SilentLoner Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 A federal district court in Oregon has declared Secular Humanism a religion, paving the way for the non-theistic community to obtain the same legal rights as groups such as Christianity. On Thursday, October 30, Senior District Judge Ancer Haggerty issued a ruling on American Humanist Association v. United States, a case that was brought by the American Humanist Association (AHA) and Jason Holden, a federal prisoner. Holden pushed for the lawsuit because he wanted Humanism — which the AHA defines as “an ethical and life-affirming philosophy free of belief in any gods and other supernatural forces” — recognized as a religion so that his prison would allow for the creation of a Humanist study group. Haggerty sided with the plaintiffs in his decision, citing existing legal precedent and arguing that denying Humanists the same rights as groups such as Christianity would be highly suspect under the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution, which declares that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” “The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes,” the ruling read. The decision highlights the unusual position of the Humanist community, which has tried for years to obtain the same legal rights as more traditional religious groups while simultaneously rebuking the existence of a god or gods. But while some Humanists may chafe at being called a “religion,” others feel that the larger pursuit of equal rights trumps legal classifications. https://richarddawkins.net/2014/11/atheists-score-major-win-in-federal-court/ I'm not sure what to think of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fweethawt Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Oh, I'm sure it means there will be hell to pay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Oh geez.. I know they mean well… but I don't think it's what most humanists would want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 A federal district court in Oregon has declared Secular Humanism a religion, paving the way for the non-theistic community to obtain the same legal rights as groups such as Christianity. On Thursday, October 30, Senior District Judge Ancer Haggerty issued a ruling on American Humanist Association v. United States, a case that was brought by the American Humanist Association (AHA) and Jason Holden, a federal prisoner. Holden pushed for the lawsuit because he wanted Humanism — which the AHA defines as “an ethical and life-affirming philosophy free of belief in any gods and other supernatural forces” — recognized as a religion so that his prison would allow for the creation of a Humanist study group. Haggerty sided with the plaintiffs in his decision, citing existing legal precedent and arguing that denying Humanists the same rights as groups such as Christianity would be highly suspect under the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution, which declares that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” “The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes,” the ruling read. The decision highlights the unusual position of the Humanist community, which has tried for years to obtain the same legal rights as more traditional religious groups while simultaneously rebuking the existence of a god or gods. But while some Humanists may chafe at being called a “religion,” others feel that the larger pursuit of equal rights trumps legal classifications. https://richarddawkins.net/2014/11/atheists-score-major-win-in-federal-court/ I'm not sure what to think of this. They need to start building a monument somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Seems good for people in prisons and bad for people not in one. So ultimately good for everyone the way things are going. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VahnBlue Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 More fuel for the religious to call us religious now...great. Feels like a step forward and two back. Or maybe two steps forward and one back. Regardless, it's conflicting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted November 18, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted November 18, 2014 Secular Humanism does appear to me to qualify for legal religious status, at least more so than the Church of Scientology. Of course the rabid religionists will twist things to mean that atheism is a religion after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey101 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Secular Humanism does appear to me to qualify for legal religious status, at least more so than the Church of Scientology. Of course the rabid religionists will twist things to mean that atheism is a religion after all. If I believe in something, I can call it Humanism, Atheism, or not, it's my call. I can put everything people believe about the meaning of us and the universe in under one umbrella and call it religion, or not. I could care less if other people say I follow a religion. If it gives me more rights, more power to the word religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted November 18, 2014 Moderator Share Posted November 18, 2014 Getting the same tax-exempt status as religious groups would be nice, I suppose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 It's a victory. Calling it a religion gives unbelievers the same protections religious people enjoy. Don't over think this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Secular Humanism does appear to me to qualify for legal religious status, at least more so than the Church of Scientology. Of course the rabid religionists will twist things to mean that atheism is a religion after all. The rabid will be rabid anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duderonomy Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 "“The court finds that Secular Humanism is a religion for Establishment Clause purposes,” the ruling read." If the court said it wasn't a religion, it would put the state in the position of saying what a religion is. Sounds crazy, I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted November 19, 2014 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2014 It's a victory. Calling it a religion gives unbelievers the same protections religious people enjoy. Don't over think this. Vigile, that's a really good point. Thank you. It's horrible not having a 'religious' tag of some kind. I know that it doesn't bother a lot of atheists to have a 'tag' of any sort, but it does me. And I love the sound of 'humanism'. It would be a nice 'religion' to be proud of, I would think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator buffettphan Posted November 19, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2014 Vigile, that's a really good point. Thank you. It's horrible not having a 'religious' tag of some kind. I know that it doesn't bother a lot of atheists to have a 'tag' of any sort, but it does me. And I love the sound of 'humanism'. It would be a nice 'religion' to be proud of, I would think. There's a great article on the main blog, Atheist or Humanist, by a regular contributor that you might enjoy reading. Here are a couple of paragraphs: ...So, rather than identify myself as an atheist, I've decided to shift the emphasis to humanist. Atheist is not a moral position, but humanist is, as in “There's no 'God,’ so we have to look after one another.” Humanism is positive and looks upon ignorance about morality as evil. I regard ignorance as the greatest impediment to goodness and human progress, and recognize that the world is filled with ignorance. And too much of human ignorance is due to the deliberate and preconditioned habit of religious indoctrination, which requires deprogramming to get people aligned with reality. As social philosopher Eric Hoffer observed, it is astounding how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. I want to be that precocious child who asks questions about beliefs and unbeliefs. They are very human concerns. I'm just a human being concerned about the impact of irrational beliefs and the ignorance of reality, the resulting fears, paranoia, and confusions they produce. I speak as a human being to other human beings, rejecting all doctrines that divide us. I encourage believers and non-believers alike to pay attention to the fact that the scripture writers really, really, hated humans, as shown by their constant, unending, negativity toward us... http://new.exchristian.net/2014/11/atheist-or-humanist.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Reading of humanism referred to as a religion makes me want to avoid it in the same way I want to avoid other religions. That attitude, which I suspect others also share, is the downside of Humanism being tagged as a religion which, by the way, I do not think it is. It is more of a philosophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TrueFreedom Posted November 19, 2014 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2014 Reading of humanism referred to as a religion makes me want to avoid it in the same way I want to avoid other religions. That attitude, which I suspect others also share, is the downside of Humanism being tagged as a religion which, by the way, I do not think it is. It is more of a philosophy. That's the same thing that Bill O'Reilly says about Christianity. Wikipedia calls it a philosophical and ethical stance. I'm ok with calling it an unorganized religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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