Affirmations

Humanist, Nov-Dec, 2004 by Tony Hileman

Affirmations: Joyful and Creative Exuberance by Paul Kurtz (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2004), 123 pages, $10.00 paperback.

this new book is welcome addition to any Humanist library. Despite the flawed logic in defense of eupraxsophy--an ill-advised attempt to more adequately convey the meaning of Humanism by replacing it with a word that needs even more explaining--I found the small volume, recently distributed free nationwide, to be an interesting and breezy read that lives up to its claim of being a positive recitation of a multifaceted Humanism.

Setting forth his personal views in a professorial fashion, Kurtz affords the reader ample opportunity to pick and choose among the aphorisms of what he for decades referred to as secular humanism--an identification he uses less frequently now, going so far as to adopt the American Humanist Association's style of uppercasing Humanist in his prefatory. The book's many adages, while thought provoking, would have been more accessible and possibly had more impact if they'd been made briefer and crisper. But in the end Kurtz delivers.

He supports the cause of Humanism ("To be loyal to a course that outreaches a person's own parochial interests is to widen the range of one's horizons as a person"), reminds us of our own broad horizons ("We have obligations both to present and future generations, and to the preservation, enhancement, and well-being of all life on the planet Earth"), and closes with an eye toward tomorrow ("It is time that we turn away from the ancient dogmas and doctrine of the past, and reach out to a new future"). Those are things everyone in the community of reason can embrace and work toward together.

Tony Hileman is the executive director of the American Humanist Association.