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secular humanism vs. atheism

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MasterJedi
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17 Jul 2011, 3:56 pm

are the any major differences between secular humanism and atheism?

I mean, secular humanist sounds better. Just wondering if I should call myself that.


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Philologos
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17 Jul 2011, 4:00 pm

MasterJedi wrote:
are the any major differences between secular humanism and atheism?

I mean, secular humanist sounds better. Just wondering if I should call myself that.


Why not figure out what you believe before choosing a label?

I would not call myself an Antidisestablishmentarian without knowing my views and knowing what Antidistestablishmentarians believe - actually what they oppose.



MasterJedi
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17 Jul 2011, 4:04 pm

as far as I know, both believe the same thing


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AceOfSpades
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17 Jul 2011, 4:05 pm

MasterJedi wrote:
are the any major differences between secular humanism and atheism?
One is a philosophy and the other is a non-belief. Humanism and Judeo-Christianity have both influenced each other in a give and take way. People say the US is a Christian nation, but since humanism and Judeo-Christianity have influenced each other it's safer to say Western societies in general are mainly influenced by humanism.

MasterJedi wrote:
I mean, secular humanist sounds better. Just wondering if I should call myself that.
Well they're two different things. It's not that you're comparing two beliefs or two phiolosophies, but that one is a non-belief and the other is a philosophy. Call yourself whatever is fitting.



MasterJedi
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17 Jul 2011, 4:25 pm

that makes sense.


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marshall
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17 Jul 2011, 5:01 pm

Humanism is an actual philosophy while atheism is simply a label for lack of beleif.



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17 Jul 2011, 5:58 pm

MasterJedi wrote:
are the any major differences between secular humanism and atheism?

I mean, secular humanist sounds better. Just wondering if I should call myself that.


It depends on the sort of atheism. Secular humanism seems to be generally associated with post-modernism and pluralism. Post-modernists have a a very different understanding of truth to that of the new atheists; who are certainly not pluralists.


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techn0teen
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17 Jul 2011, 6:21 pm

As others have pointed out, atheism is a lack of belief in deity/deities. Secular humanism is morality & goodwill toward fellow human beings which is not inspired by religion. One can be both an atheist and a secular humanist. You don't have to just choose one. All the atheists I know are secular humanists.

Would you consider yourself agnostic? An agnostic is distinguished between an atheist based on they do not flat out reject a deity but rather reject the knowledge of whether it exists or not.



AstroGeek
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18 Jul 2011, 12:04 am

techn0teen wrote:
As others have pointed out, atheism is a lack of belief in deity/deities. Secular humanism is morality & goodwill toward fellow human beings which is not inspired by religion. One can be both an atheist and a secular humanist. You don't have to just choose one. All the atheists I know are secular humanists.

Would you consider yourself agnostic? An agnostic is distinguished between an atheist based on they do not flat out reject a deity but rather reject the knowledge of whether it exists or not.

That pretty much sums it up. Some secular humanists might be agnostics, many are atheists. I am both an atheist and a secular humanist. Many atheists are humanists in terms of their morals, even if they are unfamiliar with the term and don't use it themselves. Personally I prefer to associate with the humanist movement over the atheist one because humanism actually offers a substitute for religion.