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Humanist
Manifesto I
The time has come for widespread
recognition of the radical changes in political beliefs throughout the modern
world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional attitudes. Science and
economic change have disrupted the old beliefs. Religions the world over are
under the necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by a vastly
increased knowledge and experience. In every field of human activity, the vital
movement is now in the direction of a candid and explicit humanism. In order
that religious humanism may be better understood we, the undersigned, desire to
make certain affirmations which we believe the facts of our contemporary life
demonstrate.
There is a great danger of a final, and we believe fatal,
identification of the word religion with doctrines and methods which have lost
their significance and which are powerless to solve the problem of human living
in the Twentieth Century. Religions have always been the means for realizing
the highest values of life. Their end has been accomplished through the
interpretation of the total environing situation (theology or world view), the
sense of values resulting therefrom (goal or ideal), and the technique (cult)
established for realizing the satisfactory life. A change in any of these
factors results in alteration of the outward forms of religion. This fact
explains the changefulness of religions through the centuries. But through all
changes religion itself remains constant in its quest for abiding values, an
inseparable feature of human life.
Today man's larger understanding of
the universe, his scientific achievements, and his deeper appreciation of
brotherhood, have created a situation which requires a new statement of the
means and purposes of religion. Such a vital, fearless, and frank religion
capable of furnishing adequate social goals and personal satisfactions may
appear to many people as a complete break with the past. While this age does
owe a vast debt to traditional religions, it is none the less obvious that any
religion that can hope to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today must be
shaped for the needs of this age. To establish such a religion is a major
necessity of the present. It is a responsibility which rests upon this
generation. We therefore affirm the following:
First: Religious humanists regard
the universe as self existing and not created.
Second: Humanism
believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of
a continuous process.
Third: Holding an organic view of life, humanists
find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be
rejected.
Fourth: Humanism recognizes that man's religious culture and
civilization, as clearly depicted by anthropology and history, are the product
of gradual development due to his interaction with his natural environment and
with his social heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is
largely molded to that culture.
Fifth: Humanism asserts that the nature
of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural
or cosmic guarantees of human values. Obviously humanism does not deny the
possibility of realities as yet undiscovered, but it does insist that the way
to determine the existence and value of any and all realities is by means of
intelligent inquiry and by the assessment of their relation to human needs.
Religion must formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific
spirit and method.
Sixth: We are convinced that the time has passed for
the theism, deism, modernism, and the several varieties of "new
thought."
Seventh: Religion consists of those actions, purposes, and
experiences which are humanly significant. Nothing human is alien to the
religious. It includes labor, art, science, philosophy, love, friendship,
recreation -- all that is in its degree expressive of intelligently satisfying
human living. The distinction between the sacred and the secular can no longer
be maintained.
Eighth: Religious humanism considers the complete
realization of human personality to be the end of man's life and seek its
development and fulfillment in the here and now. This is the explanation of the
humanist's social passion.
Ninth: In place of the old attitudes involved
in worship and prayer the humanist finds his religious emotions expressed in a
heightened sense of personal life and in a cooperative effort to promote social
well-being.
Tenth: It follows that there will be no uniquely religious
emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with belief in the
supernatural.
Eleventh: Man will learn to face the crises of life in
terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability. Reasonable and
manly attitudes will be fostered by education and supported by custom. We
assume that humanism will take the path of social and mental hygiene and
discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking.
Twelfth:
Believing that religion must work increasingly for joy in living, religious
humanists aim to foster the creative in man and to encourage achievements that
add to the satisfactions of life.
Thirteenth: Religious humanism
maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of
human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control and direction
of such associations and institutions with a view to the enhancement of human
life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly religious institutions,
their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities must
be reconstituted as experience allows, in order to function effectively in the
modern world.
Fourteenth: The humanists are firmly convinced that
existing acquisitive and profit motivated society has shown itself to be
inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls and motives must be
instituted. A socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to
the end that the equitable distribution of the means of life be possible. The
goal of humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily
and intelligently cooperate for the common good. Humanists demand a shared life
in a shared world.
Fifteenth and last: We assert that humanism will: (a)
affirm life rather than deny it; (b) seek to elicit the possibilities of life,
not flee from it; and (c) endeavor to establish the conditions of a
satisfactory life for all, not merely for the few. By this positive morale and
intention humanism will be guided, and from this perspective and alignment the
techniques and efforts of humanism will flow.
So there stand the theses
of religious humanism. Though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our
fathers no longer adequate, the quest for the good life is still the central
task for mankind. Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible
for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the
power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the
task.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: There were 34 signers of this document,
including Anton J. Carlson, John Dewey, John H. Dietrich, R. Lester Mondale,
Charles Francis Potter, Curtis W. Reese, and Edwin H. Wilson.]
Copyright © 1973 by the
American Humanist
Association
Humanist Manifesto II
Humanist Manifesto III |
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