Introduction

For many of you my talk will be a throw away, therefore I'd like everything out front at the beginning so you'll know whether to listen carefully or catch up on your sleep. The things I am about to say may sound like heresy. You may want to reject my whole message because it seems to be in conflict with your current position and understanding. I can only hope that additional thought and experience will lead you to re-evaluate your position and change your mind.

Everything I will be saying is based on defining Humanism as a religion. If you are not able or willing to even consider doing that then I think we will all lose. If you are willing to suspend judgment until you've had an opportunity to carefully evaluate my presentation then I welcome your thoughtful consideration. I ask no one to take everything I say on faith. I encourage you to acknowledge every doubt and every question you have on this issue and move where your best thinking leads you.

Humanism is a Religion

I am totally convinced that it is essential that we recognize humanism as a religion. But of equal importance we must see that this is true not legally, but also semantically, psychologically, sociologically and anthropologically. If you have trouble with the foregoing I can understand. After I discarded Protestant Christianity as a youth, I became a militant atheist. I wanted to throw out all religion as well as God, Jesus, prayer and the Bible. It wasn't until some 20 years ago, while attending a humanist program in the Los Angeles area, that one of your local humanists helped me to begin clarifying the issue. I can't remember the person's name, but I know he died several years ago.

He pointed out that the roots of the word religion are of ancient Greek origin, and do not relate to the supernatural, but rather to the binding into a community. So semantically humanism is a religion. This insight game me a tool to begin seeing humanism, society and religion in a new way. Over the past 20 years I have explored every element of the issues that have been raised about the relationship of humanism and religion. I now am totally convinced that humanists must return to our humanist roots of the 1920's and 30's when all those who helped to develop the concept and the organization saw humanism as a religion.

What is a religion?

As a result of the foregoing experiences, I began to realize that another aspect of religion is that it provides the glue that holds a culture together. It provides the symbols that its members use to define themselves, the universe and the rest of society in a unified way so they feel connected, not alienated. Ideally, it incorporates the wisdom of the past with the best knowledge and understanding of the present.

At this point I was starting to see the true role of religion in society and its deeper importance. I saw that psychologically a religion provides a feeling that life has meaning, and that humanism can do this. Humanism can help individuals to be fully integrated and healthy with a totally congruent world view. For me, the power and glory of humanism is that it not only has the ability to bind all the world's societies together, it has the potential to integrate the emotional and intellectual sides of an individual. If any Humanist only functions as a talking head, it is not because they understand and have mastered humanism, rather just the opposite. The greatest weakness of the organized humanist movement today is that too many of its practitioners interpret emotion as bad. But this is wrong. Emotion is power. Emotion is the core of our humanity, at least when it is emotion joined to and congruent with intellect, knowledge and science. When the foregoing condition exists, then one has power that can overcome all barriers and sweep humanity toward a world of universal fellowship, joy and plenty. All situations that demean any human being can be tackled and overcome.

The Humanist Vision

For me Julian Huxley has best captured the humanist vision. He calls humanism the religion for the modern world and explains what this means in his books, "New Bottles for New Wine" and "The Humanist Frame." He describes why humanism is a religion from a sociological standpoint. Sociologically as Huxley says, "Religion is the organ of humanity concerned with human destiny."

When humanism is properly functioning, it is focused on this issue. Humanism recognizes that human beings are social animals, and that they must relate to other people. Humanism binds a person to all other people independent of nation, sex, cultural and religious backgrounds, or any other differences that exist between people. It is because of the universality that humanism is the religion for the modern world: the multicultural world, the world of science.

Anthropologically, religion is the institution that all cultures possess that provides social bonding. This institution ensures that each person is joined to all other persons in the tribe or group. It is only in modern society that we have lost this resource and Humanism has the capacity to reverse this situation.

Why Fight Traditional Religion?

But suppose you have not been swayed by my arguments. Suppose you maintain the position that calling humanism a religion would be confusing because most people think religion involves the supernatural. If this is your position, I would ask why the foregoing state exists? If you thought about it long enough you would respond, "Because our ministers and priests have told us so." And I would ask, "Why are you willing to reject everything else your ministers and priests told you except that religion means God or the supernatural, or both?"

