THE AFFIRMATIONS OF HUMANISM: A STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES* We are committed to the application of reason and science to the understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems. We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation. We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to the betterment of human life. We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majorities. We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and state. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding. We are concerned with securing justice and fairness in society and with eliminating discrimination and intolerance. We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so that they will be able to help themselves. We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and strive to work together for the common good of humanity. We want to protect and enhance the earth, to preserve it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other species. We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our creative talents to their fullest. We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence. We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and informed health-care, and to die with dignity. We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. Moral principles are tested by their consequences. We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children. We want to nourish reason and compassion. We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, and we are open to novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking. We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich per sonal significance and genuine satisfaction in the service to others. We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality. We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings. *by Paul Kurtz For a parchment copy of this page, suitable for framing, please send $4.95 to FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, New York 14226-0664 free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 2 Editorial Departments 5 New Directions: 7 Letters Centers for Inquiry and Human Enrichment 22 Frontlines/ Sidelines Paul Kurtz Andrea Szalanski August / September 2004 Vol. 24, No. 5 ISSN 0272-0701 Op-Ed 56 Church-State Update Tom Flynn 11 What Use Is Religion? Part 2 56 World Report Richard Dawkins Bill Cooke 13 Castro’s Gulag and American Librarians 57 Living Without Nat Hentoff Religion Why No One Ever Dies 15 True Church-State Don Lowry Separation Christopher Hitchens 58 God on Trial 17 A Humanist Failure? Betting on Pascal’s Wager Vern L. Bullough Arthur R. Miller 19 The Pope Moves 59 European Backward on Correspondent Terminal Care Same-sex Marriage Peter Singer Moves Ahead Jim Herrick 21 Mother (Nature) Dearest 60 Humanist Activism James Underdown Atheism and Civil Rights: This issue contains eight A Reply to Tabash Features additional pages through and Downey What Is the Optimum the generous support of DJ Grothe and Austin Dacey Population of the U.S.? the Court of Wisdom. The World? Reviews 23 Too Many People 62 Freethinkers: Tom Flynn 43 Europe’s Baby Bust A History of American 26 ‘34 Million Friends’ Rosamund McDougall Secularism Support Women’s By Susan Jacoby Health Initiatives 44 The Aging World Rob Boston Jane Roberts Sylvain and Phyllis Ehrenfeld 64 What Is Good? The Search 28 The Silent Crisis 45 What Population for the Best Alan Kuper Stabilization Way to Live Requires By A. C. Grayling 30 Optimum Population Edward Tabash Bill Cooke Lindsey Grant 47 Georgia’s Granite Guidestones 65 Terror and Civilization: 34 Carrying Capacity Christianity, Politics, and Ed Buckner Mark Nathan Cohen the Western Psyche 37 From Sentience 48 My God Problem By Shadia B. Drury to Silence Natalie Angier Tom Flynn Alan Kuper 52 A Declaration of 66 The Works of 41 Overpopulation? Sexual Rights and Robert G. Ingersoll Fiddlesticks! Responsibilities Ed. by Emmett Fields Jan Narveson Vern L. Bullough Tom Flynn FI Editorial Staff Editor in Chief FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published bimonthly by the Editorial Board Paul Kurtz Council for Secular Humanism, a nonprofit educational corporation, Editor P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. Phone (716) 636-7571. Robert Alley Thomas W. Flynn Fax (716) 636-1733. Copyright ©2004 by the Council for Secular Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Managing Editor Deputy Editor Humanism. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be University of Richmond, Virginia Andrea Szalanski Norm R. Allen Jr. reproduced without permission of the publisher. Periodicals postage Hector Avalos Columnists paid at Buffalo, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices. National Associate Professor of Vern Bullough, Richard Dawkins, distribution by International Periodicals Distributors, Solana Beach, Religious Studies, Shadia B. Drury, Ronnie Dugger, Nat California. FREE INQUIRY is indexed in Philosophers’ Index. 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