96 Secular Humanism Quotes

Following is our list of secular humanism quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about what is a secular humanist.

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Famous Secular Humanism Quotes

From my point of view, there is a tremendous amount to be said for secular humanism. — Vidal Sassoon

Secularism denounces supernaturalism and promotes a nonreligious or antireligious basis of social organization and morality. — Carl F. H. Henry

Positive secularism is not tolerance of all religions, but it is the total denial of religious beliefs: it is the emergence of homogeneous human outlook which is based upon verifiable facts of life. — Goparaju Ramachandra Rao

Secularism is not only in our constitution but also in our veins. We worship Mother Nature too. We believe that the world is our family. — Narendra Modi

Secularism breeds narcissism. There is nothing higher to live for, so you live for you — Dennis Prager

Humanism involves far more than the negation of supernaturalism. It requires an affirmative philosophy . . . translated into a life devoted to one's own improvement and the service of all mankind. — Corliss Lamont

Secularism is a religion, a religion that is understood. It has no mysteries, no mumblings, no priests, no ceremonies, no falsehoods, no miracles, and no persecutions. — Robert Green Ingersoll

Humanists hold that ethical values are relative to human experience and need not be derived from theological or metaphysical foundations. — Paul Kurtz

Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others. — Hugo Black

Humanism is the creed of those who believe that in the circle of enwrapping mystery, men's fates are in their own hands - a faith that for modern man is becoming the only possible faith. — John Galsworthy

The rise of secularism has brought about an increase in hostility toward things religious. — Jon Stewart

Secularism must be applied everywhere, because that is how everyone will be able to live in peace with each other. — Manuel Valls

Secularism is not only indifferent to alternative religious systems, but as a religious ideology it is opposed to any other religious systems. It is therefore a closed system. — Harvey Cox

One can't understand the Christian Right and similar movements unless one sees them as reactive - they're reacting to what they call secular humanism — Peter L. Berger

Humanism is a philosophy of joyous service for the greater good of all humanity, of application of new ideas of scientific progress for the benefit of all. — Linus Pauling

Short Secular Humanism Quotes

  • It is unfair to label me anti-Islam. I am an atheist and a secular humanist. — Taslima Nasrin
  • Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it. — Christopher Hitchens
  • Humanism is the philosophy that you should be a good guest at the dinner table of life. — A.C. Grayling
  • One of the greatest dangers is secular religion - state worship. — Noam Chomsky
  • In the public realm, secularism should not concede a single inch to religious intrusions. — Gad Saad
  • My religion is humanitarianism, which is the basis of every religion in the world. — Abdul Sattar Edhi
Secular humanism quote I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation
I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.

Is Humanism Secular Quotes

Secular humanists suspect there is something more gloriously human about resisting the religious impulse; about accepting the cold truth, even if that truth is only that the universe is as indifferent to us as we are to it. — Tom Flynn

It is a war of light vs. darkness, of Christ vs. antichrist, the Word of God vs. secular humanism. There will be a winner and a loser!.. There is no compromise with the enemy. There is no neutrality in this war! — John Hagee

Secular humanism is avowedly non-religious. It is a eupraxsophy (good practical wisdom), which draws its basic principles and ethical values from science, ethics, and philosophy. — Paul Kurtz

Secular humanism quote All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.
All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.

Human development, not secularization, is what's key to women's empowerment in the transforming Middle East. — Dalia Mogahed

When Jews left Judaism, they didn't stop being religious. They simply swapped God-based Judaism for godless secular humanism and leftism. For left-wing Jews, Judaism is their ethnicity; leftism is their religion. — Dennis Prager

A recurring theme in the literature of secular humanism is the harsh assault upon traditional religion, especially Christianity. — Guenter Lewy

Secular humanism quote Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

Secular Humanism is opposed to other religions; it actively rejects, excludes, and attempts to eliminate traditional theism from meaningful participation in the American culture. — Harvey Cox

Secular humanism proposes ... the complete implementation of the agenda of modernism ... what is necessary for it to occur is a ... New Enlightenment. — Paul Kurtz

The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society; the best book for regulating the temporal [secular] concerns of men. — Noah Webster

The ultra-right would have us believe that families are in trouble because of humanism, feminism, secular education, or sexual liberation, but the consensus of Americans is that what tears families apart is unemployment, inflation, and financial worries. — Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Secularism Quotes

The greatest danger to Christianity is, I contend, not heresies, not heterodoxies, not atheists, not profane secularism - no, but the kind of orthodoxy which is cordial drivel, mediocrity served up sweet. There is nothing that so insidiously displaces the majestic as cordiality. — Soren Kierkegaard

Your children will go to public school and they will be trained for somewhere around 15,000 hours in ungodly secular thought. And then they'll go to Sunday school and they'll color a picture of Noah's ark. And you think that's going to stand against the lies that they are being told? — Paul Washer

Secular music, do you say, belongs to the devil? Does it? Well, if it did I would plunder him for it, for he has no right to a single note of the whole seven. Every note, and every strain, and every harmony is divine, and belongs to us. — William Booth

Secular humanism quote It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.
It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.

