A Secular Humanist Declaration was an argument for and statement of support for democratic

secular humanism Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system, or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basi ...

. The document was issued in 1980 by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH), now the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH). Compiled by

Paul Kurtz Paul Kurtz (December 21, 1925 – October 20, 2012) was an American scientific skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism". He was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Bu ...

, it is largely a restatement of the content of the

American Humanist Association The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a 501(c) organization, non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism. The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defe ...

's 1973

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 stat ...

, of which he was co-author with

Edwin H. Wilson Edwin Henry Wilson (August 23, 1898 – March 26, 1993) was an American Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian leader and humanism, humanist who helped draft the Humanist Manifesto. Wilson was born on August 23, 1898, in Woodhaven, Queens, Woodhav ...

. Both Wilson and Kurtz had served as editors of ''

The Humanist ''The Humanist'' is an American bi-monthly magazine published in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1941 by American Humanist Association. It covers topics in science, religion, media, technology, politics and popular culture and provides ethica ...

'', from which Kurtz departed in 1979 and thereafter set about establishing his own movement and his own periodical. His Secular Humanist Declaration was the starting point for these enterprises.

# Free Inquiry # Separation of Church and State # The Ideal of Freedom # Ethics Based on Critical Intelligence # Moral Education # Religious Skepticism # Reason # Science and Technology # Evolution # Education

Signatories

Before the list of signatories, the declaration has the following disclaimer: "Although we who endorse this declaration may not agree with all its specific provisions, we nevertheless support its general purposes and direction and believe that it is important that they be enunciated and implemented. We call upon all men and women of good will who agree with us to join in helping to keep alive the commitment to the principles of free inquiry and the secular humanist outlook. We submit that the decline of these values could have ominous implications for the future of civilization on this planet."

United States

* George Abell (professor of astronomy, UCLA) * John Anton (professor of philosophy, Emory University) * Khoren Arisian (minister, First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis) *

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

(science fiction author) * Paul Beattie (minister, All Souls Unitarian Church; president, Fellowship of Religious Humanism) * H. James Birx (professor of anthropology and sociology, Canisius College) *

Brand Blanshard Percy Brand Blanshard ( ; August 27, 1892 – November 19, 1987) was an American philosopher known primarily for his defense of rationalism and idealism. Biography Brand Blanshard was born August 27, 1892, in Fredericksburg, Ohio. His parent ...

(professor emeritus of philosophy, Yale) * Joseph L. Blau (Professor Emeritus of Religion, Columbia) *

Francis Crick Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the Nucleic acid doub ...

(Nobel Prize Laureate, Salk Institute) *

Arthur Danto Arthur Coleman Danto (January 1, 1924 – October 25, 2013) was an American art critic, philosopher, and professor at Columbia University. He was best known for having been a long-time art critic for ''The Nation'' and for his work in philosop ...

(professor of philosophy, Columbia University) *

Albert Ellis Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913 – July 24, 2007) was an American psychologist and psychotherapist who founded rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). He held MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University, and was cer ...

(executive director, Institute for Rational Emotive Therapy) * Roy Fairfield (former professor of social science, Antioch) *

Herbert Feigl Herbert Feigl (; ; December 14, 1902 – June 1, 1988) was an Austrian- American philosopher and an early member of the Vienna Circle. He coined the term " nomological danglers". Biography The son of a trained weaver who became a textile designer ...

(professor emeritus of philosophy, University of Minnesota) *

Joseph Fletcher Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 – October 28, 1991) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s. A pioneer in the field of bioethics. Fletcher was a leading academic proponent of the potential b ...

(theologian, University of Virginia Medical School) *

Sidney Hook Sidney Hook (December 20, 1902 – July 12, 1989) was an American philosopher of pragmatism known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, the philosophy of education, political theory, and ethics. After embracing communism in his youth ...

(professor emeritus of philosophy, NYU, fellow at Hoover Institute) * George Hourani (professor of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo) * Walter Kaufmann (professor of philosophy, Princeton) * Marvin Kohl (professor of philosophy, medical ethics, State University of New York at Fredonia) *

Richard Kostelanetz Richard Cory Kostelanetz (born May 14, 1940) is an American artist, author, and critic. Birth and education Kostelanetz was born to Boris Kostelanetz and Ethel Cory and is the nephew of the conductor Andre Kostelanetz. He has a B.A. (1962) fr ...

(writer, artist, critic) *

(Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo) * Joseph Margolis (professor of philosophy, Temple University) * Floyd Matson (professor of American Studies, University of Hawaii) *

Ernest Nagel Ernest Nagel (; ; November 16, 1901 – September 20, 1985) was an American philosopher of science. Suppes, Patrick (1999)Biographical memoir of Ernest Nagel In '' American National Biograph''y (Vol. 16, pp. 216-218). New York: Oxford University ...

