SEVERAL people have asked me the meaning of this term.
Secularism is the religion of humanity; it embraces the affairs of this
world; it is interested in everything that touches the welfare of a
sentient being; it advocates attention to the particular planet in which
we happen to live; it means that each individual counts for something;
it is a declaration of intellectual independence; it means that the pew
is superior to the pulpit, that those who bear the burdens shall have
the profits and that they who fill the purse shall hold the strings.
It is a protest against theological oppression, against ecclesiastical
tyranny, against being the serf, subject or slave of any phantom, or of
the priest of any phantom. It is a protest against wasting this life for
the sake of one that we know not of. It proposes to let the gods take
care of themselves. It is another name for common sense; that is to say,
the adaptation of means to such ends as are desired and understood.
Secularism believes in building a home here, in this world. It trusts
to individual effort, to energy, to intelligence, to observation and
experience rather than to the unknown and the supernatural. It desires
to be happy on this side of the grave.
Secularism means food and fireside, roof and raiment, reasonable work
and reasonable leisure, the cultivation of the tastes, the acquisition
of knowledge, the enjoyment of the arts, and it promises for the human
race comfort, independence, intelligence, and above all, liberty. It
means the abolition of sectarian feuds, of theological hatreds. It means
the cultivation of friendship and intellectual hospitality. It means
the living for ourselves and each other; for the present instead of
the past, for this world rather than for another. It means the right to
express your thought in spite of popes, priests, and gods. It means that
impudent idleness shall no longer live upon the labor of honest men.
It means the destruction of the business of those who trade in fear. It
proposes to give serenity and content to the human soul. It will put out
the fires of eternal pain. It is striving to do away with violence and
vice, with ignorance, poverty and disease. It lives for the ever present
to-day, and the ever coming to-morrow. It does not believe in praying
and receiving, but in earning and deserving. It regards work as worship,
labor as prayer, and wisdom as the savior of mankind. It says to every
human being, Take care of yourself so that you may be able to help
others; adorn your life with the gems called good deeds; illumine your
path with the sunlight called friendship and love.
Secularism is a religion, a religion that is understood. It has no
mysteries, no mummeries, no priests, no ceremonies, no falsehoods, no
miracles, and no persecutions. It considers the lilies of the field, and
takes thought for the morrow. It says to the whole world, Work that you
may eat, drink, and be clothed; work that you may enjoy; work that you
may not want; work that you may give and never need.--The Independent
Pulpit, Waco, Texas, 1887.