Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon Slays Sold-Out Crowd

“The enemy of Humanism is not faith; the enemy of Humanism is hate, is fear, is ignorance, is the darker part of man that is in every Humanist and every person in the world.” - Joss Whedon (upon receiving Lifetime Achievement Award in Humanism).

On April 10, 2009, a community of atheists, Humanists, and “Whedonites” assembled on Good Friday at Harvard’s Memorial Church to honor writer and director Joss Whedon. The ceremony, dubbed “Atheistmas” by noted Humanist Salman Rushdie, featured Whedon receiving the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism. This award, whose previous winners include Rushdie and punk icon Greg Graffin, is given annually to public figures who have promoted the ideals of Humanism, a progressive secular lifestance.

“One of the reasons I love Joss Whedon’s worlds is because his characters really care about each other and about making the world a better place.” Said Greta Friar, a member of the student committee who selected Whedon for the award. “When I first saw Buffy it seemed kind of silly, but then I realized that behind the silly there was this amazing story of a girl who stood up for what she believed in.”

No stranger to awards, Whedon has been nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy, and he has been recognized by countless other groups for his work on groundbreaking TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dollhouse and internet sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. This time, though, he is being commemorated for more than just his writing.

“What stands out about Joss is his explicit integration of his value system into both his work and his activism,” says Andrew Maher, vice president of the Harvard Secular Society, an undergraduate organization co-sponsoring the award along with the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard. As Whedon explained when asked in 2005 about his atheism, “I believe the only reality is how we treat each other. The morality comes from the absence of any grander scheme, not from the presence of any grander scheme.”

In addition to his work in the arts, Whedon has been an outspoken advocate for women’s rights organization Equality Now. His dedication to women’s empowerment is reflected in his shows, which are known for featuring strong female characters – most notably, cult icon Buffy.

With his Humanist outlook and his creative gifts, Whedon certainly gave the Humanist community something more than Good Friday to celebrate this April 10th. The event was a smashing success (it completely sold out more than two weeks before the event). After being introduced by Harvard Humanist student David Robinson’s excellent Whedon/Humanist video montage Whedon took the stage and delivered an articulate, humorous, and thoroughly Humanistic address, a speech which covered topics as far-ranging as potential reality shows (So, You Think You Can Pope) and moving the “holy land” to Jamaica before closing by thoughtfully extolling the virtues of education and an existentialism-informed Humanism.

Afterwards, the event was forever immortalized by Whedon’s ironic pronouncement on an autographed poster that the Harvard Humanists are “Gods,” while Humanist students and the awardee savored the beautiful cake baked by Harvard College students, Sunny Tang and Joy Zhang of Cakes N’ More. And finally, event organizers the Harvard Secular Society were able to take Whedon out for a night on the town—until 2am—before his flight back to Vancouver the next morning to resume work on an upcoming movie about which we have been sworn to secrecy.