The Free Religious Association (FRA) was an American freethought organization that opposed organized religion and aimed to form in its place a universal rational religion free of dogma or theology based on evolutionary science. [1]
The Free Religious Association (FRA) was an American freethought organization that opposed organized religion and aimed to form in its place a universal rational religion free of dogma or theology based on evolutionary science. [1]
The Free Religious Association was formed in 1867 in part by David Atwood Wasson, Lucretia Mott, and William J. Potter [2] to be, in Potter's words, a "spiritual anti-slavery society" designed to "emancipate religion from the dogmatic traditions it had been previously bound to". [3] It was opposed not only to organized religion, but also to any supernaturalism; it was an attempt to affirm the supremacy of individual conscience and reason. The FRA carried a message of the perfectibility of humanity, democratic faith in the worth of each individual, the importance of natural rights, and the affirmation of the efficacy of reason.
The first public assembly was held in 1867, and was akin to a town meeting with an audience ranging from progressive Quakers, liberal Jews, radical Unitarians, Universalists, agnostics, Spiritualists, and scientific theists[ definition needed ] to promote religious freedom. [4] Robert Dale Owen was present at the first meeting. [4] The first person to join the association at the initial meeting was the American individualist Ralph Waldo Emerson. [5] It caught on, and many FRA members helped lead communes based on their values of equality and self-organization. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Charles Eliot Norton and Francis Ellingwood Abbot were members. [1] In 1892, its vice presidents included the abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the humanists Felix Adler and Moncure Conway. [6]
The association existed until 1914. Its 47th annual meeting proceedings were published with the title World Religion and World Brotherhood. [4]
The Free Religious Association became formally associated with The Index: A Weekly Paper Devoted to Free Religion, which became its semi-official periodical. [1] [7] It was edited by Francis Ellingwood Abbot until 1873 and then by his assistant A . W . Stevens. [7] Charles Darwin subscribed to The Index and until his death sent Abbot donations (as much as £25 one year). [1] Abbott was the owner of The Index until 1880. After this, it became the property of the Free Religious Association. In 1881, it changed name to the Free Religious Index, but was restored to its original name after eleven months. [7] W.J. Potter became the official editor and his assistant Benjamin F. Underwood did much of the editorial work. The December 30, 1886 issue was the final edition of The Index. [7]
In February 1887, The Open Court journal became the official publication of the Free Religious Association. [7] [8] By the end of 1887, Underwood resigned and Paul Carus became editor and Edward C. Hegeler's Open Court Publishing Company published The Open Court journal until 1936. [8] [9]
An organization calling itself Free Association of Religious Teachers was formed in 2010 which claims spiritual descent from the FRA. It is currently active in offering free teaching and certification in various aspects of interspiritual ministry and transodox theology.
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
Religious humanism or ethical humanism is an integration of nontheistic humanist philosophy with congregational rites and community activity that center on human needs, interests, and abilities. Religious humanists set themselves apart from secular humanists by characterizing the nontheistic humanist life stance as a non-supernatural "religion" and structuring their organization around a congregational model.
The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a Baptist Christian denomination established in 1907 originally as the Northern Baptist Convention, and from 1950 to 1972 as the American Baptist Convention. It traces its history to the First Baptist Church in America (1638) and the Baptist congregational associations which organized the Triennial Convention in 1814.
Freethought is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other methods such as logic, reason, and empirical observation.
The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866.
Paul Kurtz was an American scientific skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, having previously also taught at Vassar, Trinity, and Union colleges, and the New School for Social Research.
The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism.
The Open Court Publishing Company is a publisher with offices in Chicago and LaSalle, Illinois. It is part of the Carus Publishing Company of Peru, Illinois.
A Humanist Manifesto, also known as Humanist Manifesto I to distinguish it from later Humanist Manifestos in the series, was written in 1933 primarily by Raymond Bragg and published with 34 signers. Unlike the later manifestos, this first talks of a new religion and refers to humanism as "the religion of the future." Nevertheless, it is careful not to express a creed or dogma. The document outlines fifteen affirmations on cosmology, biological and cultural evolution, human nature, epistemology, ethics, religion, self-fulfillment, and the quest for freedom and social justice. This latter, stated in article fourteen, proved to be the most controversial, even among humanists, in its opposition to "acquisitive and profit-motivated society" and its demand for an egalitarian world community based on voluntary mutual cooperation. The document's release was reported by the mainstream media on May 1, simultaneous with its publication in the May/June 1933 issue of the New Humanist.
Felix Adler was a German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, influential lecturer on euthanasia, religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement.
The Ethical movement is an ethical, educational, and religious movement established in 1877 by the academic Felix Adler (1851–1933). In an effort to develop humanist codes of behavior, the Ethical movement emerged from the moral traditions of the secular societies of Europe and the secular society of the 19th-century United States. In practice, the Ethical movement organized themselves as two types of organization: (i) a secular humanist movement and (ii) a predominantly moral movement with a religious approach.
Charles Francis Potter was an American Unitarian minister, theologian, and author.
Francis Ellingwood Abbot was an American philosopher and theologian who sought to reconstruct theology in accordance with the scientific method.
Stanton George Coit was an American-born leader of the Ethical movement in England. He became a British citizen in 1903.
Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to humanism:
Lucretia Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongst the women excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London in 1840. In 1848, she was invited by Jane Hunt to a meeting that led to the first public gathering about women's rights, the Seneca Falls Convention, during which the Declaration of Sentiments was written.
The Birmingham Humanist Group was formed on 23 May 1962 at the Arden Hotel, New Street, Birmingham, England, at a meeting convened by Dr Anthony Brierley. It changed its name to Birmingham Humanists in 2000 and voted to become a Partner Group of the BHA, which changed its name to Humanists UK in 2017. It holds most of its meetings at the rooms of the Community Development trust in Moseley, Birmingham.
The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor of the British secularist movement. The purpose of the Rationalist Press Association was to publish literature that was too anti-religious to be handled by mainstream publishers and booksellers. The Rationalist Press Association changed its name to "The Rationalist Association" in 2002.
Irreligion in the United Kingdom is more prevalent than in some parts of Europe, with about 8% indicating they were atheistic in 2018, and 52% listing their religion as "none". A third of Anglicans polled in a 2013 survey doubted the existence of God, while 15% of those with no religion believed in some higher power, and deemed themselves "spiritual" or even "religious".