Unlike the majority of human beings, ‘Natural Humans’ have evolved the ability to live deeply happy, fun and meaningful lives, while living in natural balance with other species, protecting and caring for the planet and its environment, never knowingly causing harm, and filling other human beings’ lives with love and kindness.
The title of this book, ‘How to Be a Natural Human’, recognises the fact that, in the opinion of Natural Humanists, all human beings have already evolved the ability to live their entire lives in these hugely positive ways, but that most never do.
Instead, they live their lives as if they’ve never given the possibility of living such a hugely positive lifestyle a moment’s thought, or as if they lack the ability to ever do so. Their lives strictly follow, and are restricted and confined by, society’s traditions and conventions, preventing them from living a truly meaningful and fulfilling life, based on freedom, happiness, love and kindness and on deep connections with other human beings, with other species of living things and with the planet, its environment and the elements.
This book details every Natural Humanist value and belief, gives the reasons for each of them, and explains why living a life guided by these beliefs, is the only way of fulfilling our absolute moral duty, to become the ‘Natural Humans’ that nature has already given every one of us the full ability to become.
Natural Humanists are a worldwide family of deeply loving, thoughtful, morally driven people, who are committed, throughout their lives, to making the world a better place for all of its human and non-human residents.
Although Natural Humanism is a branch of Humanism, which includes people with a variety of different morally-driven, but sometimes contradictory beliefs, every Natural Humanist shares the same values and beliefs, which are to do with how human beings interact with the planet, with the environment, with all other human beings, and with every other living thing on Earth, both flora and fauna.
Natural Humanists publicly declare their own personal values and beliefs and make a commitment to always try to live their lives by them. They also try to encourage others to do the same, and try to support, nurture and celebrate everybody who chooses to do so.
Although anybody who doesn’t share all of Natural Humanism’s specific set of values and beliefs, is not considered to be a Natural Humanist, very importantly, Natural Humanists respect, value and are supportive of people of all faiths and religions, and of all non-religious people, whose personal philosophy is based on love and compassion, including those who follow religions like Christianity (2,400 million people), Islam (1,900 million people), Hinduism (1,200 million people), Buddhism (500 million people), Sikhism (25–30 million people), Judaism (14.7 million people) and Jainism (4–5 million people)[i].
Like Jains, Natural Humanists are concerned about the welfare of every living thing, believe that every human being, and every other animal and plant, is of equal value, and is worthy of both respect and compassion, and, like Jains, they care deeply about the welfare of the planet and the universe, try to minimise their use of the world’s resources, and try to avoid ever becoming attached to material possessions[ii].
They acknowledge that humans are themselves, in every sense, animals and, as such, they have an absolute lifelong moral right to live a natural life, free from control and abuse from anybody who does not agree with how they choose to live their lives.
They acknowledge that, in the UK, once considered to be a Christian country, only 46.2% of the population now describe themselves as “Christian”, according to the 2021 UK census[iii], with 37.2% describing themselves as having no religion, 74,000 people declaring themselves to be Pagan and 10,000 describing themselves as Humanists.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that every human being who believes in any God or Gods, only has these beliefs because they are victims of well-meaning, but nevertheless potentially significantly harmful grooming, by parents, friends, religious organisations, schools and the media, throughout their life, but particularly when they are at their most vulnerable to this grooming, during their childhood.
They acknowledge that religious grooming results in human beings’ natural behaviours being unhealthily restricted, significantly restricts free-thought, curiosity, and innovative ideas and ways of living, and reduces human beings’ ability to see the world in the way it truly is, and to be able to interact with it in healthy and natural ways.
Nevertheless, they believe that people of all faiths, religions and personal philosophies should be respectful and tolerant of each other and should work together, for the common good, while acknowledging and celebrating any similarities that exist in their values and beliefs.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that there is more that unites people of all religions and moral beliefs than divides them, and they strongly believe in encouraging people of all religions, to adopt into their own lives, as many Natural Humanist values, beliefs and practices as possible. They seek to spread Natural Humanist beliefs widely, worldwide, and are certain that this will make the world a far better, more equal and much happier place to live, for everybody and for every living thing.
