SECULAR HUMANISM
OVERVIEW
Modern Secular Humanists in the United States are Atheist and reject all dogma, religion, religious beliefs, an afterlife, philosophical naturalism, belief in God, superstitions, supernaturalism and pseudoscience. They attempt to make sense of the World using reason, experience and shared values. They try to make the best of human life by creating meaning and purpose for themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions.
They believe that at all times it is important to act morally towards others, not because of a divine imperative or mandate, but because people have inherent dignity. They believe humans have only one life and it is our responsibility to make it a good life and to live it well.
In America they strive to make the public aware of the importance of separation of church and state, to oppose the teaching of creationism and other religious exercises in public schools and to provide a voice of reason when superstition is presented in the media.
HISTORY
Humanism and Secular Humanism are related, but separate beliefs. Secular Humanism growing in America out of the earlier Humanism beliefs.
Historical use of the term Humanism is related to the writings of pre-Socratic philosophers. Those writings were lost to Western Civilization until Renaissance scholars rediscovered them through Muslim sources and translated them from Arabic into European languages.
The term "Humanist" can mean a humanities scholar, as well as refer to The Enlightenment/ Renaissance intellectuals, and those who have agreement with the pre-Socratics, as distinct from secular humanists.
In 1851 George Holyoake, who was strongly influenced by Auguste Comte- (the founder of positivism and of modern sociology) coined the term "secularism" to describe "a form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life".
The modern secular movement coalesced around Holyoake, Charles Bradlaugh and their intellectual circle. The first secular society, the Leicester Secular Society, dates from 1851. Similar regional societies came together to form the National Secular Society in 1866.
The London Positivist Society was formed in 1867. In 1878, the Society established the Church of Humanity they then introduced sacraments of the Religion of Humanity and published a co-operative translation of Comte's Positive Polity.
The New York City version of the church was established by English immigrant Henry Edger. The American version of the "Church of Humanity". It was largely modeled on the English church. Like the English version it wasn't atheistic and had sermons and sacramental rites. At times the services included readings from conventional religious works like the Book of Isaiah. It was not as significant as the church in England, but did include several educated people.
In America, the ethical movement was propounded by Felix Adler, who established the New York Society for Ethical Culture in 1877. By 1886, similar societies had sprouted up in Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis.
These societies all adopted the same statement of principles:
- The belief that morality is independent of theology;
- The affirmation that new moral problems have arisen in modern industrial society which have not been adequately dealt with by the world's religions;
- The duty to engage in philanthropy in the advancement of morality;
- The belief that self-reform should go in lock step with social reform;
- The establishment of republican rather than monarchical governance of Ethical societies
- The agreement that educating the young is the most important aim.
-
The movement responded to the religious crisis of the time by replacing theology with morality. It aimed to "disentangle moral ideas from religious doctrines, metaphysical systems, and ethical theories, and to make them an independent force in personal life and social relations."
As an organized movement, Humanism itself is quite recent – born at the University of Chicago in the 1920s, and made public in 1933 with the publication of the first Humanist Manifesto. The American Humanist Association was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit organization in 1943. The International Humanist and Ethical Union was founded in 1952, when a gathering of world Humanists met under the leadership of Sir Julian Huxley. The British Humanist Association took that name in 1967, but had developed from the Union of Ethical Societies which had been founded by Stanton Coit in 1896.
Today, according to the Council for Secular Humanism within the United States, the term "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 by faith.
- Reason, evidence, scientific method – A commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence and scientific method of inquiry 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.
- A concern for this life (as opposed to an afterlife) 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.
- Justice and fairness – an interest in securing justice and fairness in society and in eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
- 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.
BASIC BELIEFS
Secular Humanist beliefs are best set forth in the following:
- They are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the Universe and to the solving of human problems.
-
- They deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.
- They believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.
- They believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities.
- They are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.
- They cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.
- They are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society by eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
- They believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves.
- They attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.
- They want to protect and enhance the Earth, to preserve it for future generations and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.
- They believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing their creative talents to their fullest.
- They believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.
- They respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care and to die with dignity.
- They believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.
- They are deeply concerned with the moral education of their children. They seek to nourish reason and compassion.
