Talk on International Humanism to Farnham Humanists

I am always on the lookout for good definitions of humanism. You can find them all round the world and I recently came across one from Liberia – where a Liberian Humanist group is about to be formed.. The International Humanist and Ethical Union – which is a worldwide federation of humanist groups recently facilitated a conference there on the theme of ‘Humanism and Human Rights in Liberia.’ Alphonso K Weah, a youth activist in Liberia, presented the following definition:

"Humanism is a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximisation of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of an open society, standing for human rights and social justice. Free of supernaturalism, it recognises human beings to be part of nature and holds that all values – be they religious, ethical, social, or political -- have their source in human nature, experience and culture."

Search the world humanist groups and you will find equally valid definitions, but this one from Liberia strikes me as particularly valuable, because it comes from a country with only a nascent humanist group, and a continent where humanism is fairly new and only just beginning to grow.

International Humanism is important for two reasons – at least. First, international globalisation means that we are all linked – as is shown by my quotation -- in multiple ways that was not the case even fifty years ago. We are linked by international travel, by the internet, by international news systems, by international trade, by international conferences. And so on. We are inextricably linked as one world. In that situation I think it is good for us as humanists to be aware of the activity around the world and able to support each other.

A second reason, is that humanist values are universal values. I do not accept the multicultural argument that different values are appropriate to different cultures. This argument seems often to justify injustices and retrograde steps. The example which I find particularly vivid is that of free speech. It is argued by some religious groups that free speech is not relevant to some cultures – for instance there has been a great move in the UN by Muslims, but supported by Catholics and Chinese politicians, to prohibit ‘defamation of religion’ – this is obviously a denial of free discussion of religion. Humanists have made great efforts to prevent Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights being modified to include defamation of religion. It is a kind of international blasphemy law. Roy Brown in Geneva and Matt Cherry in New York have fought hard to prevent this, but the struggle continues.

I want before looking at different parts of the world, to briefly mention the ancient world. It is a mistake to think that Western Europe is where humanism belongs – in ancient India and ancient China you can find statements which are clearly humanist. Doubt is found in the Sanskrit scriptures. A group called the Carvaka developed a naturalistic philosophy in the 6^th century BC. Here is a quote:

"Only the perceived exists; the unperceivable does not exist, by reason of its never having been perceived.

While life remains let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee though he runs into debts;

When once the body has become ashes, how can it ever return again."

In ancient China the thinkers Confucius and Lao Tzu presented an outlook which was largely naturalistic and humanistic. A truly humanist thinker was Wang Ch’ung (27 – 97 AD).

He stressed the use of reason suggesting that man’s life on earth was like "lice living in folds of a garment". In a passage considering ‘spirits’ and ‘sacrifices’ he concludes "Man has his happiness in his own hands, and the spirits have nothing to do with it. It depends on his virtues and not on sacrifices."

Ancient Greece had a culture which was widely humanist, with criticism of religion and the development of a questioning attitude. The Socratic approach of question and answer is very relevant to the questioning attitude of humanism. But it is worth noting that the well known philosophers were part of an elite and that 90 per cent of the population followed a polytheistic religion.

There is a considerable difference between North and South in Europe. The northern countries have a Protestant confessional tradition. In these countries humanism concentrates on humanist values, education for all and humanism for all. Particularly strong in this tradition are Norway, Germany and the Netherlands. In the Catholic countries there is an anti-clerical tradition, a determination to sustain a separation between church and state, for what is called in France laicite. In Eastern Europe, the Orthodox Church takes a similar role to the Catholic Church. There are further differences between North and South in the relation between the non-religious organisations and the churches. In the Protestant countries there is a demand for the same rights as the religious – in the Catholic countries the demand is for the removal of any religious rights.

