Every year more men and women of all races are calling themselves
humanists. For them much in the old orthodoxies has lost
significance. They are finding satisfaction in the positive,
constructive point of view of humanism. It shares much with the
philosophies and religions of the East as well as of the West. In
Europe, Asia, and the Americas it is coming to be known as the
alternative to orthodox faith.
Throughout the ages religions of many kinds have contained a
common spirit. We can see this in parts of their scriptures.
In Brahmanism we find: "This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto
others which would cause you pain if done to you"
(Mahabharata, 5, 1517).
In Buddhism: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find
hurtful" (Udana-Varga 5, 18).
In Christianity: "All things whatsoever ye would that man should
do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the Law and the
Prophets" (Matthew 7, 12).
In Confucianism: "Is there one maxim which ought to be acted upon
throughout oneís whole life? Surely it is the maxim of
loving-kindness: Do not unto others what you would not have them do
unto you" (Analects 15, 23).
In Islam: "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his
brother that which he desires for himself" (Sunnah).
In Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowman.
That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary" (Talmud,
Shabbat 31d).
In Taoism: "Regard your neighborís gain as your own gain,
and your neighborís loss as your own loss" (Tíai
Shang Kan Ying Píien).
In Jain scriptures: "The essence of right conduct is not to injure
anyone."
But varying religious practices and diverse theological beliefs
have been built upon and allied to this common ethical basis.
Down through the ages humans have adopted creeds which provide
special privileges and practices which separate them from other
groups. Throughout the world, wide cultural variations continue. Ways
of worship, hierarchies of leadership, rituals, symbols, and
sacraments are different. Humanism goes in a different direction and
concentrates on what we all have in common. It has become a dynamic
alternative to the traditional faiths.
Among the reasons for the growth of early religions was the need
for explanations of natural occurrences, day and night, summer and
winter, life and death. Scientifically-minded individuals in recent
centuries have figured out the huge distances beyond our planet and
have likewise revealed the amazing world of the submicroscopic.
Humanists realize we now have answers to many of the questions which
once were explained by what now seems fanciful and unnecessary.
Humanists feel that there are evolving and fascinating
explanations for the questions asked through the ages. They do not
need to turn to the supernatural for answers to such questions. They
feel at home in the natural world and do not need gods or a god, a
heaven, or scriptures. Moreover, they feel that humans do not need
the promise of a heaven after death to be just and kind to others, to
feel loyatly to the whole human race and the environment. They
respect scientific methods and the knowledge coming from the use of
them. They are concerned with making use of this knowledge for the
care of this marvelous planet.
Humanists are content with fixing their attention on this life.
Theirs is a point of view, philosophy, or religion without a god, a
heaven, divine revelation, sacred scriptures, or authoritarian
spiritual leaders. Yet theirs is an overarching view rich in feeling
and understanding, which is sensitive to the sorrows and joys,
tragedies and triumphs, touching every fiber of human life. They
experience wholesome humility as they venture forward with fellow
humans into the as-yet-unknown.
This rapidly growing philosophy and religious alternative:
(1) has developed in response to the spiritual needs and
aspirations of people in different parts of the world;
(2) contains an ethical core similar to that of many
traditional religions and philosophies;
(3) is free from divisive doctrines about the unknown, deity,
revelation, sacred scriptures, rituals, sacraments, formal
theology, big inequalities in social roles between the sexes, and
such befuddling ideas as the radical separation of either the
world or the individual into matter and spirit; and
(4) is a philosophy of human relations to one another and to
nature, rather than of relations to deity.
Built on this fresh and vital basis, it is little wonder that
humanism has called forth accelerated world-wide interest. In 1952,
for the first time, representatives from humanist groups in many
countries met in Holland and formed the International Humanist and
Ethical Union. Julian Huxley, a biologist and the first
director-general of UNESCO, served as chair. He was among those who
believed that the world was ready for humanism.
Here in the United States, the number of humanist and
humanistically focused organizations is growing. Some of these
groups, in particular many of the Unitarian Universalist fellowships
and Ethical Culture societies, are functioning under the auspices of
a liberal religious denomination. Each year more and more
Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Buddhists, Muslims, Bahais, and
Jews, as well as many without any religious or philosophical
affiliation or desire to have one, are coming to accept this as their
own way of life.
This alternative to faith is held by a large number of individuals
who have made or are making solid contributions to human welfare and
understanding. We can note Carl Sagan, Ashley Montagu, Riane Eisler,
Steve Allen, Betty Friedan, Buckminster Fuller, Linus Pauling, Erich
Fromm, Isaac Asimov, Bertrand and Dora Russell, Kurt Vonnegut,
Abraham Maslow, Benjamin Spock, Alice Walker, Richard Lamm, Margaret
Atwood, and Albert Ellis. In many respects humanismís strength
is found in the high proportion of eminent leaders and thinkers who
today hold this alternative to faith. Yet, to an increasing degree,
those following this way of life are individuals of average
accomplishments who represent a cross section of the worldís
population.
