Why Secular Humanism can do what Atheism can't

a post by Scotty Hendricks for the Big Think blog

Atheism doesn't offer much beyond non-belief, can Secular Humanism fill the gaps?

• Atheism is increasingly popular, but the lack of an organized community around it can be problematic.
• The decline in social capital once offered by religion can cause severe problems.
• Secular Humanism can offer both community and meaning, but it has also attracted controversy.

People aren't as religious as they used to be.

The decline of these traditional belief systems is a tragedy for some and a cause for celebration for others. There is an element of it that causes a problem for everybody, though. As the old religious ties that bind decline, the communities associated with them start to go too. This isn't to say that a neighborhood without a church will immediately start to decay into poverty, violence, and misery but that the social element of these organizations was essential to people and without it, we've got problems.

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Hazel’s comment
Are social conditions any different in the UK from those described by Scotty in this piece? Probably not but as a committed Christian I am maybe not as aware of the issues as I could/should be.

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