However, the northern and southern groups are united in their opposition to the attempt by the churches, especially the Catholic Church, to gain a special relationship with the powerful organisations of the European bureaucracy – so that there is a supposed dialogue between religion and the political groups. To quote David Pollock, who is chair of the European Humanist Federation, there have been religious demands "for pre-legislative consultation, regular dialogue in seminars between the churches and the office of the Commission President, and working sessions on more specific issues, whenever the churches have a particular concern." It is amazing how the assiduous activities of religious groups have gained considerable influence on the European Union. The Catholic church has been especially vigorous – wanting it to be recognised that since Europe is a Christian region special privileges should be given to religious groups. Remember the Vatican is a separate state (with representation in the UN) and still has concordats with some countries. Non-religious organisations are offered some rights – but are doubtful whether to use them.

The two most successful humanist organisations in Europe are in Norway and the Netherlands. The Norwegian Humanist Association has 73,000 members in a country with a population of 5 million. It has grown from a very small organisation. One reason given to account for the growth is the coming of age ceremony – which is very successful and culturally very widespread. This consists of a series of lessons in citizenship and morality and a ceremony in a public place. A rite of passage. I saw a large ceremony of this kind in the town hall in Oslo – it was very moving. But this would not work in a country where there is no tradition for a coming of age ceremony. In 1981 there was a law which gave humanist marriage celebrants the same legal rights as clergymen. Also gender neutral marriage laws now exist. Non-religious life stances are accepted largely in Norway.

There has been a Herculean struggle related to religious education in schools. It was agreed that a non-religious life-stance education should be offered as an alternative to religious education. (This was sometimes chosen by Muslims as well as humanists.) However, a new government decided that the system caused segregation and insisted that a new type of religious education, without preaching, should be taken by everyone. This mandatory lesson was resisted by humanists. A legal case was unsuccessfully taken up to the High Court in Norway. But in the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the European Court of Human Rights the Norwegian Humanists’ argument was recognised. Next year there will be a large international conference in Norway.

The Netherlands have the most longstanding and largest humanist organisation. The tradition of tolerance goes back to the seventeenth century and the expulsion by France of the Huguenots. Spinoza’s great work on ethics was influential and the ideas of Erasmus left their mark. What is striking is the acceptance of humanism in society at large. There are programmes made by humanists regularly broadcast. There is a Humanist University in Utrecht. There is longstanding freedom for gays and lesbians and equally longstanding support for voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. A central part of the humanist movement is counselling – taught at the Humanist University. There is counselling for the military, for the elderly, for prisoners – it is a very positive contribution to society. I spoke to a counsellor who worked at a large international airport – ready for any need that might arise.

Hivos is a humanist organisation dealing with the developing world – partly supported by the government.

Dutch tolerance is being put to the test with a considerable Muslim population and some vigorous right wing campaigners critical of Islam. This is affecting the country’s politics and the humanists’ tolerance.

Germany has a system which helps the strength of humanist groups. People are required to pay a tax to the churches, but if you object to this you can give the equivalent tax to a humanist organisation. German schools have specific humanist education – there is a whole team of humanist teachers trained to give this education and it is widely accepted. In Belgium there is similar ethical non-religious education. I attended a class in which a group of 15 year olds were making flags and banners for a demonstration against racism. There is also moral counselling in among Belgium humanists. There are two wings to the Belgium humanist movement – the Flemish and French speaking. I find practical humanism attractive.

The French-speaking wing has strong links with France, where there is a robust anti-clerical movement. The tradition of the 18^th century Enlightenment set the foundations. Voltaire’s deism and plea for tolerance are well known as well as his writings, such as Candide in which religion is skilfully ridiculed. Diderot, to my mind, is an equally impressive philosophe. He was responsible for the mammoth Encyclopedia, with its scepticism inserted in all its corners. He wrote novels as well as philosophic works.

He wrote: I was lost in a great forest at night, and I had only a tiny light to guide me. A stranger came and said to me, ‘My friend, put out your candle, so that you will find your way better.’ That person was a theologian.’

