![LiHS logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/LiHS_logo.svg)
The Secular Humanist League of Brazil, or LiHS, is a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
dedicated to
skepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
,
separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
,
scientific literacy
Scientific literacy or science literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding science, its methodology, observations, and theories. Scientific literacy is chiefly concerned with an understanding o ...
and
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
, tenets of
secular humanism
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality an ...
.
It was founded in
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...
,
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, on February 1, 2010. Its foundation was preceded by the activities of its blog, Bule Voador, arguably the largest secularist website in Brazil. The name "Bule Voador" stands for "Flying Teapot" in Portuguese and alludes to Bertrand
Russell's teapot
Russell's teapot is an analogy, formulated by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), to illustrate that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making empirically unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of ' ...
.
Campaigns
LiHS took part in the 100 cities against
stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times.
The Torah and Ta ...
protest on August 28, 2010, a campaign for saving
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani ( fa, سکینه محمدی آشتیانی; born 1967) is an Iranian Azeri woman convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and adultery. She gained international notoriety for originally being sentenced to death by sto ...
and others from execution in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. The Secular Humanist League of Brazil had also broad local media coverage from the
10:23 campaign against
homeopathy
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...
, and also supports local meetings of
Skeptics in the Pub
Skeptics in the Pub (abbreviated SITP) is an informal social event designed to promote fellowship and social networking among skeptics, critical thinkers, freethinkers, rationalists and other like-minded individuals. It provides an opportunity ...
and
LGBT rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, , 33 ...
campaigns.
The Brazilian
Supreme Federal Court
The Supreme Federal Court ( pt, Supremo Tribunal Federal, , abbreviated STF) is the supreme court (court of last resort) of Brazil, serving primarily as the Constitutional Court of the country. It is the highest court of law in Brazil for consti ...
lists LiHS as one of the speakers against religious teaching in public schools in an upcoming trial.
Members
The organization has reported to have 2530 members in November 2012.
Among the honorary members are human rights activist
Maryam Namazie
Maryam Namazie ( fa, مریم نمازی; born 1966) is a British-Iranian secularist, communist and human rights activist, commentator, and broadcaster.
Early life
Most of her early work focused on refugee rights, especially in Sudan, Turkey, ...
, anthropological linguist
Daniel Everett
Daniel Leonard Everett (born 26 July 1951) is an American linguist and author best known for his study of the Amazon basin's Pirahã people and their language.
Everett is currently Trustee Professor of Cognitive Sciences at Bentley University i ...
, philosopher
Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942) is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relat ...
, human rights academic Debora Diniz, Brazilian congressman and gay rights activist
Jean Wyllys
Jean Wyllys (born Jean Wyllys de Matos Santos on 10 March 1974 in Alagoinhas, Bahia, Brazil) is a Brazilian lecturer, journalist and politician who rose to fame after winning the fifth season of ''Big Brother Brasil''. He was also notable as be ...
, among other Brazilian humanists.
I Secular Humanist Congress of Brazil
LiHS has organised the first Secular Humanist Congress in South America, taking place in the city of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, with the support of the
International Humanist and Ethical Union
Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Found ...
and
Atheist Alliance International
Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is a non-profit advocacy organization committed to raising awareness and educating the public about atheism. It does this by supporting atheist and freethought organizations around the world through promotin ...
.
The event featured prominent humanists such as Portuguese philosopher
Desidério Murcho, Brazilian skeptic Kentaro Mori, Brazilian astrophysicist Horacio Dottori, among others.
Atheist Alliance International
Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is a non-profit advocacy organization committed to raising awareness and educating the public about atheism. It does this by supporting atheist and freethought organizations around the world through promotin ...
declared the event was a success.
Atheist Alliance International
References
Secularism in Brazil
Skeptic organisations in Brazil
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