Start with Humanism

Call yourselves Humanists, first, foremost, forever.

This classification encompasses all others. After the word “Humanist” you may add your preferred subset label: Humanist Muslim, Humanist Christian, Humanist Buddhist, Humanist Atheist, Humanist Agnostic. It is important that these subset terms do not precede the word Humanist. You are Humanists first, and what you are after that is secondary or tertiary or even further down the line.

You are Humanists first because you are human infants first, insusceptible of further branding at that time. No infant is Muslim or Christian or Atheist or Conservative or Liberal or American or Dutch or Egyptian or any of the like. An infant is simply human, inducted by that native condition into a decades-long future, participating in basic human goods, chief of which are friendship, play, learning, skillful performance and the rearing of children.

You are Humanists first because Humanism is easiest to believe. There are no fabulist doctrines to embrace. No winged ponies. No uncertain nativities. No staggering saintly pedigrees. No demonic possessions. No impracticable moral embargoes. No otherworldly rules about textiles that drape the body. No deistic dietary whims. No lurching angels trumpeting doom. No fiery underworld chambers brutalizing dissent. Humanism says simply that human ingenuity is the source of goodness and therefore a source of delight. Easy assent.

You are Humanists first because, apart from the rough generosity the natural world bestows, humans mold a malleable nature on behalf of human flourishing and create innumerable gracious alterations to the natural world, from a road to a bridge to a house to a plate to a toy to a pipe to a balm to a bed to a flute to a lute to a wending story in florid prose—also an infinity more.

You are Humanists first because with human tools you attempt an anatomy of human destructiveness and improve yourself and shed your vices. With human tools you devise an ethics of urgency addressing major world problems so that you rapidly arrest avidity and protect the elements and the animals.

You are Humanists first because you cannot be reduced to anything smaller than the human, and you cannot be elevated to anything larger. Even the post-human and the trans-human are but species of the human. From humans, all the metrics of morality emerge, extending to bonobo and cyborg alike.

Label yourself with the broadest most relevant term. When someone asks, “What are you?,” say, “I’m a Humanist.” Search and see what the word has meant. And as you understand it, receive it first and foremost. After this, if you must, you may array yourself with any other supplementary hue on offer. But start with Humanism.