Humanists on Humanism
Do you know who you are? Perhaps you're one of Us. If so, you're in good company!
- ISAAC ASIMOV -- Author, Scientist and Past President of the
American Humanist Association.
"Humanists recognize that it is only when people feel free to think for themselves, using reason as their guide, that they are best capable of developing values that succeed in satisfying human needs and serving human interests." - ALBERT EINSTEIN -- Scientist, Nobel Prize in Physics,
Originator of the theory of relativity.
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." - GLORIA STEINEM -- Founder of Ms. Magazine, Humanist Pioneer
Award.
"When we speak of equality, of women and men, of Blacks and Whites, of all the world's people, we are talking about Humanism." - ALBERT SCHWEITZER -- Humanitarian, Doctor, and Religious
Scholar -Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Humanism, in all its simplicity, is the only genuine spirituality." - LINUS PAULING -- Scientist, Humanist of the Year in 1961,
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954, Nobel Peace Prize in 1962.
"Humanism is a philosophy of joyous service for the greater good of all humanity, of application of new ideas of scientific progress for the benefit of all." - KURT VONNEGUT -- Author, Lecturer, Philanthropist and
President of the American Humanist Association.
"Our nation's founders saw a free press and an educated citizenry as the twin pillars of democratic health. But we no longer live in their world of numerous small, independent presses. These days, the vast majority of Americans get their news from corporately-owned information monoliths and from their local newspapers, most of them corporate subsidiaries as well. That is why Humanism and The Humanist magazine are so important. Won't you join us today?" - ROBERT GREEN INGERSOLL --When I became convinced that the universe is natural--that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom.
The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the world--not even infinite space.
I was free--free to think, to express my thoughts--free to live my own ideal--free to live for myself and those I loved--free to use all my faculties, all my senses, free to spread imagination’s wings--free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope--free to judge and determine for myself--free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past--free from popes and priests, free from all the “called” and “set apart”--free from sanctified mistakes and “holy” lies--free from the winged monsters of the night--free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought--no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings--no claims for my limbs--no lashes for my back--no fires for my flesh--no following another’s steps--no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers, who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain--for the freedom of labor and thought--to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains--to those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs--to those by fire consumed--to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons [and daughters] of men [and women]. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they have held, and hold it high, that light may conquer darkness still. A HUMANIST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION-
