14 Facts About Secular humanism

1.

Secular humanism, often simply called humanism, is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.

FactSnippet No. 635,996
2.

Secular humanism posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or belief in a deity.

FactSnippet No. 635,997
3.

Fundamental to the concept of secular humanism is the strongly held viewpoint that ideology—be it religious or political—must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith.

FactSnippet No. 635,998
4.

The "Happy Human" is recognized as the official symbol of humanism internationally, used by secular humanist organizations in every part of the world.

FactSnippet No. 635,999
5.

All too often secular humanism is reduced to a sterile outlook consisting of little more than secularism slightly broadened by academic ethics.

FactSnippet No. 636,000
6.

Secular humanism founded the London Positivist Society in 1867, which attracted Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, Vernon Lushington, and James Cotter Morison amongst others.

FactSnippet No. 636,001
7.

Secular humanism therefore attempted to provide a universal fellowship devoid of ritual and ceremony, for those who would otherwise be divided by creeds.

FactSnippet No. 636,002
8.

Secular humanism considers all forms of religion, including religious humanism, to be superseded.

FactSnippet No. 636,003
9.

Accounts of humanism are careful not to treat secular humanism analogously with religions, which implies a community who strictly attempt to adhere to the same obligations or beliefs.

FactSnippet No. 636,004
10.

Secular humanism's themes have been very widely repeated in Fundamentalist preaching in North America.

FactSnippet No. 636,005
11.

Toumey found that secular humanism is typically portrayed as a vast evil conspiracy, deceitful and immoral, responsible for feminism, pornography, abortion, homosexuality, and New Age spirituality.

FactSnippet No. 636,006
12.

The attempt to sever Secular humanism from the religious and the spiritual was a flatfooted, largely American way of taking on the religious right.

FactSnippet No. 636,007
13.

Issue of whether and in what sense secular humanism might be considered a religion, and what the implications of this would be, has become the subject of legal maneuvering and political debate in the United States.

FactSnippet No. 636,008
14.

Implication in Justice Black's footnote that secular humanism is a religion has been seized upon by religious opponents of the teaching of evolution, who have made the argument that teaching evolution amounts to teaching a religious idea.

FactSnippet No. 636,009