Basic Humanism
Somewhere in the list of articles in the “Hypotheses” section of this site is an article entitled “Scientism 2.0,” where I define my faith in Science as my closest estimation of a religion. My reasons for creating my own religion was that I had failed to find a School of Thought that mirrored what was going on inside my head beyond the Scientific Process. Apparently I wasn’t looking hard enough.
Secular Humanism, like most philosophies that inspire me, appeals to me precisely because it compliments the theories I have already made about the world rather than revolutionizes them. There was nothing new for me in humanist writings, only my own thoughts mirrored from the different perspectives and insights of others who had reached the same conclusions.
Humanists believe in human improvability, bettering the state of our neighbors and ourselves. There are many branches of humanism that include Cultural, Philosophical, Christian, Renaissance, Modern, Religious, Spiritual, and Secular, just to name a few. All of these hold the common goal of promoting the welfare of all human beings in the present moment and the future.
This school of thought began in Europe with Renaissance Humanism in the 15th century, and its focus on human autonomy and naturally derived law, became part of the larger Enlightenment movement in the 17th century, which heavily influenced the emergence of American Democracy. Albert Einstein, Gloria Steinem, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sagan, Plato, Voltaire, and Gene Roddenberry are all well-known humanists.
Humanists value knowledge. This belief in the primacy of education was highly influential in establishing the American Public Educational system. Knowledge is viewed as a great equalizing force and many educated individuals generate strong societies. Humanism’s inquisitiveness and diverse origins make its knowledge extremely eclectic.
Humanists value charity. The simple truth here is that by raising the living standards of our neighbors, we raise the living standard for all people. The inherently communal nature of civilization is a cause far greater than we individuals and we have a responsibility to serve it. The Red Cross, FINCA, the United Way, and all other charities working to make this a better world are Humanist endeavors.
Education and charity are both means to the value Humanists hold most dear, equality. Effective and productive disputation only occurs when all those involved have a voice in the debate. It was this Humanist belief that most heavily influenced the Declaration of Independence, the American Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
Secular Humanism
“A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.”
– Carl Sagan
Secular Humanism emphasizes rational thought, inquiry, exploration, and the scientific method as means to achieving Humanist goals. Secular Humanism does not reject religion, but does reject dogmatism in favor of ethical principles derived solely from observable human needs. Do not kill, steal, lie, or otherwise cheat the system because these acts are detrimental to all human beings. Do love your neighbor, engage in charitable acts, and otherwise strive to coexist peacefully with others because these acts are beneficial to all human beings.
Using the Scientific Method as a model, the Secular Humanist sees the importance of equality and freedom. Science requires an equality of ideas, a free flow of inquiry and exploration to work effectively. Secrecy of knowledge, therefore, is anathema to the Secular Humanist. Information must be free and available to all people for Civilization to grow and advance optimally. All voices must be heard and all established paradigms challenged.
Secular Humanists look toward the future and reject the deleterious nostalgia for the past that plagues so many today. The past was qualitatively worse than the present in innumerable ways. There was more murder, war, disease, crime, suffering, inequality, poverty, starvation, and hundreds of other miseries a mere half-century ago that the Human Race has effectively reduced in the modern day. For people today to suggest we go back to such a state offends rationality.
Equality, human progress, and free inquiry are all characteristics that contribute to the Secular Humanist’s acceptance of an evolving truth. No one person, organization, or book can claim a monopoly on the truth and Secular Humanists are often engaged in tearing down society’s false preconceptions and challenging the “common sense” so many people accept without question or critical thought.
Most often, this puts the Secular Humanist in dispute with the traditional religions.
Secular Humanism Versus Dogmatic Theology
The majority of Secular Humanists believe that we are all part of the Cosmos, unlike most dogmatic religions, which stress human separateness and superiority to the rest of existence. While religion emphasizes the separation of mind and body as evidence of a soul, Secular Humanists reject the mind/body dualism as a perceptual illusion. The justifiable concern most Secular Humanists have about religion is that focusing on the next world’s possibilities causes people to neglect the responsibilities they have to this one.
