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The
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The
Manifesto is a product of many minds. It was designed to represent a
developing point of view, not a new creed. The individuals whose
signatures appear would, had they been writing individual statements,
have stated the propositions in differing terms. The importance of the
document is that more than thirty men have come to general agreement
on matters of final concern and that these men are undoubtedly
representative of a large number who are forging a new philosophy out
of the materials of the modern world.
--
Raymond B. Bragg (1933)
The
time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in
religious 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 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 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 there from (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 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 the 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 a
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 a 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 by 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
relations 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 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 seeks its development and fulfillment
in the here and now. This is the explanation of the humanist's
social passion.
NINTH: In the 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 rapidly 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 them;
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 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
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