Humanism

What is humanism?

The word ‘humanism’ is now widely used to mean a non-religious worldview or lifestance. It refers to people who believe that the universe came into existence through natural processes and that the human species has evolved like all other species on Earth. The word 'humanism' also refers to people who wish to live their lives in accordance with good values.

Humanist values include the following:

• Only believing things which are based on evidence and reason
• Loving the life we have because time is short and the world is a wonderful place
• Cultivating good relationships with other people
• Being a good citizen
• Treading lightly on the Earth because it's the only habitable planet we've got

Some people are resistant to giving themselves a label like 'humanist'. We understand that. But if you broadly agree with the basic ideas of humanism, maybe you are a humanist!

We're not antagonistic towards religion in all of its forms. We have friendly relationships with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and people belonging to other faiths. But we do oppose irrationality, dogmatism, and fanaticism and these negative traits are often associated with certain types of religion.

In a nutshell, then, humanism comes down to two simple ideas. The universe is a natural place, not created by a god. And human beings are responsible for living good lives.

There's an internationally-agreed statement on humanism called the Amsterdam Declaration. You can read it here.