Science is often accused of prideful knowing. That it makes assumptions about the Universe that it cannot know, that it seeks to rival God. Yet Science has proven exactly the opposite, that we cannot possibly obtain a God’s-Eye view of existence. The Heissenburg Uncertainty Principle, Chaos Theory, Science emphasizes the fallibility of our perceptions, the ultimately unknowable of everything.
It is Religion that claims the most certainty. Religious Zealots will commit murders, suicides, self-flagellation, and wage war, all in the cause of their Deity’s dictates. Only Religions dare to claim knowledge of the mind of God. Only Fundamentalists, these most vociferous and extreme Religions, claim a monopoly on the truth.
Secular Humanists do not reject the possibility of things beyond our perceptions, but they do reject the supernatural and believe in focusing on the here and now. This makes sense if we give it some thought: Once something supposedly “supernatural” is observed and tested, no matter how fantastic, it is now in the realm of the real. Quantum Physics, Reincarnation Case Studies, a Cosmos filled to the brim with endless wonders are all fantastic enough to inspire humanity to continue.
What about an afterlife? Without a belief that we continue beyond death, doesn’t life become futile? Here I am reminded of Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan’s thoughts as they each neared death. Neither was concerned whether there was an afterlife or not, for both were content at having the good fortune to have a brief glimpse at this wonderful realm of existence.
Worrying about what comes after, the inevitability we all share only sours our enjoyment of the now.
Secular Humanist Quotes
“Humanism is a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion…” -American Humanist Association
“Do you say that religion is still needed? Then I answer that Work, Study, Health and Love constitute religion.” – Elbert Hubbard
“Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.” – Thomas Paine
“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” – David Hume
“Man is the measure of all things.” – Protagoras
“And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable – and we believe they can do it again.” – John F. Kennedy
“We might as well require a man to wear the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain forever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Man must not check reason by tradition, but contrariwise, must check tradition by reason.” – Leo Tolstoy
“When I became convinced that the universe is natural – that all ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain . . . the joy of freedom. . . . I was free – free to think, to express my thoughts . . . free to live for myself and those I loved . . . free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope . . . free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the ‘inspired’ books that savages have produced . . . free from popes and priests . . . free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies . . . free from the fear of eternal pain . . . free from devils, ghosts and gods. . . . There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought . . . no following another’s steps . . . no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words.” – Robert Ingersoll
“Since Humanism as a functioning credo is so closely bound up with the methods of reason and science, plainly free speech and democracy are its very lifeblood. For reason and scientific method can flourish only in an atmosphere of civil liberties.” – Corliss Lamont
“The values of science and the values of democracy are concordant, in many cases indistinguishable. Science and democracy began – in their civilized incarnations – in the same time and place, Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. . . . Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy. Science holds to no special vantage points or privileged positions. Both science and democracy encourage unconventional opinions and vigorous debate. Both demand adequate reason, coherent argument, rigorous standards of evidence and honesty.” – Carl Sagan
“The world is my country, and to do good my religion.” – Thomas Paine
“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Many persons have no idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller
“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert F. Kennedy
“A final victory is an accumulation of many short-term encounters. To lightly dismiss a success because it does not usher in a complete order of justice is to fail to comprehend the process of achieving full victory.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Humanism is optimistic regarding human nature and confident in human reason and science as the best means of reaching the goal of human fulfillment in this world. Humanists affirm that humans are a product of the same evolutionary process that produced all other living organisms and that all ideas, knowledge, values, and social systems are based upon human experience. Humanists conclude that creative ability and personal responsibility are strongest when the mind is free from supernatural belief and operates in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy.” – published in Free Mind, American Humanist Association.
“I am a Humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishment after I am dead.” – Kurt Vonnegut
“It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere…. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” – Albert Einstein
“Humanism, in all its simplicity, is the only genuine spirituality.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Humanists recognize that it is only when people feel free to think for themselves, using reason as their guide, that they are best capable of developing values that succeed in satisfying human needs and serving human interests.” – Isaac Asimov