Rejecting the idea that humanism is a religion for this reason seems particularly unfortunate. Accepting the definition of priests and ministers on this point means fighting all the battles with handicaps too great to overcome. Therefore, your beliefs must probably lose while theirs will win because you have been willing to let your position be defined by them. If you believe that traditional religion has hurt you and hurts other people, then I would encourage you to recognize that the best revenge for being brainwashed as children is success, not individual acts of rebellion. Getting prayer out of the public schools, removing God from our currency, do not at this time qualify as success. People who work on such projects achieve just enough victories in the courts and elsewhere to keep them from realizing they are losing the war. Success is helping to provide an alternative to traditional religions that will help people find their way in a confusing, complex world where every action includes more ignorance than knowledge. Direct confrontation of tradition religion is counter-productive. To the degree that one succeeds they increase the likelihood of a bigger failure. The only possibility of success is to establish alternative organizations to provide the binding structures of society. Humanism has that potential. When Humanism replaces traditional religions as the primary glue that holds societies together this occurrence will be equivalent to the replacement of early Roman religion by Christianity. Humanists could very well benefit from in-depth study of this period to help clarify as well as possibly how such a thing occurs.

If anyone wants to understand what religion actually means they must understand that God, the Virgin Mary, worship of trees, and any other supernatural ideas are only specific symbols used by particular societies to explain and understand the universe in which they live. These symbols are the trappings of religion, not the essence of religion. Therefore, I would encourage you to recognize that religion has nothing to do with the supernatural. It is an essential tool of social organization.

The Need for Vision

So, moving right along. How can we build such organizations? I think we must begin with a vision. But why do I focus so much on vision? For me the issue is very clear. In order to develop a strong group, the group must start with a strong, clear vision. For humanists this is a severe problem. Our national organizations do not have a simple, positive goal. I once thought that the American Humanist Association had the best opportunity to arrive at such a clear goal. But past Board and membership actions leave me skeptical. It may be necessary to set up a whole new national organization made up of people who share a positive humanist vision. Currently, humanist organizations only spin their wheels as members line up on opposite sides of arguments and thereby ensure that no movement is possible.

If there were a national humanist group with a clear, positive message, it could be a magnet that would attract all kinds of local groups. Some of them would be current humanist chapters and similar kinds of groups. Others might be current UUA churches and fellowships that want to clarify their purpose and focus their energy in a dynamic direction. Others might be various church denominations that have grown beyond the dogma of their sect, and who want to align themselves with a deeper, and wider truth. Others would spring up spontaneously from wherever there are people of vision, and energy who want to use their lives in constructive, congruent ways.

The Need For Definition

But in spite of everything I've said so far, the reality is that the core ideas about humanity and society from a humanist perspective still are waiting to be clarified. All of the basic ideas that define a person, society and the meaning of life come out of our supernatural roots. Everything needs to be changed, or at least re-focused as we build a firm humanist foundation for society. For the last couple of years I have edited a quarterly humanist journal working to do this. It is currently called The Humanist Dialogue. This journal searches for the essential ideas necessary to provide the foundation for a good society made up of good people. A core assumption is that the empirical scientific processes are an essential part of this effort.

The Good Society and the Good Person

To me a good society is one that believes and implements the idea that human beings are the source of meaning and the individual person is the only worthy focus for ultimate concern. All of our science and all of our wisdom show us that human beings are the ultimate reference system (rather than "objective" reality) because we must always interpret the objective universe, and we always do it with limited knowledge and limited understanding.

A good person by my definition is a Person Who Has Achieved a Sustainable Feeling that their Life Has Meaning.(PWHASFLHM).

A sustainable feeling that one's life has meaning requires that one be part of a good society. It is an open-ended position with science and wisdom behind it. It incorporates the best understanding available about human beings and their lifetime needs, and is able to change as knowledge and understanding increases.

