In Defense of Secular Humanism: Some Definitions of Humanism

What is humanism, and why have humanists come under attack by religious conservatives and the fundamentalist right? Humanism is not a dogma or a creed, writes Paul Kurtz. Humanists have confidence in human beings, and they believe that the only bases for morality are human experience and human needs. Humanists are opposed to all forms of supernaturalistic and authoritarian religion. Many humanists believe that scientific intelligence and critical reason can assist in reconstructing our moral lives …Humanists believe in freedom and pluralistic democracy as virtually our first principle, and we are disturbed by any authoritarian effort to impose one point of view on America. Defence of the open, democratic society should be the first point humanists make in response to the Moral Majority, making it clear that in our reading of the American tradition, pluralism is essential. This is a volume of collected essays by one of the leading exponents of secular humanism. It is a closely reasoned defence of one of the most venerable ethical, scientific and philosophical traditions within Western civilisation.