WHAT IS HUMANISM?

Humanism is an approach to life based on reason and our common humanity, recognising that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone. Humanism encourages open-minded enquiry into matters relevant to human co-existence and well-being.

Humanists are committed to the application of reason and science, to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems so that quality of life can be improved for everyone.

While atheism is merely the absence of belief, humanism is a positive attitude to the world, centred on human experience, thought, and hopes. The British Humanist Association and The International Humanist and Ethical Union use similar emblems showing a stylised human figure reaching out to achieve its full potential.

Humanists believe that human experience and rational thinking provide the only source of both knowledge and a moral code to live by. They reject the idea of knowledge 'revealed' to human beings by gods, or in special books.

Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.

Most humanists would agree with the ideas below:

• There are no supernatural beings.
• The material universe is the only thing that exists.
• Science provides the only reliable source of knowledge about this universe.
• We only live this life - there is no after-life, and no such thing as reincarnation.
• Human beings can live ethical and fulfilling lives without religious beliefs.
• Human beings derive their moral code from the lessons of history, personal experience, and thought.

This is an extract from the BBC's website (their site contains some excellent descriptions of different faiths and belief systems).