- They are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.
- They are citizens of the Universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos.
- They are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in thinking.
- They affirm Humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.
- They believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred , compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.
- They believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.
A Secular Humanist Declaration was adopted in 1980 by the Council for Secular Humanism which lays out ten ideals:
- Free inquiry as opposed to censorship and imposition of belief;
- separation of church and state;
- the ideal of 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; and education as the essential method of building humane, free, and democratic
societies.
SIMILAR PHILOSOPHIES
Atheism- a lack of belief or a strong disbelief in the existence of a god or any gods.
Agnosticism- a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
Positivism- a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects metaphysics and theism and that the theory that laws are to be understood as social rules, valid because they are enacted by authority or derive logically from existing decisions, and that ideal or moral considerations (e.g., that a rule is unjust) should not limit the scope or operation of the law.
Ethical Naturalism- the view that moral terms, concepts, or properties are ultimately definable in terms of facts about the natural world, including facts about human beings, human nature, and human societies there are many different varieties of ethical naturalism. Hedonism, for example, is the view that goodness is ultimately just pleasure.
Utilitarianism- the doctrine that an action is right insofar as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.
Moral Universalism- is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics, or a universal ethic, applies universally for "all similarly situated individuals", regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or any other distinguishing feature.
Epistemology- is the branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief.
VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE
The scientific method is the most respected as the means for revealing the mysteries of the origins of the Universe and Life. Therefore, they believe in the Big Bang theory as the origin of the Universe and Evolution for its development.
An afterlife or spiritual existence after death is not recognized. No concept of “evil.” Reasons for wrongdoing are explored through scientific methods, e.g. through study of sociology, psychology, criminology.
Realizing one’s personal potential and working for the betterment of humanity through ethical consciousness and social works are considered paramount, but from a naturalistic rather than supernatural standpoint.
No spiritual reasons “undeserved suffering” except for human vulnerability to misfortune, illness, and victimization. (similar to Existentialism) .
PRACTICES
Secular Humanist tend to gather in groups. For a complete list Google “Secular Humanist Organizations” there are many. Some of their more noticeable organizations are:
International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU): is the sole world umbrella organization embracing Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, ethical, cultural, freethought and similar organizations world-wide." IHEU is a union of over 100 Humanist or secularist organizations in more than 40 countries. It is an international NGO (Non-governmental organization) with special consultative status with the United Nations.
American Humanist Association: organization promoting Humanism in the US.
Society for Humanistic Judaism: offers cultural and secular Jews a non-theistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life.
New Orleans Secular Humanist Association: is dedicated to raising the awareness of people of the Gulf Coast region to the ideals and values of secular humanism.
PEOPLE WHO PRACTICE THIS PHILOSOPHY
Leonard Bernstein: American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim.
Niels Bohr: Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897): German composer and pianist.
Arthur C. Clarke: Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.
Auguste Comte: French philosopher. He was a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism.
Roger Ebert: American journalist, film critic, and screenwriter.
Albert Einstein : served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York.
Friedrich Engels: German-English industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx.
Sigmund Freud: Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis.
John Kenneth Galbraith: Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism. Named Humanist of the Year in 1985 by the American Humanist Association.
Katharine Hepburn: presented the Humanist Arts Award in 1985 by the American Humanist Association.
Bill Hicks (1961–1994): American stand-up comedian and musician.
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963): English writer best known for novels, such as Brave New World, and essays on a wide range of topics.
John Lennon: British singer-songwriter, producer, and peace activist.
Bill Maher: American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author, and actor.
Jawaharlal Nehru: India's first Prime Minister.
Anne Rice: American author of gothic fiction, Christian literature, and erotica.
Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991): American screenwriter, producer, de facto populistic philosopher, and satirist; creator of Star Trek. Roddenberry was a member of the American Humanist Association, and he has been called "one of the most influential yet unheralded humanists of the twentieth century." Presented the Humanist Arts Award in 1991 by the American Humanist Association.
Carl Sagan: Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 1981, and was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.
Jean-Paul Sartre: French existentialist and Marxist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, biographer, activist, and critic; author of Existentialism is a Humanism.
