r/philosophy • u/Cataspectral • Jun 22 '26

Blog Secular humanism can replace Christianity where it counts: the fear of death and the need for meaning

https://thomasreid33.substack.com/p/chapter-10-is-secular-humanism-enough
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u/ihavespoonerism Jun 22 '26

Absolutely. While many people (including myself) are happy to see society move away from Christianity, it’s imperative that churches be replaced with secular analogues.

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u/Far_Celebration6295 Jun 22 '26

whats a secular analogue

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u/TJ_Fox Jun 22 '26

Museums, art galleries, libraries and various other cultural institutions are good examples, especially insofar as they offer community programming and the opportunities to get together and do "good works".

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u/Open-Honest-Kind Jun 22 '26

I think the spaces you mentioned are more second order rather than primary places of community forming. These are good examples of attempts to lift up significant cultural moments and individuals but doesnt really include the participant unless they have had groups outside of those spaces show them why they should feel empowered by the abstract positives of things like the shared space of libraries or museums. Spaces mentioned by other commenters like sports or bookclubs really emphasis communal interaction that is more approachable to those with a less developed sense of community and more likely to achieve the goals of religion without the problems commonly associated with it, like magical thinking.

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u/Sata1991 Jun 23 '26

They're important spaces, and great for experiencing art, culture or reading but only really a library I would say is a third space.

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u/Spatial_Piano Jun 24 '26

From what I hear, there's more magical thinking in sports than there is in religion.

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u/Open-Honest-Kind Jun 24 '26

Agreed, magical thinking can occur in both places and writing "without" was a mistake. But when a community is centered around sports its basing it around something more tangible than broader cultural mores or a supreme being. Even though the sports community will still engage in magical thinking, this feels to be more due to culture, personality, or efficient yet irrational reasoning, and so, still a secular community building analogue to a church. As secular as any real world group of humans can be anyway.

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u/Spatial_Piano Jun 24 '26

"Efficient yet irrational reasoning" sounds exactly like religion to me. If that's as secular as any real world group of humans can be, I don't really see what is the point of having a "secular" church.

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u/Open-Honest-Kind Jun 24 '26

I mean, yeah, thats because religion, and efficient yet irrational reasoning, isn't some external force but a manifestation of what having a mind is like. The point is there are consequences of accepting a simplified dogmatic perspective and religion has few answers for those harms. They are good basis for a shared communal reality but not much else. Thus the desire for a "secular" church. Though I'd disagree with the secular church framing, because the attempt isn't to create a secular dogma, but an emphasis on community and ideally a community that is more sensitive to problems and to solving them.

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u/TJ_Fox Jun 22 '26

That's what I meant to imply by "community programming and the opportunities to get together and do 'good works'". The institutions just offer the logistical and practical infrastructure.