I think a major mistake, perhaps the biggest mistake, of organized humanism over the last few decades has been the failure to build a positive image of humanism and nontheism in the public mindset. Few Americans even know what humanism is, and even fewer choose to identify as humanists. Whatever we call ourselves, eventually our non-supernaturalism will become the focus of our identity in the minds of others. As a result, our culture demonizes nonbelief, whether under the title of atheism, agnosticism, Humanism, Religious Humanism or secular humanism. Why is this?

Organized humanism should not point to the religious right or any other segment of society in placing blame for the poor state of affairs, because "image management" is our own responsibility, and we have been dropping the ball for decades. It appears that, somewhere along the line, those responsible for the ship of humanism decided that organized humanism should be a "club" for elite intellectuals, rather than a "movement" to change society by spreading humanism itself in the wider culture-a near-fatal mistake, and we live with the results today.

I'm not suggesting that we should brazenly assert an in-your-face kind of humanism/atheism, but we can't hide from our core identity, nor from the accompanying views. Even demonized terms such as "atheism" and "secular humanism" can be rehabilitated, in our culture, by making tactful image management a major priority. If it is done well, the public will eventually realize that nonbelievers are decent, ordinary people, sometimes even working for noble causes, such as cures for cancer. It's a delicate job, but not an impossible one.

Internecine squabbling over words is non-productive. Clearly, the answer to our demonization is not to hide from the humanist/atheist identity. Rather, the answer is to work on improving the public image of those identities.

--Mel Lipman
President of the American Humanist Association
Published by Human Interest
Humanist Association of Greater Sacarmento