Raymond Bennett Bragg (1902–1979) was an American
Unitarian minister who played a key role in the writing of the original
Humanist Manifesto
''Humanist Manifesto'' is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original '' Humanist Manifesto'' (1933, often referred to as Humanist Manifesto I), the ''Humanist Manifesto II'' (1973), and ''Humanism and I ...
(1933) and eventually signing
Humanist Manifesto II
''Humanist Manifesto II'', written in 1973 by humanists Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, was an update to the previous ''Humanist Manifesto'' published in 1933, and the second entry in the ''Humanist Manifesto'' series. It begins with a statem ...
(1973). Raymond Bragg was born in Massachusetts and attended Bates College and Brown University. In 1927, he earned a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a B.D. from Meadville Theological School and was ordained at the Unitarian Church of All Souls in Evanston, Illinois where he was pastor until 1930. From 1930-1935 he served as the Secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference. During these years he was also the editor of The New Humanist, and was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto, which helped give rise to a new humanist movement within Unitarianism. He served as pastor of the
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis from 1935–1947. He was the executive director of the Unitarian Service Committee from 1947–1952, and then became the pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church, Kansas City, Missouri, where he remained until his retirement in 1973. During this time, he chaired the Kansas City's Civil Liberties Union, worked on the local and state levels to improve mental health services, and was an assistant professor of philosophy at the
Kansas City Art Institute
The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. It has approx ...
. Upon his retirement, he was elected Minister Emeritus by the Kansas City congregation.
References
External links
*Th
personal papersof Raymond Bennett Bragg are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
.
Unitarian and Universalist biography.
he was very old about his life
1902 births
1979 deaths
American humanists
Kansas City Art Institute faculty
American Unitarian clergy
Religious leaders from Massachusetts
Bates College alumni
Brown University alumni
University of Chicago alumni
20th-century Unitarian clergy
20th-century American clergy
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