true but comforting and affirming.
OK, well, then if there is no God (as atheism maintains), or if there might be a God, or perhaps something else out there, but we can’t be sure and no one can really know (as agnosticism maintains), and if, ultimately, whatever may be out there is nonetheless natural and not supernatural (as naturalism maintains), then to whom or what are we to look for to help us or guide us as we flail around on this all-too-natural, godless planet? Whom or what are we to rely upon to help us fight injustice, cure disease, and ensure moral progress?
Ourselves.
Humanism
Humanism begins with denial or doubt concerning the existence of God, and the concomitant embracing of naturalism—but then goes well beyond that by positively affirming and valuing the potential of human beings to solve problems and make the world a better, safer, and more just place. Humanism rests firmly upon the recognition that people have the capacity to do great things, to solve problems, and to act ethically. Thus, a humanist is someone who does not believe in the otherworldly tenets of religion—and soundly rejects both theism and supernaturalism—but who does believe in many things of this world, such as family, friendship, cooperation, reason, art, science, humor, love, rational inquiry, ingenuity, democracy, compassion, tolerance, imagination, open debate, human rights—and then some.
According to British humanist philosopher Stephen Law,25 humanism is a comprehensive worldview that rests upon these key premises: there are no gods or supernatural beings out there, science and reason are the best tools available for discovering what is true, this is the only life we will ever have, moral values and ethical frameworks should be strongly shaped and informed by an empirically grounded understanding of the human condition, every individual is responsible for making his or her own moral decisions and cannot hand over this responsibility to someone or something else, democratic societies with a clear separation of church and state are ideal, and finally, life can be quite meaningful—in fact, can be more meaningful—without the existence of God.
According to the American Humanist Association (which has nearly 650,000 likes on Facebook and counting), humanism is “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.”26
Humanism is what makes atheism and agnosticism actively moral.27 After all, simply lacking a belief in God does not ensure any sort of ethical orientation—the godless butchers Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot and the godless advocate of selfishness Ayn Rand make that perfectly clear. But humanist principles—especially those that emphasize human worth and dignity, the imperative to respect human rights, reverence for life, and the intrinsic ability of humans to be caring and just—provide the foundations of secular moral orientations.
Of course, the secular humanist can often be met with pessimism and doubt. Whenever I find myself discussing religion and humanism with a group of friends, some individual will express strong skepticism concerning humanity’s ultimate goodness. And interestingly, one thing I’ve noticed from such discussions on this topic is that it is almost always a person of faith—a theist—who takes the position that humans are not intrinsically good but rather intrinsically wicked. And this is to be expected, given Christianity’s underlying premise that we are all fallen beings, tainted by sin and in need of salvation that can only be attained through God’s grace—oh, and the murder of his Son. Such is the message at the traditional heart of the most successful religion ever concocted.
I don’t buy it. I do not believe that all children are born with an evil disposition, that sin is some hereditary toxin passed down from one generation to the next, and that the intransigent, default position of humanity is one of malevolence. Rather, like my fellow humanists, I remain convinced that while some humans sometimes do horrible things, most human beings are—most of the time—good. Sure, we are capable of all kinds of unspeakable barbarity, sadism, and savagery. But those are aberrant, atypical, and sporadic expressions of an otherwise—and obviously—overriding moral nature.
Just consider the daily news. CNN. The New York Times. Fox News. Whatever news source you prefer. Now, to be sure, someone who doubts the innate goodness of human beings will invariably say something like: “How can you say that humans are good? Just look at the news! It is full of rape and murder! Every single day the news reports on the most horrific things. Clearly, one look at the newspaper must convince you that people are rotten.” It’s a potent argument. In fact, just to see it through, I’m going to look at the newspaper right now and see what humans are up to. According to my local city paper, a driver hit a bicyclist and then drove off without caring for the victim, who subsequently died; a man was shot in his apartment; a man attempted to kill his wife during a domestic dispute; two college students were stabbed near their fraternity; a mother and her two children were killed by a drunk driver; the owner of a hair-removal clinic was arrested for inappropriately touching female clients; burglaries at local storage unit facilities are on the rise—and so on. There’s a lot of badness going on out there, just this morning, as reported in the Los Angeles Times.28
But guess what? Daily news reports of various crimes actually affirm and support the humanistic insistence that humans are essentially good. It is, paradoxically, the fact that we read of horrific things in the news on a daily basis that bolsters an abiding faith in humanity. Indeed, there is no greater evidence for the veracity of humanism than the daily news. How so? Simple: it is because the news reports on what is rare, what is unusual, what is out of the ordinary. That’s why murder and rape are headlines: because they are notable exceptions to otherwise decent, everyday human behavior.
If humanity were naturally, intrinsically evil—if people’s default position were bad, immoral, unethical—then the newspaper would look very different. It would be replete with shocking, unbelievable headlines such as: “Fifth Grade Class Visits Local Quilt Museum—All Survive!”; “Candy Store Not Robbed for Seventh Straight Year!”; “Couple Takes Morning Walk Every Day Around Their Neighborhood Without Incident!”; “Sorority Organizes a Picnic at Local Park—No One Maimed!”; “Hospital Staff Delivers a Baby!”—and so on.29 But we don’t see such headlines, because they are the mundane, all-too-expected stuff of cooperative, communal, daily human life.
As anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy points out, about 1.6 billion people get on airplanes every year, flying here and there.30 They deal with long lines, delayed departures, cramped seats, and tiny bathrooms. And yet, on how many of these flights do people beat up or kill one another? Less than .001 percent. And while the news occasionally reports on a brawl that breaks out on an airplane, the fact that such a brawl makes the news, going viral online, only speaks to its true rarity; if humans were naturally inclined to be nasty and brutish, then the news and viral videos would be about flights that don’t experience brawls. The bottom line is that when it comes to air travel, people from all walks of life, from all races, ethnicities, and nationalities, people from all different religions and no religions at all, of varying ages and personality types—the vast majority—experience their flights with virtually no violence, aside from perhaps some mild elbow boxing with the stranger sitting next to them. That’s some strong evidence that most people can and do behave well, even within less than comfortable conditions. As American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt observes, “our ability to work together, divide labor, help each other, and function as a team is so all-pervasive that we don’t even notice it.”31
Admittedly, there have always been parts of the world wracked by war. There are neighborhoods right now where gunfire is heard on a nightly basis. There are people caught up in an international web of human trafficking. There are millions of people who lie, steal, cheat, rape, and murder. There are periodic genocides.
