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Humanist values are mainstream American values

Humanists believe that morality is an intrinsic part of human nature based on understanding and a concern for others, needing no external sanction.

Humanism is rational. It seeks to use science creatively, not destructively. Humanists believe that the solutions to the world's problems lie in human thought and action rather than divine intervention.

Humanism advocates the application of the methods of science and free inquiry to the problems of human welfare. But Humanists also believe that the application of science and technology must be tempered by human values.

Humanism supports democracy and human rights. Humanism aims at the fullest possible development of every human being. It holds that democracy and human development are matters of right. The principles of democracy and human rights can be applied to many human relationships and are not restricted to methods of government.

Humanism insists that personal liberty must be combined with social responsibility. Humanism ventures to build a world on the idea of the free person responsible to society, and recognises our dependence on and responsibility for the natural world.

Humanism is undogmatic, imposing no creed upon its adherents. It is thus committed to education free from indoctrination.

Humanism is a response to the widespread demand for an alternative to dogmatic religion. The world's major religions claim to be based on revelations fixed for all time, and many seek to impose their world-views on all of humanity.

Humanism recognises that reliable knowledge of the world and ourselves arises through a continuing process. of observation, evaluation and revision.

Humanism values artistic creativity and imagination and recognises the transforming power of art. Humanism affirms the importance of literature, music, and the visual and performing arts for personal development and fulfilment.

Humanism is a lifestance aiming at the maximum possible fulfilment through the cultivation of ethical and creative living and offers an ethical and rational means of addressing the challenges of our times. Humanism can be a way of life for everyone everywhere.

it smartly keeps its means consistent with its ends

the practical meanings to such things as “equal dignity and worth” and “social justice” gradually develop as cultures slowly transform

rationalism

free thought

rational philosophy

Many regard Socrates as the first and greatest of the Humanists

rejection of divinely inspired ethical and moral codes in favor of codes derived by reason from the human condition

religious groups' "promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful."

reject both theocracy and secular dictatorships as political systems that are dangerous to individual freedoms

accept democracy

combating bigotry, hatred, discrimination, intolerance and censorship

supporters of the principle of separation of church and state

moral values derive their source from human experience

regard life here on earth to be particularly precious

creator of Third Force Psychology

human rights

it represents a consensus of what Humanists do believe

Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change

Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships

Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness

scientist and author

literary freedom activist

Margaret Atwood

Brock Chisholm

conceiver of the Theory of Relativity

Betty Friedan

feminist activist

R. Buckminster Fuller

futurist and inventor

United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization

Julian Huxley

Richard Leakey

highly motivated to alleviating pain and misery around the world

John Boyd Orr

human rights activist

A. Philip Randolf

creator of Client Centered Therapy

Carl Rogers

developer of the polio vaccine

Jonas Salk

Margaret Sanger

Andrei Sakharov

Gloria Steinem

American Humanist Association

Humanism and its aspirations

Humanism and Its Aspirations

We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for disaster.

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever it has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it's forever.

It is all a matter of time scale. An event that would be unthinkable in a hundred years may be inevitable in a hundred million.

The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science.

With insufficient data it is easy to go wrong.

Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.

For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations.

They (i. e., the Pythagoreans) did not advocate the free confrontation of conflicting points of view. Instead, like all orthodox religions, they practised a rigidity that prevented them from correcting their errors.

If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.

We embarked on our journey to the stars with a question first framed in the childhood of our species and in each generation asked anew with undiminished wonder: What are the stars? Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

A googolplex is precisely as far from infinity as is the number 1... no matter what number you have in mind, infinity is larger still.

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the concerns of such puny creatures as we are.

The library connects us with the insights and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species.

Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors.

I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.

Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.

As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and the sky.

War is murder writ large.

Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.

there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined

We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.

whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised.

Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations. We have broadened the circle of those we love. We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together — surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.

Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group.

the choice, as H. G. Wells once said in a different context, is clearly the universe or nothing.

Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.

it is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world?

God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it.

Humans are very good at dreaming

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

You can’t convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it’s based on a deep seated need to believe.