today it is the feeling of many in our quakes, meteors, and eclipses were all to the ancient Greek religion. Of course, a culture that Western religions have run once considered supernatural phenomena. new religion, Christianity, was created their courses; they have served the pur- Just because we don't understand all the and invaded Greece to take over the poses for which they were created, and, secrets of the universe is no reason to vacancy. like the ancient Greek religion before characterize them as supernatural. I'm The ancient Greek thinker Xenophanes them, they are in their twilight years. The sure there are still many natural laws yet understood more clearly that it was times require that poets and artists arise to be discovered, and these discoveries who created their religions and who will create a new religion for the liv- may take thousands of years. Meanwhile, their than do many of our contempo- ing of these days. It is in this context that many people will fill in the gaps by belief raries. He noted, "The Ethiopians say say I wish to take on the mantle of the poet in the supernatural. Why not call it that their gods are snub-nosed and black; and attempt to create a rough sketch of "undiscovered natural law?" and the Thracians, that theirs are blue- the nature of religious humanism, expressed awe for what eyed and red-haired." Xenophanes went gleaned from the ideas of a number of he did not know. He said, "To know that on to speculate, "If oxen and horses and advocates. what is impenetrable to us really exists lions had hands with which to paint and ... is at the center of true religiousness. In make the works of art that men make, suggest that the first short stanza might this sense, and in this sense only, I belong horses would paint gods resembling Ideal with history. In the sixteenth cen- to the ranks of the devoutly religious horses, and oxen gods resembling oxen, tury, the Protestant Reformation began in men." I don't know this for a fact, but my making the bodies of the gods just like the . Though it had its origin in guess is that Einstein believed that the bodies of their own species." Germany with the thought of Martin "impenetrable" would one day be pene- Luther, it soon spread to England, giving trated. As some of his theories are only Mason Olds is Professor of Religion and rise to the Church of England. In the sev- today being validated, I predict that sci- Philosophy in the Department of Humani- enteenth century, Congregationalism ence will continually unlock the keys to ties at Springfield College, Massachusetts, arose out of the Puritan movement within life, actually delving into what many call where he also served as President. He was Anglicanism. When the Puritans immi- "God." Editor of Religious Humanism for the grated to New England, they established On the back of this magazine is usually past six years and is the author of the Congregational church in many of the found a statement called "The Affirmation American Religious Humanism (1996). New England colonies. In the early nine-

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