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The following article is from the Secular Humanist Bulletin, Volume 23, Number 4 (Winter 2007/2008).
On the weekend of Friday, November 9 to Sunday, November 11, the Center for Inquiry/New York City held a landmark conference on religion, politics, and society, titled “The Secular Society and Its Enemies.” More than four hundred people were drawn to the sold-out event held at the New York Academy of Science’s stunning new headquarters on the fortieth floor of the recently rebuilt 7 World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. The Academy’s space offered sweeping 360-degree views of Manhattan, including the site of the World Trade Center’s twin towers, destroyed in the terrorists’ attack of September 11, 2001. The conference attracted an audience that was remarkable for its diversity and included men and women of all ages—scholars, journalists, young, retirees—from across the United States and beyond, and more than forty student members of CFI/On Campus. The events boasted an impressive list of speakers, including Richard Dawkins, Alan Dershowitz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Peter Singer, Wendy Kaminer, Ann Druyan, Christopher Hitchens (by video), and a host of others.
Center for Inquiry/New York City Executive Director Derek Araujo opened the conference on Friday night with an outline of its bold themes. The secular society protects conscience from coercion and government and religion from each other. In this sense, secularism is not unbelief but a positive political philosophy. Its enemies include not only religious fundamentalists and theocrats but also cultural conservatives and multiculturalist liberals. What emerged as the leitmotif in the three days of discussion was what Paul Kurtz in his opening remarks dubbed “multisecularism.” Within the broad framework of freedom, different cultures historically develop diverse traditions of secular values.
The evening continued with a birthday salute to Carl Sagan, who would have been seventy-three years old on that day. His widow, Ann Druyan, CEO of Cosmos Studios, joined astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson in a touching tribute to Sagan, who was a close friend and founding member of the Center for Inquiry. Following their remarks, Paul Kurtz inducted Druyan and Tyson into the International Academy of Humanism as two of the Academy’s 2007 Humanist Laureates. Derek Araujo and Wendy Kaminer then presented Matthew LaClair, the brave New Jersey high school student who blew the whistle on his teacher’s proselytizing, with the Council for Secular Humanism’s 2007 James Madison Religious Liberty Award. Edward Tabash, Esq., ended Friday evening’s program with an impassioned plea to rally to prevent the appointment of another conservative justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The historical layers of multisecularism were explored during the weekend’s plenary sessions, starting with a Saturday morning panel discussion featuring intellectual historians Susan Jacoby, Rebecca Goldstein, and Jennifer Michael Hecht. Hecht focused on non-Western secularism. Goldstein rebutted the claim that the European Enlightenment was an outgrowth of Christianity. Susan Jacoby reminded the audience that public avowal of religious skepticism still constitutes political suicide in the “secular society” of America.
The harmony (and tension) between science and secular values were spotlighted in two sessions moderated by D.J. Grothe, host of CFI’s popular podcast and radio show Point of Inquiry. The first was a discussion on science education by Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ann Druyan, and Victor Stenger. Druyan movingly proclaimed science a “permanent revolution,” and Dawkins described the “poetic function” of science alongside its function.” Tyson and Stenger compared their experiences as science educators, with Tyson exalting science as our only reliable antidote to self-delusion. Later, in a probing one-on-one conversation with Grothe, Dawkins aired his misgivings about whether his confrontational stance on religion is strategically wise.
To these historical and scientific secularisms, Peter Singer added ethical secularism, demonstrating in his keynote address that nonreligious ethics provide a compelling account of the morality of life from beginning to end and a rationale for extending moral concern beyond homo sapiens. The conference took on Christian enemies of the secular society. A panel featuring Edward Tabash, Wendy Kaminer, Damon Linker, and Michelle Goldberg engaged in a counterpoint on reports of the Christian Right’s demise and the prudence of entering into strategic alliances with religious liberals. In a wide-ranging video interview of Christopher Hitchens by Derek Araujo (Hitchens having been forced to cancel his appearance due to a scheduling conflict), the iconoclastic writer sounded an alarm over the recrudescence of orthodoxy in Putin’s Russia.
A moderated conversation between Tawfik Hamid and Paul Berman turned to Islamist enemies of secularism and the Western multiculturalists who appease them. Hamid, a would-be terrorist turned reformer, shared an insider’s view of “petro-Islam.” Berman closed by imploring his fellow secular liberals to come to the aid of Muslim dissidents everywhere.
On the conference’s closing day, Alan Dershowitz set aside atheism and enlisted Jefferson to sing the praises of the godless constitution of the United States. The question-and-answer session that followed closed with a touching exchange between Dershowitz and LaClair. Like LaClair, Dershowitz is a recipient of the James Madison Religious Liberty Award. Later, LaClair joined other young activists in a panel about the future of the freethought movement, which also featured Nica Lalli, whose memoir Nothing tells of adventures in secular parenting.
As explained by CFI staff in a special briefing, the multiple challenges and opportunities facing multisecularism are being taken up by CFI in New York City and around the world. A $6.25 million capital campaign goal has been set to make possible a permanent home for science and reason in Manhattan. To inquire about making a contribution, call Sherry Rook, Vice President of Development, at (800) 818-7071.
The conference concluded with a tour of the United Nations led by Austin Dacey, CFI’s UN representative in New York. There conference goers read aloud from the Universal Declara tion of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion,” placing emphasis on conscience.
The Center for Inquiry plans to make selected video recordings of the weekend’s event available online. Check future issues of SHB and Free Inquiry and on the Web at www.centerforinquiry.net for more information.
Austin Dacey is the Center for Inquiry representative to the United Nations in New York.
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