Evolution
Natural Humanists do not believe in a ‘creator’ or ‘God’ but believe that the Earth was created by the ‘Big Bang’, 13,800 million years ago[iv], when a tiny, dense fireball exploded and created the universe, and that it wasn’t until 4,200 million years ago that life on Earth first came into existence[v],[vi].
They recognise that the first species on the planet was a distant relative of every single living thing on Earth, and of every species that’s now extinct, from bacteria, algae and fungi, to fish, sea-creatures, worms, insects, plants, trees, birds and animals[vii]. They therefore recognise and celebrate the fact that, because of this, all living things on Earth, including every single human being, are related, so are effectivelyall a part of the same global family, which all human beings have a strong moral duty to support and protect.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that evolution only occurs, over hundreds of millions of years, because each living thing’s genes differ slightly from those of their parents, with some of these genes being beneficial, so they’re passed on to future offspring, and some not being beneficial, so they’re not passed on, which means that, over time, any new characteristics that help a species to survive, in the environment in which they live, or which increase their ability to reproduce, become more common within their species, until, eventually, the combination of all of these changes results in a completely new species being created.
Incidentally, to Natural Humanists, the answer to the question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” is simple. It was the egg, as the very first chicken egg wouldn’t have been laid by a chicken, it would have been laid by a member of the species which chickens evolved from!
Natural Humanists recognise that, with human beings, each newborn baby has an average of 60 differences in their genetic DNA, that do not exist in either of their parents DNA, but that the actual number of these differences gradually increases from around 30 to around 90, as the age of the baby’s parents at the time of conception increases, and around 80% of these differences are due to the baby’s father[viii], so potentially, the chances that human beings will evolve new beneficial characteristics, gets increasingly higher, the more males a girl or woman successfully ‘mates’ with, and the older each of these males are.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that the Earth’s natural species evolved gradually over millions of years and that, according to research[ix],[x], red algae first existed (at least 1600 million years ago), followed by green algae (1500 million years ago), fungi (1200 million to 1500 million years ago), sea animals (574 million years ago), fish (around 530 million years ago), plants (515 million years ago)[xi], insects (about 480 million years ago), anthropods (over 400 million years ago, which were the first animals to exist on land and now include spiders, crabs and insects)[xii], vertebrates (which have a backbone and first left the sea and started to move about on land about 390 million years ago, just before trees first existed on Earth, which was around 385 million years ago[xiii]), bird-like, feathered theropods appeared (around 165 million years ago) and eventually true, aerodynamic, feathered birds (around 150 million years ago), followed by flowering plants (125 million years ago[xiv]), and grasses (70 million years ago[xv]). Importantly, Natural Humanists recognise that every one of these vastly different species, as well as human beings, all evolved from the same first common ancestor.
For over 90% of the time that our planet has existed, it was rocky and barren, similar to the planet Mars, and it was only about 515 million years ago[xvi], that soil started to cover the land, making it suitable for plants to grow, and for other forms of life to live in this soil, or to feed on or live in the trees, plants and fungi that grew in it.
This soil was created by plants, which gradually evolved from ancestors of freshwater algae, allowing them to be able to live on land[xvii]. Each of these plants eventually rotted at the end of their life, creating soil, or they were defaecated by animals which fed on these plants, again making soil. The existence of this soil eventually allowed huge forests to cover the planet, which allowed plants and trees to constantly convert CO2 to oxygen, without which, none of us would be able to breathe today[xviii], just one example of the inter-connectedness of all species on Earth that Natural Humanists value and celebrate.
One World
All Natural Humanists consider the whole world to be their home, and believe that countries’ borders artificially divide human beings, prevent them from uniting for the common good, and lead to unhealthy competition, to conflicts and wars and to some countries and regions being obscenely wealthy, while others experience extreme poverty and struggle to survive.
They acknowledge that, 240 million years ago, there was only one continent on our planet, called Pangaea,which existed for around 100 million years[xix], without any country or regional borders at all, surrounded by one, single, enormous ocean, until, gradually, it started to split apart and spread out around the globe, creating, over millions of years, the variety of different continents and islands we know today, containing the hundreds of different countries we, as humans, have chosen to create.
They acknowledge that Africa didn’t become a separate continent until 300 million years ago, followed by South America 225 million years ago, North America 200 million years ago, Mauritia 60-70 million years ago, Asia 66 million years ago, Australia 10 million years ago, and Europe a mere 5 million years ago[xx]. They acknowledge that these continents continue to move today, and, in around 250 million years, this same land will go on to form brand new continents[xxi].
