Dear Unitarian Universalist Humanists:

It was great meeting so many of you at our Black Humanism panel, our booth, and our Annual Meeting at General Assembly. Mandisa Thomas, founder of Black Nonbelievers and our Person of the Year, was an inspiring speaker.

Our General Assembly 2018 session on Black Humanism not only demonstrated the centrality of Humanism in the African American experience, but also the centrality of Black Humanism as Unitarian Universalists strive toward the liberation of all people.

I think that Rev. Dr. William R. Jones will someday soon be recognized as the central UU theologian of the twentieth century. His message harkened back to the deepest commitment of the Humanists who signed the first Humanist Manifesto, dedicating themselves to striving for “a shared life in a shared world.” Read more about A Message from the President on GA and Board Elections »

Dear Unitarian Universalist Humanists:

Your UU Humanist Association has been working to promote humanist values in the UUA. Working with UUA President Peter Morales and UUA Chief Operating Officer Harlan Limpert, we have been pressuring the Boy Scouts of America to exhibit progressive values. In an abrupt change in direction, the BSA now accepts all those who identify as boys. Unfortunately, the BSA has not budged on their discriminatory policy toward non-theists. We will continuing working to change this policy. We have over 1600 signatures on our BSA petition! Read more about A Message from the President »

Small Humanist groups are popping up and organizing around the US, some as independent groups, some as interest groups within larger Unitarian Universalist congregations. This movement has drawn some interesting reactions . . .

I know these reactions well, because one of the oddities about my position as a minister at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis is that many people I meet know up front that I’m a Humanist. Often I get asked to speak various places because I’m a Humanist, but sometimes I meet up with a hostility that surprises me. I’ve even had people say out of the blue, “I KNOW there’s a God!” To which I don’t have much of a response . . . “That’s nice for you”? Or should I take the time to explain that Humanism isn’t really much about that question?

There seems to be a fear that Humanism is a corrosive force that must be contained, a genie in a lamp that must be kept bottled up at all costs. Now, sure, I know that there are those in the freethought community, especially among newly-converted atheists, who do wield reason like a sharp razor. But I’m not one of those, and most Humanists aren’t. Read more about Relax: #Humanism Is Not Mack the Knife »