Making sense of the secular humanist worldview 

The ‘follow your heart’, ‘believe in yourself’, ‘trust in your instincts’ individualist gospel is all pervasive. Mark Roques has created a free video resource Windows on Worldviews: exploring secular beliefs in A-level and GCSE Philosophy, Ethics and Religious Studies which unpacks both religious and secular beliefs such as this one. He explains more
 

According to recent research more than 70 per cent of UK young people aged 15-plus have no formal religious affiliation with many embracing a secular humanist worldview. How can we make sense of worldviews and, in particular, the secular humanist worldview? 

In the past many believed in the Bible and its compelling narrative of creation, fall, redemption and new creation. A few still do. Then secularism crushed this faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Some replaced God with the Nation. Nietzsche proclaimed that God was dead and elite Supermen would take his place. Communists preferred the ‘Working Class’ as the new deity. Nazis declared that: “You are nothing, the People is everything’. 

Today the solitary, naked individual has become the supreme authority in the western world and this pervasive secular faith has unleashed the mindset we call ‘expressive individualism’. This is the ‘follow your heart’, ‘believe in yourself’, ‘trust in your instincts’ gospel. It is the unnoticed faith of many today. You create your identity.No one has the right to tell you what to do.You are free to be whoever or whatever pleases you. All other gods (Jesus, Nation, Elites, Working Class etc) must yield to the cravings of the ‘Sovereign Individual’.  

Secularism is a broad church. Expressive individualism is one manifestation of secularism. We could say it is a very popular and vibrant faith. Many live in this worldview story uncritically. We need to understand it. 

American conceptual artist, Tom Friedman once hired a witch in 1992 to curse a portion of space above a white pedestal. Friedman explained his art piece in the following way: “If you believed it, it exists. If you didn’t, it didn’t exist.” Friedman is following an expressive individualist faith. The naked individual creates ‘reality’. 

An American student was once asked a question about the Christian faith. He confessed his expressive individualist faith by saying: “It doesn’t bother me what people say about religion. Last year I made up my own religion.” 

This secular form of individualism inspires many young people today. 

I was leading a Religious Education lesson on the biblical theme of a new heaven and a new earth as the final destination of the Christian believer. A 12 year old girl was angry with my comments. She informed me that “Heaven will be whatever you want it to be.” Or ponder the remarks of a seven-year-old girl who said to my daughter: “I think I believe in reincarnation … a bit.” Both girls have metabolised the individual-as god secular faith. 

An English teacher I knew once delivered a passionate expressive individualist sermon to the entire school I was working in. She implored everybody to ‘follow their hearts’. The staff and pupils were intoxicated by her message. They lapped it up. I couldn’t resist asking the teacher a challenging question. How would you feel if the young Adolf Hitler had been listening to your assembly? Her face went white. 

Perhaps the most striking illustration of the impact of this rampant individualism is Dave, a sixth form boy from Essex who argued aggressively in an RE lesson that Genghis Khan was being ‘true to himself’. He thought mass murder was acceptable. He strongly condemned the Tahitian Christian king (Pomare the 2nd) who stopped his massacres after his conversion to the Christian faith. According to Dave, Pomare was living an inauthentic life and he wasn’t being ‘true to himself’. 

Now an innovative video resource will support GCSE and A-Level Philosophy, Ethics and Religious Studies students and their teachers to explore these unnoticed and unexamined secular beliefs. Windows on Worldviews is a collection of six accessible short videos based on true stories that look at popular aspects of non-religious beliefs. To go with the stories are six short ‘boffin slots’ - explanatory videos that open up and critique the philosophical roots of the commonly held beliefs under exploration. 

This free resource from RealityBites complements curriculum materials and will fascinate teachers and students studying aspects of humanism such as secularism, materialism, consumerism, scientism and atheism as part of their examination studies. We also contrast humanism with pagan, animist, New Age and Christian beliefs. 

The five-minute story films are firmly rooted in popular culture, using narratives from football, celebrity news, love and relationships, mafia mobsters, technology and pop festivals. With diverse storylines relevant to young people aged 15 -18 they can be used in any order, individually or as a series. The ‘boffin slots’ undergird the learning points in the stories and will help teachers and students discuss and compare aspects of humanism with traditional Christian beliefs. 

To help busy teachers Windows on Worldviews also includes a written guide, suggested discussion starters for class use and useful links to further resources. The discussion starters can be adjusted as preferred. 
 
Producer Patricia Gray said, 'With these short films RealityBites aims to address some of the fundamental worldview questions in a way that particularly speaks to young people at a time when their studies and beliefs are a major influence on their identity.

'The stories are non-preachy, appealing and up-to-the minute. Humour and, sometimes, a gently ironic approach will stimulate thinking and discussion.' 
 
I wrote this resource, with its stand-alone and complementary parts to engage and challenge critical thinking, something students badly need to develop in our complex social media-driven world. However, it can be used at different learning levels as the teacher wishes and will complement philosophy, ethics and religious studies at both GCSE and A-levels.

As a former RE teacher myself, I would have found a resource like this an absolute boon in the classroom. 

 

To find out more about this new resource and to view the films go to: thinkfaith.net/windows 

Mark Roques is the Director of RealityBites, which specialises in telling real-life stories that unlock Christian faith and get people thinking about Jesus. He preaches at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Leeds.

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