Secular Humanism, as the name suggests, combines elements of two worldviews: Secularism and Humanism. Secular humanism, however, is distinct from either secularism or humanism. Secularism, as an idea, emerged in modern times as a reaction to the pervading influence of the Church and Monarchy. It accelerated during the period of the Enlightenment. Thinkers such as Montesquieu and Thomas Paine helped to lay the ideological groundwork for secular models of government after the French Revolution.

Humanism, on the other hand, seeks to order the affairs of mankind without the need for a higher power. It also asserts moral equivalency with established religious tenets. Humanism incorporates humanitarian values and has many noble aspirations in terms of its philanthropic ethos but is fundamentally flawed.