Empirical Moral Philosophies: Secular Humanism & Freethought Traditions
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Personal SubStack
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/08/05
Secular humanism is an organized expression of modern freethought. One among many. Other freethought or non-religious traditions include the nontheistic Satanism of The Satanic Temple, the religion of Unitarian Universalism, and the Ethical Culture movement, which originated in the late nineteenth century.
Secular humanists generally affirm a human-centred ethical framework that does not invoke supernatural beliefs. Many identify as atheists or agnostics. Although numerous atheist organizations exist, no comparably large, independent agnostic groups have emerged.
Scientific skepticism frequently intersects with freethought. Public figures such as the magician duo Penn & Teller and the late investigator James Randi became well-known for challenging paranormal claims. Randi notably arranged the conditions under which psychic performer Uri Geller failed to bend spoons on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on 1 August 1973. An event widely regarded as a milestone in the history of modern skepticism.
Organized rationalism has also developed a significant influence in India. Sanal Edamaruku founded Rationalist International in 1995 during the first International Rationalist Conference in New Delhi. Dr. Sudesh B. Ghoderao is the General Secretary of the FIRA. An umbrella organization uniting more than eighty rationalist groups across the country. Activism in this sphere can be dangerous. Prominent rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was assassinated on 20 August 2013.
A key event for many contemporary humanists was “Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival” from 2006. The conference featured Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, and Sam Harris, among others. Something of note in its conferential discussion.
Empirical research highlights a complex relationship between religiosity and scientific achievement. A 1998 survey of members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences reported that only about 7 percent expressed belief in a personal God.
A lower rate than the broader U.S. scientific community. Mid-1990s surveys indicated roughly 40 percent believed. Rates of belief vary by discipline. Mathematicians reported greater religiosity than biologists or physicists in the same studies.
Debates surrounding science education further reflect these variations by region. In British Columbia, Canada, the provincial Ministry of Education effectively prohibited the teaching of “creation science” in public-school biology classes in 1996, following a controversy in the Abbotsford School District.
These examples illustrate that neither religiosity nor non-religiosity alone determines pro-science or anti-science attitudes. Instead, cultural context, institutional environment, and disciplinary background play central roles in shaping how individuals and communities engage with scientific evidence and methodology. However, elite science and humanistic freethought represent strong implicit allegiances with one another.
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