Who is the SECULAR Center for?
The SECULAR Center is for the community of people free of supernatural beliefs. This includes Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, Brights, Freethinkers, nonbeliever, godless, and whatever other names we choose to apply to ourselves. Free of supernatural beliefs primarily means that we don't believe in a god or gods, superstition, or superstitious dogma.
If you are in any of the below groups:
- A person or group free of supernatural beliefs
- Interested in secular volunteer opportunities in your community
- Think that nonbelievers should have a location in their community to gather (a secular community center)
- Want to support a positive image for the freethinking community
- Agree with our mission and/or vision (see below)
Then please help us grow our community by signing up for our mailing list (form is on the front page). You will receive our quarterly newsletter and our monthly event e-mails. It will be easier for us to apply for grants to support our educational programs the more people we have in our community.
What is the SECULAR Center's vision?
We will work to achieve an accepted, coordinated, productive, and valued non-theist community.
What is the SECULAR Center's mission?
Our mission is to mobilize secular volunteers to contribute toward improving our communities, to coordinate non-theist charitable effots, and to increase awareness and acceptance of our worldview, contributions, and values.
We want to build a community of nonbelievers who participate in local social events and community activism such as volunteering at other nonprofit organizations. This increases the visibility of the godless in our local community and helps the general public to understand that Atheist does not equal amoral. We hope to eventually have a community center which will allow us to develop and execute our own educational community programs such as tutoring students, computer training, and childcare for new parents.
We are looking for input from the community so if you have comments or program suggestions, please e-mail us, or visit our blog.
Where is the SECULAR Center?
Right now, the SECULAR Center is based in Houston, TX and we are working toward our first community center in this general area. Eventually, we hope to have SECULAR Centers in most urban areas in the United States where there are non-believers who want to gather together in their own facility and do good works for their community. You don't need to live in Houston, TX, or the USA to support us - we have people who support us around the world by receiving our newsletter, sending us ideas, and making donations.
Why call yourselves the SECULAR Center?
SECULAR is an acronym stands for Secular Education Community of Understanding, Learning, Activism, and Research. For more information on what each of those words represents to us, visit our About page.
What is an Atheist?
Many definitions of atheists or atheism are biased because they assume that the existence of a god has been proven and that the atheist is denying the truth of a god's existence. An atheist is defined by www.dictionary.com as "a person who denies or disbelieves in the existence of a supreme being or beings." This definition is biased because it assumes that there is something to disbelieve in the first place. Even a definition such as "lack of belief in God" shows bias toward the Christian viewpoint by capitalizing god.
A more impartial definition from the American Atheist website www.americanatheists.org is "a lack of belief in a god or gods" or "godless."
What is an Agnostic?
A typical definition of an agnostic is someone who is unsure whether a god or gods exist. There are often several levels of agnosticism including strong agnostic - someone who believes that there will never be any proof either way that a god will or will not exist, to weak agnosticism - someone who believes that god may or may not exist but could be swayed one way or another by proof.
What is an Humanist?
According to the Council for Secular Humanism website, www.secularhumanism.org, Humanists hold a natural worldview and are generally atheists. The Institute for Humanist Studies website, www.humaniststudies.org, states "Humanism is a philosophy of life inspired by humanity and guided by reason. Millions of people around the world embrace humanist values for fuller, more joyful lives without supernatural belief in gods, heaven or hell."
