- Humanist Manifesto II
The second manifesto was written in
1973 byPaul Kurtz andEdwin H. Wilson , and was intended to update the previous one. It begins with a statement that the excesses ofNazism and world war had made the first seem "far too optimistic", and indicated a more hardheaded and realistic approach in its seventeen-point statement, which was much longer and more elaborate than the previous version. Nevertheless, much of the unbridled optimism of the first remained, with hopes stated that war would become obsolete and poverty would be eliminated.Many of the proposals in the document, such as opposition to
racism andweapons of mass destruction and support of stronghuman rights , are fairly uncontroversial, and its prescriptions thatdivorce andbirth control should be legal and thattechnology can improve life are widely accepted today in theWestern world . Furthermore, its proposal of aninternational court has since been implemented. However, in addition to its rejection of religion, various controversial stances are strongly supported, notably the right toabortion .Initially published with a small number of signatures, the document was circulated and gained thousands more, and indeed the AHA website encourages visitors to add their own name. A provision at the end that the signators do "not necessarily endors [e] every detail" of the document, but only its broad vision, no doubt helped many overcome reservations about attaching their name.
One of the oft-quoted lines comes from this manifesto is, "No deity will save us; we must save ourselves."
The Humanist Manifesto II first appeared in "The Humanist" September / October, 1973, when
Paul Kurtz andEdwin H. Wilson wereeditor andeditor emeritus respectively.The 120 signatories to the manifesto included the following:
From Britain:
*H. J. Blackham
*Brigid Brophy
*Francis Crick
*H. J. Eysenck
*Raymond Firth
*Antony Flew
*Hector Hawton
*James Hemming
*Margaret Knight
*Ritchie Calder From the
United States of America :
*Isaac Asimov
*Paul Edwards
*Sidney Hook
*Irving Horowitz
*Corliss Lamont
*B. F. Skinner
*Bertram Wolfe From
Yugoslavia
*Svetozar Stojanovic From the
USSR :
*Andrei Sakharov External links
* " [http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/manifesto2.html Humanist Manifesto II] "
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