Natural Humanists recognise that every human being and every other species of living thing on Earth has evolved from common ancestors, but they also acknowledge that every country and continent on Earth has ‘evolved’ from the same single supercontinent, so is part of one global ‘family’ of nations, as is every one of their inhabitants, human and otherwise, something that they will continue to be, for as long as our planet exists.
The Human Family Tree
Natural Humanists acknowledge that human beings themselves, gradually evolved from a succession of 47 different species, all of which are part of human beings’ own direct family tree, starting, 4200 million years ago, with the first common ancestor, from which all life on Earth evolved, including all species that are now extinct[xxii].
For over 99.99% of the time that our own direct ancestors existed on Earth, human beings (homo sapiens) hadn’t even started to exist, so virtually every one of our ancestors belonged to different species altogether.
During the extremely long journey to eventually becoming human, our first direct ancestors gradually evolved into:[xxiii]
- Archaea (3700 million years ago)
- Eukaryota (2100 million years ago)
- Opidoma (the first ancestor we didn’t share with plants, 1540 million years ago)
- Amorphea
- Obazoa (the first ancestor we didn’t share with amoebas, 1300 million years ago)
- Opisthokonts (the first ancestors we didn’t share with fungi)
- Holozoa (1100 million years ago)
- Filozoa
- Choanozoa (900 million years ago)
- Animalia (the last ancestor that humans shared with every other animal on Earth, 610 million years ago)
- Eumetazoa
- Parahoxozoa
- Bilateria (worms, 560 million years ago)
- Nephrozoa
- Deuterostomes
- Chordata (vertebrates, with backbones, 530 million years ago)
- Vetebrata (fish and vertebrates, 505 million years ago)
- Gnathostomata (jawed fish, 460 million years ago)
- Teleostomi (bony fish, 420 million years ago)
- Sarcopterygii (lobed finned fish)
- Tetrapoda (animals with four legs, 395 million years ago)
- Amniota (animals with four legs that only live on land, 340 million years ago)
- Synapsida (proto-mammals, 308 million years ago)
- Therapsid (with limbs beneath their bodies, 280 million years ago)
- Mammalia (mammals, 220 million years ago)
- Theria (mammals that give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs, 160 million years ago)
- Eutheria (125 million years ago)
- Boreoeutheria (supraprimates, which now include most hooved mammals, most carnivorous mammals, cetaceans and bats, 101-124 million years ago)
- Eurachontoglires (supraprimates, primates, coulgos, tree shrews, rodents and rabbits, 100 million years ago)
- Eurachonta (primates, colugos and tree shrews, 80-99 million years ago)
- Primatomorpha (79.6 million years ago)
- Primates (66 million years ago)
- Haplorrhini (tarsiers and monkeys, including apes, 63 million years ago)
- Simiiformes (the first ancestor we didn’t share with tarsiers, 40 million years ago)
- Catarrhini (apes and old-world monkeys, 30 million years ago)
- Hominoidea (great apes and gibbons, 20-22 million years ago)
- Hominidae (great apes, humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, 15-20 million years ago)
- Homininae (chimpanzees and gorillas, 12-14 million years ago)
- Hominini (the first ancestor we didn’t share with gorillas, 8-10 million years ago)
- Hominina (the first ancestor we didn’t share with chimpanzees, 4-8 million years ago)
- Ardipithecus (4-6 million years ago)
- Australopithecus (3 million years ago)
- Homo Habilis (the first primitive species of humans, 2.5 million years ago)
- Homo Erectus
- Homo Heidelbergensis
- Homo Sapiens (our own species of modern human beings, 200,000-300,000[xxiv] years ago)[xxv].
Human beings, just like all other species of living thing, are categorised according to certain of our characteristics or origins, for example, we belong to ‘the ‘sapiens’ species, the ‘homo’ genus, the ‘great apes’ family, the ‘primate’ order (in the sub-group ‘hominins’), the ‘mammal’ class, the ‘chordate’ phylum, the ‘animal’ kingdom and the ‘Eukarya’ domain. Human beings are also vertebrates, just like other mammals, including antelopes, apes, camels, cattle, cats, dogs, donkeys, horses and zebras [xxvi], so, just like them, we have a backbone and we’re warm-blooded.
