Humanism without religion: ethics, reason, and human dignity carried on human shoulders alone, with no appeal to God or an afterlife.
Secular humanism took organized form with the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 and its successors. It joins a naturalistic account of the universe to a full moral program: democracy, human rights, science as the model of inquiry, and meaning made in this life. It differs from atheism by building where atheism only denies: congregations, ceremonies, and ethics for those who want the substance of a humane life without a creed about God.
Secular Humanism across the site
Essays (19) · History of Worldviews (20)
Sources
Primary
- Humanist Manifesto I (1933).
Secondary
- Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism (1949).
How this compares to Christianity
How does this branch relate to the historic Christian faith?
This assessment has not yet been reviewed. Every verdict below stands at Not yet reviewed until the named theological reviewers supply it.
- Does it consider itself Christian?
- Not yet reviewed
- Did it arise from the Christian tradition?
- Not yet reviewed
- Does it affirm the ecumenical creeds?
- Not yet reviewed
- Is it recognized as Christian by the historic bodies?
- the Catholic Church: Not yet reviewed
- the Eastern Orthodox Church: Not yet reviewed
- the Oriental Orthodox churches: Not yet reviewed
- conciliar Protestant bodies: Not yet reviewed
- the WCC / National Council of Churches: Not yet reviewed
- This site's assessment
- Not yet reviewed
- Reviewer
- Not yet reviewed. The theological reviewers are named on the criteria page when they are appointed.
The comparative record for this entity, its points of convergence and divergence across the ten loci, has not yet been populated. It stands in the assessment queue on the criteria page.
What this assessment cannot settle
This assessment determines what this entity teaches and how that teaching relates to the historic Christian creeds. It does not determine whether any person is saved, whether God accepts their worship, whether they are sincere, or whether the criteria applied here are correct.
This assessment is made from the standpoint described in our editorial statement and our criteria page. It reports classifications; it does not rank sincerity, spiritual standing, or the eternal state of any person.