American Humanist Association

The American Humanist Association (AHA) is an educational organization in the United States that advances Humanism. "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity." AHA advocates Humanism as defined by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), a multinational coalition of which it is a founding member. The American Humanist Association publishes a bi-monthly magazine called The Humanist.

The AHA was founded in 1941 as a successor to the Humanist Press Association, which was itself successor to the Humanist Fellowship founded in 1928. The official symbol of the AHA is the Happy Human.

David Niose is the current President of the American Humanist Association. Roy Speckhardt is the executive director.

History

A formal, unified Humanist movement originated in the United States during the end of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. Liberal Unitarians, who were slowly moving away from theism, began to discuss the possibility of freeing one’s philosophy from the traditional constraints of theistic belief. Organized in 1867, under the leadership of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Free Religious Association appealed not only to those theological reformers within the Unitarian church, but also to non-Christian religious liberals. The organization proposed a concept they called humanistic theism, a precursor to religious humanism, which failed to move much beyond that stance and ceased to exist before World War I. In 1876, Felix Adler also established the New York Society for Ethical Culture. It prompted the creation of similar ethical societies in Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The Ethical Culture movement fostered the founding of such reform efforts as the Legal Aid Society and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as helping establish Humanism as a modern term. The first known American use of the word "Humanist" was in 1877, in application to Felix Adler, and it was pejorative. Beginning in 1927 a number of Unitarian professors and seminarians at the University of Chicago organized the Humanist Fellowship to pursue Humanism in a popular fashion, and as a group began publishing the New Humanist.

Around the same time, Charles Francis Potter founded the First Humanist Society of New York. Formerly a Baptist and then a Unitarian minister, Potter began the society with the intent of it being a religious organization, calling Humanism “a new faith for a new age”. Shortly thereafter, he wrote a book entitled Humanism: A New Religion, outlining the basic premise and points of what he termed "religious humanism". His philosophy openly rejected the traditional Christian belief system and replaced it with one incorporating various aspects of naturalism, materialism, rationalism, and socialism.

Humanism was designed to be ever evolving and compatible with the social schema of the humanity of the day. Potter’s intent was to offer a philosophy to replace Christianity, a more progressive approach to living and the common good. Therefore Potter’s definition of religion differed from that commonly accepted in his time.

A major Humanist milestone was achieved through the collaboration and agreement of thirty-four national leaders, including John Dewey, when in 1933 A Humanist Manifesto was written. This manifesto was a publicly signed document detailing the basic tenants of Humanism. By 1935 the Humanist Fellowship had become the Humanist Press Association, replacing the New Humanist with the Humanist Bulletin. With the help of Curtis Reese (a well-known Unitarian minister and Humanist,) and along with John H. Dietrich, the Humanist Press Association reorganized itself in 1941, forming the American Humanist Association. The goal was not to establish a religion, as Potter had originally intended, but instead to recognize also the secular element of Humanism, organize the vast members of its adherents, and align the organization for the mutual education of both its religious and non-religious members. In that light, the American Humanist Association is the oldest Humanist organization in the United States.

Along with its reorganization, the AHA began publishing The Humanist as the successor to the Humanist Bulletin. The magazine set out to explore modern day social and political issues through a Humanist point of view.

Early on the AHA was headquartered in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with connections to Antioch College. Over time the organization grew in size and prominence, first moving to San Francisco, California, and then to Amherst, New York. Finally, continuing with a trend toward increasing advocacy, the AHA moved to Washington, D.C., to better affect national policy and increase its social impact.

Into the 1940s and 1950s many Humanists that fought for Humanist values and ideals were not yet aware that such an organization as the AHA existed. Nevertheless, the AHA chose to support individual Humanist thinkers and activists, and gradually grew in significance. Prominent among these was Humanist philosopher of Columbia University, Corliss Lamont. Lamont, perhaps the most influential Humanist thinker of his time and author of The Philosophy of Humanism, considered a useful guide to modern Humanist philosophy, spent much of the 1940s and 50s up against Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Lamont held to the position that despite the prevailing “Red Scare” anti-communist attitude, the United States should try to maintain a productive relationship with the Soviet Union. As a result of his position, he became a target of government, was stripped of his property and passport, but fought back and won.

At the end of the 1940s the AHA was supportive of Vashti McCollum in her fight against mandatory Bible study in public schools. The mother of two boys, McCollum argued that religious instruction in public schools violated the principle of separation of church and state. Her case traveled all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled in her favor in 1948 stating that American public schools must uphold a policy of religious neutrality. McCollum went on to serve as AHA president from 1962 to 1965.

In 1952 the AHA became a founding member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) in Amsterdam, Netherlands. As an international coalition of Humanist organizations, the IHEU stands today as the only international umbrella group for Humanism, claiming millions of members from over one hundred organizations, large and small, throughout the world. The IHEU acts as a Humanist clearinghouse. With memberships in the United Nations, the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the U.N. International Children’s Educational Fund (UNICEF), the Council of Europe, and the European Union, the IHEU aims to create growth and support for Humanism through interaction and cooperation with its member organizations.

It was at this time, in the mid 1950s, that then AHA president Nobel Laureate Hermann J. Muller suggested that the AHA could be the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s philosophical branch, but the AAAS declined the proposal claiming that the AHA’s membership did not include enough individuals with PhDs.

Throughout the 1960s the AHA became actively involved in challenging the illegality of abortion and was the first national membership organization to support abortion rights. Humanist leaders were prominent in the founding of pro-choice organizations, including the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (now the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice) and the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (now NARAL Pro-Choice America). These organizations continue to defend and support elective abortion rights.

