15
THESES OF NATURALISTIC HUMANISM
Naturalistic
humanism has different emphases in different countries,
but basically—yet inclusively—it is capable of
statement in fifteen theses.
First, naturalistically religious humanists regard the universe
as self-creating and not created. The universe indeed shows
no evidence of being deiform: there is "no logical
need for a First Cause if we take the universe to be eternal,
much as theists take God to be."
Thesis two asserts that man is part of nature and that he
has emerged as the result of a continuous process. Not only
has his body evolved; his mind is quite evidently a function
of his brain within his complex organism. It is therefore
most intelligible in the light of the amazing story of evolution
with its marvelous outcome in terms of capacities and possibilities—including
those of moral living, of sensitive satisfactions, and of
a sense of cosmic function in a universe terrific in complexity
and range.
The third thesis holds that an organic view of life and
mind involves the rejection of any dualistic view of mind
and body. The chief implication of this metaphysical monism
is that of the non-immortality of the soul or mind. But
immortality is no essential of religion.
The fourth thesis of humanism recognizes that man's religious
culture and civilization, as depicted by anthropology and
history, are the product of a gradual development due to
man's interaction with his natural environment and his social
heritage.
The fifth thesis affirms that the nature of the universe
depicted by modern science makes unnecessary and unacceptable
any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values.
Thesis seven asserts that religion consists of those actions,
purposes and experiences which are humanly significant.
Nothing human is alien to it: labor, art, science, philosophy,
love, friendship, recreation.
The eighth thesis asserts that religious humanism considers
the complete realization of the human personality to be
the end of human life and seeks its development and fulfillment
in the here and now. This is the solution and the explanation
of the humanist's social passion.
Thesis nine maintains that in place of the old attitudes
involved in worship and prayer, the humanist finds his emotions
expressed in a heightened sense of personal life and in
cooperative effort to promote social well-being.
It follows, in thesis ten, that there will be no uniquely
religious emotion of the kind hitherto associated with belief
in the supernatural. The holiness of the "numinous"
is, accordingly, not essential to religion; we are indeed
more truly religious without it. In place of deference to
a mysterium tremendum, religious worship will become
"at most, cosmic emotion, an almost aesthetic sense
of what Santayana calls piety toward the sources of our
being. Yet this is scarcely sacred worship."
"Eleventh: Man will learn to face the crises of life
in terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability.
Reasonable and manly attitudes will be fostered and supported
by custom. We assume that humanism will take the path of
social and mental hygiene and discourage sentimental and
unreal hopes and wishful thinking.
"Twelfth: Believing that religion must work increasingly
for joy in living, religious humanists aim to foster the
creative in man and to encourage achievements that add to
the satisfactions of life.
Thirteenth: Religious humanism maintains that all associations
and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life.
Fourteenth: The humanists are firmly convinced that existing
acquisitive and profit-motivated society has shown itself
to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls
and motives must be instituted. A socialized and cooperative
economic order must be established to the end that the equitable
distribution of the means of life be possible.
Fifteenth and last: We assert that humanism will (a) affirm
life rather than deny it; (b) seek to elicit the possibilities
of life, not flee from it; and (c) endeavor to establish
the conditions of a satisfactory life for all, not merely
for the few. By this positive morale and intention humanism
will be guided, and from this perspective and alignment
the techniques and efforts of humanism will flow.
