The Humanist Affirmations Explored - Affirmation #4
The following essay is a continuation of our Humanist Affirmations Explored series, this time being contributed by past HLC president, Marcia Swift.
Affirmation # 4 of the Humanist Manifesto states:
Humanism recognizes that man’s religious culture and civilization, as clearly depicted by anthropology and history, are the product of a gradual development due to his interaction with his natural environment and with his social heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is molded by that culture.
What is the meaning of this affirmation? Every humanist might find their own meaning in Humanist Affirmation # 4. Here is what this particular humanist believes the meaning to be.
Let me start with a sidetrack concerning the Humanist Manifesto and its affirmations. The initial Humanist Manifesto was written in 1933, revised in 1973 and again in 2003. It is to the credit of its authors that the “man/his” centered language of 1933 was changed to “men and women” in 1973. Reflecting increased knowledge about our human species, “man/his” and “men and women” was dropped in the 2003 iteration in favor of “Humanists” and “we.”
Affirmation # 4 asserts that individuals religious culture stems from their interaction with the natural environment around them and their social heritage. Let us define social heritage as those customs, codes, and rules of behaviors being constant through generations of humans. The individual born into a particular culture is molded by that culture.
At any given time, there is a multiplicity of religious cultures. These religious cultures are never static. Religious cultures usually change as a result of two factors. These factors are new knowledge in our understanding of the natural world and a disruption in the process of handing down the customs of social heritage from one generation to the next.
For the purposes of this essay, we will use America in its early days as an example. Native American tribes each had their own culture with different views about religion and its practices. Family life, cultural and religious practices, values, language, and dress vary greatly between American Indian groups that have lived on the same continent for centuries. However, it can be safely said that all American Indian culture emphasizes harmony with nature. Native culture values living in synchrony with the land, revering the land, and sharing with the land. American Indian values include tribe and extended family first before self; sharing; and honoring elders. Children are gifts to be shared with others, as are animals who have been sacrificed for food.
The American Indian culture was severely disrupted with the arrival of the white European. The white European settlers believed in using the land for their own purposes. Land was there not to be in harmony with but to exploit for profit and for oneself. There were many different religions and religious cultures in colonial America. But, for the most part early Europeans were Christians who believed in one god and that god gave them the right to ‘Manifest Destiny’ at whatever cost. American Indian ways of being with the land and with each other were gradually destroyed through wars and massacres, false treaties, removal further west, disease, and boarding schools. Christian religious values and practices were forced upon the American Indian. For purposes of sheer survival many an American Indian became a Christian.
In recent years, American Indians are fighting to return to an understanding of their former religious values, customs, and rites and their practice. The disruption of their culture has not ended but present generations of non-Native people, including Christians are demonstrating more respect for religions not of their own social heritage.
The American story shared here is but one example of how religious cultures are changed by what happens in the environment and in individuals social heritage. Generations of people are molded by their culture, but their culture is changed as a result of forces in the environment both natural and human-made. This is a process as old as time and will continue as time marches on. The Humanist story is just another tale about a culture taking shape in response to changes in the world and in our understanding of these changes. The Humanists of 2063 will look very different from the Humanists of 2023.
