Roy Kindell delivered this homily as part of “Humanist Sunday,” Sept. 4, 2016, at Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. The Humanism Explorations group meets at RVUUF from 3 to 5 p.m. on the first and third Sunday of each month.

I founded our Fellowship’s Humanism Explorations group more than thirty years ago and it has been meeting ever since – probably one of the longest continuously meeting groups in our Fellowship. For the first ten years we met every Sunday – without exception. Currently we meet on the first and third Sundays of each month usually under the balcony here – or at Emerson House next door. Our attendance ranges from ten to as many as fifty. We occasionally have a Summer picnic or social in Lithia Park.

Our discussions tend to be quite lively, thought provoking and relevant to issues of our day. For the past six years our group and our affiliated group in Grants Pass have formed the regional Rogue Valley Humanists and Free Thinkers which is part of the Portland based Center for Inquiry with more than 200 local members.

Humanism has been defined as a “philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence over acceptance of dogma or superstition.” < Wikipedia

There are many varieties of Humanism – which all have at their core a respect for human dignity and worth with the desire to promote human potential and flourishing in harmony with this world.

That being said, there are many ways to approach this common value. The American Humanist Association, which was founded in 1941 though the participation of Unitarian and Universalist ministers, promotes the variety known as “secular” Humanism – (from the root meaning of “secular” – “of this world”) that is solving human problems in the here and now with the resources available in the natural world (but with due recognition of the limitation of human abilities as well as recognizing their ultimate potential). However, humanism as a broader movement includes Religious Humanists, Ethical Humanists, Literary Humanists, Cultural Humanists, and even Theistic Humanists – (who have wide ranging views of what “God” means to them) and who seek to promote human values each with emphasis on differing approaches.

There has been a close association between both the Unitarian and Universalist movements and formal Humanism since its very beginning. Unitarian Ministers and Universalist leaders signed the Humanist declaration known as Humanist Manifesto I in 1933 and helped create the American Humanism Association eight years later. The founder and first President of the American Humanist Association was Curtis Reese, a noted Unitarian Minister. Appropriately, the philosophy of Humanism was the common ground which served to bring about the merger of Unitarianism and Universalism in 1961.

As Unitarian Universalists, two of our stated primary sources of inspiration and wisdom are:

“Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love; and Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.”

Our UU Fellowship has recently been designated, with the cooperation of our Board and Minister, as a “Freethinker Friendly Congregation” by the national Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association, or UUHA.

This designation alerts freethinkers nationwide that our congregation is among those who are welcoming toward them and that we are non-dogmatic in our beliefs – which is a treasured discovery and gratifying surprise to many freethinkers and their families who would not expect this degree of openness of a conventional “church”.

The UUHA characterizes itself as quote “committed to Humanist principles of reason, compassion, and human fulfillment enumerated in the Humanist Manifestos and in the seven Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association.”

As you can see Humanism embodies a diverse range of viewpoints within a common core. Our following presenters will illustrate some personal examples.

In this series:
Christian Humanism – A Personal View by Victoria Law
Humanism and Hinduism by Diane Newell Meyer
How Reason Informs My Faith by Jonathan Donihue