Category: Religious Humanism: Dead Alive or Bifurcating?

Just a couple of years ago, an objective observer might be forgiven for concluding that religious Humanism was dying—or at least that it was in a very bad way.

Moving beyond discussions of the existence of God and the evils of religion, groups of nonbelievers are meeting to ask the big questions that animate human life: Who are we? Why are we here? How should we live?

“Humanism” has different definitions and distinct meanings in different disciplines.

There was never any doubt about where John Dewey stood: he was a godforsaken and unrepentant atheist. Yet if he were around today, he would probably find the notion of “spiritual but not religious” attractive.

Humanism is often divided into the religious and the secular. Both share the basic values and beliefs of humanism but differ in the way they practice it.

If community glue is what religious people are getting out of their churches, then we have an obligation as humanists to provide a similar—albeit nontheistic—glue to our membership.