UU Humanist Association

Editor's note: this is another essay in the "Why I Am a UU Humanist" series. What is your story? Contact us and let us share it. (Please note that the essay content deadline is May 26, 2014.)

The question is: "Why are you a Unitarian Universalist Humanist?"

The answer is: not so easy.

I don't know why I am a Humanist. I just am. Rather late in life I learned that "Humanism" defines my personal outlook. (I think "worldview" is just a bit pretentious.) Read more about "Why I Am a UU Humanist", by Richard M. Renfro »

Editor's note: this is another essay in the "Why I Am a UU Humanist" series. What is your story? Contact us and let us share it.

As a new member to HUUmanism (Pronounced "HU-U-manism"), I received a welcome packet including two issues of their journal “Religious Humanism”.  In the Fall 2012 issue, the Editor’s Preface says “Increasingly, we face a choice, framed elsewhere by Mike Werner, [an author of one of the articles] between secular Humanist groups who do a better job of embodying a rational approach to life, and UU congregations who do a better job of providing full-fledged community.”  And several of the articles emphasized the role that “community” plays in UU congregations and also Humanist groups. Read more about Community and UU and Humanism and HUUmanism »

John Hooper and Pat Mohr, president and vice president of the UU Humanist Association, attended the Moral March on Raleigh event on February 8, 2014. In the picture on the right, they are standing with Mike and Susanne Werner, fellow UU Humanists and secular activists. The march brought together approximately 80,000 people from around the country, including UUA president Peter Morales and over 1,500 other UUs, many wearing their bright yellow "Standing On the Side of Love" t-shirts. They came to Raleigh to protest regressive North Carolina GOP policies around health care, education, the criminal justice system and voter suppression that especially disenfranchise the poor and people of color.

Read more about The Moral March on Raleigh »

This article was originally published in the Humanist Network News. HNN is a weekly news e-zine of the American Humanist Association with a circulation of around 44,000. 

When the topic of Humanist community comes up someone is bound to mention Unitarian Universalism. That is because UUs have what Humanists who want community are looking for. Unitarian Universalism also comes up because a significant number of UUs are Humanists and because organized Humanism was in large part an outgrowth of Unitarianism in its early days. Humanism and Unitarian Universalism go together, and I assert that theover 1,000 UU congregations are natural and practical homes for local Humanist communities. Read more about The UU Congregation: Habitat for Humanism »

UUHA president John Hooper recently participated in the Secular Leadership Summit, on January 25, 2014. The event was held in Columbus, OH and was sponsored by the Secular Student Alliance. This meeting, formerly known as the Heads Meeting, brings together the leaders from all of the major non-theistic organizations to discuss strategy and to coordinate activities.

John described the event as, "a very positive meeting" and the people as, "a really cool bunch of folks".  Read more about Secular Leadership Summit 2014 »

Have you heard about the Humanist Community Project? They are, "a Cambridge-based initiative to help create, establish, and connect a stronger nationwide network of Humanist communities focused on individual, group, and societal betterment, for the benefit of the secular and freethought movement." In other words, they are group that seeks to promote "Godless Congregations". Greg Epstein, the group's leader, described the project at the HUUmanists 2013 UUA General Assembly program, and explained that "Godless Congregations" is also the title of an upcoming book that he and co-author James Croft are working on.  Read more about The Humanist Community Project & UU Humanists »

Editor's note: this is another essay in the "Why I Am a UU Humanist" series. What is your story? Contact us and let us share it.

My name is Bob Koches, I am a humanist and this is my journey.  I think of humanism as a kinder, gentler form of atheism. 

Humanist Manifesto III , a successor to the Humanist Manifesto of 1933, defines humanism as 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.   “The lifestance of  humanism - guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience encourages us to live life willfully and fully.  It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understanding advances.”  Read more about On Becoming Humanist - My Personal Journey from Catholic Educated to Humanist, by Bob Koches »

Before I tell you about the important progress we are making in both reinforcing the Humanist core of Unitarian Universalism and acting as a bridge between Unitarian Universalism and the secular/non-theist community, I have an exciting announcement to make:

On November 18, 2013, your Board of Directors unanimously approved the appointment of Maria Greene to the part-time position of Development and Communications Director of the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association (HUUmanists).  Maria will guide our efforts in three areas: Membership Development/Fundraising; Local Group identification, formation and affiliation; and Communications. Please join me in thanking Maria for taking on this critical job in our movement and in giving her our enthusiastic support.  In a related action, the Board has appointed Rev. Dr. Neil Gerdes to the position of Secretary of the Association, replacing Maria.

Let me tell you about just a few of the exciting "happenings" involving your UU Humanist Association. Read more about President's Corner »

Unitarian Universalist Humanists will be very encouraged by reading UUA President Peter Morales' recent article "Science and the Search for Meaning," published in last summer's issue of The New Atlantis.  Peter forcefully reaffirms the Unitarian Universalist principle: "we affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning." The entire essay could be interpreted as a thoughtful explication of our Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association (HUUmanists) core values of Reason, Compassion, and Community. Thanks, Peter.  We needed that!

Here are Peter Morales' words:

As part of Michael Werner's New England book tour, he made a stop at The Unitarian Church of Westport, CT for an event with Denny Davidoff, moderated by HUUmanists president John Hooper. Here is the video from that event with great thanks to Wilson Converse of eyedit.tv.

Two Views on the history and Promise of the Unitarian Universalist Association. A discussion