Around the same time, the AHA joined hands with the American Ethical Union (AEU) to help establish the rights of nontheistic conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War. This time also saw Humanists involved in the creation of the first nationwide memorial societies, giving people broader access to cheaper alternatives than the traditional mortuary controlled burial. Today cremation and humanistic memorial services are more widely available and affordable than ever before.

Status

The AHA was founded as an educational organization in 1941, was incorporated in Illinois in 1943, and secured an educational tax exemption shortly thereafter. In the late 1960s the AHA also secured a religious tax exemption in support of its celebrant program, allowing Humanist celebrants to legally officiate at weddings, perform chaplaincy functions, and in other ways enjoy the same rights as traditional clergy. In 1991, however, the AHA took control of the Humanist Society, a religious Humanist organization founded in 1939, and moved its celebrant program over to it. After that, the AHA commenced the process of jettisoning its religious tax exemption and resuming its exclusively educational status—a change that finally took effect January 1, 2003. Today, therefore, the AHA is recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit, tax exempt, 501 (c)(3), publicly supported educational organization.

Mission

The mission of the American Humanist Association is to promote the spread of Humanism, raise public awareness and acceptance of Humanism, and encourage the continued refinement of the Humanist philosophy.

The AHA is also the supervising organization for the Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC), a legal advocacy and aid group, the Appignani Bioethics Center (ABC), a group focused on bioethical issues, an education arm called the Kochhar Humanist Education Center, offering classes and continuing education on humanist issues, and the Feminist Caucus of the American Humanist Association, a group advocating for women's rights.

As a member organisation of the IHEU, the AHA fully endorses the Amsterdam Declaration 2002.

Definitions of Humanism

AHA's definition of Humanism

The AHA's definition from its website:

"Humanism is a progressive lifestance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity." —Humanism and Its Aspirations

IHEU's minimum statement on Humanism

All member organisations of the IHEU are required by IHEU bylaw 5.1 to accept the IHEU Minimum statement on Humanism:

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.

Unofficial definitions

• Kurt Vonnegut, former Honorary President of the AHA, wrote in God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, “I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I'm dead.”

AHA's role in Humanism

The AHA strives to be vocal on issues of major concern to Humanists; reaching out to media and opinion leaders as well as keeping its members informed about the issues of the day. It currently has groups in more than 30 states and publishes the Humanist magazine and the philosophical journal, Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism. The AHA is also the publisher of the Humanist Manifestos I, II, and III. The AHA along with the Washington Area Secular Humanists host a website for the National Day of Reason.

Famous awardees

The American Humanist Association has named a "Humanist of the Year" annually since 1953. It has also granted other honors to numerous leading figures, including Salman Rushdie (Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism 2007), Oliver Stone (Humanist Arts Award, 1996), Katharine Hepburn (Humanist Arts Award 1985), John Dewey (Humanist Pioneer Award, 1954), Jack Kevorkian (Humanist Hero Award, 1996) and Vashti McCollum (Distinguished Service Award, 1991).

AHA's Humanists of the Year

• Rebecca Goldstein - 2011
• Bill Nye - 2010
• PZ Myers - 2009
• Pete Stark - 2008
• Joyce Carol Oates - 2007
• Steven Pinker - 2006
• Murray Gell-Mann - 2005
• Daniel Dennett - 2004
• Sherwin T. Wine - 2003
• Steven Weinberg - 2002
• Stephen Jay Gould - 2001
• William F. Schulz - 2000
• Edward O. Wilson - 1999
• Barbara Ehrenreich - 1998
• Alice Walker - 1997
• Richard Dawkins - 1996
• Ashley Montagu - 1995
• Lloyd Morain - 1994
• Mary Morain - 1994
• Richard D. Lamm - 1993
• Kurt Vonnegut - 1992
• Lester R. Brown - 1991
• Ted Turner - 1990
• Gerald A. Larue - 1989
• Leo Pfeffer - 1988
• Margaret Atwood - 1987
• Faye Wattleton - 1986
• John Kenneth Galbraith - 1985
• Isaac Asimov - 1984
• Lester A. Kirkendall - 1983
• Helen Caldicott - 1982
• Carl Sagan - 1981
• Andrei Sakharov - 1980
• Edwin H. Wilson - 1979
• Margaret E. Kuhn - 1978
• Corliss Lamont - 1977
• Jonas E. Salk - 1976
• Betty Friedan - 1975
• Henry Morgentaler - 1975
• Mary Calderone - 1974
• Joseph Fletcher - 1974
• Thomas Szasz - 1973
• B.F. Skinner - 1972
• Albert Ellis - 1971
• A. Philip Randolph - 1970
• R. Buckminster Fuller - 1969
• Benjamin Spock - 1968
• Abraham H. Maslow - 1967
• Erich Fromm - 1966
• Hudson Hoagland - 1965
• Carl Rogers - 1964
• Hermann J. Muller - 1963
• Julian Huxley - 1962
• Linus Pauling - 1961
• Leó Szilárd - 1960
• Brock Chisholm - 1959
• Oscar Riddle - 1958
• Margaret Sanger - 1957
• C. Judson Herrick - 1956
• James P. Warbasse - 1955
• Arthur F. Bendley - 1954
• Anton J. Carlson - 1953

See also

• John Dewey
• Bertrand Russell

External links

• The American Humanist Association
• GuideStar - American Humanist Association Information in GuideStar, national database of nonprofit organizations
• "Humanist Tax Exemption" by Roy Speckhardt, Humanist Network News.
• Edwin H. Wilson Papers of the American Humanist Association, 1913-1989 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center