Across families

Secular Buddhism and Secular Humanism

Different families with 13 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.12 (0 would be identical).

Secular BuddhismBuddhism

The practice and the psychology kept, the cosmology set aside: no literal rebirth, no supernatural claims, no authority beyond what you can test in your own experience. A naturalist reading of the canon rather than a rejection of it.

Secular HumanismNon-theistic

One life, no supervision, and an ethics built from reason and human solidarity rather than received from anywhere. Organised, articulate and explicit that meaning is made rather than found.

Where they agree

D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.00.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at an individual choice — a gap of 0.02.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.03.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at impersonal principle or order — a gap of 0.03.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.03.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.03.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.03.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at many valid paths — a gap of 0.03.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.06.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at ends at death — a gap of 0.08.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at metaphorical, or no text at all — a gap of 0.10.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at individual conscience decides — a gap of 0.10.
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at nothing beyond the natural — a gap of 0.10.

Where they part company

A4 Locus
Secular Buddhism: leaning fully present within it. Secular Humanism: wholly beyond the world. A gap of 0.60 on an axis running from “wholly beyond the world” to “fully present within it”.
D3 The body
Secular Buddhism: between to be disciplined and to be celebrated. Secular Humanism: leaning to be celebrated. A gap of 0.40 on an axis running from “to be disciplined” to “to be celebrated”.

All seventeen axes

Axis	Secular Buddhism	Secular Humanism	Gap
A1 Divine reality	nothing beyond the natural	nothing beyond the natural	0.10
A2 Personhood	impersonal principle or order	impersonal principle or order	0.03
A3 Plurality	strictly one	strictly one	0.03
A4 Locus	leaning fully present within it	wholly beyond the world	0.60
B1 Source of truth	reason and direct experience	reason and direct experience	0.03
B2 Reading of sacred text	metaphorical, or no text at all	metaphorical, or no text at all	0.10
B3 Institutional authority	individual conscience decides	individual conscience decides	0.10
C1 Survival of the self	ends at death	ends at death	0.08
C2 Shape of time	leaning one life, then judgment	one life, then judgment	0.20
C3 The human condition	ignorant but fundamentally sound	ignorant but fundamentally sound	0.03
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good	achieved by effort or insight	achieved by effort or insight	0.00
D2 Centrality of ritual	leaning optional or absent	optional or absent	0.22
D3 The body	between to be disciplined and to be celebrated	leaning to be celebrated	0.40
E1 Exclusivity	many valid paths	many valid paths	0.03
E2 Origin of the cosmos	beginningless or natural	beginningless or natural	0.06
E3 Locus of belonging	an individual choice	an individual choice	0.02
E4 Standing of nature	between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred	between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred	0.03

Positions for Secular Buddhism rest principally on Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997) and After Buddhism (2015); for Secular Humanism, on Humanist Manifesto III (2003) and the Amsterdam Declaration (2002). Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.

Which of the two is closer to you?

The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.