In the 1920s, Professor Eustace Haydon hosted discussion meetings at the School of Divinity, the University of Chicago. These gatherings attracted preachers and philosophers. Their explorations won the support of a rabbi, an atheist and a sociologist. All agreed that a new approach to thinking about religious issues was called for. Not metaphysics (the existence of things) but ethics (the right way to live and to know what goodness is) is Humanism's focus.
They knew that Renaissance thinkers like Erasmus had sought to shine light on affairs of this earthly life, making a break with the past emphasis on other-worldly theological interests and claims.
Those Renaissance thinkers coined the term "Humanist", so when the Chicago group published a newsletter they called it NEW HUMANIST. "In the Renaissance the basis for knowledge was the classics," they said, "and today it is science."
NEW HUMANIST started out at the University of Chicago as a mimeographed newsletter. It grew to become a professionally-produced magazine, THE HUMANIST, published from Dayton, Ohio, edited by Edwin H. Wilson, and ever more widely circulated.
THE HUMANIST is the forerunner of all the many Humanist publications worldwide today in a number of languages. You can see THE HUMANIST by following the link provided on this site.
In 1941 the American Humanist Association (AHA) was organized. The AHA was the first Humanist organization, soon emulated worldwide, and now a truly catholic movement, more catholic (universal) than the church that claims that word as its name. The AHA is democratically governed by a board elected by its membership. Other organizations promote Humanist goals, but the AHA is dedicated to Humanism, not just to freethought or freedom of inquiry, and is the largest national body in America promoting Humanism. It is growing rapidly as more and more people hear the message of Humanism and say - that's for me.
In 1952, the Humanists started to set up local chapters. The first San Diego chapter was founded in September 1954, by the efforts of Edwin H. Wilson, with Dr. John W. Hardebeck as president. Dr. Hardebeck was a member of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego until his death in 2008. Also a member of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego until 1986 was Irene Backus, widow of E. Burdette Backus, a founding father of organized Humanism and a signer of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto that launched the movement publicly
In February 1982, seventeen Humanists met on Point Loma for the charter meeting of the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego. Jack Sanders was elected founding president, and bylaws were approved. Those bylaws, which are still in force, begin as follows:
Article 1: Purpose. The purpose of the Fellowship shall be to affirm that human beings are the source of rights and that human experience is the source of values. The Fellowship shall promote ethical education in accord with these principles in order to cultivate individual self-determination.
Article 2. Membership. Any person shall be eligible for voting membership who is in general accord with the above-stated purpose. Membership in the American Humanist Association is encouraged.
Note that membership in the local chapter, the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego, and in the national parent organization, the AHA, are distinct. A link on this site takes you to visit the AHA. Joining one doesn't automatically make you a member of the other.
Note, too, that theHumanist Fellowship of San Diegospeaks to affirm, not merely to dissent. It does not exist to quarrel with the religious convictions of others but, without reliance on any mystical reference, affirms values rooted in human worth, ability and dignity. Values are recognized as natural in origin and related to human experience rather than depending on sources in alleged revelation.
Like Humanist Albert Einstein, Humaists affirm the significance of human life as the place to look when seeking to identify values. Humanism builds on solid ground, a verifiable source for moral inquiry, not on imaginative speculations of alleged supernatural revelation or the delusions of those who, like Joan of Arc, commune with imagined personalities. Evidence, not faith in the unseen, is the foundation. Humanism is practical, down to earth, feet firmly on the ground.
The term "Humanist" was first used in America, so far as we know, in February 1877, by the New York Daily Graphic, in application to Felix Adler, the founder of Ethical Culture, which is a Humanist religion. But Adler did not welcome the word "Humanist". Then in 1917, Unitarian minister Curtis Reese, at a church conference, discussed the point of view he called "the religion of democracy." The name "Humanist" was suggested by John Dietrich. "In a convergence of minds," reports Edwin Wilson, "a movement was launched."
By 1933, the group at Chicago had coalesced and they went public with publication in May 1933 of the first Humanist Manifesto. You can read this as well as the two successor Humanist Manifestos on the AHA's website, linked from this site. In addition, a "Manifesto 2000" was published in 2000 by a "Secular Humanist" group which formed in 1980.
The principal official statement of what Humanism is at the present time is Humanist Manifesto 3: Humanism and Its Aspirations, issued in 2003. You can read it on this website. Check it out - it's only one page long. Take a look!
The Humanist Fellowship is not the only Humanist organization in San Diego but it is the most active of them. The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego joins with the Humanistic Jewish Congregation of San Diego for some events. Meetings are held regularly, almost always in downtown San Diego locations - in the heart of the community: that's where Humanism belongs.
The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego enjoys "sister city" relationships with the Humanists of Sydney, Australia, and with the Ethical Culture Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1952, Europe was recovering from World War 2. A number of Western European freethinkers found each other, and soon linked up with the American Humanists and the Ethical Culture Societies.
Under the leadership of Sir Julian Huxley, they founded the International Humanist and Ethical Union, at first based in the Netherlands. Today, the IHEU is based in London. The IHEU coordinates the interests of Humanists worldwide. You can visit their site at
The Humanist movement, born in America's heartland, has become a worldwide movement devoted to human freedom. It attracts more and more people who honor humanity rather than belittling mankind as inherently lost, as needy or helpless without external rescue. Humanists know that life is a do-it-yourself job.
Take a look at the many Humanists pictured in our photo album pages on this site. You'll see that Humanism stands for a lot of what isbest about modern informed thought and compassionate concern for human well-being.
Are you a Humanist too? Join us!
Humanism and God As to gods, I have no way of knowing either that they do exist or that they do not exist.-- Protagoras (485-410 BC) Humanism is an ethical process through which we can all move, above and beyond the divisive particulars, heroic personalities, dogmatic creeds, and ritual customs of past religions, or their mere negation. -- Humanist Manifesto 2 (1973)
Humanism is about mankind, not about gods. Its concerned with ethics, deciding how to live the good life. How do you decide what a good act is? You know byobserving its consequences. There is less human suffering when the choices made are right choices.
Right and wrong are determined by human experience. Theres no need for allegedly revealed moral codes. Humanists are occupied with observing what happens when you act in particular ways. Reason applied to evidence tells you if the act was a good one.
So debates about the existence of God are irrelevant. Humanists have no need either to affirm or to deny the existence of God. Humanist ethics is based on solid ground: observable experience. And whats observed is natural, not supernatural.
The Humanist Fellowship of San Diego is a non-profit educational organization.
