We have been talking with our friends at Tikkun for some months about a new online magazine that is now well launched. Tikkun Daily asked us to introduce ourselves to you. Rick Heller is our editor and he has written the following to explain why “spiritual progressives” may appreciate what our authors have to say.

Rick Heller writes:

Readers of Tikkun and spiritual progressives are cordially invited to peruse the new online magazine, The New Humanism, a publication of the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy. Secular humanists get a little nervous around the word “spiritual” because we don’t believe in the supernatural, but to the extent that it refers to positive emotions like love, joy and empathy, we’re spiritual too. Humanism is a philosophy of life that is socially progressive. Although humanists are atheists, agnostics, skeptics, or otherwise non-religious, not all non-religious people are humanists. An emphasis on compassion distinguishes humanism from the libertarian atheist philosophy of Ayn Rand, while a respect for democratic processes separates humanism from communism as practiced in the former Soviet Bloc.

There’s also a bit of a distinction–a much smaller one–between the New Humanists and the so-called New Atheists. As James Croft describes in his piece, Building the Humanist Movement, we agree with the “four horsemen” (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens) that religion should not be protected from criticism, and that some religious beliefs cause harm. But we don’t think religion is the worst thing in the world. Croft writes:

‘Christopher Hitchens is fond of calling religion “the oldest enemy of our species”. It is a beautiful turn of phrase, and it is wrong. The oldest enemies of our species are far more mundane: pestilence, war, famine and death – the real “four horsemen.” All these require more than rejection of the supernatural if they are to be defeated; anyone following the genocide in Darfur, or who has been spooked by our recent close call with the H1N1 virus, knows that they are far from vanquished.’

In fact, while we disbelieve supernatural justifications religions sometimes cite for their practices, we agree with some of the practices. Zach Alexander writes about humanists who meditate using techniques derived from the Buddhist and Quaker traditions. Another aspect we admire, even envy, about the religious is the strength of their communities. Emily Cadik writes about secular communities such as the North Texas Church of Freethought that seek to provide humanists with the mutual support that traditional churches, temples and mosques provide.

In my own piece, I discuss the importance of respecting emotions. Humanists have great respect for reason, to the point where many of our organizations, like the United Coalition of Reason, use that word in their name. But there is more to us than logic; emotions provide us with life satisfaction and that sense of higher purpose that some people call spirituality.

Greg Epstein, the humanist chaplain at Harvard and author of the new book, Good Without God, describes how the New Humanism has developed over the last few years, especially since the 2007 conference that moved things into high gear.

The New Humanism is inclusive. If you think you might be a humanist but aren’t sure, you probably are. The universe still contains mysteries about which people should be free to speculate. Our public policy and personal interactions, however, should be based on the best and most up-to-date human knowledge, not on purportedly infallible ancient texts.

Finally, by employing the name “humanism” we do not mean to signal a lack of concern for other species. The name has a long history going back to the Renaissance and emphasizes a focus on Earth rather than heaven. The future of humanity is, of course, tied together with the health of other species and our environment. Our humanist ideals also include them in our circle of concern.