Secular Humanism

Many people I meet on the street self-identify as, say, atheist, agnostic, or any one of a number of religions, but I rarely meet anyone who would call themselves a “secular humanist”. So I was interested to find out more about secular humanism from a man named Rich I talked with at the park recently. And as I’ve considered what he told me, as well as looking up more about it on my own, I’m convinced many people would qualify as secular humanists, even in churches, and don’t even realize it. It’s a kind of worldly thinking that can be easily disguised as something else, so it needs to be identified.

What makes it hard to identify is probably the “humanist” part. The American Humanist Association describes humanism as “a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility.”

There is so much there that has close parallels with Christianity. When God created He brought order to chaos, making logic and science possible. The beauty of creation shouts of the artistry of it’s Creator, and the fine-tuning of our earth for life demonstrates His compassion, as it is also demonstrated throughout history in the pages of Scripture. As creatures made in God’s image, we each carry His dignity and intrinsic worth and value, and the freedom we find in Christ allows us to live out God’s concern for our fellow image-bearers, both now and in our stewardship of our planet for future generations.

The part that betrays worldliness, though, is the “secular” part. “Secular” is defined as “denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.” Together, then, secular humanism is “the belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God.”

That was pretty much the way Rich described himself, and even though many people don’t realize it, any pursuit of self righteousness and fulfillment without being rooted in God’s standard of morality and His purpose for our lives is the very definition of secular humanism itself.

No, as created beings our purpose comes from our Creator, as do our standards of morality. The Bible gives us Someone greater than ourselves to live for. We are to “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” – the eternal, not the temporal. And though we all have a general sense of morality in our God-given conscience, the Bible gives us “teaching… reproof… correction, and… training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16)

This doesn’t mean Christians are to throw out our God-given ability to think and reason for ourselves. Acts 17:11 gives an example of the value of critical thinking: “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” We are to evaluate and discern between the secular and the spiritual: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:5)

The secular goal of living out all that it means to be human, as Rich put it, is too small, for who would better know what we are capable of as humans than the one who created us? We are creatures made in God’s image, yes, but He wants so much more for us than that. God wants us to live out our purpose as children of our Heavenly Father: “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil 4:6) “…in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3)

Eph 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by grace, through God and not of ourselves, and then vs.10 goes on to tell us to what purpose we are saved for: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We are created to be children of God through faith in Jesus, and created to then do the good works God intends for us. And there is nothing more human than that.

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