1. ‘Understanding Humanism’
What is Humanism?
Richard Norman
‘Understanding Humanism’
Teachers’ Conference
11 July 2017

2. Humanism
“I always teach the case against religious belief as well as the case for.”
Presenting humanism as a positive view of life
Belief in living a good life without religion

3. Why ‘humanism’? Human Reason Human Creativity Human Responsibility
Human Values

4. Human Reason Scientific progress:
Copernican theory of planets
Newtonian physics
Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis
Scientific geology, age of the earth
Evolution by natural selection
No short cuts, no divinely revealed truths
Humans are physical beings, no continuing consciousness after death – we have one life

5. Human Creativity Science isn’t everything
Use of our imagination to express our thoughts and feelings and create new worlds
Not just the high arts
Through stories, pictures, music, we make sense of our own lives
We come to understand other people’s lives and are able to imagine what it is like for them.

6. Käthe Kollwitz, ‘Mothers’

7. Rembrandt – ‘Self-portrait’

8. Constable – ‘Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill’

9. Turner – ‘Shape and Darkness – the Evening of the Deluge’

10. Monet – ‘Poppies’

11. Van Gogh – ‘Wheatfield with Crows’

12. Human Responsibility
No divine plan, no fate, no pre-given meaning or purpose
We find our own meaning
We can make a better world for ourselves
We have to make our own moral decisions

13. Human Values Core values which are shared human values
Kindness, compassion, honesty, loyalty, fairness, justice, etc.
The golden rule: treat others as you would wish to be treated
Built into human life - we are social beings

14. Humanism Why Humanism doesn’t fit easily into RE templates
What are your symbols, rituals, practices, festivals, sacred texts, sacred places?
They are ones which we share with everyone.