[cbc_video id=”86129″ volume=”30″ width=”640″ aspect_ratio=”16×9″ autoplay=”0″ controls=”1″]

By David Niose

Within the secular movement there are many disagreements. Seculars will argue endlessly, for example, over which label is best: atheist, humanist, agnostic, freethinker, or something else. Or they’ll debate over whether their groups should work closely with liberal groups when they have common , or whether they should take positions on political issues that are not directly related to secularism. And of course, there are always arguments over how seculars should be in criticizing religion.

In fact, there may be only one issue on which virtually everyone within the secular movement agrees: If you are a religious skeptic of one kind or another, you should openly identify as such if at all possible. That is, if you happen to be an atheist, agnostic, humanist, or freethinker, for goodness sake please identify openly as such, because doing so raises the visibility of the secular demographic, which is too often invisible.

This “be open” concept is somewhat analogous to the strategy of the gay rights movement, which has seen much success by encouraging gays and lesbians to “come out of the closet.” Once people realized that some of their friends, neighbors, and family members were gay, it became much harder to hate the entire demographic. Open is a first step to social acceptance.

Thus, many seculars are excited about the upcoming “Openly Secular Day”(link is external) on April 23, a day for nonbelievers everywhere to be open about their personal secularity. The event is sponsored, appropriately enough, by a group called Openly Secular, which describes its mission as “to eliminate and increase acceptance by getting secular people—including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists, and nonreligious people—to be open about their beliefs.”

Read the full article by clicking the name of the source located below.