CELEBRATE AMERICAN SECULARISM

"It is time to revive the evocative and honorable freethinker, with its insistence that Americans think for themselves instead of relying on received opinion. The combination of free and thought embodies every ideal that secularists still hold out to a nation founded not on dreams of justice in heaven but on the best human hopes for a more just earth." Susan Jacoby

American secularism is the happy medium that affords everyone, no matter their beliefs, the liberty to live without fear of oppression or punishment in the pursuit of happiness. It is a middle ground between organized religion and it's opposite-atheism. Abraham Lincoln never went to church, but could quote Scripture. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin believed in Nature's God and free will of men, refuting the Episcopal/Anglican doctrines they were raised with, choosing reason over superstition, which is the basis of Deism. One can believe in God, without adherence to the dogma of a religion. 

“God so loved the world that he made up his mind to damn a large majority of the human race” Robert Green Ingersoll

History has shown and continues to show the failures of theocracies, and has now also shown failures at the other end of the spectrum. Karl Marx believed religion was the "opium of the people" and made this atheism a cornerstone of the Marxist, or Communist political philosophy. Religion is made illegal and replaced with the belief in the State. History now has shown how unsuccessful atheism is as an established "no-religion" with the apparent failure of Communism around the world. Historically so far, neither extreme has been successful, although the Chinese may say otherwise, democracy is on the rise with the increased capitalism there. The Chinese government now officially allows five religions: Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism.

It is logical and reasonable for all people to enjoy the liberty to think, believe and work as they wish within a framework which guarantees the same for every other human being with tolerance of all beliefs. Free speech guarantees the right to teach and to preach, so each of us can choose to believe, or not, and should afford each individual, including their children to make their own choices, then have tolerance or indifference for opposing views and opinions. 


I want to be optimistic that the majority of humans in this world exist in this middle ground. My take is the current polarization and partisanship in America is mostly the result of what Jacoby describes as "received opinion". Whomever yells the most and the loudest are the extremes of politics and religions, yet there is a silent majority people in general who are moderate in their beliefs, both politically and spiritually.

Moderates need to speak up! The middle ground is the higher ground. Centrists need to find a voice and be heard so the keening rhetoric and propaganda of the extremes does not tear us apart.

Democrats vs. Republicans.  Both are to blame. Both are guilty of of mortgaging the American Dream on a promise of prosperity for all by policies controlled by corporate interests. We exist in a corporate oligarchy controlled by that 1%, and both parties supplicate to their funding. One side thinks the government should help those less fortunate (example: Social Security), the other thinks if one cannot be fortunate by virtue of hard work, then too bad, the government should not help (unless it's Social Security). One side fears socialism, the other authoritarianism. I have to think the middle ground of logic and reason is where most people exist. I am a registered Independent and this middle ground is what I seek. Where is that candidate?

In the spirit of "made in America" celebrate American secularism. We should be proud of the legacy of our democracy. This is our middle ground people, and truly what our country is founded on--WE THE PEOPLE...liberty for all... the pursuit of happiness. This should be the basis a third party, the higher ground, the centrist and moderate "head" of reason and logic that sits between the bickering and grappling "hands" of the Left and Right. Call it Independent, call it Deism, call it Progressive, Humanist, but call it SOMETHING and soon!


"It is crucial for today's secularists to find a way to convey the passions of humanism...to move hearts as well as to change minds...American secularists have trouble deciding what to call themselves today, in part because the term has been so denigrated by the right and in part because identifying oneself as a secular humanist--unlike say calling oneself a Jew, a Catholic or a Baptist--has a vaguely bureaucratic ring." Susan Jacoby, Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism