Jerry Coyne insists that secular humanism is not a religion

_{Denyse O'Leary

April 27, 2019

Intelligent Design, Religion, theism}

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It sounds as though the Darwinian biologist is confusing “religion” with “theism”:

The latest false analogy between religious and nonreligious belief systems is John Staddon’s essay “Is Secular Humanism a Religion?” for Quillette. Staddon’s answer is “Yes,” but his reasoning is bizarre. One would think that it should be “Clearly not” for, after all, “secular” means “not religious,” and secular humanism is an areligious philosophy whose goal is to advance human welfare and morality without invoking gods or the supernatural.Jerry Coyne, “Secular Humanism is Not a Religion” at Quillette

If Jerry Coyne thinks he is advancing human welfare and morality at all, he is involved in some kind of religion. The word means “to tie together,” that is to tie people to the universe, to each other, to their ultimate fate, etc. He spends so much time attacking other people’s religion, he can only be doing it on behalf of his own; a genuinely irreligious person does not care.

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See also: Jerry Coyne on hwo mathematician John Lennox embarrasses himself

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor has become Jerry Coyne’s “archenemy”

and

Jerry Coyne discovers the lack of intellectual freedom on campus

Comments

I agree with EDTA: "Belief System" is more appropriate. In my understanding, the word "religion" has its root in the Latin verb "ligare" - to fasten or bind. (Hence words such as "ligature".) Hence "religion" is "re-ligare" - to bind again; to join two things together that have become separated. To me, this means re-linking humanity with the spiritual or transcendent aspect of our existence. In secular humanism, the worldview is a materialist one: existence is nothing more than subatomic particles and forces doing what Nature obliges them to do. There can be no 'transcendent' or 'spiritual' aspect to materialism as these aspects of existence are totally absent from the worldview. (I have to smile when I hear materialists claim to be 'spiritual' but not religious. What 'spirit' do they refer to? It doesn't even exist according to their definition of reality!) However, Secular Humanism is a proselytising belief system; its goal is world domination. This could be seen as a religious goal, but to me it has more in common with 'reality-tunnel' political movements such as Communism. (I'm old enough to remember my classmates waving their Little Red Books, and the young guys on street corners proclaiming the Good News as they tried to sell copies of "Socialist Worker". (Most of these individuals now seem to be working as accountants, bankers and venture capitalists.) So yes, Secular Humanism: a belief system not a religion, but ultimately a militant system aimed at converting the masses to "The Truth".Charles Birch_{April 27, 2019
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Maybe it depends on which humanist you ask. From The Religion of Secular Humanism by Diane Dew (http://www.dianedew.com/seculhum.htm): "Although some would deny that secular humanism is a religion, even the Supreme Court has recognized it as such. In Torkoso v. Watkins (1961), the Supreme Court said that "among religions ... are Buddhism ... and secular humanism," etc. Humanism has its own organized belief system, publications and preachers. Like other religions, it also has a goal: the supplanting of all other religions with its own. It also receives a religious tax exemption. (Free Inquiry, winter 1986/87) In their own words: It even calls itself a religion. (The Humanist, Sept. 1984). The title of an article in The Humanist, Feb. 1983, for example, describes the movement as "A Religion for a New Age." In the article, teachers are charged with the role of "preachers ... ministers of another sort."" Paul Kurtz, in the preface to Humanist Manifestos I & II (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1973), p. 3: "Humanism is “a philosophical, religious, and moral point of view. "These affirmations [in the Manifestos] are not a final credo or dogma but an expression of a living and growing faith." From The Humanist, 10 Nov. 2014 (https://thehumanist.com/commentary/humanism-is-a-religion-why-even-anti-religion-humanists-should-celebrate): "As such, I understand that a large portion of the secular community rejects not only the notion of theism, but the larger concept of religion itself. In fact, I consider myself part of this group, as I would never self-identify as “religious.” Nevertheless, there are those within the humanist community who, though as godless as they come, consider humanism to be their religion. And while we could easily spend hours debating which approach is right, most of us realize that, at the end of the day, it’s simply a matter of personal preference. Funny thing is, having circulated in the secular movement for a decade, I can tell you that beyond the semantics, there are very few differences between those humanists who embrace the term “religion” and those who reject it (and let’s not forget the third group, which is probably the largest: those who are indifferent to the term)."doubter_{April 27, 2019
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Good distinction.hazel_{April 27, 2019
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The vast majority of the time I hear it used, "religion" primarily refers to belief systems that themselves include the supernatural. I prefer the term "belief system", because _everybody_ has one of those. I.e., the latter term includes both theistic and non-theistic, religious and secular, etc.EDTA_{April 27, 2019
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I read Coyne's essay. In general, I think it's good. My 2 cents.hazel_{April 27, 2019
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From Wikipedia
Religion is a cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements. However, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.[1][2] Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine[3], sacred things[4], faith,[5] a supernatural being or supernatural beings[6] or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life".[7] Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life, the universe, and other things. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs.[8] There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide,[9] but about 84% of the world's population is affiliated with one of the five largest religion groups, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion.[10] The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, atheists, and agnostics. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs.[11] The study of religion encompasses a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief.[12]
I agree with the quote from Coyne (although I haven't read either Staddon or Coyne's essay) and Seversky. Having philosophical beliefs about the nature of things, and even vague "there's something out there" beliefs about what there might be beyond the world we empirically experience does not rise to the status of religion. I offered the Wikipedia introduction on religion. Taking that all into consideration, I don't see how secular humanism (however one defines it) qualifies as a religion. For the sake of discussion, I would be curious to hear various people's succinct descriptions of what they think secular humanism is, and what religion is.hazel_{April 27, 2019
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I agree with Jerry Coyne. Of course, you can define "religion" so broadly that it encompasses almost anything. But what would be the point? And if there is a category of world-views or belief systems that we cal "religion", doesn't that imply that there is another category called "not-religions"? And if that is the case, why shouldn't atheism or agnosticism or secular humanism be not-religions?Seversky_{April 27, 2019
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