Mentioning some of the people who have expressed ideas consistent
with this rich and varied view may help in the understanding of
humanism.
Those who have contributed to the advancement of human welfare and
understanding on the international scene include Brock Chisholm,
Julian Huxley, John Boyd-Orr, Gerald Wendt, Margaret Sanger, and Ted
Turner.
There are, of course, varied emphases in humanism, and the
particular quality of an individualís views will be
conditioned, within the very wide limits of this philosophy, by
background, whatever it may beóscience, philosophy, business,
social work, the arts, liberal religion, freethought, or just by
limited economic and educational condition. Some individuals do not
apply the humanist label to themselves, that is, have not yet come
out of a figurative "closet." In some cases they may even point to a
particular humanist and say, "I am not that kind of humanist." But
would not that also be true of any other philosophy? A few people
have labelphobia. Our list is, however, a reasonable cross-section,
and most of the Americans mentioned have been members of the American
Humanist Association. The few who have not can be identified by their
own writing and declarations as pursuing this way of life or have
expressed in their published views many humanist principles.
This alternative to faith is beginning to make an impact on human
affairs. Its effect is appropriate in our age in which humans are
coming to realize their own strength and worth.
Ours is a time of vigorous protest, of a desire for reassurance.
We see in many regions agonized efforts of peoples to rule
themselves, to be free from dictators, to democratize their
governments. Just as most political concepts of divine right and
clerical control have been disregarded, so many of the traditional
religious and philosophical ideas are being challenged. In many
instances people have simply turned away from religious activity.
They are doing this even in those countries where to do so can
politically bring social disapproval, even ostracism. For them no
institution or group of people has a corner on wisdom or on high
ethical principles. It is becoming more and more evident that
religion is often chiefly a political factor. At the same time more
and more thoughtful people are likely to recognize the whole human
family as a great interdependent brotherhood.
People everywhere are coming to realize that science makes orderly
knowledge possible, as it is not limited to just local belief. They
know that biologists, whether in Bolivia, Japan, Botswana, or Sweden,
have a basis of common principles and share the fruits of their
knowledge. There is no special kind of Bolivian or Botswanian biology
which is radically different from Swedish biology. Political leaders
in a few nations have tried to shape scientific studies to
nationalistic ends but they sooner or later fail in this. People are
also coming to understand that ethical principles and basic standards
of moral conduct have common roots and universal application. It is
only natural that those groups who limit or tie these standards to
religious observances and theologies are probably fighting a
defensive, losing battle. The human spirit is too needy and too
vigorous to be kept in shackles.
In this century we have seen the formation of humanist groups in
nations as different as India, Holland, and Argentina. Organizations
in several countries have been started by individuals who had no
inkling that at the same time people in other countries were also
starting groups. Men and women in different nations arrived at the
same conclusions and proceeded to form organizations.
Both in America and in other parts of the world, humanism is
thought of as an alternate force. That is, it is considered an
alternative of belief and action to the authoritarian political
systems on the one hand and to the traditional religions on the
other. Little wonder there are entrenched religious interests which
consider it even more dangerous than communism or fascism.
Whether or not there will be humanist halls in every city of our
land and tens of millions of members remains to be seen. It is not
essential to belong to an organized group to be a humanist. In its
present stage of growth, humanism is having a liberalizing influence
on many of the traditional religions and philosophies. Within the
Unitarian Universalist and Ethical Culture organizations whole
congregations are becoming openly humanist. The mounting concern of
Buddhists and the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish clergies over the
effect of humanism on some of their members testifies to the appeal
and strength of this liberating alternative to supernatural
faith.
Humanist organizations are not entirely focused on bringing people
into their organizations. Many in liberal churches enjoy membership
in both their church and a humanist organization. Such humanists take
part in the educational and social programs which are cooperating
rather than competing membership organizations. The Habitat for
Humanity is one example. Human fulfillment is the goal; institutions
may or may not be instruments of fulfillment.
Religion and the Religious Attitude
Attempts to ridicule religion or to dismiss it as unimportant
rarely meet with any lasting success, for religion is a vital part of
the lives of many, and it gives every indication of continuing to be
so.
Religion has been defined in nearly as many ways as there have
been definers. It is often spoken of as "a system of faith or
worship," or as "an awareness or conviction of the existence of a
supreme being arousing reverence, love, gratitude, and the will to
obey."
