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Is Prince Harry an Atheist?

The National Secular Society of Great Britain reported that Prince Harry “declined the opportunity to give a religious reading” at the 10th anniversary memorial service for the late Princess Diana, opting instead to give a personal eulogy. The text of his speech contains no overtly religious themes—or even a reference to God.

But does that mean Prince Harry—third in line to the British throne who would also hold the title of “Supreme Governor of the Church of England” if he were to become King—is an atheist?

Well, let’s not be too quick to claim Harry as “one of us.” His elder brother, Prince William, electing to read Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in the Bible. Perhaps there was no need to give another, and Harry instead opted to give a special, more personalized tribute to his mother, making the NSS’s wording of Harry “declining the opportunity to give a religious reading” questionable.

Maybe it’s just better that we only call someone an atheist if they’ve stated—loud and clear—that they don’t believe in a god.

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This entry was posted by Maggie on September 11, 2007 at 8:53 am and is filed under Media. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
  • Francis

    “Maybe it

  • HumanistJohn

    But Francis, many atheists are humanists and many humanists are atheists. I can’t understand why you constantly take issue with the linkage that many of the bloggers on this site, who are independent of the Humanist Manifesto III and the AHA in their every thought patterns, have to atheism.

    Maggie’s headline was a question being asked, and so did not imply that he is an atheist.

    Our interest is leading ethical lives, not a central obsession with ETHICS.

    We readers are not sure why your comments all attempt a divergence from the topic, but now I am going to take the comment’s back to the topic at hand.

    Maggie does bring up the interesting point: Could the Church of England be run by an atheist? I know Harry isn’t next in line, but still an interesting question in largely ex-Christian Europe.

  • Francis

    Yes, many Humanists are atheists. I can also assure you from direct personal knowledge that some Anglicans too are atheists and some Quakers are atheists and some Unitarians are atheists.

    There is an excellent organization for atheists, and I highly recommend it – I check their website every day. This is at http://www.FFRF.org It is NOT a Humanist site.

    It is inappropriate to assume that “Unitarians, Quakers, Anglicans and Humanists are atheists.” Or that “atheists are Humanists, Anglicans, Unitarians or Quakers.” Some are, some are not. Or that Humanists have any interest – as Humanists – in atheism. I am not an atheist. Why? Mainly, because I do not choose to define myself by what I deny.

    Like it or not, the official public statement of what Humanism is, as adopted by the AHA’s elected Board in the name of the membership, is the Manifesto. We each have the full freedom to redefine Humanism for ourselves, and not to redefine it for others without their consent.

    The first so-called Humanist in America, Felix Adler, specifically rejected both theism and atheism, and founded Ethical Culture – which is today by far the senior component of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. As its name suggests, its focus is ethics. See http://www.NYSEC.org

    The second Manifesto states “Humanism is an ethical process, by which we can move above and beyond” what occupies older religions.

    While not quite an “obsession,” ethics is certainly a central interest – maybe THE central interest – of Humanism.

    Humanists have many other interests, such as theism/atheism, social action, the arts, etc., and when Humanists focus clearly on the core of Humanism, ethics, all the rest falls into place. They may disagree among themselves over those things, but the core of Humanist ethics is well-defined and established. You can read about it in Adler, Dewey, Huxley, Morain, Popper, Lamont, etc.

    When the word atheism keeps coming up here, and the language of ethics and of Humanism is less prominent, then there’s cause to wonder why. There are lots of atheist sites; this isn’t one.

    As for the monarch of England, that person carries the title of Supreme Governor of the Church. When Queen Elizabeth 1 set up the Church of England she affirmed that in essence people could believe what they chose so long as they did the required acts, which are the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. Anglicanism is, like Judaism, a religion based on what you do, not on what you believe. So the Church will probably fully respect the right of its monarchs to be atheists – so long as they are baptized and go to Mass.

  • me

    i don’t blame him. if my mother died at 12 and my father was a total man whore, i’d denounce god too.