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.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious movement characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalists do not have an official, unified corpus of sacred texts. Unitarian Universalist congregations include many atheists, agnostics, deists, and theists; there are churches, fellowships, congregations, and societies around the world.
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.
A Secular Humanist Declaration was an argument for and statement of support for democratic secular humanism. The document was issued in 1980 by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH), now the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH). Compiled by Paul Kurtz, it is largely a restatement of the content of the American Humanist Association's 1973 Humanist Manifesto II, of which he was co-author with Edwin H. Wilson. Both Wilson and Kurtz had served as editors of The Humanist, from which Kurtz departed in 1979 and thereafter set about establishing his own movement and his own periodical. His Secular Humanist Declaration was the starting point for these enterprises.
Humanist Manifesto is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original A Humanist Manifesto, the Humanist Manifesto II (1973), and Humanism and Its Aspirations: Humanist Manifesto III (2003). The original manifesto originally arose from religious humanism, though secular humanists also signed.
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.
Herbert Aaron Hauptman was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in determination of molecular structures of crystallized materials. Today, Hauptman's direct methods, which he continued to improve and refine, are routinely used to solve complicated structures. It was the application of this mathematical method to a wide variety of chemical structures that led the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to name Hauptman and Jerome Karle recipients of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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.
Jim Herrick was a British humanist and secularist. He studied history and English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge University, and then worked as a school teacher for seven years. He wrote or edited several books on humanism and the history of freethought.
Raymond Bennett Bragg (1902–1979) was an American Unitarian minister who played a key role in the writing of the original Humanist Manifesto (1933) and eventually signing Humanist Manifesto II (1973). Raymond Bragg was born in Massachusetts and attended Bates College and Brown University. In 1927, he earned a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a B.D. from Meadville Theological School and was ordained at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in Evanston, Illinois where he was pastor until 1930. From 1930–1935 he served as the Secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference. During these years he was also the editor of The New Humanist, and was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto, which helped give rise to a new humanist movement within Unitarianism. He served as pastor of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis from 1935–1947. He was the executive director of the Unitarian Service Committee from 1947–1952, and then became the pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church, Kansas City, Missouri, where he remained until his retirement in 1973. During this time, he chaired the Kansas City's Civil Liberties Union, worked on the local and state levels to improve mental health services, and was an assistant professor of philosophy at the Kansas City Art Institute. Upon his retirement, he was elected Minister Emeritus by the Kansas City congregation.
Edwin Henry Wilson was an American Unitarian leader and humanist who helped draft the Humanist Manifesto.
Edwin Burdette Backus (1888–1955) was an American Unitarian minister and humanist.
Charles Francis Potter was an American Unitarian minister, theologian, and author.
The Humanist Institute is a training program for leaders within the humanist, and secular humanist movement.
John Hassler Dietrich (1878–1957) was a Unitarian minister, born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, is called the "Father of Religious Humanism". He was educated at Franklin and Marshall College and at the Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, ordained in the ministry of the Reformed Church in 1905, and defrocked in 1911 for failing to affirm primary Christian beliefs. His religious development evolved to Humanism and Unitarianism, in which he served various pastorates, including First Unitarian Society of Spokane (1911-1916), and then First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis (1916-1938). He retired to Berkeley, California, where he died. He is buried in the crypt of First Unitarian Church of Chicago. He was the author of:
Fred Edwords, born July 19, 1948, in San Diego, California, is an agnostic or ignostic humanist leader in Washington DC.
Lloyd L. Morain was an American businessman, philanthropist, writer, environmentalist, art collector and film producer, who uniquely served two terms as President of the American Humanist Association (AHA).
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis is a non-theistic humanist community and member of the Unitarian-Universalist Association located at 900 Mount Curve, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Once led by the influential minister John H. Dietrich who is known as the "Father of Religious Humanism," First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis is considered in today's terminology the "birthplace of Congregational Humanism."
Lewis Allen McGee was an American Army chaplain during World War I, Unitarian minister, and activist. He was among the first African American ministers of the Unitarian church and was active in the Civil Rights Movement.
