#1 ·
Everyone talks about "religious freedom" for the individual, or how religious groups get to be treated equally as organizations. But what about us? What about the people who aren't into the whole "God" thing? Sure, you have the right to think whatever you want, but when it comes to actually organizing, the system basically shuts the door in our faces. You can start a nonprofit, sure, but the Religious Freedom Restoration Act gives all those special perks specifically to religious groups.
Why settle for less? This isn't some new concept; more progressive countries figured this out ages ago. Back in 1950, the Council of Europe dropped the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 9 explicitly says everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. It uses the phrase "religion or belief," which covers both bases. Same deal with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the United Nations General Assembly back in '48. Non-religious beliefs get the same protection. Everyone should have the freedom to express their views—whether alone or together, publicly or privately—through teaching, practice, and rituals.
In several other countries, groups for atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and the American Humanist Association have achieved legal status equal to religious organizations. That’s what we need to fight for here in America. We shouldn't be stuck hiding in the shadows or just meeting in private living rooms. If we want change, we have to take the first step ourselves.
So, let's get organized! The first move is setting up an association under the Nonprofit Organization Act. It’s easy enough—you only need three founders—but we need to play bigger. We shouldn't just scrape by; we should wait until we have dozens of people ready so we launch as a real, solid organization built for growth.
The goal is to push for amendments to the Religious Freedom Act so that its provisions apply to "belief communities" too. Right now, religious groups are treated as a special class of nonprofit with extra rights.
But look at the fine print: under current laws, secular humanists could technically argue for registration as a religious group. The law doesn't strictly define "religion" as needing to believe in something supernatural or in God. People love to tell us, "You're just believers in reverse—you believe God doesn't exist." Fine. If that's how they want to play it, then we demand the same rights! We want our organization to get government funding (if that's still a thing), to offer "humanistic education" in schools, to run our own academies, and to grab those tax breaks.
The law says an association can qualify for religious status if it hits 500 members and stays active for five years. Alright then. Let's get to work.
There are hundreds of thousands of people in America who identify as atheists or agnostics, or just refuse to pick a side, or follow a religion just because it's what they were raised with.
If that sounds like you—if secular humanism hits home and you're tired of being alone and want to hang out with like-minded people—join us!
To join the Steering Committee, you just need to accept the Minimal Charter of Humanism and shoot an email with your name, address, and phone number to secularhumanists(at)gmail.com.