How is Humanism Similar to and Different from Religion?
A useful way to think about humanism is as a distinct worldview that is both similar to and different from religion.
Both humanism and religions are concerned with some of the biggest questions we can ask about being human: Where did we come from? Who are we? What makes life meaningful? How should we treat one another? How should we respond to suffering? And how should we live our one life?
The important difference is not necessarily which questions are being asked, but how we go about answering them.
Similarities to religion
Making sense of life
Religions have traditionally provided people with ways of understanding the world and their place within it. They offer stories, ideas and traditions that attempt to answer questions about where we came from, why we are here and what might happen when we die.
Humanism is also concerned with these questions. Humanists think carefully about what it means to be human and how we can live meaningful and fulfilling lives. Rather than turning to a supernatural explanation, however, humanists look to the natural world, human experience and the knowledge we have accumulated.
Humanism therefore isn’t simply a collection of opinions about religion. It is a worldview: a way of understanding ourselves, the world around us and our responsibilities to one another.
Ethics and how we live
Another important similarity is that both humanism and religions have ethical concerns.
Religious traditions have developed extensive teachings about how people should behave towards one another. Ideas such as compassion, generosity, honesty, justice, forgiveness and care for others can be found across many religious traditions.
Humanists can share many of these values, even without believing that they were handed down by a god.
Humanist ethics are based on the idea that other people matter and that our actions have real consequences for their lives. Because we share the world with other people, we have responsibilities towards them. Humanists therefore place a strong emphasis on compassion, equality, human rights, fairness and reducing suffering.
The difference is where these ethical principles come from. Rather than seeing morality as a set of divine commands, humanists understand ethics as something humans can reason about, discuss and develop together.
Community and belonging
Religion can also provide people with a sense of community and belonging. Places of worship, festivals, ceremonies and shared traditions can bring people together around common values and experiences.
Humanists may come together for talks, social events, discussions, community projects and ceremonies marking important moments in people’s lives. Humanist celebrants can conduct weddings, naming ceremonies and funerals, for example, without requiring religious beliefs.
These communities can provide connection and opportunities to celebrate, reflect, support one another and contribute to something larger than ourselves.
Marking important moments
Religions have long provided ceremonies and rituals for significant moments in life: birth, coming of age, marriage and death.
Humanists also recognise that these moments can benefit from being marked and shared with others.
The difference is that humanist ceremonies do not rely on religious beliefs. A humanist funeral, for example, can provide an opportunity to remember and celebrate someone’s life, support those who are grieving and reflect on what that person’s life meant to the people around them.
In this sense, humanism recognises many of the same human needs that religion has traditionally addressed, while approaching them from a non-religious perspective.
Differences to religion
Despite these similarities, there is a fundamental difference between humanism and religions: humanism does not rely on the supernatural.
Many religions understand the world in relation to gods, spirits or other supernatural forces. Religious traditions may look to revelation, sacred texts, religious authorities or spiritual experiences as sources of knowledge and guidance.
Humanism takes a different approach.
Humanists seek to understand the world through reason, evidence, science and human experience. Humanist conclusions are based on what we can observe, investigate and reasonably understand, rather than on the existence of a supernatural realm.
This does not mean that humanists believe we have all the answers. A willingness to acknowledge uncertainty is an important part of the humanist approach.
Humanists recognise that human knowledge is incomplete and that we can get things wrong. We should therefore be prepared to reconsider our beliefs when new evidence or better arguments become available.
No gods or afterlife
For many humanists, another key difference is the rejection of belief in gods or spirits.
Humanists generally understand human beings as part of the natural world rather than as creations of a supernatural being. They do not believe that a god has given humanity a predetermined purpose or set of instructions for how we must live.
Humanists also generally do not believe in an afterlife. We have this life, and it is the only life we can be confident we have.
Far from making life meaningless, humanists can see this as making our lives particularly valuable. If this is the one life we have, then what we do with it matters. Our relationships, experiences, choices and contributions to the lives of others become deeply significant.
No religious authority
Humanism also differs from many religions in its approach to authority.
Humanists do not believe that we need priests, prophets or other religious authorities to tell us how we must live. Instead, ethical questions are something that everyone can participate in exploring.
That does not mean humanists simply do whatever they feel like. Humanist ethics require us to think seriously about the consequences of our actions, listen to other perspectives and consider principles such as fairness, autonomy, compassion and human wellbeing.
Ultimately, humanism asks us to take responsibility for our own beliefs and choices.
A different way of answering the same questions
Humanism and religion can therefore be understood as different approaches to some of the same fundamental human concerns.
Religions may look beyond the natural world for answers, grounding their understanding in gods, spirits, revelation or sacred traditions. Humanism looks to the world we share and to the tools humans have developed for understanding it: reason, evidence, science, reflection and conversation.
Humanists are not people who have stopped asking the big questions. We continue to ask them — we simply approach them differently.
And perhaps one of the most important parts of the humanist approach is accepting that some questions may not have simple or final answers. We can remain curious, acknowledge uncertainty and continue learning.
For humanists, meaning and morality do not need to come from somewhere beyond humanity. They can emerge from the lives we share, the relationships we build and the responsibility we have to make the world a little better for ourselves and for one another.