The two major French freethought organisations are La Libre Pensee and the Ligue d’Enseignement (largely an educational organisation.) In recent years they have been fighting to retain the complete separation between church and state, which goes back to 1905 (the beginnings go back to the French revolution.) Also there has been considerable debate about whether religious dress should be allowed in public – in particular the burqua and Hajib. We are more easy going in the UK – rightly I think. There has also been an attempt by some right-wing politicians to put blasphemy back in to the law. (It is notable that blasphemy law has in recent times been restored in Ireland – to the amazement of everyone.) As I’ve indicated ‘defamation of religion’ is the current preferred phrase. In France the freethinkers have opposed private schools being given government money – they are largely religious schools. The French freethinkers argue for complete neutrality of the state.

A notable blasphemy case was the imprisonment of Dr Shaikh a Pakistani doctor. I was involved in the campaign to free him and made a speech outside the Pakistani embassy in his defence. He was released – very much because of the efforts of IHEU. When he was freed and living in Europe he attacked me for my defence of gay rights and proved himself not really a humanist. Nevertheless you must free unjustly imprisoned people if you can. (And an awful number of people around the world are unjustly imprisoned.)

Italy is also struggling to gain church-state separation and would like the power given to the Catholic Church to be lessened by removing the Vatican status as a state with diplomatic powers. There is an organisation related to the memory of Giordano Bruno, who was burnt by the Inquisition for defending the view that the earth went round the sun. There is an organisation named – Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Rationalisti, which has been very active in promoting a debaptism campaign. The Vatican must be a running sore in the country for Italian freethinkers. I recently saw an Italian film about two young men campaigning for gay marriage – they spoke to many people – politicians, media gurus, members of the public – and it was clear that progress was impeded by the culture of Catholicism. I gave a talk in Pisa on Shelley (the author of the Necessity of Atheism) near where he died in a sailing disaster in a storm.

I recently heard speakers from Poland and Roumania talking about the non-religious in their countries. In Rumania 84 % are identified as Orthodox. There are unbelievers, but they are not heard. There is a spread of Orthodox symbols in schools and public buildings and an unhealthy link between Orthodoxy and nationalism. Religion is in effect but not in law compulsory in schools. There is no link between church and state, but there is a de facto situation where the state supports the church – for instance giving money to church schools.

In Poland there is a situation of oppressive Catholicism. There is a history of an anti-clerical group and there has been some dialogue with the government. There are crosses in schools. There is a proposal to introduce a law for defamation, which would only have a fine as opposed to imprisonment for blasphemy. Post-communist unbelievers dislike humanism – too democratic maybe?

There has been some attempt to create a humanist group in Russia – but apart from some academic lectures it has not got far. I have met the guy who organised a Gay Pride event in Moscow. For several years the event has been stopped by skin heads and Orthodox religious demonstrators – an unlikely alliance. This year a month or so ago, he succeeded in outwitting the authorities and having a brief Gay Pride March.

I shall deal mainly with India – which has the strongest humanist movement outside Europe. Also because of my many visits to India, where I have met many Indian humanists.

Nehru, first leader of Post Colonial India was a humanist – although fairly discreet about it. In his Autobiography he wrote: ‘India is supposed to be a religious country above everything else, and Hindu and Muslim and Sikh, and others take pride in their faiths and testify to their truth by breaking heads.’

India is a secular state – also written into the constitution is the need for the "scientific temper". There is a large Muslim minority in a Hindu country, where Jain and Christian and Sikh believers are also found. There can be tension between Hindus and Muslims, but largely they live side by side quite happily. An exception was the case of the Mosque at Ayodyha, which had apparently been built on a Hindu temple. This was believed to be a temple for the Hindu god of Rama – demonstrating the syncretic symbiosis of religious buildings. There were riots over the ownership until the building was razed to the ground. This was as much due to the Hinduta – the Hindu nationalism – as to religious differences.

India is sometimes romanticised as the mystic East – but reason and science are important – perhaps why science has contributed so much to learning and industry.

