So What is Secular Humanism?

Although most people in the USA would not recognize the International Humanist and Ethical Union’s (IHEU) symbol of the Happy Human, as with any organization it is necessary to have some kind of distinguishing logo. This non-gendered human has it’s bat-shaped arms and legs thrusting in a life-affirming “Yippee!!!”. As opposed to the ubiquitous cross of Christianity which symbolizes a crucified martyr, hammered up in a T-shaped pose. Now, which one is more appealing to me?



The raised arms of the happy human could be construed as a human being under-siege from the attacks of religious fundamentalists. The humanist's logo could actually be an Evangelical preacher pointing a crucifix, like a gun, at the ‘hapless’ human with its wretched arms up in fear. You could put any religious symbol in the crucifix’s place; It could be Islam’s sickle, or even L. Ron Hubbard’s thetan testing machine attached to the nipples of the ‘zappy’ human. As we all know, fear sells when ignorance flourishes.



I have come to find that Secular Humanists are not trusted by conservative Christians because they deny the savior, the super-natural, and are guilty of self-love. Self-love has a masturbation connotation, which is something that no conservative Christian would ever admit to; unless they're caught. I'm sure they've got a camp for those offenders. The 'Idle Hands are the Devils Playthings' Camp. Lights out at bedtime must be a real drag.

Many of the scientific discoveries over the last 200 years have push the super-naturalistic brand names to the side lines of understanding our physical universe. We have found absolutely no evidence of an entity or creator in all of our endeavors, let alone that said creator is interested in meddling in human affairs. But the fundamentalists, have thought that when they didn't understand it then it's Gods will, or an act of God. As Bill o'Reilly would say 'Tide comes in, tide goes out; never a miscommunication'. The short and simple answer is ‘God did it, now don’t ask anymore questions’. The Christian right-wing leaders are not dumb when it comes to misinforming their church goers. They will use free-from-reality thinking to perpetuate ancient myths and superstitions of our world as 'fact'. The word 'truth' means nothing anymore, it's all relative these days. Stephen Colbert and his crack comedy writing team came up with the perfect word for this; 'Truthiness'. As Wikipedia states it' Truthiness is a "truth" that a person claims to know intuitively "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.' What a great new word for our Humansist lexicon. Truthiness  perfectly describes the way people obfuscate inconvenient scientific discoveries, both material and theoretical; What happens when the unstoppable force of reason and progress meet with the immovable object of religious dogma?

So, now that I have joined the AHA and Center of Inquiry, and recognize myself as a person with a Humanist philosophy, (with a helping nudge from the Christian right wing, and to Greg Epstein's wonderful book 'Good Without God'), I can no longer keep quiet. I have to be part of a group that pushes back on the religious right-wing's attempt to encroach into our public school curriculum and excessivly push their agenda in public life. I cannot be alone in my reaction to them, so I have to stand with a group that represents my philosophy and passion. That group seems to be Humanist.