Abstract
A 1965 editorial in the Humanist magazine called on humanists to march, boycott, and speak out against “dehumanizing qualities of our civilization … to ‘put up’ or remain silent about [its] relevance as an alternative to traditional religion.” Two years later Humanist editor Paul Kurtz stated that while radical in yesteryear humanism was without a clearly defined moral program. Examining humanist thought on race and racism in the 1960s, 1970s, and today, a comparison can be made between the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and Black Lives Matter, which leads to the proposition that the past can inform a radical humanism for the future. Humanists must ask, Is our highest priority the human individual and human flourishing, or is it the nontheist and the rejection of a supernatural basis for morality? Do we favor supporting those who seek to do the right thing without God over doing the right thing?
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Notes
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Bardi, J. (2018). Contextualizing a Radical Humanism: Issues of Race in the Humanist Fifty Years Ago and Today. In: Pinn, A. (eds) Humanism and the Challenge of Difference. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94099-1_8
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