Today, every living thing on Earth, and every living thing that’s now extinct, including dodos and dinosaurs, is either a ‘prokaryote’, or, like human beings, is a ‘eukarya’, but all eukarya, including all human beings, evolved from prokaryotes,billions of years ago[xxvii]. Prokaryotes are either bacteria, or they’re archaea[xxviii], which are single-celled microorganisms, like algae, which are similar in size and shape to bacteria, but have different cell membranes and different molecules. Every living thing on Earth, including every human being, is therefore a distant relative of algae and bacteria, so bear that in mind the next time you reach for the anti-bacterial spray!
Natural Humanists value very highly the fact that every species of living thing that currently exists, or used to exist on Earth, shares one or more, or most, of our own human ancestors, and that, even if some then went on to evolve into other species which do not form part of our own direct ancestry, on the way to becoming the species that they are today, or on their way to becoming species that are now extinct, like Neanderthals, they’re still part of our historic, global, natural extended family, including all animals, plants, fungi, protists (including amoeba) and prokaryotes (including bacteria) on Earth.
Choosing to Evolve into Natural Humans
Natural Humanists acknowledge that it’s only because of our shared ancestors, that we, as human beings, have been able to evolve, over millions of years, into the most advanced and intelligent species on Earth thatwe are today, allowing us, for the first time in our history, to make the conscious choice, to allow our thinking and behaviour to significantly ‘evolve’, until we become the ‘Natural Humans’ that we’re all destined to become.
Natural Humanists believe that, because humans are the most intelligent, compassionate and knowledgeable species on Earth, they have a very strong, lifelong moral duty to use intelligence, compassion and knowledge, to ensure that they never cause unnecessary harm to any other living thing, or to the planet or its environment. Very importantly, they also believe they have a duty to ‘make good’ the huge amount of damage that human beings have done to the planet, and to all of its other natural inhabitants, throughout human history.
They believe that humans have evolved to become capable of extreme kindness, and to have an almost infinite capacity for love, but that they can only take the final step to ‘evolve’ into the hugely compassionate and caring creatures that evolution has given them the capacity to become, if they make a conscious choice and firm commitment to do so.
They believe that the decision to ‘fully evolve’, is always a conscious choice, and that any human being who does not make this active choice, and decides, instead, to give-in to primitive natural drives, and outdated beliefs and behaviours, which are no longer relevant or beneficial at this stage of our evolution, has failed to fully evolve into a ‘Natural Human’, and has chosen not to fulfil their full evolutionary potential, making them a significant threat to the planet, to its environment, to other human beings and to all other living things.
Natural Humanists believe that a conscious choice not to fully evolve in this way is itself immoral, but also believe that humans who have taken the conscious choice to fully evolve, have a moral duty, throughout their lives, to encourage, support and assist other human beings to take this final step in their own evolutionary journey, and to always celebrate the efforts and achievements of those who do.
Natural Humanists believe that to choose not to take the conscious choice to allow our thinking, behaviour and lifestyle to reflect the capacity that humans have evolved, for compassion, intelligence and the ability to accrue and utilise knowledge, is to deny human beings’ true natural humanity, and to deny that we have evolved these abilities at all.
It would be ridiculous for humans to walk on 4 limbs, when we have evolved the ability to walk on 2, or to live in the sea, when we’ve evolved the ability to live on land and, in the same way, it’s ridiculous to be a slave to our primitive human drives, which are no longer relevant or appropriate and which, in fact, can be significantly harmful in the modern world, to ourselves, to other humans, to other living things and to the planet, when we have evolved the ability to safely control and resist these primitive drives and to live more moral, far less harmful and much more happy and fulfilled and meaningful lives as a result.
Natural Humanists believe that human behaviour should only ever be considered to be ‘natural’, if it’s governed by an ‘evolved’ natural human’s intelligent and sensitive judgment and assessment of any particular situation. They therefore consider the instinctive and possibly toxic behaviour of somebody who’s not chosen to ‘evolve’ into such a ‘natural human’, to be completely ‘unnatural’ for our species, and to be hugely immoral, as such behaviour is invariably governed solely by primitive instincts or learned societal norms, and has resulted from a failure to acknowledge that all human beings have the full natural ability to choose to be advanced and compassionate ‘Natural Humans’, resulting in behaviour which, at our current highly advanced stage of evolution, is now completely ‘unnatural’ for a member of our species.
