Humanism, I want to emphasize, is an attitude, not an ideology, a philosophical life-stance, not a creed. Humanists do not worship human beings--far from it!--but seek to accept and appreciate all of humanity while at the same time criticizing human error and folly and endeavoring to improve human lives and human society. Humanism affirms that we have both the freedom and the responsibility to make a more human world, to be actively engaged in the endeavors that improve human existence.

Humanism is not a doctrine, but a concern with certain questions such as: what is the nature of a good life; what makes for a good community, a good society; how can we best understand our existence and our universe. Humanists are concerned with this life we are living and this earth we share. We regard the world's religions as expressions of a human struggle with problems of meaning and purpose in human existence and as possible sources of insight or wisdom but not often of "truth."

--Bob Berson
American Ethical Union