Other thoughtful individuals have given very different
definitions. Thomas Paine merely said: "The world is my country, to
do good my religion."
A. Eustace Haydon, professor emeritus of comparative religion at
the University of Chicago, offered as his definition: "The shared
quest of the good life."
Alfred North Whitehead described it simply as "what the individual
does with his solitariness."
To us religion is the creation and pursuit of ideals and the
relationship people feel with one another and with the universe. For
us religion and theology are not equivalent words but rather theology
is only type of religious expression.
Humanists are divided in the belief that individuals can have a
religious experience which does not include any supernatural element.
Some note that religious feeling and attitudes have been mistakenly
limited to that which is becoming less and less real and meaningful
to usóthe old theologies and rituals.
John Dewey described religious attitudes as basically a
thoroughgoing and deep-seated harmonizing of the self with the
universe. And he further defined religious experience as that which
has the power to bring about a deeper and more enduring adjustment to
life. Can we not agree with Dewey that everyday life will have more
meaning once we realize that so-called religious experiences can be a
a part of its fabric?
Julian Huxley regarded the basis of religion as "the consciousness
of sanctity in existence, in common things, in events of human
life."
From time immemorial humans have related their lives with the
larger life of nature. They wished to feel that their code of social
behavior had something of the sacred in it. These attitudes have been
organized together in the idea of "God." Yet we can receive these
same satisfactions from a philosophy which is not built on the idea
of deity. We can learn that ideals are in reality useful goals
growing out of human experience and not set apart from creative life.
We can learn that our lives are more closely woven into the whole
universe than we had even suspected in the old days. Religion without
a supernatural element can become meaningful and personal. Partially
because of the conflict of sects, some of us do not regard humanism
as a religion but as an alternative.
The endless struggle between science and religion dies down. The
spiritual aspects of life are no longer inconsistent and at odds with
those things that we can experience and test. No longer need there be
that type of spiritual realm that does violence to our intelligence
and to our knowledge of the processes of the world. Humanists
recognize that we all live in a unified world, the world of
nature.
Humanism as a Philosophy and Religion
Humanism, like religion, has been defined in innumerable ways.
Many a humanist has made his or her own definition. This is a
healthful condition, for truths are not contained within the words of
definitions. The value of definitions is in calling attention to
relationships or in making appropriate descriptions. The broad
general humanist viewpoint, enriched as it is by the insights of
people of varying temperaments, cannot even be sketched within a few
sentences or paragraphs. As it is a general point of view it is only
natural that different people should find different aspects of it
particularly significant to them.
Those individuals of more philosophical bent will look to it as a
living philosophy. If they are technically trained they may study
humanist ethics and stress the values of good morality. Some whose
primary interest is found in current world problems, in revising laws
and customs toward building a better, happier human community,
naturally think of humanism as a point of view that could bring all
the people of the world together. For them it is a challenging call
to make full use of all that is in us to build cooperatively a richer
human life. The interest of yet others is in the role of humanism as
a champion of the rational approach over the traditional theological
one, of democracy over authoritarianism, of common sense over
superstition. A fourth focus hails it as a means for achieving
personal integration, maturity, and freedom. Once these personal
values are won, concern in and action for the larger social good
follows naturally for all of these groups.
Whether or not one looks to humanism as a religion, as a
philosophy, as a lifestance, or as a way of life is, we believe,
largely a matter of personal temperament and preference. Those caught
up by its religious aspects know that it provides a vibrant,
satisfying moral orientation. Those who think of it as a philosophy
find it both reasonable and adequate. Those who recognize it as an
alternative to religion may or may not feel personal value in
belonging to an organization.
One of the great religious humanist pioneers, John H. Dietrich,
pointed out:
For centuries the idea of God has been the very heart of
religion; it has been said "no God, no religion." But humanism
thinks of religion as something very different and far deeper than
any belief in God. To it, religion is not the attempt to establish
right relations with a supernatural being, but rather the
upreaching and aspiring impulse in a human life. It is life
striving for its completest fulfillment, and anything which
contributes to this fulfillment is religious, whether it be
associated with the idea of God or not.
Humanism gives to many people the satisfactions which have come to
them in the past either from other religions or from other
philosophies. In doing this it serves some as a religion, others as a
philosophy. Insofar as it serves as both a philosophy and a religion,
there is no need to deny that it has both functions. Inasmuch as
faith in a theology is not involved, it can be recognized
appropriately as an alternative to faith.
It developed as the rational scientific viewpoint was grafted upon
a philosophy of good will and concern for humans and nature. It is
neither vague nor colorless but positive and dynamic, whether thought
of as a non-sectarian religion, a philosophy, a lifestance, a way of
life, or an alternative to faith.
