Humanist Manifesto

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The Humanist Manifesto begins with a brief statement from Raymond B. Bragg. He notes that the manifesto was produced by many people, as intended to represent not a creed but a developing point of view. Although many religious humanists believe in God, they reject the dogmas and creeds of traditional religions, and humanists in the early 1930s sedulously avoided any sense that they were forming a new creed. Bragg concludes the opening statement by pointing out that humanism represents an attempt to form a new philosophy that takes into account the realities of the modern world. Indeed, scientific and technological advances dating back to at least the nineteenth century caused many people to question traditional religious beliefs and seek a new path.

The manifesto itself begins with a recognition that there have been “radical changes in religious beliefs” in the modern world. Humanists reject the notion that traditional religious beliefs have to be revised. Because of scientific advances and economic change—the United States and the world were mired in a deep economic depression in 1933—old beliefs are being turned on their heads, and religion has to find new ways for people to come to terms with new conditions. The opening paragraph then announces that the purpose of the manifesto is to make “certain affirmations” demanded by the facts of contemporary life.

The manifesto’s second paragraph notes that the doctrines and methods of traditional religion “are powerless to solve the problem of human living in the Twentieth Century.” The paragraph goes on to affirm the legitimacy of “the highest values of life.” In the past, these values have been achieved through theology, its goals and ideals, and the “cult,” which the document refers to as “technique.” Any change in these values results in change in the “outward forms of religion” that have been witnessed over time. Religion itself, though, remains a constant as people take part in the “abiding” quest for values.

The third paragraph again alludes to science and the way it has changed people’s understanding of the world. It also refers to “brotherhood,” suggesting that one of humanism’s chief goals is the creation of a community of people without the divisions of the past. The passage acknowledges that people owe a debt to traditional religions, but religion has to adapt to the needs of the present age. It is important to note that humanists are not atheists—at least not necessarily. Religious humanists believe in God and believe that religion in some form can aid people in their quest for a peaceful, ethical life.

The manifesto then turns to its fifteen affirmations. The first rejects the literalism of the biblical book of Genesis by saying that the universe is “self-existing and not created.” The findings of geology, as well as the work of Charles Darwin on evolution in the nineteenth century, had undermined traditional, literal interpretations of the Bible and the biblical account of creation. The second affirmation picks up the evolutionary theme by saying that humans are “part of nature” and have “emerged as a result of a continuous process.” In other words, humanists reject the traditional view that humans hold some special status in the created world.

The third affirmation refers to this as the “organic” view of life and rejects the concept of a dualism of mind and body—referring to the notion that the soul is distinct from a person’s physical body and that the body is just a vehicle for the soul. In the eyes of humanists, the traditional dualist view relieves humans of the need to forge a better order on earth, for earthly existence is merely a way station on the road to an afterlife.

The fourth affirmation calls attention to “man’s religious culture and civilization” and characterizes them as a product of a “gradual development” resulting from human “interaction” with the “natural environment” and “social heritage.” By saying that a person “born into a particular culture is largely molded by that culture,” humanists reject the notion that one set of religious beliefs is superior to any other; all religious beliefs are the product of culture.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, scientists such as Albert Einstein were changing people’s understanding of the very nature of matter and the universe. Thus, the fifth affirmation of the manifesto asserts that modern science has demonstrated that human values cannot be guaranteed by “supernatural or cosmic” forces. Further, the findings of science suggest that the only way to understand reality is through the “scientific spirit and method.”

In the sixth affirmation, the manifesto explicitly rejects various religious philosophies. One is theism, the belief in a personal and transcendent God who created the world and preserves and governs it. Additionally, the manifesto rejects deism, a belief system associated with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and that acknowledged God as the creator of the universe. Also mentioned is “modernism.” It is difficult to specify what the authors mean here, though the word has been used to refer to any unspecified set of religious views that represent a break with the past.

The seventh affirmation broadly defines religion as any form of human endeavor, including labor, art, science, philosophy, love, friendship, and recreation. All these activities are expressions of intelligence. Thus humanists reject any distinction between the sacred and the secular. The eighth affirmation explicitly refers to “Religious Humanism” and states that the end of life is the “realization of the human personality” in the here and now. The end is achieved through “social passion,” or a recognition of the brotherhood of people referred to earlier in the document.

The ninth affirmation turns to issues of “worship and prayer.” Humanists see traditional forms of worship and prayer as ineffectual, for these forms assume the theistic view: If humans pray to a transcendent God, he will answer those prayers because he is actively involved in human affairs. Humanists define “worship” as a “heightened sense of personal life” and, perhaps more important, “a cooperative effort to promote social well-being.” These aspirations can produce the same kind of religious emotion that traditional worship and prayer do. The tenth affirmation rejects the view that these “uniquely religious” emotions can be achieved by belief in a transcendent supernatural being—God.

With the tenth affirmation, the manifesto turns to the role of people in social affairs. Education can foster “reasonable and manly attitudes.” (The masculine language was made gender neutral in the later manifestos.) Rather than encouraging “sentimental and unreal hopes,” humanism, according to the eleventh affirmation, follows the path of “social and mental hygiene.” Here, hygiene refers not to cleanliness but to any practice that promotes health, including mental health and the “health” of the society.

The twelfth affirmation asserts that a purpose of religion is “joy in living” and that one way to promote that joy is through creative endeavors. In the same vein, the thirteenth affirmation states that associations and institutions can add to human fulfillment. Again, religious institutions must be reformed to substitute intelligence for “ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities.” Many early religious humanists were Unitarians, a denomination that places little or no emphasis on ritual and ecclesiastical methods.

The most controversial affirmation of the manifesto was the fourteenth, which attacks “acquisitive and profit-motivated society.” The statement calls for “a socialized and cooperative economic order” and the “equitable distribution of the means of life.” This seemed to many to be a call for Socialism, perhaps even Communism. For this reason, some people who were invited to sign the manifesto refused to do so.

The final affirmation calls for an affirmation of life and its possibilities and, consistent with the fourteenth affirmation, conditions for a “satisfactory life for all, not merely for the few.” The final paragraph is a summing up. The values of the “religious forms and ideas of our fathers” are no longer equal to the task of creating meaning in life. However, those traditional religions did promote a “quest for the good life,” and humanists still regard that quest as central. The manifesto concludes by stating that man alone has the power to achieve his dreams, but he must turn his intelligence and will to the task.