(professor emeritus of philosophy, Columbia) * Lee Nisbet (associate professor of philosophy, Medaille) * George Olincy (lawyer) * Virginia Olincy *

W. V. Quine Willard Van Orman Quine ( ; known to his friends as "Van"; June 25, 1908 – December 25, 2000) was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, recognized as "one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth centur ...

(professor of philosophy, Harvard University) * Robert Rimmer (novelist) * Herbert Schapiro (Freedom from Religion Foundation) * Herbert W. Schneider (professor emeritus of philosophy, Claremont College) *

B. F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in ...

(professor emeritus of psychology, Harvard) * Gordon Stein (editor, The American Rationalist) * George Tomashevich (professor of anthropology, Buffalo State University College) * Valentin Turchin (Russian dissident; computer scientist, City College, City University of New York) *

Sherwin Wine Sherwin Theodore Wine (Hebrew name שמעון בן צבי, Shimon ben Tzvi; January 25, 1928 – July 21, 2007) was an American rabbi and a founding figure of Humanistic Judaism, a movement that emphasizes Jewish culture and Jewish history ...

(rabbi, Birmingham Temple, founder,

Society for Humanistic Judaism The Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ), founded by Rabbi Sherwin Wine in 1969, is an American 501(c)(3) organization and the central body of Humanistic Judaism, a philosophy that combines a Nontheism, non-theistic and Humanism, humanistic outloo ...

) * Marvin Zimmerman (professor of philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo)

Canada

Henry Morgentaler Henekh "Henry" Morgentaler (March 19, 1923 – May 29, 2013), was a Polish-born Canadian physician, and abortion rights advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada. As a Jewish youth during World War ...

(physician, Montreal) * Kai Nielsen (professor of philosophy, University of Calgary)

France

* Yves Galifret (executive director, Union rationaliste) * Jean-Claude Pecker (professor of astrophysics, Collège de France, Académie des Sciences)

Great Britain (i.e. Scotland, Wales and England)

* Sir A. J. Ayer (professor of philosophy, Oxford University) * H.J. Blackham (former chairman, Social Morality Council and British Humanist Association) *

Bernard Crick Sir Bernard Rowland Crick (16 December 1929 – 19 December 2008) was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He sought to arrive at a "politics of action", as ...

(professor of politics, Birkbeck College, London University) * Sir

Raymond Firth Sir Raymond William Firth (25 March 1901 – 22 February 2002) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behavio ...

(professor emeritus of anthropology, University of London) *

Jim Herrick Jim Herrick (August 1944 – 20 June 2023) was a British humanist and secularist. He studied history and English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge University, and then worked as a school teacher for seven years. He wrote or edited sever ...

(then editor of The Freethinker) * Zhores A. Medvedev (Russian dissident; Medical Research Council) * Dora Russell (Mrs.

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

) (author) * Lord Ritchie-Calder (president, Rationalist Press Association) * Harry Stopes-Roe (senior lecturer in science studies, University of Birmingham; chairman, British Humanist Association) * Nicolas Walter (editor, New Humanist) *Baroness Barbara Wootton (Deputy Speaker, House of Lords)

India

*B. Shah (president, Indian Secular Society; director, Institute for the Study of Indian Traditions) * V. M. Tarkunde (Supreme Court Judge, chairman, Indian Radical Humanist Association)

Israel

Shulamit Aloni Shulamit Aloni (; 27 December 1927 – 24 January 2014) was an Israeli politician. She founded the Ratz (political party), Ratz party, was leader of the Meretz party, Leader of the Opposition (Israel), Leader of the Opposition from 1988 to 1990, ...

(lawyer, member of

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

, head of Citizens Rights Movement)

Norway

Alastair Hannay __NOTOC__ Robert Alastair Hannay (2 June 1932 – 8 December 2024) was a British-born Norwegian philosopher and academic who was a professor emeritus at the University of Oslo. Life and career Hannay was born in Plymouth, England on 2 June ...

(professor of philosophy, University of Trondheim)

Yugoslavia

* Milovan Djilas (author, former vice president of Yugoslavia) *

Mihailo Marković Mihailo Marković ( sr-cyr, Михаило Марковић; 24 February 1923 – 7 February 2010) was a Serbs, Serbian philosopher who gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s as a proponent of the Praxis School, a Marxist humanism, Marxist hum ...

(professor of philosophy, Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts and University of Belgrade) * Svetozar Stojanović (professor of philosophy, University of Belgrade)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Secular Humanist Declaration Secular humanism Manifestos Humanist manifestos Nontheism publications 1980 documents Proclamations

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