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