The Need To Develop A Model Organization

But how can we get from where we are today to the grand and glorious places I have held up as the future? Organization is essential. But we do not currently have organizations such as I am discussing. Partially, this is true because we don't have even clear models for the kind of organizations I am discussing. Julian Huxley's vision is my vision. But though he acknowledges that organizational development is an essential element in actualizing his position, he admits that the task of laying out what this means exceeds his talents. Therefore, the task of developing a model for humanist organization remains to be accomplished. How can we develop organizations that are congruent with our philosophy? To me the foregoing is the greatest hurdle humanism faces in becoming the religion for the modern world.

This is a project I have worked on for over 20 years. I have laid out my best thinking on this issue in my book, The Humanist Chapter of The Future, and The Future of Humanism. This book got its start at the first Southern California regional Humanist conference held in San Diego when I was asked to talk about my vision for humanist chapters. Today I hold in my hand the latest edition which I produced partially to be able to have available to participants of this year's HumCon conference.

So far I have been talking generally. Now I would like to mention the specifics of my answer to the question: What are the characteristics of a model humanist group?

The Characteristics of the Model Humanist Group

First and foremost, as indicated above, these groups must have a vision. They must see themselves as permanent institutions. They need to legally incorporate, and begin laying the groundwork to develop and maintain the resources they will need as they grow and expand. They must see themselves as custodians of positive virtues essential to the well being of the larger society. They must see themselves as having a message that will be ever perfected until it speaks to every human being.

Secondly, the group must recognize the need to build a community, a place where people feel connected with joyful bonding. This must be a place where the open-minded searcher will be helped to find their own way while drawing from the best thinking available. Here all must be helped to grow and develop their best talents, their core interests. Here individuals must be encouraged to become fully functioning, warm, loving, capable, open, nurturing, positive, creative, dynamic, congruent human beings.

Third, such a group must understand the importance of having their own building and a paid administrator. This paid administrator should be closer to a facilitator than a minister, priest or rabbi. They are the person with the time, energy and talents to ensure that the policies and goals of the organization get carried out in the best way possible. The group needs to establish a savings program and do whatever it takes to keep this account growing towards the day when the funds are adequate to hire an executive director who shares the chapter's vision, and who has proven skills to build a group that will generate sufficient energy, and money to keep it growing and developing.

Fourth, their programming should be as broad as possible to appeal to every kind of humanist and every important need and concern. All who have interest must be encouraged to lead and coordinate those activities, or services they feel are important. The group must empower people, not disempower them.

Fifth, festivals, ceremonies, weddings, etc. must be a part of the organization. Ideally, they will be ones that will speak to the larger society, and can get them involved. This area is one of the most fertile in terms of the bonding function.

Sixth, and very important, the group must have a weekly meeting on Sunday morning to bring everyone together and provide the sharing and interacting necessary to build a real community. Programming must appeal to the full spectrum of human beings: women as well as men, youth as well as the elders. Activities for children are essential.

Seventh, they must accept as one of their goals the transformation of the bigger society to develop the institutions and resources to overcome every barrier that keeps anyone from becoming a PWHASFLHM. They must recognize every person as a potential member of the group, and work to develop whatever programs, services and activities are necessary to attract an ever broadening range of people. Each success must be used to show the way to further expansion. The goal is not size and power, but rather finding and sharing answers to improve the quality of life for more and more people. We must recognize that no one is secure until all people are secure, and that security is best provided through humanism. We must accept our share of responsibility for all of society's negative trends, behaviors, and institutions. We must realize they are there because we have not yet developed a full bodied humanist alternative to tradition religions.

Eighth, in my opinion no humanist group can achieve the things I have discussed unless they realize that they are a religious organization, more specifically a church. Humanism joins all human beings together based on their common humanity independent of their particular cultural, racial, national origin, or religion of birth. All history is our history. Christianity is our history as is Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, the Renaissance, early Greek thinking, etc.

Ninth, and finally, they must be open to the idea of humanist spirituality and mysticism. These activities must be developed in such a way that study and practice do not allow one to get caught in the inner byways of their own mind, but provide tools to ensure that the empirical process does not get lost or misapplied. How this can get done I do not know. But I am sure that somehow it can and must be done.

Well, there is my vision and my message. If any of you feel that the thrust of what I have been saying correct, I hope you will add your energy to the processes that will be necessary to move these ideas forward.

--Arthur M. Jackson