My first contact with Indian humanism was when I attended a conference to celebrate the centenary of the birth of M. N. Roy. Roy was a remarkable man and his followers were known as Royists and his ideas were dignified by the title ‘radical humanism’. He was a freedom fighter from Bengal, who struggled for Indian liberation. Under threat of arrest for gun-running, he moved to New York, where he spent hours in the public library – in particularly enlarging his understanding of Marxism. It is a nice irony that an Indian should have learnt his Marx in a New York library. He moved to Russia where he worked with the leaders of the Soviet country and only just escaped from the totalitarianism of Stalin. Back in India, he was imprisoned by the British and during his incarceration studied constantly and worked out his own brand of humanism. He believed Asia needed a renaissance and favoured direct action and grass roots politics. Many distinguished Indians followed radical humanism, and Roy became quite well known. Among the practical work which was an offshoot, was the radical humanist Mrs Parikh’s creation of the Streethitkarini, a movement to bring health and contraception to women in the slums. But in view of the vastness of the Indian slums her work was a drop in the Ocean. Many of the distinguished Royists have been dying in recent years. However, I recently read of an organisation for young people to follow radical humanists is having some success.

Two other Indian humanist organisations are the Indian Secular Society and the Indian Rationalist Association. The ISS is not now very active, but it has campaigned for a Universal Civil Code – the existing Civil code allows for different civil law for Muslims and Hindus (might happen in Europe). They have also campaigned for the removal of the taboo on cow slaughter. (Yes, you do see cows cluttering up the roads; and no one wants to shift them.)

The Indian Rationalist Association is quite similar to a European organisation. There are campaigns against superstition – tears falling from the eyes of a Virgin, milk drunk by the statute of the god Ganesh. They also translate rationalist books into local languages.

The Indian organisation which is closest to my heart is the Atheist Centre in Vijayawada in the South. This was founded by Gora and his wife Saraswati over fifty years ago. It is run like an ashram – a family and followers living a simple life. There are two prongs to the Atheist Centre: the proselytising for atheism and the social work which is now a separate but linked organisation.

Gora was influenced by Gandhi with whom he dialogued. The idea of direct action was pertinent. In order to bring people together they held pork and beef social events where people could defy two eating taboos at once. They favour growing vegetables not flowers --- a little puritanical in my view. There is a permanent Science exhibition and education . There are anti-superstition campaigns. There are non-religious weddings and funerals. There is the attempt to reform prisoners and rescue child temple prostitutes. They hold firewalking events to demonstrate that this is as easily done by humanists as mystics.

The social work covers a hospital, training in employment for young people, a women’s refuge, They gain support from Save the Children Fund and Oxfam.

I lived happily at the Atheist centre for several weeks and constantly return there.

Taking Indian humanism as a whole we must consider the breadth of grass-roots superstition, the vastness of the poverty and the prevalence of the (illegal) caste system. A man who did much to open people’s eyes to the tricks of the god men was Premenand, who has died recently. He travelled widely in India giving demonstration of conjuring tricks and miracles – which he demonstrated had scientific and practical bases. The poverty in India (it is improving a bit) may lead to some of the fatalism which colours the religion. But Indians I have known see it as a challenge to do something about – and small steps may lead to larger ones. The caste system is illegal but it is widespread. Humanists, in particular Babu are fighting hard to remove the system. I went on an arranged visit for a meal at a caste village.

Despite the colossal problems of this beautiful country there is hope. One of the most important facts about India is that it has survived as a democracy for over fifty years unlike many post-colonial countries. Another small improvement – but important to those for whom it is important – is the recent decriminalisation of homosexuality, which has been brought in with very little fuss. Perhaps, because India has always had a relaxed attitude to sex and sexuality , which is seen in the most erotic sculptures of the ancient world in the temples at Khajurao.

The US is about as different from India as you could imagine. But there are some similarities: the constitution is secular and superstition and religion are almost universal. Two struggles have been seen during the last decade: the fight of Christians to have creationism taught in schools and the struggle to sneak some religious education into schools, where it is forbidden. There has also been a terrific struggle against gay marriage from some Christians.

