What is the future of Humanism?
Presenter: John Pope
“The philosophy or life stance of secular humanism (alternatively known by some adherents as Humanism, specifically with a capital H to distinguish it from other forms of humanism) embraces human reason, ethics, social justice and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience or superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.” -Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism]
The population of declared Humanists has increased greatly world wide since The Enlightenment. Humanists have established revered heroes such as Darwin, Russell, Hitchens, Morganthaler, and Dawkins, etc. The number of global, national and local Humanist Associations continues to grow.
Our discussion will examine the following questions:
What impact does Humanism have on society? Will it be greater in the future?
Is there a set of principles that all Humanists can agree upon? Will the future see Humanism dividing up into groups with distinct principles, or uniting under one set of principles and one banner?
Will the future see declared Humanist (or atheist) head of state in the Americas? Which country might be the first? Would electing a Humanist head of state lead to changes in national domestic policies?
Will the number of secularists in the world always be fewer than the number of religionists?
How would the world be different if the majority of people in the world were Humanists?