To Natural Humanists, the definition of ‘human’ is the same as their understanding of the term ‘Natural Human’, so, to them, it’s ‘inhuman’ for anybody to kill animals or to be violent or aggressive, it’s ‘inhuman’ not to be polyamorous, kind, empathetic and affectionate, and it’s ‘inhuman’ not to want to share every part of the planet fairly with every other species.
Instinctive Behaviour
Animals are governed by their intuition, to do things like build nests, to mate, and to defend their territory, and, as human beings are also animals, we too have instincts which control our thinking and behaviour.
Instincts are involuntary, pre-programmed patterns of behaviour that are found in every member of a particular species. They’re not behaviours that we’ve learned from our own experience, or from observing others, they’re ‘hard-wired’ into us from the moment we’re born, and they’re something we’ve inherited from our parents, and from millions of years of our ancestors.
Natural Humanists recognise that all animals, including all human beings, have aggressive instincts, as well as a drive to selfishly meet their own needs, and a drive to take risks. They recognise that these instincts can sometimes lead human beings to be involved in activities which are considered socially unacceptable, or even illegal in today’s world, but, regardless of this, they recognise that all such behaviour is, unquestionably, completely natural.
As human beings, we may learn, during our lives, to repress some of these instinctive behaviours, in certain situations, but these instincts always exist within us and are a significant part of what makes us human.
For example, humans have natural instincts to be curious, to escape when trapped, to fear danger or the unknown, to be repulsed by things like gone-off food, which could harm our health, to be angry, to be jealous, to feel shame, to be self-assertive, to be submissive, to have sex, to create and nurture offspring, to protect the weak or vulnerable, to be clean, to seek out food when hungry and to laugh[xxix],[xxx].
Natural Humanists recognise that one of the strongest instinctive drives of all is to love, and to be loved, including the strong drive to show and experience physical affection. We naturally crave love, so not being able to love or be loved can be very distressing to human beings. Other strong instinctive drives in human beings, which are of particular importance to many Natural Humanists, are the drive to be of value to others, and to the world in general, the drive to ‘do good’, and the drive to improve things and make things better.
However, human beings aren’t just basic organisms which respond automatically, in pre-defined ways, to instinctive drives and to things that happen in their environment, they’re hugely complex and intelligent individuals and, as such, as well as having instinctive genetic ‘drives’, every human being also has very important human ‘needs’.
Human Needs
The psychologist, Abraham Maslow, defined a variety of ‘needs’ that all human beings share, which he believed were in a hierarchy. In other words, he believed that some needs were more urgent or important, and that it was necessary to satisfy these needs, before focussing on meeting ‘higher’ needs. This hierarchy of needs included[xxxi]:
- Biological and physiological needs: the need for things like air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep and sex[xxxii]. Natural Humanists disagree with Maslow here, in that they do not consider sex to be a human need at all. They consider love, physical affection, emotional intimacy and experiencing other human beings in their natural naked state to all be very important human needs, but consider sex to be merely a strong instinctive human drive. They believe that, however wonderfully pleasurable it might be, nobody needs sex any more than they need chocolate!
They recognise that the strong instinctive drive to have sex, motivates us to reproduce and to continue the human species and facilitate the continuation of human evolution. It strongly ‘rewards’ us for giving in to it, with wonderful sensual pleasure and orgasms, which encourage us to repeat it and seek it out again in the future. However, as it can be such a strong drive, it can also lead to us having sex when it’s not in our own or the other person’s best interests, can lead to an unhealthy focus on sex in our lives, or can lead to unplanned pregnancy, which increases the already harmfully excessive human global population.
However, despite all of this, Natural Humanists believe that sex is a beautiful, fun and extremely pleasurable way of sharing affection, physical closeness, touch and sensual pleasure, and of encouraging openness and emotional intimacy, so they believe that human beings should share it frequently and widely with as many people they love as possible, but only when this is a conscious mutual choice, not just an instinctive reaction to a biological drive.
They believe that sex should never occur when those involved are not capable of meaningfully consenting to it, for example when intoxicated, and that, ideally, sex should always involve physical affection, mutual respect, kindness and love. Natural Humanists do not value, and always try to avoid, casual sex or any superficial relationship, which they believe devalue both or all of those involved.