Charles M. Schulz: American cartoonist who created the comic strip, Peanuts. From the late 1980s, he described himself in interviews as a "Secular Humanist".
Rod Serling: creator and narrator of The Twilight Zone.
Ted Turner: American entrepreneur. Named Humanist of the Year in 1990 by the American Humanist Association.
Mark Twain: American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: American astrophysicist and science communicator. Presented with the Isaac Asimov Science Award in 2009 by the American Humanist Association.
Nikola Tesla: Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system.
Gore Vidal: American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. Vidal was Honorary President of the American Humanist Association from April 2009 until his death in 2012,and was presented with the organization's Humanist Arts Award in 1984.
Kurt Vonnegut: American author and satirist. Vonnegut was Honorary President of the American Humanist Association from 1992 until his death in 2007, and was named Humanist of the Year in 1992.
Walt Whitman: American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.
Steve Wozniak: American inventor. Received the Isaac Asimov Science Award in 2011 from the American Humanist Association.
Frank Zappa: American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and music concrete works.
CONCLUSION
Secular Humanism is not all that different from Theosophy, if one would add a belief in God and the afterlife, together with a respect of religions and a belief in the Masters to Secular Humanism.
The main theme of Secular Humanism is that: We have only one life and we need to live it morally, ethically and well. In that respect it is not much different from Atheism.
Pure Humanist may believe in God and Religion, or not, their choice. Secular Humanist do not believe in a God, religion or afterlife.
It is a very popular philosophy among persons who may be considered “intellectuals”, although certainly not all intellectuals are Atheist.
Humanist tend to gather in groups and like give one another awards .They to enjoy having socials of various types among themselves.
Secular Humanist tend to see the World and Universe as chaotic and random without order or reason, except that given by man. The problem with that philosophy is that it is difficult to reconcile those beliefs with the orderliness of the Universe and its Sacred Geometry.
Nevertheless, Secular Humanism remains a popular and widespread philosophy and there is no reason to believe that it will remain as such into the future.
Scott Ramsey
May 30, 2018
OVERVIEW
Modern Secular Humanists in the United States are Atheist and reject all dogma, religion, religious beliefs, an afterlife, philosophical naturalism, belief in God, superstitions, supernaturalism and pseudoscience. They attempt to make sense of the World using reason, experience and shared values. They try to make the best of human life by creating meaning and purpose for themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions.
They believe that at all times it is important to act morally towards others, not because of a divine imperative or mandate, but because people have inherent dignity. They believe humans have only one life and it is our responsibility to make it a good life and to live it well.
In America they strive to make the public aware of the importance of separation of church and state, to oppose the teaching of creationism and other religious exercises in public schools and to provide a voice of reason when superstition is presented in the media.
HISTORY
Humanism and Secular Humanism are related, but separate beliefs. Secular Humanism growing in America out of the earlier Humanism beliefs.
Historical use of the term Humanism is related to the writings of pre-Socratic philosophers. Those writings were lost to Western Civilization until Renaissance scholars rediscovered them through Muslim sources and translated them from Arabic into European languages.
The term "Humanist" can mean a humanities scholar, as well as refer to The Enlightenment/ Renaissance intellectuals, and those who have agreement with the pre-Socratics, as distinct from secular humanists.
In 1851 George Holyoake, who was strongly influenced by Auguste Comte- (the founder of positivism and of modern sociology) coined the term "secularism" to describe "a form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life".
The modern secular movement coalesced around Holyoake, Charles Bradlaugh and their intellectual circle. The first secular society, the Leicester Secular Society, dates from 1851. Similar regional societies came together to form the National Secular Society in 1866.
The London Positivist Society was formed in 1867. In 1878, the Society established the Church of Humanity they then introduced sacraments of the Religion of Humanity and published a co-operative translation of Comte's Positive Polity.
The New York City version of the church was established by English immigrant Henry Edger. The American version of the "Church of Humanity". It was largely modeled on the English church. Like the English version it wasn't atheistic and had sermons and sacramental rites. At times the services included readings from conventional religious works like the Book of Isaiah. It was not as significant as the church in England, but did include several educated people.
