Above all, humanists practice critical inquiry by regularly asking, "What do you mean? How do you know? and Why?" This requires listening, looking, and finding out what happens in the world around us. Secular and naturalistic constant questioning lets humanists sleep late on Sunday morning and eat dinner without prayer. Like scientists, we search for natural causes to events. We prefer information that comes from careful thinking about things we see, hear, or observe.

Maintaining relationships with other people requires respect for boundaries, truth telling, keeping promises, and expressions of interest. We cannot have quality lives without practicing basic ethical principles.

We solve problems by human effort and intelligence. This means we consider the facts, options, consequences, and feelings of people involved in an issue.

We practice democracy when we give input on decisions affecting us or encourage others to have input on decisions affecting them.

We have contact with people who do not share our values or background. We look for the things we have in common. We show others the kindness we hope to receive from them.

--by Derrick Strobl
Condensed from March/April '99 issue of The Central Ohio Humanist