Humanist Declarations and Manifestos

There is quite a substantial literature of humanist manifestos and declarations. They are not all equally authoritative: some are statements by particular organisations, while others were intended to represent a broader international humanist consensus. It is also worth noting that humanism has deliberately avoided having a single creed, so these documents are better understood as successive attempts to articulate the principles of humanism at particular points in its history. The American Humanist Association explicitly describes them as "snapshots" of humanist thought rather than binding statements of belief.

The principal documents, in roughly chronological order, are as follows.

1. A Humanist Manifesto (1933)

This is usually called Humanist Manifesto I, was produced in the United States and published in The New Humanist in 1933. It is historically particularly interesting because it conceived humanism rather more positively as a kind of "religious humanism", proposing that traditional religion should be replaced by a naturalistic human-centred outlook. It contains 15 propositions concerning naturalism, ethics, social organisation, democracy, economics and human welfare. John Dewey was among its signatories. A useful online collection reproducing the complete text is available in the Canadian British Columbia Humanist Association's compilation of humanist declarations.

2. The Amsterdam Declaration (1952)

This was adopted at the first World Humanist Congress in Amsterdam, which established the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), now Humanists International. It is historically important because it represents an attempt to formulate humanism as an international movement rather than principally an American intellectual movement.

3. Humanist Manifesto II (1973)

This is probably the most important successor to the 1933 manifesto. It was drafted principally by Paul Kurtz and Edwin H Wilson and published by the American Humanist Association. It is considerably more secular and explicitly critical of supernaturalism than the first manifesto. It deals with religion, ethics, individual freedom, democracy, human rights, economics, sexuality, population, war and the environment.

4. A Secular Humanist Declaration (1980)

This was issued by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism, now the Council for Secular Humanism, and was associated particularly with Paul Kurtz. It is an important document if you are interested specifically in secular rather than the broader humanist tradition. It contains sections on free inquiry, separation of church and state, freedom, ethics based on critical intelligence and moral education. The complete declaration is available from Free Inquiry, the journal associated with the Council for Secular Humanism.

5. The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles (1980)

This appeared during the 1980s and was another attempt to formulate the positive ethical and existential content of humanism. It is particularly interesting because it stresses not merely the rejection of religion but the positive humanist values of optimism, hope, truth, tolerance, love, compassion, beauty, reason and the fullest development of human potential.

6. A Declaration of Interdependence: A New Global Ethics (1988)

This was adopted by IHEU. Its emphasis is somewhat different from the earlier manifestos: it concentrates on humanity's global interdependence, human rights, responsibility for the planet and the need for a universal ethical consciousness. Humanists International still hosts the original declaration online, although it now describes its status as "pending review".

7. The IHEU Minimum Statement on Humanism (1996)

This is a particularly concise document. It attempted to identify the minimum commitments that could reasonably be shared by the diverse humanist organisations belonging to IHEU. It is consequently useful if you want to distinguish the essential commitments of humanism from the more elaborate philosophical positions found in individual manifestos.

8. Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for a New Planetary Humanism)

This was associated with Paul Kurtz and the Council for Secular Humanism. It moves beyond the concerns of the earlier American manifestos towards explicitly global questions: planetary ethics, human rights, democracy, peace, population, environmental responsibility and the application of science and technology. The complete text is available through the historical collection of declarations, and material relating to its background is also available from the Kurtz Institute.

9. The Amsterdam Declaration (2002)

This was adopted by the World Humanist Congress at Noordwijkerhout in the Netherlands to mark the fiftieth anniversary of IHEU. It became the principal international statement of modern humanism. It identifies humanism as ethical, rational, democratic and human-rights oriented, and describes it as a "lifestance" rather than a religion.

10. Humanism and Its Aspirations: Humanist Manifesto III (2003)

This is the third of the three documents formally called Humanist Manifesto. It is much shorter than Manifesto II and concentrates on a set of positive principles: knowledge through reason and science, human dignity, ethics, democracy, human rights, compassion, responsibility and the search for meaning. It is particularly useful as a concise statement of contemporary American humanism.

There is then an important 2022 development. Humanists International revised the Amsterdam Declaration at its General Assembly in Glasgow and renamed it the Declaration of Modern Humanism, while also retaining the familiar name "Amsterdam Declaration 2022". Humanists International explicitly says that the 2022 declaration replaced the 2002 declaration and is now its definitive statement of guiding principles.

The 2022 declaration is probably the most important document to read if your purpose is to understand what organised international humanism means today. It begins with four broad propositions: humanists strive to be ethical, rational and fulfilled, while humanism provides a source of meaning and purpose as an alternative to dogmatic religion, authoritarian nationalism, tribal sectarianism and nihilism. It then develops these ideas through sections on ethics, reason, fulfilment, democracy, human rights, secularism, science and responsibility. The complete current declaration is available directly from Humanists International.

'Credo' by Erich Fromm

Although we said at the beginning there is no Humanist creed as such, the philosopher and psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm has (ironically) expressed his own beliefs in the form of a creed.

Development of themes across the publications

  • Alternative-Religion: The 1933 manifesto is concerned with constructing an alternative "religious" worldview without supernaturalism;

  • Secularism: The 1973 and 1980 documents become much more explicitly secular and naturalistic and dropped the idea of humanism as a religion.

  • Global: The 1988-2002 declarations increasingly emphasise global ethics, human rights and responsibility;

  • Philosophical: The 2022 declaration makes the positive existential dimension much more explicit, presenting humanism as a source of meaning, purpose, ethical commitment and human flourishing rather than simply as the absence of belief in God.

Types of Humanism mentioned in the various documents

These 'Prefixed Humanisms', listed below, are generally frowned upon by the present-day Humanist UK organisation as they muddy the water and simple 'Humanism' is preferred as a blanket term.

● Secular Humanism
● Naturalistic Humanism
● Atheist Humanism
● Agnostic Humanism
● Scientific Humanism
● Ethical Humanism
● Democratic Humanism
● Marxist Humanism
● Religious Humanism
● Christian Humanism

Other terms some Humanists sometimes associate with their philosophical position:

● Free Thought
● Scepticism
● Rationalism
● Liberal Religion (eg, Unitarianism and Quakerism)
● Ethical Culture Movement
● Eupraxophy
● Bright

Although prefixed Humanisms are deprecated they do appear in the earlier Declarations and Manifestos. The idea of Religious Humanism is quite prominent in the first Manifesto. Not humanism within a religious tradition as in Christian Humanism within the Roman Catholicism but rather Humanism as a replacement for religion altogether supplying all the inspiration, ethical guidance, and community that traditional religions used to provide. Oddly, in the very first, 1933, document deism is rejected but in the 1973 document it is listed as a valid part of the Humanist tradition! That wouldn't be accepted today but it goes to show how faith and belief systems change over history, and that, however rationalist we like to think ourselves, we are all prone to the Narcissism of Small Differences.