In America, the ethical movement was propounded by Felix Adler, who established the New York Society for Ethical Culture in 1877. By 1886, similar societies had sprouted up in Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis.
These societies all adopted the same statement of principles:
- The belief that morality is independent of theology;
- The affirmation that new moral problems have arisen in modern industrial society which have not been adequately dealt with by the world's religions;
- The duty to engage in philanthropy in the advancement of morality;
- The belief that self-reform should go in lock step with social reform;
- The establishment of republican rather than monarchical governance of Ethical societies
- The agreement that educating the young is the most important aim.
-
The movement responded to the religious crisis of the time by replacing theology with morality. It aimed to "disentangle moral ideas from religious doctrines, metaphysical systems, and ethical theories, and to make them an independent force in personal life and social relations."
As an organized movement, Humanism itself is quite recent – born at the University of Chicago in the 1920s, and made public in 1933 with the publication of the first Humanist Manifesto. The American Humanist Association was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit organization in 1943. The International Humanist and Ethical Union was founded in 1952, when a gathering of world Humanists met under the leadership of Sir Julian Huxley. The British Humanist Association took that name in 1967, but had developed from the Union of Ethical Societies which had been founded by Stanton Coit in 1896.
Today, according to the Council for Secular Humanism within the United States, the term "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 by faith.
- Reason, evidence, scientific method – A commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence and scientific method of inquiry 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.
- A concern for this life (as opposed to an afterlife) 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.
- Justice and fairness – an interest in securing justice and fairness in society and in eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
- 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.
BASIC BELIEFS
Secular Humanist beliefs are best set forth in the following:
- They are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the Universe and to the solving of human problems.
-
- They deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.
- They believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life.
- They believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities.
- They are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state.
- They cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.
- They are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society by eliminating discrimination and intolerance.
- They believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves.
- They attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity.
- They want to protect and enhance the Earth, to preserve it for future generations and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species.
- They believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing their creative talents to their fullest.
- They believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.
- They respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care and to die with dignity.
- They believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences.
- They are deeply concerned with the moral education of their children. They seek to nourish reason and compassion.
- They are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.
- They are citizens of the Universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos.
- They are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in thinking.
- They affirm Humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others.
- They believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred , compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.
- They believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.
A Secular Humanist Declaration was adopted in 1980 by the Council for Secular Humanism which lays out ten ideals:
- Free inquiry as opposed to censorship and imposition of belief;
- separation of church and state;
- the ideal of 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; and education as the essential method of building humane, free, and democratic
societies.
SIMILAR PHILOSOPHIES
Atheism- a lack of belief or a strong disbelief in the existence of a god or any gods.
Agnosticism- a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
Positivism- a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects metaphysics and theism and that the theory that laws are to be understood as social rules, valid because they are enacted by authority or derive logically from existing decisions, and that ideal or moral considerations (e.g., that a rule is unjust) should not limit the scope or operation of the law.
Ethical Naturalism- the view that moral terms, concepts, or properties are ultimately definable in terms of facts about the natural world, including facts about human beings, human nature, and human societies there are many different varieties of ethical naturalism. Hedonism, for example, is the view that goodness is ultimately just pleasure.
Utilitarianism- the doctrine that an action is right insofar as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.
Moral Universalism- is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics, or a universal ethic, applies universally for "all similarly situated individuals", regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or any other distinguishing feature.
Epistemology- is the branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. Epistemology studies the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief.
VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE
The scientific method is the most respected as the means for revealing the mysteries of the origins of the Universe and Life. Therefore, they believe in the Big Bang theory as the origin of the Universe and Evolution for its development.
An afterlife or spiritual existence after death is not recognized. No concept of “evil.” Reasons for wrongdoing are explored through scientific methods, e.g. through study of sociology, psychology, criminology.
Realizing one’s personal potential and working for the betterment of humanity through ethical consciousness and social works are considered paramount, but from a naturalistic rather than supernatural standpoint.
No spiritual reasons “undeserved suffering” except for human vulnerability to misfortune, illness, and victimization. (similar to Existentialism) .
