Last week at Yale University, a new organization centered on humanism, agnosticism, atheism and other forms of non-theism, was denied recognition as a faith group. They were specifically rejected from membership in the umbrella organization Yale Religious Ministries, which is "dedicated to the spiritual, ethical, intellectual, social, and physical welfare of students, faculty and staff." Nothing in this mission statement explicitly declares that non-religious groups cannot be part of this intellectual goal. And yet the Yale Humanist Community was denied recognition because they are "explicitly non-religious."
Though neither atheism nor agnosticism in and of themselves constitute a religion, Humanism addresses many of the same philosophical issues as organized religions do. Both have debated concepts of ethics and morality, as well as organized beliefs regarding human existence. Humanism is a valid and encompassing world view and philosophy; it just does not profess belief in a deity or deities. Why then is it excluded from fully participating in interfaith dialogue at our esteemed Ivy League peer? The issue there seems to be semantics, which is a rather insubstantial basis for exclusion.
Dartmouth's own humanist organization Atheists, Humanists, Agnostics is involved with the Tucker Foundation's Multi-Faith program, and is routinely offered co-sponsorship on events such as last week's spiritual Veritas Forum. While not specifically a Tucker organization due to the AHA leadership's own choice, the club is still very much welcomed and encouraged within the spiritual community. As the current president of AHA, I can wholeheartedly say that Tucker, which performs the same role as Yale Religious Ministries, never makes our club feel unwelcome or invalidated. With Tucker's help, Humanism is an enthusiastic voice within Dartmouth's spiritual community instead of an isolated whisper.
No matter how adherents of mainstream religions try to spin it, marginalizing the Humanist demographic is discrimination. While both the Yale group's coordinator and the university chaplain assert that no doors have been closed, the rejection is still a firm statement on Humanism's recognized place at Yale: subordinate to religion. It has been sequestered away from the main conversation, able to potentially join in but unequal to Yale's validated religious voices.
Dialogue is more than important when it comes to discussing issues of culture and identity; it is vital. Religion is not an exception to the rule. Without robust interaction among diverse representations of belief, individuals fall prey to ignorance that can actively harm others, whether intentionally or not. Any official in a position of authority must be aware of spiritual diversity, especially those within universities that claim to enlighten and to educate. There are children, teenagers and adults all over this country who are implicitly being taught that their beliefs or non-belief is something wrong, something abnormal. Most of those in the religious majority do not intend for this to happen, and many do not realize that it does. However, ignorance of a situation does not negate the reality of it. Having a different belief system than the student next to you does not make either of you right or wrong. It just makes you different, a trait that should be celebrated instead of swept under the rug. Silencing the Yale Humanist Community by refusing to officially let them in on the campus's religious conversation ignores and invalidates their unique perspective on philosophical ideas.
It is understandable that religious organizations may feel uncomfortable with philosophical groups that share many ideals but diverge on a core tenet, such as the existence of a god or gods. And in a technical sense, Humanism is generally not considered religion (anthropologists would disagree, but I digress). But semantics is not more important than substance, and the comfort of tradition should not exclude valid and relevant voices from legitimized dialogue. It is safe to claim that Humanism does not belong within campus religious ministry, easy to point out the superficial differences between it and theistic religion. Yale should instead be courageous and join hands with the Yale Humanist Community, recognizing their philosophical similarities and encouraging debate over their differences through equal and legitimized avenues.
