By

From The Waterloo Record:

A new national humanist organization based in Waterloo Region hopes to bring humanists across the country together to work with people of faith to help others.

It may a lofty goal but it is a doable one, says Doug Thomas of Elmira, who along with Barrie Webster of Victoria, B.C. started the Secular Connexion Seculaire in May.

“We often move together and vent. We need to get beyond shouting into each other’s navels,” said Thomas, a retired high school English teacher.

“Let’s find a common purpose and work together,” he said. Thomas hopes that strength in numbers will encourage other humanists to work together in community projects such as building homes with Habitat for Humanity.

Well that’s fantastically noble and commendable, but this article neglects mention of the other existing national freethought groups in Canada: CFI Canada, Humanist Canada, Canadian Secular Alliance, and (until recently) the Freethought Association of Canada. Not to mention the countless local and campus groups. Do we really need more?

Of course, it may be a desire to replicate the schisms that rule American freethought, and as long as they end up doing good work, I’m not going to stand in their way, so let’s take a look through their website.

First off, it’s great to see their commitment to bilingualism. Of course, they could have gone the more traditional route and had an option to pick one language or the other (as all government sites do), but that’s a minor design issue (and I could nitpick design of any website, including my own).

What’s more interesting is the membership benefits:

With SCS membership you will gain:

  • Access to a communications group for Canadian Humanists –
    • our blog, specific social media
    • shared knowledge from Humanist groups across Canada
    • knowledge of national programs
    • access to and participation in International Humanist and Ethical Union activities
    • discounts on Canadian Freethinker Magazine and CF Digital Weekly
  • Support for your concerns as a Canadian 
    • Human rights at home and abroad (through International Humanist and Ethical Union)
    • Charity contacts – vetted by SCS executive for effectiveness
  • Support for lobbying efforts of SCS
    • Open Secularism program
    • MP awareness program

That’s right, to read their blog and access their social media, you have to pay $20 to $35 per year. I should also note that their forum is currently on a free trial basis.

This is absurdly disappointing. The “social” part of social media is that it attracts a large number of subscribers for free. Our blog, and hundreds of others, give away our secular content, allowing commenting for free, and build communities. I really don’t see this working out for them. I’ve started free mailing lists for student groups that don’t even get used, and they expect people to pay for the privilege?

The second bullet in that first “gain” seems to suggest they’ve made inroads with groups across the country. This is news to me, since the BC Humanists have not been contacted by SCS, but it’s understandable when they only list one other Humanist group on their links page.

The next point, “knowledge of national programs” is also curious, as though we won’t get to know what SCS actually does unless we buy in. Perhaps this is why their About page is so cryptic:

Secular Connexion Séculaire (SCS) is a national Humanist organization dedicated to facilitating communication and dialogue among Canadian Humanists, to advocating for Humanist rights including Open Secularism in Canada, and to communicating Canadian Humanist values to the world.

SCS does not have, nor does it seek any governing powers in the Canadian Humanist community. Rather, it seeks to provide communication conduits for Canadian Humanist organizations and support for the efforts of local organizations and seeks support for its efforts to advocate to the Canadian government on the behalf of Canadian Humanists.

The “governing powers in the Canadian Humanist community” phrase is very strange to me. Does anyone have those powers? As atheists and freethinkers, don’t we tend to avoid the megalomaniacs? Perhaps there’s a backstory here, involving a bitter schism from another national humanist organization.

This probably came off as too negative, and I do commend them for their political advocacy/lobbying goals. It may prevent them from attaining charitable status (if they don’t have it yet and plan to pursue it), but is definitely needed. CSA is good, but a very vocal group seeking to work with and identify Humanist MPs is very needed.

Having more active humanists is always a good thing, especially when they can get a bit of media exposure. And while I generally support pooling our combined resources when possible, I definitely recognize that it can be frustrating when existing organizations fail to live up to one’s own expectations. We’re all headstrong freethinkers. Everyone has their own way of doing things, and that’s okay too.

Best of luck Secular Connexion Sécularie.