When secularization has had its full sway, it will leave a generation devoid of shame. And if you show me a generation that lacks shame, I will show you a generation that is monstrous in its appetite... never satisfied. — Ravi Zacharias

Secularism is a term interpreted in many different ways by different people. For me, it has always been something very simple - putting India First — Narendra Modi

Truth is not obtained cheaply. It demands much time given to prayer and study of the Scriptures, followed by practical application in our daily lives. It must take priority over the many forms of cheap entertainment offered by our secular culture. It is a lifetime commitment. — Derek Prince

Secular humanism quote Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.
Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. — George Bernard Shaw

Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists. — Dennis Prager

Western dictionaries define secularism as absence of religion but Indian secularism does not mean irreligiousness.It means profusion of religions. — Shashi Tharoor

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. — Thomas Jefferson

Secular Society Quotes

My family and I were welcomed to Canada more than 40 years ago. We sought and obtained refuge in a liberal, modern, and secular society, and put the ugliness of genocidal religious hate and associated tribalism behind us - or so we thought. — Gad Saad

Lighthouses are more helpful than churches. — Benjamin Franklin

Secularism and pluralism are two of the defining ethos of Western societies. The former decouples religion from governmental institutions whilst the latter seeks to protect the rights of all citizens to freely practice their creed. — Gad Saad

Secular humanism quote The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behavior as one of two things: either love, or a c
The way of the miracle-worker is to see all human behavior as one of two things: either love, or a call for love.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. — James Madison

Superficial parallels were drawn between the Church and the Nazi Party, with its emphasis on active involvement by every member. The women's auxiliary of the Party and the Hitler Youth were regarded by some as secular equivalents to the Church's Relief Society, MIA, and the Scouting programs. — Fawn M. Brodie

Secular societies establish tolerance by being equally non-accommodating toward all religious demands within the public sphere. — Gad Saad

Secular humanism quote The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.
The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.

There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages. — Ruth Hurmence Green

Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. — Albert Einstein

Religions are all alike- founded upon fables and mythologies. — Thomas Jefferson

The demand that Islam makes of women is to not attract attention to yourself, and if you are in a secular society, that attire does exactly that, and it is a political symbol, no longer religious. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali

People Writing About Secular Humanism

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Read quotes by Vidal Sassoon

Vidal Sassoon
quotes on beauty, success and life

58 367
Read quotes by Carl F. H. Henry

Carl F. H. Henry

16 280
Read quotes by Goparaju Ramachandra Rao

Goparaju Ramachandra Rao
quotes on life, death and love

14 100
Read quotes by Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi
quotes on education, youth and india

706 3175
Read quotes by Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager
quotes on happiness

338 1537
Read quotes by Corliss Lamont

Corliss Lamont
quotes on leadership, love and education

24 112

More Secular Humanism Quotes

Math . . . music .. . starry nights . . . These are secular ways of achieving transcendence, of feeling lifted into a grand perspective. It's a sense of being awed by existence that almost obliterates the self. Religious people think of it as an essentially religious experience but it's not. It's an essentially human experience. — Rebecca Goldstein

Much of human progress has been in defiance of religion or of the apparent natural order. The defiance of religious and secular authority has led to democracy, human rights, and the protection of the environment. Humanists make no apologies for this. Humanists twist no biblical doctrine to justify such actions. — Fred Edwords

Canon law pertains to Catholics. Jewish law pertains only to Jews. But the sharia dictates every basic aspect of human life, asserts its authority over non-Muslims, unlike Jewish law and unlike canon law, which is why they're slaughtering Christians, they're slaughtering secular Muslims across the Muslim world. — Pamela Geller

In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen. — Anne Rice

Secular humanism debases the human. — Sinclair B. Ferguson

It's no secret that in New York during the last 30 years there has been a tragic exodus from the churches into materialism, secularism and humanism. — Billy Graham

We're going to bring back God and the Bible and drive the gods of secular humanism right out of the public schools of America. — Pat Buchanan

Your religion assumes that people are children and need a boogeyman so they'll behave. You want people to believe in God so they'll obey the law. That's the only means that occurs to you: a strict secular police force, and the threat of punishment by an all-seeing God for whatever the police overlook. You sell human beings short. — Carl Sagan

Environmentalists and secular humanists insist that humans will destroy the planet. Corporate capitalists and many religious fundamentalists have no regard for wildlife and nature. Ultimately, this dualistic battle is based on false premises. In fact, this planet is more powerful than the human species. — Zeena Schreck

Secular humanists can sit around and talk about their love of humanity, but it doesn't stack up against a two-millennium-old funeral high mass. — E. O. Wilson

