Religious Humanism?

[Qymaen]

What exactly is religious humanism? I have an idea, but was wondering if someone could provide a clear answer.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

It's practically Humanism with use of religion to pertain their needs.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I see it as embracing and appreciating the qualities of being human through reflection. Like that found in art and music.

 

[Marcion]

I would prefer the name 'Spiritual Humanism', I consider myself a spiritual humanist.
Not only human beings want to develop, all living creatures do, so I don't think human well-being should be at the centre of all endeavours.

 

[Willamena]

What exactly is religious humanism? I have an idea, but was wondering if someone could provide a clear answer.

Humanism sprang from three important philosophical ideas: the idea that a conscious mind ('man') is the only determiner of truth in the world; the idea that man begins with a clean slate and, through learning, constructs himself from the ground up (nurture rather than nature); and the idea that, as the only determiner of truth, man is the primary authority in the world.

In a religious sense, it is clear that this idea strikes at the heart of many Western religious concepts: god or church is authority and truth; blind obedience; corporeal incarnation; predestination; a supernatural realm; etc.--but leaves room for other religious concepts to be strengthened: the brotherhood of 'man'; the equality of mankind; salvation through works; salvation through the virtue of 'good will'.

Individualism is a consequence of this reasoning. For the Ancients, the cosmos is infinitely more significant than its constituent parts. This can be described as 'holism', deriving from the Greek holos ('all', 'everything'). For the Moderns, there is no longer anything sacred about the All, since there is no longer any divinely ordained and harmonious cosmos within which we must find our place. Only the individual counts: we no longer have the right to sacrifice the individual in order to maintain the universal (the All), for the latter is no longer anything other than an aggregate of individuals, within which each human being remains 'an end to himself.'

So, the term individualism is far from meaning egotism, as is commonly thought; on the contrary, it is the birth of a moral sphere within which individuals--persons--are valued by their capacity to break free of the logic of their natural egoism, in order to construct a man-made ethical universe.

'A Brief History of Thought', Luc Ferry

 

[dsaly1969]

Religious humanism is basically naturalistic humanism wrapped up in a "church-like" structure. You can often find religious humanists among Unitarian Universalists, Ethical Culture, Humanistic Judaism, some forms of Buddhism, the Churches of Freethought in Texas, and Nontheist or Naturalist Friends (these are liberal Quakers who are nontheistic).

Probably the majority of humanists are secular. The philosophy is the same just the "delivery system" is different. Generally religious humanists are looking for the social and community aspect that is offered by more traditional churches and religions.

 

[StarryNightshade]

From what I gather, a religious humanist is one who believes in God/a particular religion, but also believes that the advancement of mankind is more important than obsessing over the afterlife or whether or not certain rituals and practices will please God.

 

[dsaly1969]

No, the vast majority of modern humanists (including "religious" humanists such as Ethical Culture, humanist UU's, Neo-Confucianists, etc.) are nontheists - typically atheists or agnostics. The ONLY difference between secular and religious humanists is one uses a church-type structure to develop community and the other does not.