Purpose Statement: The purpose of this speech is to inform people what Humanism is.

            Humanism is a philosophy that is often referred to but misunderstood by many. The term Humanism was first used during the Renaissance, which described the spirit of learning and renewed confidence in the ability of Human beings to determine for themselves, the truth and falsehood. Today Humanism has evolved into something more.

            The people that believe in modern Humanism tend to fall into two different groups, Secular Humanism and Religious Humanism. Secular Humanists live their lives without any sort of religion and don’t believe Humanism is a substitute for religion. The Religious Humanists do have a religion. Some of the Religious Humanists make an alternative to traditional religion based upon Humanists values. Others believe in the Humanist values within traditional religion. Even though these two Humanist groups have few differences in how they live their day-to-day life, they share the same basic Humanist philosophy.

            A major idea that makes up the philosophy is that people can work together peacefully to increase happiness and to work for a better life for everyone. This philosophy does recognize there are differences between Human beings but these differences can be worked out for the better. This idea promotes getting alone with everyone even if they may be different than you are. Another major idea that makes up Humanism is the belief that everyone should have equal opportunity to achieve anything they desire as long it does not interfere or harm another person’s opportunity to achieve. This does not mean there will be no competition for anything but means fair competition between people. Because of this belief, Humanists fight for civil liberties, human rights, equal rights for all, and to providing opportunities for more. Humanists also promote independent thinking. Humanism is about not blindly following religious dogma, blindly following leaders, and having unquestioning faith, but to think for yourself so you can control your own destiny. Another thing about Humanism is that it is based on Human’s ability to reason and based on science in the pursuit of knowledge. Humanists believe science can explain how our universe works and how we Humans came about in this world. They also think new knowledge people acquire can be applied to make our world a better place.

            Frequently people with strong religious beliefs say Humanism is evil. From what I have seen, Humanism does not conflict with traditional religions when it came to dealing with how people should treat each other. It appears that ignorance fuels the hostility towards Humanism and the misunderstanding of Humanism. Today, Humanists organizations around the world are combating this ignorance by spreading their ideals.