by Sharon Moss

 

I’ve been around the philosophical block a number of times. As a life-long atheist and an activist with 10 years of group-running experience under my belt, I feel like I’ve heard most of the arguments in our community. I don’t read many books on atheism/humanism/insert-other-labels-here anymore. I almost didn’t even pick up a copy of Greg Epstein’s Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.   But I’m glad I did.  Epstein covers new ground and provides important, thought-provoking points for the movement.  

What piqued my interest was the teaser line on the cover: “Finding purpose, compassion, and community”. At a point in my life where I feel like I’ve been over-exposed to the religion-is-evil meme, these words gave me pause.

There is no shortage of philosophical discussion in our movement. Indeed, Epstein notes that we nontheists “have learned to do two things extremely well over the past century—to speak and to debate.” While Epstein spends the first five chapters taking the reader on a journey though the history and ethics of Humanism, he brings to the table a different way of crafting the message of nonbelief. Many excellent reviews have already been written in support of, or opposition to, Epstein’s claims in those chapters.

Good Without God appeals to a different audience. While the prominent atheist authors known as the Four Horsemen gave atheists the courage to speak out and demand recognition, Good Without God gives us a place to start a different conversation with each other: What do we do now? Where do we turn when we have thrown off the shackles of god belief but still hunger for community?

Chapter six is entirely dedicated to the idea of building community. As a local group leader, I am aware of the variety of belief that exists in my group. Even though we are called The Humanist Community of Central Ohio, not all our members whole-heartedly embrace the term Humanist. We have those who label themselves as atheists, secular humanists, religious humanists, agnostics, skeptics, and even the occasional liberal Christian who just happens to feel like we’re a good fit. We’re a motley crew.  So it struck a chord to see Epstein accurately describe the same struggles we face with building community. He calls out national and local groups that have shied away from community building. I admit to having said, “Hell yeah!” out loud.

Despite the different ways we arrived at our nonbelief, the folks in my group come together. We celebrate life’s highs together and support each other through life’s lows. If there’s a lesson to take away from Good Without God, it is that these things matter just as much, if not more, than all the intellectual debate we can muster.

If our message is going to reach beyond just white men—to get the majority of nontheists off the couch and into our movement—we need to get our faces out of the philosophy books from time to time. We can take cues from other movements and embrace both our firebrands and our diplomats. It takes all kinds—and different points of entry—to make a movement. Good Without God is a push to get us there.

 

Sharon Moss graduated from The Ohio State University in 2005 with a BA in Comparative Religion. She’s a former president of Students for Freethought at Ohio State and a former Secular Student Alliance Board member. She currently lives in Columbus, OH, where she continues to kick secular butt as the president of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio.