There is a philosophy of belief that indicates that humanity is more than just the puppets of some divine being or subject to a list of metaphysical oddities and creatures with their own designs. Instead, humanism believes that we are whole in and of ourselves and that our good behavior and civility is not reliant on anything except a true and honest desire to be decent people. Most of all this philosophy raises the importance of personal responsibility, if we behave as monsters, it is we who are monsters, there is no “The Devil Made Me Do It”. World Humanist Day celebrates this ideology and those who practice it, bringing reason and science to the world of faith and irrationality.
History of World Humanist Day
Celebrated on the day of the June solstice, World Humanist Day is a coming together of organizations and individuals which value science and rationalism over divinity and the supernatural. Created during the 1980s by people affiliated to American Humanist Association, the day is regarded as the only holiday for free thought in the world. In recent years, it has grown rapidly and even received television coverage in some nations.
The way in which it is celebrated differs greatly from country to country, with some groups hosting parties and others favoring conferences and activism. The main point of World Humanist Day is to try and make the world a better place by increasing the public’s knowledge of scientific methods in hope that it will dispel many age-old myths. Well-known supporters of World Humanist Day include the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, best-selling author Phillip Pullman, the philosopher AC Grayling and the comedian Tim Minchin.
How to celebrate World Humanist Day
The first and best way to celebrate World Humanist Day is to contemplate your own agency as a human being. What drives your choices and makes you be a decent person? Is it a fear that you’ll be punished by some higher power? Are you pursuing some great gift in the afterlife and this is what keeps you from murdering people and being deceitful? Or is it simply that to behave in a way that treats other people with decency and respect is enough and in fact the best, motivation we need? World Humanist Day encourages you to ask these questions and take some time to help your fellow man.
