Rio, 03/6/2019.

Notas sobre o Humanismo Secular (ou simplesmente Humanismo):

De https://humanists.international/what-is-humanism/the-amsterdam-declaration/

Em 1952, no 1º Congresso Humanista Internacional, os fundadores da IHEU convergiram para

uma declaração dos princípios fundamentais do humanismo moderno. Eles a chamaram de
“Declaração de Amsterdã”. Esta declaração foi um fruto de seu tempo: situada no mundo da
política de grandes poderes da Guerra Fria.

O Congresso Humanista Internacional marcando seu aniversário de 50 anos, em 2002,

novamente realizado na Holanda, unanimemente homologou uma resolução atualizando a
declaração: a “Declaração de Amsterdã 2002”. Em seguida ao Congresso, a declaração
atualizada foi adotada por unanimidade pela Assembleia Geral da IHEU, e assim se tornou a
declaração oficial de definição do humanismo global.

Declaração de Amsterdã 2002

O humanismo é o resultado de uma longa tradição de livre pensamento que foi inspirada por
muitos dos grandes pensadores e artistas criativos do mundo, e deu origem à própria ciência.

Os fundamentos do humanismo moderno são os seguintes:

1. O humanismo é ético. Ele afirma o valor, a dignidade e a autonomia do indivíduo e o direito

de todo ser humano à maior liberdade possível compatível com os direitos dos outros.
Humanistas têm um dever de cuidado para com toda a humanidade, incluindo gerações futuras.
Humanistas acreditam que a moralidade é uma parte intrínseca da natureza humana, baseada no
entendimento e na preocupação para com os outros, não necessitando de sanção externa.

2. O humanismo é racional. Busca usar a ciência criativamente, não de forma destrutiva.

Humanistas acreditam que as soluções para os problemas do mundo estão no pensamento e
ação humanos em vez de na intervenção divina. O humanismo defende a aplicação de métodos
de ciência e livre investigação para os problemas de bem-estar humano. Mas humanistas
também acreditam que a aplicação da ciência de da tecnologia deve ser moderada por valores
humanos. A ciência nos dá os meios mas valores humanos devem propor os fins.

3. O humanismo apoia a democracia e os direitos humanos. O humanismo visa ao mais pleno

desenvolvimento possível para cada ser humano. Defende que a democracia e o
desenvolvimento humano são questões de direito. Os princípios da democracia e dos direitos
humanos podem ser aplicados a muitas relações humanas e não se restringem aos métodos de
governo.

4. O humanismo insiste que a liberdade pessoal deve ser combinada à responsabilidade

social. O humanismo ousa construir um mundo sobre a ideia da pessoa livre responsável pela
sociedade, e reconhece nossa dependência do mundo natural e nossa responsabilidade por ele.
O humanismo é não-dogmático, e não impõe um credo a seus aderentes. É, assim,
comprometido com a educação livre de doutrinação.

5. O humanismo é uma resposta à demanda generalizada por uma alternativa à religião

dogmática. As religiões majoritárias do mundo alegam ser baseadas em revelações fixas para
todo o tempo, e muitas buscam impor suas mundivisões a toda a humanidade. O humanismo
reconhece que o conhecimento confiável sobre o mundo e nós mesmos emerge através de um
processo contínuo de observação, avaliação e revisão.
6. O humanismo valoriza a criatividade artística e a imaginação e reconhece o poder
transformador da arte. O humanismo afirma a importância da literatura, da música, e das artes
visuais e performáticas para o desenvolvimento e plenitude pessoais.

7. O humanismo é uma postura de vida com meta na máxima plenitude possível através do
cultivo de um viver ético e criativo e oferece meios éticos e racionais de atentar-se para os
desafios de nossos tempos. O humanismo pode ser um modo de vida para todos em todo lugar.

Nossa tarefa primária é conscientizar os seres humanos nos termos mais simples do que o
humanismo pode significar para eles e de que comprometimentos ele implica. Ao utilizar a livre
investigação, o poder da ciência e da imaginação criativa para o avanço da paz e a serviço da
compaixão, temos confiança de que temos os meios de solucionar os problemas que confrontam
a todos nós. Chamamos a todos que compartilham dessa convicção para se associarem a nós
nesse esforço.

Congresso da IHEU, 2002.

Humanism as a Belief System

“Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and
responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of
humanity.”
– Humanist Manifesto III, 2003

The divine, in various forms, has played a central role in many cultures throughout human history.
Human cultures across time have wondered how to find the divine, how to know the divine, and
how to please the divine. Humanists reject this focus. Placing human beings firmly in the center of
their worldview, Humanists ask: “How, in this one life we have, might we make the most of our
time here for ourselves and for others?” For Humanists, human concerns come first; they trump
tradition, dogma, or creed. Humanists seek to discover what best promotes human flourishing
while leaving behind those beliefs and practices that would prevent humanity from achieving its full
potential.

