January 2012 - What is Humanism?

The Credo Forum will meet in the Cottage Library at 9:30am on Sunday, January 1 (yes, New Year's Day). We will discuss Humanism, one of the sources of Unitarian Universalism.

Here are some online articles and sermons about Humanism and its relationship to Unitarian Universalism.

What is Humanism?
http://www.americanhumanist.org/who_we_are/about_humanism/what_is_humanism
This article from the American Humanist Association provides a brief description of several types of Humanism followed by an extended discussion of the similarities and differences of Secular vs. Religious Humanism. It concludes with eleven basic ideas held in common by both Religious and Secular Humanists.

Secular Humanism: A Survey
http://www.huumanists.org/publications/journal/1999/secular-humanism-a-survey
This article is from the journal of the HUUmanists, the Association of Unitarian Universalists Humanists. "This article will discuss first the pre-twentieth-century history of humanistic movements in the West, then the birth of humanism proper in the twentieth century. Finally, it will examine the emergence of a 'secular humanist' movement and an allied formation of rationalistic skeptics."

Religious Humanism:The Past We Inherit; The Future We Create
http://www.humanismtoday.org/vol12/hoertdoerfer.html
This 1998 article is from Humanism Today, the Journal of the Humanist Institute. In the first half it discusses the history of Religious Humanism. In the second half it discusses the relationships that it needs to pursue in the future. "The relationships we need to pursue are threefold: a relationship to the human family, to celebrate the multicultural diversity of the world's people and to lead in the direction of social justice and wholeness; a relationship to our precious planet Earth, to be environmental caregivers/caretakers and to lead in the direction of ecological justice and wholeness; a relationship to liberation humanism, to know our selves and to be at home with self, with life, with the universe and to lead in the direction of liberty and interdependence."

A Church That Would Have You As A Member
http://www.thenewhumanism.org/authors/doug-muder/articles/a-church-that-would-have-you-as-a-member
This article is from The New Humanism, an online magazine published by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard. In the article UU World contributor Doug Muder discusses how "Unitarian Universalism has long had a unique relationship with Humanism." He describes how a humanist may, or may not, feel at home in a UU church.

Religious Humanism
http://thespiritualsanctuary.org/Humanism/Religioushumanism.html
An address delivered by William Murray at the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly 2000. In it he discusses how religious humanism has been in Unitarian Universalism for 85 years, to that point. He identifies "the eight most important changes between the humanism of approximately the first 70 years and the new humanism that has been emerging for the last 15 or so years."

Reason and Reverence
http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/6558.shtml
This UU World article is an excerpt from William Murray's 2006 book Reason and Reverence: Religious Humanism for the Twenty-first Century. In it he espouses "a nontheistic faith, a perspective that I call humanistic religious naturalism. Like traditional religious humanism, it rejects the supernatural and maintains that there is only one reality, the natural universe. Traditional humanism, however, has historically been too anthropocentric, whereas for humanistic religious naturalism it is nature rather than humankind that is ultimate."



UU Sermons on Humanism
Unitarian Universalism: A Humanistic Faith
http://uufallston.org/Sermons/UU_Humanist_Faith.pdf

Theological Options for Unitarian Universalists Part III: Humanism and Beyond
http://www.uuchurch.net/sermons/2011-10-09_theological_options_for_UUs-humanism.pdf

The Spirit of a Humanist
http://www.firstuunashville.org/sermons/2006-7/humanist.php

What Do UU Humanists Believe?
http://www.firstparishnorwell.org/sermons/humanist.htm

Making Sense of Religious Humanism
http://www.uuakron.org/display/files/7-10-11MakingSenseofReligiousHumanism.doc

To Go Or To Stay
http://www.unitariansociety.org/sermons/goorstay.html


More UU Sermons on Humanism
Humanism is Alive & Well & Living in Unitarian Universalism! (Just not so much as before!)
http://www.sermons.uuwayland.org/2005/12/humanism-is-alive-well-living-in-unitarian-universalism/

Essentials of Humanism
http://www.uufcm.org/gallery2/814/050111EssentialsofHumanism.pdf

Spiritual Humanism
http://www.trumbore.org/sam/sermons/s7c2.htm

The Soul of a Religious Humanist
http://www.northlakeuu.org/services/archives/text/Smith_2-13-00.html