- Safety needs: the need to be protected from the elements, to be free from fear, and the need for security, stability, order and rules[xxxiii].
- Love and belonging needs: the need to give and receive affection and love, the need for acceptance, friendship, intimacy and trust, and the need to be part of a family[xxxiv].
- Esteem needs: the need for both self-esteem (achieving goals, gaining independence, mastering skills and having self-respect) and to be accepted and valued by others (including being recognised for our efforts, achievements, qualities and skills and being important in other people’s lives)[xxxv].
- Cognitive needs: the need to constantly increase our knowledge and our understanding of life, and of the world, and the need to be curious, to explore, to experiment with new things, to experience personal growth, and to gain a deeper understanding of life and find a meaning in life[xxxvi].
- Aesthetic needs: valuing, seeking out, and appreciating physical and natural beauty, in all its forms, and gaining pleasure and satisfaction from seeking out new experiences that are beautiful, and are potentially emotionally and psychologically rewarding[xxxvii], which for Natural Humanists, includes experiencing the full range of natural, rural environments, species and elements and the natural beauty and huge variety of the human body, but it can also include appreciating or creating art, music, dance and other forms of beauty and creative expression.
- Self-actualisation needs: finding a meaning in life that’s important to us, making and achieving goals that allow us to reach our full potential as human beings, rather than just existing, constantly trying to achieve personal growth, and having deep and intense experiences, which lead to lasting feelings of wonder, joy and euphoria, while allowing us to connect deeply with the world, and to notice and value everything about it[xxxviii].
- Transcendence needs: the need to connect with a higher reality or purpose[xxxix], which for Natural Humanists includes altruism, connecting deeply with their values and beliefs, in all areas of their life, connecting deeply with nature and with other human beings, supporting, nurturing and celebrating other people, and helping them to achieve their potential, expanding human knowledge, and achieving a deep sense of belonging and unity with the natural world, including by having intense and varied, deeply loving and intense romantic and sexual experiences, and intense and meaningful experiences with nature[xl].
Natural Humanists believe that, when basic needs for food, warmth and shelter have been satisfied, the most important human needs are for love, physical affection, emotional intimacy and helping to make the world a better place.
They also believe that sex, although not, in their opinion, a need in itself, is such a hugely pleasurable way of sharing love, kindness and physical affection, and such an extremely strong instinctive drive, that sharing mutually pleasurable sensual and orgasmic loving sexual experiences with a large number of people is crucial, both to increase their own happiness, and to allow them, as an act of kindness, to share deep, meaningful happiness and human connection with a large number of other people. Consequently, detailed discussion of all of these crucially important parts of our humanity will, quite rightly, take up a significant proportion of this book.
Spirituality
Whether Natural Humanists are considered to be ‘spiritual’, depends on which definition of the word ‘spiritual’ is used. They do not believe that any human being has a ‘soul’, or a ‘spirit’ which is separate from them, or exists after they die, and they do not believe in the paranormal.
They believe in loving widely and deeply, but do not believe that any human being loves with their ‘heart’. They believe that everything that makes a person human, involves their brain, and that when that brain dies, that person, as opposed to their physical body, ceases to exist, other than in the memories of those whose lives they have touched, and in the positive or negative ways that their existence has affected those who are left behind, including other human beings, other species and even the planet and its environment.
They’re ‘spiritual’ in that they do not value material or physical things, but, instead, value the forming of deep and meaningful connections with other human beings, and with nature, throughout their lives. They believe that all human beings are connected, and that all living things are one global family.
They consider themselves, to quote an eastern definition of spirituality, to be ‘seekers of truth’, throughout their lives, because they acknowledge there is no ‘great plan’, and no definitive definition of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Consequently, they believe that all human beings, separately and together, have a duty to constantly redefine ‘the truth’, and to always try to live their lives in positive ways, which cause as little harm and as much happiness as possible, and that they also have a strong lifelong moral duty to care for and to protect other human beings, other living things and the planet.
They believe in experiencing emotions deeply, and in recognising and caring about the emotions of every other human being and living creature.
They believe that every human being has a significance that’s beyond their mundane everyday existence, and that they’re a significant part of the constant variation and evolution of our planet and our universe.
