Humanists find a home without a ‘religious aspect’

When Corinne Stephenson ’12 came to campus as a freshman, one of the first events she attended was the activities fair. As dozens of clubs shoved fliers in her face and pushed her to put her name on email lists, she noticed that one thing was missing: a club dedicated to humanism.

“I was struck by the number of student groups with a particular religious affiliation,” she said. “I remember not finding a secular humanist group and being really struck by that.”

After some thought, Stephenson sought the help of fellow students Daniel Schiff ’12, David Perel ’12 and Kaylyn Jackson ’13 to found the Princeton University Society of Humanists. According to its website, PUSH is “dedicated to promoting and defending rational thought and secular humanism at Princeton and beyond.”

The four students first met last year to organize and coordinate funding for the group.

Co-presidents Stephenson and Schiff along with business manager Jackson and communications manager Perel make up the current board.

PUSH organizes events such as lectures and presentations by faculty and documentary and movie screenings. One lecture series included a presentation by anthropology professor Alan Mann on the “The Origins of Humanness.” According to the PUSH website, these events aim to accomplish three goals: to “establish a positive social environment,” “further public understanding of rational thought through discussion and debate” and “provide an outlet for meaningful dialogue between nonreligious and religious students.”

Stephenson said she hopes to encourage discussion of “important social, political and ethic issues” from a non-theist perspective through these forums.

This discourse, according to the founders, is something that the University has failed to provide in the past.

“We have so many options for religious students on campus,” Jackson said. But before PUSH, according to Jackson, there was no such option for nonreligious people.

“All of the Ivy League schools have similar institutions,” Stephenson said, adding that many were surprised to know that a club such as PUSH did not already exist at the University when she began spreading word. “So I’d like to think that PUSH is filling this gap on campus,” she said.

Meanwhile, Perel explained that he feels PUSH is important because it provides an outlet for social discussion “without a religious aspect.”

“Something unexpected that we’ve had is that ... [for some students] talking to our group is the first time they’ve revealed that they’re atheist,” he said.

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This is especially true for students from conservative, religious families, Schiff said, noting that the club provides a support system more personal than the occasional Internet forum or a single close friend — both of which can be “isolating” for students.

Several students, however, told the ‘Prince’ that they felt no need for such a group on campus.

Many self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics on campus said they felt the group does not change much.

Olivia Huang ’14 said that she never felt isolated on campus for her beliefs, or lack thereof, by the abundance of religious organizations.

“There are lots of nonreligious groups on campus, too,” she said, adding that, while she has no problem with the group itself, she personally did not feel that the group was necessary.

“I’ve never felt the need to express that I don’t believe in God,” she said.

Meanwhile, Michelangelo Ball Van Zee ’14 expressed similar sentiments: Although he is an atheist, he will not be joining the group anytime soon, he said.

“I think religion is quite dumb,” he said. “But I don’t necessarily want to be identified as an atheist exclusively if people would not otherwise know.”

Others said that they are indifferent to the group as long as things are kept civil.

“People can practice their beliefs however they wish,” said Max Jacobson ’13, a Reform Jew. Andrew Day ’13 of the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship and Princeton Faith and Action expressed similar sentiments, noting that he is “fine” with the group as long as it doesn’t start “poster wars” with religious groups or cause them to lash out at each other.

Regardless, all four founders emphasized that they would like to keep open and friendly communication with religious groups on campus.

“We’ve maintained good relations with the religious groups,” said Perel. “We hope to have some events with them.”