The American Humanist Association was founded in the 1930s and incorporated in 1941. A Vice President was the writer Kurt Vonnegut who said: "I’m a humanist, which means , in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after I am dead." Similar sentiments were expressed on buses in Washington: "Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness’ sake" The current President is the novelist Gore Vidal. The organisation is expanding with chapters across the nation. American humanism is perhaps weakened by the variety of separate organisations.

Another active organisation is the Council for Secular Humanism based in Buffalo. The leader has been until recently Paul Kurtz. Their magazine is widely known, Free Inquiry. Their publishing company The Prometheus Press is very successful institution. They have organised summer camps for children and also set up SOS the Secular Organisation for Sobriety. They have extensive premises for staff and meetings, with probably the best freethought library in the world. They have spread humanism among students with the Campus Freethought Alliance. They reprinted some of the Danish newspaper cartoons of Mohammad. They have set up the Center for Inquiry / Transnational , with centres around the world. They take up legal issues relating to the secular constitution. They are the most entrepreneurial humanist organisation in the world.

Perhaps there is hope for non-belief in America, when a President refers to unbelievers in his speeches. In his inauguration speech, Barack Obama. said "We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers." Obama regular holds briefing sessions with different groups. Last February (2010) he had a meeting with nontheist organisations . Definitely a step forward..

Humanism, it hardly needs saying is not widespread or influential in Africa. But there are places where humanism is taking root – particularly Uganda and Nigeria.

This vexed question is not the main part of the struggle of African humanists – although they are showing some courage by going against the trend. Education and superstition are key matters. In Uganda in the last half dozen years three humanist schools have been created in Uganda. This has been partly with the support of European humanists, The Netherlands, The New Humanist and a group of humanists in the North West of England. They are up and running humanist schools in a country where it is hard to get education. I am sure they will continue to grow.

The other country where humanism is growing shoots is Nigeria. This is especially due to the work of Leo Igwe. He has taken on the superstitious acceptance of witches – and persecution of the witches – often children or women. He is one of the most energetic and eloquent humanists I have met. He said the Nigerian Humanist movement campaigned against personnel landmines, child labour, female genital mutilation, ritual killing, witchcraft, caste discrimination, shari’a law and homophobia.

Humanists have been to the fore in the controversy over homosexuality taking place in Africa at the moment. In Malawi there is a recent organisation formed – the Association of Secular Humanism in Malawi. There was the case of two young men who got married and were then imprisoned and sentenced to gaol – to be finally pardoned. They will probably have to live separately. A humanist who himself had been imprisoned visited them in gaol and gave them food and encouragement. There is a law to be brought into Uganda which includes execution for some homosexual acts. There is persecution of Nigerian homosexuals.

Two points are worth making – the impetus for some of this homophobia comes from American evangelists. Second, that while it is said that homosexuality is a western import, it was in fact from the west with colonial law that homophobia came in. In earlier societies, homosexuality was accepted amid a much more relaxed idea of gender. And it might be said that South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to include gay marriage rights in its constitution. This was largely due to Mandela.

Humanists in Africa have to face poverty, lack of education, drought and hunger. In the face of this everything that Africans are doing can be seen as a heroic effort.

Australia

The humanist movement in Australia has about 1000 members and is based in New South Wales and Victoria. It is a country of growing secularity. There is no bar to public office for humanists. About 60 per cent of marriages are performed by civil celebrants. There is a campaign for separation of church and state and for Humanists to provide events alongside religious groups in schools.

The state societies are affiliated into the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. Other current concerns include ‘pockets’ of social injustice and the infringement of human rights, and recent anti-terrorist legislation that threatens the civil liberties of citizens.

A Global atheist convention was held in Melbourne in March with 2500 attendees. Among the well known speakers were Dawkins and Peter Singer.

Well I could go on looking at humanist round the world for many hours but to conclude:

I conclude with two short quotes, which demonstrate I think why international humanism is so important.

My allegiance is to man. Locally to Nigerians; universally to humanity. From the playwright Wole Soyinke.

My country is the world and my religion is to do good. Thomas Paine