Are You a Humanist?

The purpose of this site and of the Humanist Chaplaincy is not to convince you or anyone to become a Humanist. Guided by the value of pluralism, the Humanist Chaplaincy affirms that freedom of conscience regarding religious belief must be respected for all. The key to living an ethical life lies not in our Humanist or traditional beliefs but, to paraphrase George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Touro synagogue in Rhode Island, whether we demean ourselves as good citizens of the world.

However, we also assert that it is very important for all people to develop an understanding of Humanism as they would of any major world religious group. Why not ask yourself: to what degree do I understand and/or identify with the principles and ideals of Humanism? Am I a Humanist?

To this end, the website beliefnet.com has designed a sometimes playfully silly but nonetheless intelligently put-together tool for examining one’s beliefs: the “Belief-O-Matic” quiz. Click on the Belief-O-Matic quiz above and see how much of a Humanist you are!

*Note: the “Belief-O-Matic” quiz lists Humanism as “Secular Humanism,” though not all Humanists prefer to describe their lifestance or philosophy of life with the word “secular” before the word Humanist. This reflects, more than anything else, the fact that Humanism is a diverse movement broadly representing the beliefs of millions of people in the US and hundreds of millions of people worldwide, though these people are at various times called and understood by names such as “Humanist,” “agnostic,” atheist,” “secular Humanist,” “freethinker,” etc. While there are sometimes real differences between such categorizations, more than anything they reflect the natural divisions and splits that tend to occur when large numbers of people are involved in anything. After all, Christians have difficulty resolving the sometimes seemingly small differences between groups such as Presbyterians and Methodists, etc.; and yet would we argue that one or the other group is not Christian? Similarly we can think of “Humanist” as an umbrella-word that includes many different kinds of ethical non-theists around the world.

How many Humanists are there in the United States?

How many Humanists are there in the world?