This drive to improve human life can be expressed in three core values: reason, compassion, and
hope. Humanists value reason, or the use of the intellect and practices like the sciences and
philosophy, as the best way to generate accurate knowledge about the world we inhabit. They
reject supernatural explanations for phenomena. They are driven by compassion, or the idea that
all people—regardless of nationality, ethnicity, race, creed, sexual identity or other characteristic –
are fundamentally of equal moral worth. Humanists also look to the future in hope, believing that
human beings, if working together, can build a better world.

Many tributaries flow into the mainstream of Humanist thought, but two are particularly significant.
Much of modern Humanism is inspired by the principles that animated the Enlightenment: a
commitment to reason as a mechanism to change society and a commitment to science as the
best way of learning about the world. The journals, salons, debating societies, and learned
academies of the Enlightenment paved the way for the “marketplace of ideas,” a concept that
characterizes modern culture and that Humanists embrace wholeheartedly. The staunch
rationalism that pervades Humanism today is inspired by the spirit of these times. Humanists
believe that people should be free to think and discuss any thought, regardless of the sacred
truths that may be questioned by doing so.
The second major contributing influence comes from liberal religious movements, including liberal
Christian and Jewish movements, Transcendentalism, and Unitarian Universalism. Over time such
movements have tended to significantly deemphasize the role of God and the supernatural,
moving closer to a position of outright Humanism. In fact, many of the signatories of the first
Humanist Manifesto were religious liberals who found that their questioning of God’s role in the
cosmos led them to Humanism. Humanistic Unitarian Universalist congregations continue to this
day. It is largely from these religious traditions that the Humanist concern for the worth and dignity
of all people is derived.

Like any ethical tradition, the full range of values and ideals central to Humanism is difficult to
capture in a short statement. The task is made even more challenging in the case of Humanism
because Humanism is non-dogmatic by design; there are no required “creeds” in which Humanists
must believe, no holy book of Humanism that lays out what Humanists should or should not do.
This is appropriate for a tradition which has no single founder, admits no ultimate authority, and
believes that ethics is an ever-changing field of human practice which must alter to fit the context
and the times. The closest Humanists come to creedal documents is a set of Humanist Manifestos
which seek to record a consensus view of what Humanists believe at a particular time, with the
understanding that the answers given may need to be revised when circumstances change. Three
such Manifestos have so far been written, each altering the last to respond to changed
circumstances and new ideas, all evidence that Humanism does not stand still.

Humanism has a complex relationship with traditional religions. Humanism is not inherently “anti-
religious” in the sense that it asserts all aspects of religious practice are by nature harmful and
inhumane. At the same time, Humanism is not inherently “pro-religion” since it does not claim all
elements of religious practice are positive and valuable either. Rather, Humanists seek to
eliminate aspects of religious practice found to be inhumane and dehumanizing, while
reconstituting those that affirm and promote human flourishing.

The willingness of Humanists to critique that which religious traditions consider sacred often puts
Humanists at odds with religious communities that, in Humanists’ view, may continue certain
practices for no good reason. While Humanists condemn dogma and irrationalism, they do not
indiscriminately condemn all expressions of religious culture. Since Humanists see religions and
religious practices as human-created, they seek to ensure that those religions that do exist do so
to serve human ends rather than dictate them.

Some people consider Humanism to be a “religion”, while others do not. Generally the term
“Humanism”, when used today without qualifier, references a nonreligious life-stance, that is, a set
of values, not how those values are expressed or practiced. Some distinguish between “Secular
Humanism” and “Religious Humanism.” “Religious Humanists” might express their Humanism in
ways more common to traditionally religious individuals, for example meeting together to discuss
values and celebrate certain ceremonies. Some like to maintain a connection to the cultural
elements of a religious tradition they have experienced and may continue to participate in religious
culture while maintaining strictly Humanist beliefs and values. “Religious Humanists” are still
Humanists—they are atheists (or agnostic, skeptics etc.), they are secularists, and they reject the
supernatural. If there is a difference between “secular” and “religious” Humanists it is in how
they express and practice their Humanist life-stance. The life-stance is the same in both cases.

Humanists seek inspiration from many sources. The boundless beauty of the cosmos filled
Humanist scientist Carl Sagan with reverential awe. Philosopher Bertrand Russell found the rigors
of geometry “dazzling as first love”. Ernestine Rose, a social reformer and activist, found her bliss
in her work to promote women’s suffrage and abolitionism. Margaret Sanger sought to change
attitudes regarding reproductive rights, founding Planned Parenthood. And Gene Roddenberry,
creator of Star Trek, expressed his Humanism with a hopeful vision of human life among the stars.
Wherever human beings reach out to better understand the universe and our role within it,
wherever human concerns are placed above the will of a God or the needs of a tradition, wherever
people believe that a better world is possible in this life, Humanism lives.