One of the icons of the modern humanist movement, Levi Fragell was instrumental in setting the Norwegian Humanist Association on the path to its present success. On the basis of his experience both in the world of business and in building the humanist movement, Levi Fragell has been a strong advocate of a common humanist identity. Our common humanist identity will form the basis for the development of a world-wide movement says the former president of IHEU and former Chair of IHEU’s Growth and Development Committee.

The Name of our Lifestance

During all the years I have been active in the international humanist movement I have strongly recommended to my friends in secular, rationalist and free-thought groups that they use the word Humanism as the name of their life-stance. I do not mean that they should not organize groups for secularism, rationalism and free-thought – all these are important aspects of Humanism and well worth fighting for. Quite often, such provocative labels make it easier to get attention to our thoughts than with a label like Humanism.

One example is the Society of Heathens in Norway, another example is that of the Society of Atheists in Denmark, and today we have the Brights in several countries. Among students, young radicals and in groups which really want to get attention, using those names may bring more success, or will at least be more fun.

But in our movement we need different strategies, and one of them should be to get groups with odd names to add Humanism when it might be suitable, and to use Humanism as a more ‘serious’ door-opener in situations where more provocative names would turn people against you.

And when you are well inside and accepted as a normal human being, you may quote the IHEU Minimum Statement, which says:
“Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape through an ethic base on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities.”

So far everyone around you will still be comfortable, nodding and smiling. And then you may proceed to the final sentence:

“It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality”.

The Lifestance, not the Attitude

At this point you will cause some confusion, of course. Some raised eyebrows, and if there is a theologian around, he will tell you that he is a humanist as well – and disagree with your punch line about non theism. And then you just have to answer in a friendly tone that no doubt he favours Humanist attitudes, but you are not talking about attitudes – you are talking about the life stance Humanism, as it is explained in the Little Oxford Dictionary:
“Non-religious philosophy based on liberal human values.”

It is obvious that many call themselves humanists just because they take interest in human values or the welfare of fellow humans. But from my point of view it is much too pessimistic to conclude that since the word is used in different ways, we have lost our right to use it as a family name for all those groups that are organized in the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Almost all international dictionaries explain the word humanism as a non-religious life stance. Here are more examples:
Collins Dictionary: “The rejection of religion in favour of the advancement of humanity by its own efforts”.
Chambers Dictionary: “Any system which puts human interests and the mind of man paramount, rejecting the supernatural, belief in god etc.”

Searching on the Internet, on the Google website, I found 456,000 listings of the word humanism. I looked up the first 30 of them. 22 out of 30 dealt with the non- religious lifestance Humanism.

The very first definition of Humanism on the Google site is given by the free encyclopaedia Wikipedia, which says:
Humanism entails a commitment to the search for truth and morality through human means in support of human interests. In focusing on the capacity for self- determination, Humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as a dependence on faith, the supernatural or divinely revealed texts. Humanists endorse universal morality based on the commonality of human nature, suggesting that solutions to our social and cultural problems cannot be parochial.

This is what students all over the world will find if they look up “Humanism” on the Internet. Why should we be too shy to point at ourselves and say: “Exactly! This is us, this is our lifestance!”.

What is the Challenge?

Humanism has been organized as a world movement for only 54 years, but those who gathered in Amsterdam in
1952 to establish the International Humanist and Ethical Union were highly respected and famous personalities like Sir Julian Huxley. There were people from top positions at the UN; there were professors, doctors and writers. There were long discussions about the priorities of a humanist organization, but not about the fact that Humanism was a secular lifestance.

Their humanist visions were reactions to the evil drama they had witnessed at their own door steps – the Second World War, Fascism and Nazism. They realized that the breakdown of ethics and civilized values, the holocaust, the nuclear bombing of two Japanese cities etc. had compromised not only the political ideologies but also the religions. They did not believe in restoring what had been, they wanted to create something new, a humanist awareness and consciousness which, hand in hand with the newly established United Nations and the Declarations of Human Rights could secure democracy and peace for new generations.

Did they – did we – fail? No, but the process has been too slow. To the extent we were able to convey our ideas in the neighbourhood of Amsterdam and New York, Humanism has had a considerable success. Still we are fighting against undemocratic movements, religious fundamentalism and ethnic chauvinism, but in large parts of Europe we have had peace for decades, and for the first time in hundreds of years it seems unthinkable that countries like Germany, England and France will ever again attack each other with weapons. We must admit that the Christian Right in the United States – and its influence on American politics – represents a serious setback for Western Humanism, with tragic consequences for countries and cultures far away from the American continent.

But for those who can remember the segregated American society in the 1950s, the Ku Klux Klan, the violence and the injustice against liberal people in the McCarthy era, for them it is obvious that a humane development has taken place also in the US.

Humanism is the ideology – the life stance – which emerges on the world scene when the irrational thought systems have proven their insufficiency.

Prepare for the Collapse of Religion

The key question today is: has the time come for Humanism to replace failing ideologies and irrational thought systems on new continents, far away from Europe and America? If the dynamics of humanist development is a creative process, emerging when crises have damaged or demolished values and cultures, I myself do think that Humanism will be the answer for many areas of the Indian sub-continent, Africa, some of the former Soviet republics, countries in the Middle East, and parts of Central and South America.

The future collapse of the fundamentalist religions may call for the rationality and tolerance of the humanist positions, and the increasing level of education and electronic media will make it easier than before to be informed about this alternative – that never will be distributed by missionaries and preachers but by honest and serious dialogue between people of equal status and standing.

These potentials for Humanism bring me back to my introduction, which will also be my conclusion: people out there must see where the humanists are, we must be seen as humanists – with a positive alternative to totalitarianism, fundamentalism, irrationalism and racism, and they should know how to contact us. Humanists should not hide themselves in closed clubs but be the first to wave their banners. They must march for freedom in private and public life, fight injustice, expose the cheaters and the frauds in science as well as in religion, claim equal rights, protest against violence in family life as well as in social, communal and ethnic crises. But how can we have influence as groups and organizations if the humanists do not organize as humanists?

For the International Humanist and Ethical Union as well as for our national groups on all continents, the main responsibility is to reach out to all these people, to tell them that we exist, that we are willing to support them – and that we expect all of them to take active part in the global humanist project: the establishment of alternatives to irrational, superstitious and inhumane ideologies.

Levi Fragell