Religion
Because Natural Humanism is a philosophy, based on a set of shared values, beliefs and behavioural norms, which guides all aspects of Natural Humanists’ lives and creates solidarity between people[xli],[xlii], it can, legally, be classed as a religion, and any abuse of Natural Humanists because of their beliefs, can be classed as a religious hate-crime.
They acknowledge that the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights[xliii], requires that all human beings should: have the right to change their religion or beliefs at any time, the freedom (alone or with others, and in public or in private) to manifest this religion or belief (in teaching, practice, communal discussion and celebration of their beliefs, and observance) and should have the freedom of opinion and expression (including the freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers), as well as the right to associate with anybody of their choice, to experience no discrimination of any kind (including because of their beliefs), to receive no cruel, or degrading treatment, to be seen as equal and be entitled to equal protection by the law (without any discrimination), and the right to privacy and to be free from attacks on their honour or reputation.
According to the UK’s own constitution, everybody has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and has the right to teach, practice and observe their religion or belief, either alone or ‘in community with’ others, and in public or in private, and also has the freedom to change their religion or belief at any time.
Article 9 of the UK’s Human Rights Act 1998 [xliv], protects citizens’ right to freedom of thought, belief and religion, including the right to change religion or beliefs at any time, to wear ‘religious’ clothing, to put any thoughts and beliefs into action and to talk about, preach, and celebrate those beliefs. It protects people of all religions, as well as people with non-religious beliefs, as long as these beliefs are serious, concern important aspects of human life or behaviour, are sincerely held, and are worthy of respect in a democratic society[xlv], which includes beliefs like veganism, pacifism, atheism, agnosticism and Natural Humanism.
Public authorities can only legally interfere with the right to manifest or show thoughts, belief and religion if it’s lawful, necessary and proportionate to do so, in order to protect public safety, public order, health or morals, and the rights and freedoms of other people (with ‘proportionate’ meaning it’s appropriate and no more than is necessary to address the problem concerned) [xlvi].
The UK has also declared all religions and any of a person’s religious or philosophical beliefs to be a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 [xlvii], which makes it unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly against (or to harass or victimise) people because of such a religion or belief, or because they associate with someone who holds a particular religion or belief. This includes discrimination in employment, and the provision of goods, services and facilities and also includes discrimination involving actions and attitudes, based on assumptions and stereotypes about members of a particular faith or belief group, rather than based on evidence about that particular individual[xlviii].
Evangelism
Natural Humanism is a ‘religion’ based on passionately-held shared beliefs and, as such, is an ‘evangelical’ religion, in that Natural Humanists believe that they have a moral duty, throughout their lives, not only to practice their religion, but also to share their strong values and beliefs with others, which fits in with common definitions of the word ‘evangelical’, including that it involves having very strong beliefs and often trying to persuade other people to have the same beliefs [xlix] and it involves passionate advocacy or support of a particular cause[l].
Hearts and Minds Wide Open
While reading this book, we ask that you try to put to one side all of your preconceptions and to read each chapter with a completely open mind, remaining open to changing your own beliefs, changing the way that you think about things, and perhaps even changing the way that you live every part of your life.
Natural Humanists never automatically accept ‘received wisdom’. Instead, throughout their lives, they take the position that, without exception, absolutely every established belief and tradition, and every single thing that society, or the State, or religious organisations, or even their own friends and family, ever think, believe or do, is probably wrong, unnatural or immoral, unless they, personally, have thought through each of these things thoroughly, carefully, and with an open and critical mind, and have decided for themselves that they’re true and decent, that they’re relevant in the modern world, and that they’re the very best way to think, to behave and to structure our society. They believe that after making up their own minds on each of these things independently, they should then discuss them with other open-minded, open-hearted, sensitive and intelligent people, to determine whether their decisions about each of these matters stand up to scrutiny, before deciding whether it’s appropriate to revise their own views.
However, even after coming to their own conclusions, and even after revising them, they commit to always, for the rest of their lives, remaining fully open to the possibility of changing their own mind on each of these matters, never due to societal pressure, but always due to new information, new research, or due to their own, or other people’s life experiences.
They believe that nothing is right, unless they know it to be right and that nothing is wrong just because others believe it to be so.
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References
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