What I Believe

The concept of Humanism has changed over time. During the Italian Renaissance, ancient works inspired Catholic Italian scholars, which gave rise to the Renaissance humanism movement. During the Age of Enlightenment, humanistic values were reinforced by advances in science and technology. By the early 20th century, organisations dedicated to humanism in its current form grew throughout Europe and the United States, and are now present worldwide. Unlike the established religions, Humanism has never followed a clearly defined dogma. This means that it can be more difficult to identify a humanist, even if there are now Humanist organisations in most countries. This book aims to create a picture of Humanism by describing some of its common features.

To this purpose, Andrew Copson, who is the current Chief Executive of Humanists UK, has conducted interviews with well-known people who regard themselves to be Humanists. In the introduction to the book Copson writes; “Although many people’s world views are still fuzzy, with a range of different beliefs and values, many aspects of the humanist ideas have become common sense, but there are still not many opportunities for people to encounter explicitly humanist ideas, framed as such.” (p. ix) It is this diversity in ideas and beliefs which the people interviewed in the book express within the framework of Humanism. Although the definition of a humanist may not at first be completely clear, a pattern, based on many similarities, emerges from the interweaving of the many different views expressed in the book.

Some of the clearest themes are as follows: a refusal to see oneself as part of an established religion, denial of an afterlife and a conviction that the life we experience right now is the only certainty, the belief that morality is part of human nature rather than handed down by God (or any other higher entity). Some of the people interviewed also spoke about curiosity, a love of truth and knowledge, others about love for human beings, others focused on social values and fairness. As part of this emerging pattern, the book is divided in three sections: 1) Reason, science and truth, 2) Love, respect and empathy and 3) Freedom, equality and justice.

To summarise, the picture that emerges from the interviews, is, as Andrew Copson says: humanism is naturalistic in its understanding of the universe and places importance in the pursuit of a self-defined, meaningful, and happy life. An approach that may act as a good balance in today’s world of increasingly polarised opinions.