The Establishment of the Religion of Secular Humanism and Its First Amendment Implications
![handle is hein.journals/text10 and id is 23 raw text is: THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RELIGION
OF SECULAR HUMANISM AND ITS FIRST
AMENDMENT IMPLICATIONS
by John W. Whitehead* and John Conlan**
There is a growing concern in contemporary academia regard-
ing the nature of modern society.' The Quaker philosopher Elton
Trueblood, in viewing what he believes to be a pagan society in
the United States, has remarked: Only by terrific moral recovery
are we going to keep the world from becoming a dark age.'2 Like-
wise, Harvard law Professor Harold J. Berman has written: Our
whole culture seems to be facing the possibility of a kind of nervous
breakdown.3
The problem as seen by Trueblood and Berman is the deepen-
ing secularism that has taken hold of the present cultural matrix.
Secularism, or what is generally called Secular Humanism,4 poses
a serious constitutional quandary because its purpose is to eliminate
traditional theism as a significant aspect of reality by forcing tradi-
tional theism from the arena of public discourse and American insti-
tutional life. As one news columnist has noted: [T]ranscendence
has been, shall we say, declared 'inoperative' by the major agencies,
that 'officially' define reality.5 In light of the above facts, Secular
* Associate, Gibbs and Craze, Cleveland, Ohio; B.A., University of Arkansas, 1969; J.D.,
University of Arkansas, 1974.
** Of Counsel, Jenkins, Nystrom and Sterlacci, Washington, D.C.; B.S., Northwestern
University, 1951; J.D., Harvard University, 1969; Fulbright Scholar, University of Cologne;
studied at the Hague Academy of International Law; former professor of political science,
University of Maryland and Arizona State University.
1. Los Angeles Times, Apr. 1, 1978, at 26, col. 1.
2. Id.
3. H. BERMAN, THE INTERACTION OF LAW AND RELIGION, 21 (1974) (hereinafter referred to
as BERMAN). Berman sees the societal breakdown manifesting itself in two ways:
One major symptom of this threatened breakdown is the massive loss of confid-
ence in law-not only on the part of law-consumers but also on the part of law
makers and law distributors. A second major symptom is the massive loss of confid-
ence in religion-again, not only on the part of those who (at least at funerals and
weddings) sit in the pews of our churches and synagogues, but also on the part of
those who occupy the pulpits.
Id. at 21.
4. See notes 160-165 infra and accompanying text.
5. See note 1 supra. Alluding to the fact that these reality defining agencies include the
universities, the public school system, the medical system, the legal system and the commu-
nications media, the columnist concluded that they have narrowed their pedagogical func-
tions to embrace basically what he calls a scientific worldview. Id. The term
transcendence is defined as the action or fact of... surmounting, or rising above ...](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/text10&div=10&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Establishment of the Religion of Secular Humanism and Its First Amendment Implications
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