Secular Humanism

Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice, and specifically rejects the supernatural and the spiritual as the basis of moral reflection and decision-making. Like other types of humanism, secular humanism is a life stance that focuses on the way human beings can lead good, happy and functional lives.

Secular humanism describes a world view with the following elements and principles:

• Need to test beliefs – A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.
• Reason, evidence, scientific method – A commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.
• Fulfillment, growth, creativity – A primary concern with fulfillment, growth and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
• Search for truth – A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
• This life – A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
• Ethics – A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
• Building a better world – A conviction that with reason, an open exchange of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

A Secular Humanist Declaration was issued in 1980 by The Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH), now the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH). It lays out ten ideals:

• Free inquiry as opposed to censorship and imposition of belief.
• Separation of church and state.
• Freedom from religious control and from jingoistic government control.
• Ethics based on critical intelligence rather than that deduced from religious belief.
• Moral education
• Religious skepticism
• Reason
• A belief in science and technology as the best way of understanding the world
• Evolution
• Education as the essential method of building humane, free, and democratic societies.

[Sources for the above: Wikipedia]

The dictionary defines the word Manifesto as, "a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer." With this in mind and for consideration, I offer the following links to the Humanist Manifestos. The first appeared in 1933, the second in 1973 and a third appeared in 2003. The last is deliberately much shorter than its predecessors, and in my opinion are to all be taken as a whole, then as person for you to take from it what you will.

In fact, the third manifesto refers the reader to its predecessors so that a proper sense of the whole can be appreciated. Humanism is not a religion in my opinion, but a philosphy. Though, in the first manifesto, Humanism is referred to as a religious movement to transcend and replace previous religions based on allegations of supernatural revelation. This was removed in the second manifesto, and in my opinion the second contains the fullest expression of the ideas of Humanism.

Among those who publically claimed to be Humanists include a vertiable pantheon of great thinkers. To name a few of the more notable ones . . .

Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, John Dewey, Richard Dawkins, Albert Einstein (who served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York), Julian Huxley, Gene Roddenberry (creator of Star Trek), Carl Sagan, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Mann, Niccolò Machiavelli, Robert G. Ingersoll and Bertrand Russell. The idea of Humanism in all its forms spans many centuries, and has only refined itself over time. A larger list of famous Humanists can be found here.

Humanist Manifesto I
Humanist Manifesto II * The primary and revised document that distills the meaning and intent of the Humanist philosophy very well.
Humanist Manifesto III

Also of note is the Secular Humanist Declaration while similar, goes out of its way to be secular in all of its notions.

Taken as a whole, these documents represent the basis of the ideas of Humanism and Secular Humanism.

[Primary source: Wikipedia, plus any other links above.]

Emmanuel L. Goldstein (yes, that Emmanuel Goldstein!)