Thanks for the comments! I don’t disagree that humanism is a distinct, positive philosophy (and, in fact, consider myself to be a humanist). My point was only that for a large number of people, it is essentially synonymous with secularism / rationalism (albeit with a progressive slant). In fact, there are a great many people who hold views that are sympathetic with (or identical to) those of the various manifestos and humanist declarations, but who do not identify as humanists. Is it because they are unaware of the label, because they shy away from such a bold statement, or because there is no value added to their worldview by appending this additional label. That, I suppose, is the question I was getting at, and it is a question that humanist and atheist organizations will need to address if they are ever to wield significant political and social power.

While I can agree that solving the issues are the most important goal consider the power that Christian groups take in saying that I do this because I am a Christian. Now I don’t care which organizations we belong to. In fact, I am thoroughly convinced that cooperation among organizations is are best solution to effecting change. So I would argue in this case for broader identification of atheists rather than going under cover. The Secular Coalition for America ( http://www.secular.org ) has done much to lobby congress and work with other groups to work on the very issues Harris is talking about, while being very clear that they are representing Atheists, Humanists and Freethinkers.

American Atheists and other organizatons are for the rights of atheists and working to dispell misunderstandings that the rest of the country has about atheist. We, as atheists, are the most mistrusted group in America at least. Hiding will not dispell the idea that our goals, morals and lives are different from the rest of our countries citizens.

If you read the American Humanist Associations Humanist Manifesto ( http://www.americanhumanist.org/3/HumandItsAspirations.php )
you can see where Humanism is as a lifestance. To argue that it is different from a modern progressive, secular world view seems to miss the point that you are using the word secular. To accuse Humanist and Atheist etal of not being different from a secularist is a bit confusing to me as the words are all very similar in meaning. In America, the majority is not secular so to use any of these words is in fact to say something about areselves.

Well I’ve ranted here much more than I meant to but I really did enjoy you’re post. I’m glad that people are thinking about this issue.
Lisa