Good Without God

"What do you call an atheist with children?
A Unitarian Universalist."

Something has been bugging me for awhile now. It started while I was reading Greg Epstein's new book on Humanism - Good Without God. (By the way, far and away the best book on Humanism I've read to date.) He describes humanism and atheism as evoking a negative image for a large segment of the population, simply because they are 'godless' and the assumption seems to follow that a godless person cannot be a good person.

The fact the Epstein relayed this perception didn't bother me as much as the fact that, despite being eager to read his book, I didn't feel comfortable taking it with me to my temp job and reading it there. That brought home to me that there is a serious PR problem with being seen as 'godless'. Now, I'm not saying that I would have been overtly harassed, as happened when I took The God Delusion to my previous job to read, but rather that I simply didn't want that 'strike' against me in developing/maintaining relationships with my coworkers.

The statement I quoted above was something that I heard during one of the UU services I attended a few weeks ago. The discussion had turned to a similar issue - making life easier for one's children by giving them a 'church' they could identify with when asked 'And where do you go to church?' It was simply easier than being known as the one who doesn't go to church, especially in more-conservative communities.

Whether we agree with it or not, the perception is out there that one can't be good without God, that we would digress to the very worst forms of selfishness and exploitation without some sort of threat to prevent us from doing so. How do you combat that perception? Is it necessary to form supportive communities that teach humanistic values (such as the Unitarian Universalists do)? Is it necessary to be seen publicly as someone who is actively trying to sublimate his/her baser instincts for the common good (perhaps by attending such 'churches')?

While public affiliation with a group that encourages good behavior is no guarantee of such behavior actually being displayed, it does seem to imbue upon the attendant of such congregations a sort of 'benefit of the doubt' when it comes to judgments about his/her capacity/willingness to behave morally. We simply don't like or trust someone who doesn't respect a common authority when it comes to determining what is moral.

What then is a humanist and/or atheist to do? What is as reassuring to others of our morality as the common fear of immortal vengeance? (We'll skip over the contradiction wherein the biggest part of Christianity is salvation from such vengeance without having to perform good works/be good. In light of that, this whole argument should go away, but the perception that godless people aren't as good is still with us.)

Maybe it's time to start treating this like a PR war. And I mean more than simply laying claim to now-dead famous people who were atheists/humanists/UUs/etc. I mean being examples of positive virtues, rather than of negative attitudes/actions. For some time now I've followed a catch-all humanist blog feed in hopes of finding something to inspire this blog. What I've found is largely simple repetition of the same stories/commentaries attacking religion in many of the individual blogs. So not inspiring. There are two ways to approach a PR war - attack your 'enemy', or paint a better picture of yourself. We regularly decry politicians who engage in 'attack ads' during political elections; why should people feel any differently about a 'humanism' or atheism that is perceived primarily through its attacks on religion?

Epstein's book was filled with examples of positive actions and organizations that are affiliated with humanism. I hope to explore a few of these and report on them in this blog. In the meantime, try to remember that people, like moths, are attracted to light. I've taken a couple of Christians with me to the UU 'church', and they were both impressed with the atmosphere and values it reflected, even though God was absent. Would that more of humanism and atheism put their emphasis on good, instead of God.