Free•think•er~ a person who forms opinions on the basis of reason, independent of authority or tradition, especially a person whose religious opinions differ from established belief (ref: Dictionary.com)
Is it a fallacy, or even arrogant to think that we atheists are truly Freethinkers? If, as the definition suggests, it is mostly about decoupling oneself from superstition and a belief in a god, then we are Freethinkers. But we can also have a dogmatic side. Is an out and out rejection of anything religious just because we refuse to accept someones religious belief, a form of Freethinking? Couldn't the scope of Freethinking be used to describe those religious people who have taken off the shackles of dogma and doctrine, but still have a belief in a higher power? Perhaps the beauty of Freethought is that when new evidence manifests itself, we make an adjustment in our intellectual course. I feel that way about my religious friends. The evidence suggests that we cannot politically fight the religious right-wing by ourselves, and that we need to ask our progressive religious friends to join us. Maybe Freethought and Humanism are not necessarily overlapping. In that case I would rather be a Humanist than a Freethinker, though I strongly suspect that both of those terms really do overlap. I am uncomfortable calling myself a Freethinker if it discards those who have a religious belief but are yet based otherwise in the emperical and compassionate world. After all, there are self-professed Freethinkers who have little compassion at all.
Should Humanist/atheist groups work alongside religious groups for the common good? Should we pool our money and resources to serve the needy, the environment, education etc? Or do we go it alone and discard those who share over 90% of our values but pray to a higher power? The atheist (Humanist) non-profit, Foundation Beyond Belief is bravely challenging the gap between non-believers and the religious. "Different beliefs, common goals" is the phrase Dale McGowan uses to address this issue. James Croft from the Harvard Humanist Communtiy wrote an eloquent essay on Humanist priorities, stating "Often, if Humanism is to be “Good Without God”, we seem to be more concerned with “Without God” than with being “Good”.
I agree with their sentiment and they are putting it into action, despite criticism from some within the atheist community.
Do we need to even contemplate an alliance with the progressively religious, both politically and socially? Sean Faircloth of the Richard Dawkins Foundation (formerly at the Secular Coalition of America) says that the non-religious or religiously affiliated are a formidable power, the third largest 'religious' demographic in the USA. It would be wishful thinking to try to galvanize that 17% in the form of political action. First of all, many of them are probably just not that interested in the battle between 'reason' and religion. It is an easier thing to imagine us working with actively progressive religious groups to thwart the conservative religious right-wing's socially backward agenda, that seeks to push out gays from their hard-earned fight to be an accepted part of the mainstream and given equal rights under the law; to cut off the conservative Christians' attempt to pull back women from the right to be in charge of their own bodies and destinies; to block the Fundamentalists who seek to depose scientific inquiry that uncomfortably clashes with their literalistic and non-scientific interpretations of a book of mythological and allegorical stories.
The religious who display Humanism in their deeds are our allies, and we cannot put up a wall of separation between us and them. We need their passion for progressive change, for we cannot do it all alone.
As a parting note on this entry, my daughter had a Humanist Bat Mitzvah last year. A traditionally religious coming-of-age ceremony that Humanist Jews have secularized, removing all reference to a higher power and instead celebrating the child and life itself. At the end of the ceremony my God believing Rabbi friend, from a reconstructionist temple, made a blessing in Yahweh's name. It was a beautiful sign of a friendship between a Humanist family and their religious friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment