©2002 Ed Buckner, Council for Secular Humanism, www.secularhumanism.org
I had much good help on this one, especially from the late Carol Faulkenberry of Alabama and from Dorothy Thompson of Oregon. Both suggested that the implied premise (that religion has only inspired positive things) should be attacked as well as that the considerable good done by nonbelievers should be pointed out. The question also implies that only religious people can be moral, but I’ll comment more on that in another essay.
The best short answer is probably that human beings build hospitals, found colleges, start wars, and carry out witch hunts; and that humans who are inclined to accomplish good things will find the necessary inspiration, with or without religion. It is also worth noting that throughout most of human history, at least in the West, religion has held sway. Only in the last few hundred years have there been any significant number of people around who are not dominated by religion to do good (or evil).
As Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry has noted, “Religion may have been the only place to go for art, music, architecture, or social service 500 years ago. It is no longer the case today, and so it is flawed to even expect secular humanism to attempt to furnish every area of people’s lives and societies as not even religion any longer tries to do.”
As Faulkenberry noted, many of the heroes and leaders of recent history could reasonably be considered freethinkers or secular humanists: Florence Nightingale, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and many others. Nightingale did more for health than any founders of hospitals, and Jefferson did found a college, the University of Virginia, that was one of the first anywhere not to have a theological school. The most general accomplishments that have been inspired without religion, even if not always by irreligion, are in the field of science, including medical science. And scientific progress is usually not inspired by religion, even when the particular scientists happen to be religious. By definition, supernatural explanations are unacceptable in science precisely because in scientific terms they are not explanations at all.
Probably the most important progress humankind has made since the 17th century is individual political freedom and the liberty to think freely, progress crucial to science and education. As Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner wrote, “Every liberty won by mankind has been won in spite of the hostility of the Church in power, and not through its aid. The Churches always fight against liberty—never for it, except it may be for particular liberties which serve their interests, and which in their hands cease to be liberties and become privileges” (from An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism, edited by Gordon Stein; Prometheus Books, 1980; p. 275.) The founders of the United States could not reasonably be called atheists, as a group, but they were far closer to being freethinkers or secular humanists than to being orthodox Christians (the details that support this claim can be found in another essay).
Let Dr. Thompson, who sent me a postcard on the subject from Oregon, have the last word:
“Whereas religion inspired witch hunts, inquisitions, burnings, hangings, torture, it was atheism that inspired freedom of speech, women’s suffrage, women’s right to birth control and pain relief. Atheism (never religion) has backed scientific progress of all kinds. Atheism has inspired reason, choice, and basic human thought.
“Atheism has inspired human rights, environmental care, philosophy, kindness to animals, open mindedness, non judgment, acceptances of races, homosexuals, and difference. All progress through the centuries, though hindered by religion, was inspired by ATHEISM!”
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