PRACTICES
Secular Humanist tend to gather in groups. For a complete list Google “Secular Humanist Organizations” there are many. Some of their more noticeable organizations are:
International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU): is the sole world umbrella organization embracing Humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, ethical, cultural, freethought and similar organizations world-wide." IHEU is a union of over 100 Humanist or secularist organizations in more than 40 countries. It is an international NGO (Non-governmental organization) with special consultative status with the United Nations.
American Humanist Association: organization promoting Humanism in the US.
Society for Humanistic Judaism: offers cultural and secular Jews a non-theistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life.
New Orleans Secular Humanist Association: is dedicated to raising the awareness of people of the Gulf Coast region to the ideals and values of secular humanism.
PEOPLE WHO PRACTICE THIS PHILOSOPHY
Leonard Bernstein: American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim.
Niels Bohr: Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897): German composer and pianist.
Arthur C. Clarke: Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.
Auguste Comte: French philosopher. He was a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism.
Roger Ebert: American journalist, film critic, and screenwriter.
Albert Einstein : served on the advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York.
Friedrich Engels: German-English industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx.
Sigmund Freud: Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis.
John Kenneth Galbraith: Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism. Named Humanist of the Year in 1985 by the American Humanist Association.
Katharine Hepburn: presented the Humanist Arts Award in 1985 by the American Humanist Association.
Bill Hicks (1961–1994): American stand-up comedian and musician.
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963): English writer best known for novels, such as Brave New World, and essays on a wide range of topics.
John Lennon: British singer-songwriter, producer, and peace activist.
Bill Maher: American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author, and actor.
Jawaharlal Nehru: India's first Prime Minister.
Anne Rice: American author of gothic fiction, Christian literature, and erotica.
Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991): American screenwriter, producer, de facto populistic philosopher, and satirist; creator of Star Trek. Roddenberry was a member of the American Humanist Association, and he has been called "one of the most influential yet unheralded humanists of the twentieth century." Presented the Humanist Arts Award in 1991 by the American Humanist Association.
Carl Sagan: Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 1981, and was a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism.
Jean-Paul Sartre: French existentialist and Marxist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, biographer, activist, and critic; author of Existentialism is a Humanism.
Charles M. Schulz: American cartoonist who created the comic strip, Peanuts. From the late 1980s, he described himself in interviews as a "Secular Humanist".
Rod Serling: creator and narrator of The Twilight Zone.
Ted Turner: American entrepreneur. Named Humanist of the Year in 1990 by the American Humanist Association.
Mark Twain: American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: American astrophysicist and science communicator. Presented with the Isaac Asimov Science Award in 2009 by the American Humanist Association.
Nikola Tesla: Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system.
Gore Vidal: American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. Vidal was Honorary President of the American Humanist Association from April 2009 until his death in 2012,and was presented with the organization's Humanist Arts Award in 1984.
Kurt Vonnegut: American author and satirist. Vonnegut was Honorary President of the American Humanist Association from 1992 until his death in 2007, and was named Humanist of the Year in 1992.
Walt Whitman: American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.
Steve Wozniak: American inventor. Received the Isaac Asimov Science Award in 2011 from the American Humanist Association.
Frank Zappa: American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and music concrete works.
CONCLUSION
Secular Humanism is not all that different from Theosophy, if one would add a belief in God and the afterlife, together with a respect of religions and a belief in the Masters to Secular Humanism.
The main theme of Secular Humanism is that: We have only one life and we need to live it morally, ethically and well. In that respect it is not much different from Atheism.
Pure Humanist may believe in God and Religion, or not, their choice. Secular Humanist do not believe in a God, religion or afterlife.
It is a very popular philosophy among persons who may be considered “intellectuals”, although certainly not all intellectuals are Atheist.
Humanist tend to gather in groups and like give one another awards .They to enjoy having socials of various types among themselves.
Secular Humanist tend to see the World and Universe as chaotic and random without order or reason, except that given by man. The problem with that philosophy is that it is difficult to reconcile those beliefs with the orderliness of the Universe and its Sacred Geometry.
Nevertheless, Secular Humanism remains a popular and widespread philosophy and there is no reason to believe that it will remain as such into the future.
Scott Ramsey
May 30, 2018