Fellowship
People often turn to religion for fellowship in promoting what they perceive to be the greater good. Religion triangulates good intentions between the congregation, the pastor/imam/rabbi and the god-of-choice. Fellowship is often seen as a by-product of religion, not its central purpose. The variety of fellowship mirrors the dogma of the various religious groups. Some congregations are more inclusive than others. Some focus on cake sales. Others run thrift shops. Radical Muslims plot bombings together, I suppose. The triangulation between the congregants, the pastor and the god creates an impedance against a greater human fellowship. Humanists, as I understand Humanism, believe in the fellowship of all human beings, regardless of their religious or irreligious beliefs. We believe that there is no need to work through middlemen, corporal or invisible, to achieve the greater good for all. This is one of the most fundamental reasons to be a Humanist, as opposed to being a follower of a religious sect. This is an essential difference between Humanism and religion. Humanists believe that their fellowship, without sectarian boundaries or hierarchy, is a greater good in itself.
I know many theists who would agree whole-heartedly that their fellowship is a greater good in itself. Might we not see Humanism as one among the larger set of "cultural practices which bring people together for collective consideration of questions of ultimate concern"? I'm quite content to call this larger category, "religion," and to place within it both secular traditions (secular Judaism, materialistic Buddhist practice, Humanism) and spiritual ones (theisms of all variety). This as against the current practice, of defining Humanism (and other secular traditions) as something quite unlike "religion", and of defining "religion" as necessarily spiritual.
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