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.
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.
Humanist Manifesto is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original Humanist Manifesto, the Humanist Manifesto II (1973), and Humanism and Its Aspirations. The Manifesto originally arose from religious humanism, though secular humanists also signed.
Religion in Norway is dominated by Lutheran Christianity, with 63.7% of the population belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway in 2022. The Catholic Church is the next largest Christian church at 3.1%. The unaffiliated make up 18.3% of the population. Islam is followed by 3.4% of the population.
The Happy Human is an icon that has been adopted as an international symbol of secular humanism. Created by Dennis Barrington, the figure was the winning design in a competition arranged by Humanists UK in 1965. Various forms of it are now used across the world by humanist organisations of all sizes including Humanists UK, Humanists International and The American Humanist Association (AHA).
Humanists International is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, it is an umbrella organisation made up of more than 160 secular humanist, atheist, rationalist, agnostic, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations from over 80 countries.
New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists was established in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1927. The Association promotes rationalism and secular humanism.
The Amsterdam Declaration 2002 is a statement of the fundamental principles of modern Humanism passed unanimously by the General Assembly of Humanists International (HI) at the 50th anniversary World Humanist Congress in 2002. According to HI, the declaration "is the official statement of World Humanism."
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to humanism:
The European Humanist Federation, officially abbreviated as EHF-FHE, was an umbrella of more than 60 humanist and secularist organisations from 25 European countries.
Secular coming-of-age ceremonies, sometimes called civil confirmations, are ceremonies arranged by organizations that are secular, which is to say, not aligned to any religion. Their purpose is to prepare adolescents for their life as adults. Secular coming of age ceremonies originated in the 19th century, when non-religious people wanted a rite of passage comparable to the Christian confirmation. Nowadays, non-religious coming-of-age ceremonies are organized in several European countries; in almost every case these are connected with humanist organisations.
Lars Gule is a Norwegian philosopher. He has graduated with a doctorate in philosophy, and is an associate professor. From 2000 to 2005 he was secretary general of the Norwegian Humanist Association. Gule became known to the general public in 1977 when after having joined the DFLP group, Gule was arrested in Beirut, Lebanon with Semtex in his luggage intended for Israeli targets leading to a six-month conviction and subsequent deportation. He remains active as a anti-Israel activist. Gule is often used by Norwegian media as an authority on questions regarding the Middle East, Islam and extremism.
Sara Mats Azmeh Rasmussen is a Syrian-Norwegian author, freelance writer, lecturer and human rights activist. She was born in 1973 and grew up in Damascus, Syria, in a Sunni Muslim family with deep roots in the capital. In 1995 she immigrated alone to Norway, and in 1997 she was granted political asylum. She was later granted Swedish citizenship.
Levi Fragell is a Norwegian humanist. He has been chairman and secretary of the Norwegian Humanist Association, and was President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) between 1987–1990 and, in his own right, between 1998–2003.
Norway is a comparatively secular nation which no longer has a state religion, though 68.7% of the 5.4 million population belong to the Church of Norway.
Young Humanists International, known as the International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation or IHEYO from 2002 to 2019, is the youth wing of Humanists International, founded in 2002. It aims to network young humanists around the world together, support training and promote humanist values for the age category of 18–35. It is an umbrella organisation representing around 40,000 young people across the world.
Christian Lomsdalen is the president of the Norwegian Humanist Association, elected in 2021.
Magnus Bernhardsen is a Norwegian literary science major and activist. He was president for Norsk Målungdom from 1998 to 2000 and has after that has had leadership roles in Noregs Mållag. He was the persident for the Norewgian skeptic association Skepsis Norge from 2014 to 2016.
