Difference Between Atheism and Secular Humanism

The existence of God is still a question to many. The creation role is a perplexing part of earth history. Millions of years passed, still, we don’t have the answer for the presence of God by science. Philosophers, scientists, and thinkers express many theories according to the presence of deities, but nothing is accepted worldwide. Atheism and secular humanism are two different concepts.

Atheism vs Secular Humanism

The main difference between atheism and secular humanism is their faith in God. The Word atheism signifies the people who have no belief in the presence of God. Secular humanism denotes the people who believe in the freedom of inquiry. Unlike atheism, secular humanism has a broader range of thoughts like values, meaning, and identity. The atheist rejects the presence of God, while secular humanism does not fundamentally believe in God.

Atheism is the unbelief in the existence of God. It is in contrast to the concept of theism. The denial of the residence of the deities is called atheism In simple, it describes that there are no deities in the world. Atheism started its root in the 5th century BCE. It is the period of ancient Greek. The word atheism is derived from the Greek word Atheo(s) which, means without God(s).

Secular humanism is related to belief. In philosophy, secular humanism is naturalistic. It is non-religious but the ample knowledge from science. The word secular means something denoting the world without religion. The word humanism means the event or system that happens with the concerns or the ideal of the humans. It is characterized by the interest of humans instead of religion.

Comparison Table Between Atheism and Secular Humanism

What is Atheism?

Atheism originated in ancient greek in the 5th century. In the early days, atheism is used in many ways to mention the thought of rejection of deities. Peoples in those days were large societies believing in the presence of God. The term atheism denotes the people who do not share their religious beliefs like orthodox religionists. The term first developed in the 16th century. In the 16th century, the term atheism get a rapid spread with thoughts of skeptical inquiry.

An individual who called himself an atheist are lived in the 18th century. Those ages are called the Age of Enlightenment. The unprecedented atheism is the first political movement accepted by the french revolution that advocates the domination of human beings. By approaching from philosophical to social we get the arguments for atheism. Some atheists said that the problem of evil and inconsistent revelations are the reason for believing in God.

Atheism is a prejudiced position when compared to theism and makes people not believe in anything. The theist approaches the selfishness in the atheism that they need to provide rationale rather than the atheist to prove the absence of deities. It makes them to as a burden to prove. Not all the atheist have same codes.

What is Secular Humanism?

Secular humanism is distinct from atheism. It is a mixture of more general thoughts. It includes the values, meanings, and identities of individuals. Unlike atheism, secular humanism addresses every single thing that human faces in life. It is not a single concept instead a bunch of thoughts. It can be said that secular humanism is non-religious. Secular humanism can touch every sentence of life.

Paul Kurtz is the founder of secular humanism. He wrote a book called eupraxsophy where he denotes the aspects of life lead by a human being.
Secular humanism describes the individual enlightenment faith. It respects and celebrates individual thoughts and ideas. It advised us to set our own life without religious belief. Secular humanism queries the nature aspects and scientific knowledge without believing blindly.

Secular humanism has a universal look. Secular humanists can be mentioning themselves as unintended humans with moral agency. It has unique attributes to grab people worldwide. Secular humanism has its ethics that are vital for the followers. Secular humanism has the principle that is humans can examine the results and decide the things without accepting as it is. By this principle, real men and women are evolved.

Main Differences Between Atheism and Secular Humanism

1. Atheism expresses the absence of God, and Secular humanism represents the faith in freedom of inquiry.
2. Atheism has the only idea in the absence of God, and Secular humanism has many aspects like the issues in values, meanings.
3. Atheism was found from the 5th century, and Secular humanism dated from 1930.
4. Atheism can believe that human being is the religion, and Secular humanism has a wider range of beliefs.
5. Atheism is the recital of unbelief, and Secular humanism is a statement closely associated with belief.

Conclusion

Both atheism and secular humanism have different properties and meanings. They have similar thoughts of unbelief in God but, that is also different in secular humanism. An atheist is a disbeliever of the presence of the deities. An secular humanism need not be an atheist but, they are engaged by analyzing the freedom on the basis of the interest of the human beings. Atheism and secular humanism can be different in the way of view and also in the executions. An atheist is not a secular humanist but the secular humanist may be an atheist.

References

1. https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article-abstract/68/4/407/1599669
2. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/677738