I think a humanist wants to replace religion minus God while the
aitheist want to get rid of religion. Thats where the "secular" comes
in as in "secularization" Or maybe Secularity is the state of being
separate from religion. For instance, eating and bathing may be
regarded as examples of secular activities, because there is nothing
inherently religious about them. (Note, however, that both eating and
bathing are regarded as sacraments by some religious organizations,
and therefore would be religious activities in their worldview.)
Saying a prayer derived from religious text or doctrine, worshipping
through the context of religion, and attending Sunday School are
examples of religious (non-secular) activities. However prayer and
meditation are not necessarily non-secular being that the concept of
spirituality and higher consciousness are not married solely to any
religion but are practiced and arose indepedently across a continuum
of cultures...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular
...The philosophy of Humanism represents a specific and forthright
view of the universe, the nature of human beings, and the treatment of
human problems. It is a philosophy of joyous service for the greater
good of all humanity in this natural world and advocating the methods
of reason, science, and democracy.
It does not try to appeal to intellectuals by laying claim to great
originality, or to the multitude by promising the easy fulfillment of
human desires either upon this earth or in some supernatural dream
world. But Humanism does make room for the various aspects of human
nature.
Humanism is a many-faceted philosophy, congenial to this modern age,
yet fully aware of the lessons of history and the richness of the
philosophic tradition. Its task is to organize into a consistent and
intelligible whole the chief elements of philosophic truth and to make
that synthesis a powerful force and reality in the minds and actions
of living persons.
Humanism is the viewpoint that people have but one life to lead and
should make the most of it in terms of creative work and happiness;
that human happiness is its own justification and requires no sanction
or support from supernatural sources; that in any case the
supernatural, usually conceived of in the form of heavenly gods or
immortal heavens, does not exist; and that human beings, using their
own intelligence and cooperating liberally with one another, can build
an enduring citadel of peace and beauty upon this earth.
Human reason and human efforts are our best and, indeed, only hope;
our refusal to recognize this point is one of the chief causes of our
many human failures throughout history. The Christian West has been
confused and corrupted for almost 2,000 years by the idea so
succinctly expressed by St. Augustine, "Cursed is everyone who places
his hope in man."....
Ten central propositions:
(1) Humanism believes in a naturalistic metaphysics or attitude toward
the universe that considers all forms of the supernatural as myth; and
that regards Nature as the totality of being and as a constantly
changing system of matter and energy which exists independently of any
mind or con-sciousness.
(2) Humanism, drawing especially upon the laws and facts of science,
believes that we human beings are an evolutionary product of the
Nature of which we are a part; that the mind is indivisibly conjoined
with the functioning of the brain; and that as an inseparable unity of
body and personal-ity we can have no conscious survival after death.
(3) Humanism, having its ultimate faith in humankind, believes that
human beings possess the power or potentiality of solving their own
problems, through reliance primarily upon reason and scientific method
applied with courage and vision.
(4) Humanism, in opposition to all theories of universal determinism,
fatalism, or predestination, believes that human beings, while
conditioned by the past, possess genuine freedom of creative choice
and action, and are, within certain objective limits, the shapers of
their own destiny.
(5) Humanism believes in an ethics or morality that grounds all human
values in this-earthly experiences and re-lationships and that holds
as its highest goal the this-worldly happiness, freedom, and progress
economic, cultural, and ethical— of all humankind, irrespective of
nation, race, or re-ligion.
(6) Humanism believes that the individual attains the good life by
harmoniously combining personal satisfactions and continuous self-
development with significant work and other activities that contribute
to the welfare of the community.
(7) Humanism believes in the widest possible devel-opment of art and
the awareness of beauty, including the ap-preciation of Nature's
loveliness and splendor, so that the aesthetic experience may become a
pervasive reality in the lives of all people.
(8) Humanism believes in a far-reaching social program that stands for
the establishment throughout the world of democracy, peace, and a high
standard of living on the foundations of a flourishing economic order,
both national and international.
(9) Humanism believes in the complete social implementation of reason
and scientific method; and thereby in democratic procedures, and
parliamentary government, with full freedom of expression and civil
liberties, throughout all areas of economic, political, and cultural
life.
(10) Humanism, in accordance with scientific method, believes in the
unending questioning of basic assumptions and convictions, including
its own. Humanism is not a new dogma, but is a developing philosophy
ever open to experi-mental testing, newly discovered facts, and more
rigorous reasoning.
I think that these ten points embody Humanism in its most acceptable
modern form. This philosophy can be more explicitly characterized as
scientific Humanism, secular Humanism, naturalistic Humanism, or
democratic Humanism, depending on the emphasis that one wishes to
give.
The Philosophy of Humanism - by Corliss Lamont
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0931779073/qid=1096132637/
http://www.google.com/search?q=Philosophy+of+Humanism+Corliss+Lamont
http://www.humanists.org/index.htm
