Humanism

[kjartan]

How strong is the "humansit" movement in the States?
How many are considered atheists and how many are organized in an atheist/humanist org ??
could anyone tell me?

[BDS]

I know there is a so called "secular humanist" movement in the U.S. However, I object to atheist co-opting the word "humanist". After all, among the early "humanists" were Erasmus, the scholar and monk, and Thomas More, the saint. If we are to use the word "humanist" to imply "atheist" we are showing disrespect to these two early humanists.

Both of these scholars believed that since man had been created in God's image, a glimpse (however obscure) of the divine could be seen in the great secular and pre-Christian works of man (thus "humnaism") -- like the classics. The result: they (and others) led a revival of classical scholarship, and a rennaissance of learning.

[Stiletto One]

I think the idea of using the term "humanist" is to separate from the religious debate and move into a more local scope of worldview. *cocks an eyebrow*

Wow, that sentence didn't make much sense. :banghead:

[ashe]

I know there is a so called "secular humanist" movement in the U.S. However, I object to atheist co-opting the word "humanist". After all, among the early "humanists" were Erasmus, the scholar and monk, and Thomas More, the saint. If we are to use the word "humanist" to imply "atheist" we are showing disrespect to these two early humanists.


That's why the secular humanists prefix the word "secular" on there... to distinguish themselves from the regular humanist movement. This is actually a bone of contention between the American Humanists Association (who wishes that no prefixes should be used and everyone should live happily together as "religious or not" humanists) and the Council for Secular Humanism (who wish to eradicate superstition, among other things).

I don't think there is any disrespect going on here. If there is, I'm sure Erasmus and Thomas More can afford to do modern humanists a favour and relinquish their deathgrip on the modern version of the term.

We have a scarcity of good terms for this sort of thing anyway so reuse can't be completely ruled out.

[catalyst]

I think we will try this topic in PA&SA.

Catalyst

[residentearth]

We have a scarcity of good terms for this sort of thing anyway so reuse can't be completely ruled out.
It's lets scarce now:

Universist (n): an individual who applies personal reason and experience to the fundamental questions of human existence, derives inspiration from the natural uncertainty of the human state, and denies the validity of revelation, faith and dogma. (http://universist.org)

[Eudaimonist]

Personally, I think the term humanist is better than universist, since humans are the main focus of secular humanism. I doubt that the existence of religious humanists poses much of a PR problem for the humanist movement.

[Writer@Large]

Yeah, I am also not a big fan of the term universalist, especially since most people associate it first with a church.

Getting back to the OP: kjartan, I don't think that anyone could give you solid numbers on the atheist/agnostic/freethinker/secular humanist movement in the United States. Yes, there is one, and we're growing, especially thanks to the Internet. The recent Godless Americans March on Washington drew 2,400 people. Now, I don't know what percentage of "godless Americans" that might represent, but that's a pretty good showing!

Estimates of the number of godless in America range from 4-14%, but the definition of "nonreligious" varies from poll to poll, and it's from those numbers that the 4-14% is culled. Adherents.com lists the number of self-identified atheists (http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions) in 2001 at 902,000, agnostics at 991,000, humanists at 49,000, and Unitarian Universalists at 629,000, along with 27,539,000 who simply identified themself as "nonreligious/secular." That's about 14% of the total reported population (if my math is correct). I would argue that most of the "active" nonreligious answered something more specific than nonreligious/secular, and so I would put the number of active nonreligious much lower. But that's just a guess.

--W@L

[DMB]

Both the American Humanist Association (http://www.americanhumanist.org/index.html) and the Council for Secular Humanism (http://www.secularhumanism.org/) adhere to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (http://www.iheu.org/)as does the Norwegian Humanist Association (http://www.human.no/) and various other groups worldwide.

[ashe]

Both the American Humanist Association (http://www.americanhumanist.org/index.html) and the Council for Secular Humanism (http://www.secularhumanism.org/) adhere to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (http://www.iheu.org/)as does the Norwegian Humanist Association (http://www.human.no/) and various other groups worldwide.

It is interesting that you say this because the IHEU appears to be directly criticising the CSH (and other adjective-humanist movements) in this article: Humanism is eight letters and no more. (http://www.iheu.org/identitystatement1.htm)

But then, maybe the atmosphere was different for humanism in 1988, when this article was written.

Interesting, anyway.

ashe

[walt6]

When I was a member of the American Humanist Association years ago, there seemed to be a pervasive idea of keeping the organization small with dedicated people to humanism. This of course kept the numbers low.

I don't think any of the Humanist organizations have large numbers. It is a shame, because many people believe in their ideals.

[residentearth]

From the Universist FAQ (http://universist.org/faq.htm)
Why not the label "Humanist" or "The Brights"?
They serve different purposes from "Universist." Humanist is adamantly not a religious or spiritual label, whereas Universist is. Additionally, Humanism does not include Deists, Pantheists, and Transcendentalists. As for the word itself, if you're down on human nature some days, calling yourself a Humanist may imply a little too much faith in humanity. Universism makes no claims about which governmental system is best, only that people should strive for eudamonia individually and our institutions should foster that goal (Humanist manifestos routinely advocate pure Democracy alone). For many Universism is a way for Atheists to pine for something beyond ourselves, to celebrate the wonder of the Universe... but still be Atheist. Bright misses the mark as a unifying meme because it's simply renaming Atheism. Universists want freethought or "the naturalistic worldview" to include Deists, Pantheists, Agnostics, Transcendentalists - all people who apply reason and personal experience to religious questions. Universists are people who accept the uncertainty inherent in every rational religion as a motivation and a force for promoting tolerance among all people, have solidarity and optimism for the progress of science and technology, and of religion itself.