Secular humanism does not have the essential attributes of a religion: belief in a deity, the wish for some sort of afterlife, sacred dogma or texts, or an absolutist moral creed. Instead, it expresses a philosophical and ethical point of view, and it draws upon the scientific method in formulationg its naturalistic view of the nature. — Paul Kurtz

In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity. — Anne Rice

We're in a religious war and we need to aggressively oppose secular humanism; these people are as religiously motivated as we are and they are filled with the devil. — Tim LaHaye

From time to time I have wished to do more work in philosophy of religion, but the demands and challenges have been such that it needed more work than I had time for. I sneaked a chapter into my book on loyalty that touched on some issues in the area. Maybe in the future I will try responding to Philip Kitcher's excellent critique: Life After Faith: The Case for Secular Humanism - it gets closer to me than much of what is produced in the field. — John Kleinig

Only a loving and covenant-making personal God can provide humans with unique dignity, worth, and rights. Blind nature cannot do that. So, for the Christian, "secular humanism" is an oxymoron. — Roger E. Olson

Humanism cannot survive on a purely secular platform. — Roger E. Olson

Even secular humanism has great spiritual resources; it is almost like a religion to me. — Dalai Lama

Spirituality is a natural part of ourselves, as natural as emotions, but we've got all the language wrong and made this divide between secularism and spirituality, whereas instead it's about being human. — Alan Green

If we look at it more from a philosophical standpoint, these foundations of atheism and secular humanism believe that you are your own God. That leads us to something that unfortunately has crept into many churches across America, and it is what I call the Social Gospel. The social gospel, that could creep into something that is called Liberation Theology, which is a mixture of leftist, pseudo-Christianity with Marxism. — Ted Cruz

Secular humanists should recognize those forms of religion as allies in the struggle for human advancement. They should also learn from them, as they try to build a fully secular world in which people can have the opportunity to live rich and fulfilling lives. — Philip Kitcher

If you believe in what I do, which is secular humanism, I would find it extremely difficult to live with someone - not to love someone - but to live with somebody and build a life of someone who disagreed with me on something so fundamental. — Susan Jacoby

The problem is sitting in the birthplace of Islam, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where this interpretation of Islam has gone out into the world over the last four decades, creating militancy groups from Indonesia, to now, San Bernardino, California, vicious attack. We have to take back the faith. And we have to take it back with the principles of peace, social justice, and human rights, women's rights, and secularize governance. — Chuck Todd

We need to employ a secular approach to ethics, secular in the Indian sense of respecting all religious traditions and even the views of non-believers in an unbiased way. Secular ethics rooted in scientific findings, common experience and common sense can easily be introduced into the secular education system. If we can do that there is a real prospect of making this 21st century an era of peace and compassion. — Dalai Lama

Humanism is an overemphasis on human worth and ability, leading man to glorify himself instead of God...While its historical forms may vary, humanism inevitably leads people away from God and spiritual concerns. It promotes the false idea that man is good and that he is superior to God. Secular Humanism of the twentieth century altogether rejects belief in God and worships man as God. The pride of humanism will not go unpunished. — David Fisher

All human beings are moral beings. So, certainly there are alliances. We are in the countries, that are secular states, and we obey its laws. I think we must recognize that common moral base. But in alliances we must always be careful just of what level the alliance is perceived. I will go and lecture to an atheist society, for example, but I will not lecture for them, because I am not an atheist. You see the difference. — John Lennox

We have to reformulate moral standards. Human beings have to impose limits on themselves when it comes to their actions and desires. There is a beautiful and very radical notion in the bible: Man is made in the image of God, no matter how sick, poor or damaged he is. We should try to transpose this maxim to our secular and constitutional self-image. — Gotz Aly

People should not rush to change religions. There is real value in finding the spiritual resources you need in your home religion. Even secular humanism has great spiritual resources; it is almost like a religion to me. — Dalai Lama

Nonbelievers are protected by the religion clauses of the Constitution not because secular humanism is a religion, which it is not, but because when the government acts on the basis of religion it discriminates against those who do not "believe" in the governmentally favored manner. — Norman Dorsen

If within the last century art conceived as an autonomous activity has come to be invested with an unprecedented stature - the nearest thing to a sacramental human activity acknowledged by secular society - it is because one of the tasks art has assumed is making forays into and taking up positions on the frontiers of consciousness (often very dangerous to the artist as a person) and reporting back what's there. — Susan Sontag

How do you live with evil? Art is traditionally - certainly with my secular background - the answer, but art is very self-referential, whereas religion claims to go beyond the bounds of human existence. — Yann Martel

The job of the architect becomes more difficult in this secular age. Where once he had a god to extol, he now has humans like himself; where once he had "he," he now has "she" and "they. — Nikki Giovanni

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