Who's a 'nontheist'? Not me.

There's a saying that if you let your adversary define the language of debate, you have already lost.

When the Church of England was established as the official religion of England, those who did not belong to it were called 'nonconformists' and 'dissenters'. The implication is that the official church is the standard position, the default. Thus the Methodists etc. were outsiders, marginalized, and categorized with a negative label.

For years the fundies have been trying to establish their peculiar version of Christianity as the standard position in American society. They have worked hard to marginalize Humanism. Defining ourselves as mere dissenters from their theist position walks us right into their trap.

I do not concede to the fundies or to any other theists the right to marginalize me. Humanism, as the late Konnie Kolenda taught us, is not marginal but is the mainstream of Western Civilization.

Is the word 'nontheist' used anywhere in the Manifestoes? Are we defined as 'atheist' in the Manifestoes? Oh. I didn't think so. Are we now to docilely allow the fundies to place us on the fringes of society? Are we going to help them do so by defining ourselves as exceptions to their standard?

Solar system astronomy is not called nongeocentrism. Evolutionary biology is not called noncreationism. I am not a nonflatearthist. You do not describe a correct position by accepting for yourself the status of a deviant from a false one.

Ludwig Wittgenstein says: Skepticism is nonsense if it raises doubts where asking questions makes no sense. Joe Engelsman's take on that is: If you don't know what you're talking about, it makes no sense to talk about it. He adds: 'The atheist and the agnostic and the theist consider God to be a logical possibility. I do not.'

Call me a freethinker and a skeptic. A Humanist with a capital H and with no limiting adjective attached. Free from supernaturalist superstition. Not a mere 'non'-anything. No more self-definition by denial, please. Assertive, positive, Humanist identity.

--Francis Mortyn