A Humanist Manifesto, also known as Humanist Manifesto I to distinguish it from later Humanist Manifestos was written in 1933 primarily by Raymond Bragg and was published with 34 signers. Unlike the later manifestos, the first talked of a new "religion" and referred to humanism as a religious movement meant to transcend and replace previous, deity-based religions. Nevertheless, it was careful not to express a creed or dogma. The document outlined a 15-point belief system, which, in addition to a secular outlook, opposed "acquisitive and profit-motivated society" and outlined a worldwide egalitarian society based on voluntary mutual cooperation.
Two manifestos followed — Humanist Manifesto II in 1973 and Humanism and Its Aspirations in 2003.
List of signers
Of the 65 people who were asked to sign, 34 accepted. About half were Unitarians. [citation needed] The 34 were:
- J.A.C. Fagginger Auer (Parkman Professor of Church History and Theology, Harvard University; Professor of church history, Tufts College.)
- E. Burdette Backus (Unitarian minister.)
- Harry Elmer Barnes (general editorial department, Scripps-Howard Newspapers.)
- L.M. Birkhead (the Liberal Center, Kansas City, Missouri.)
- Raymond B. Bragg (secretary, Western Unitarian Conference.)
- Edwin Arthur Burtt (professor of philosophy, Sage School of Philosophy, Cornell University.)
- Ernest Caldecott (minister, First Unitarian Church, Los Angeles, California.)
- A.J. Carlson (professor of physiology, University of Chicago.)
- John Dewey (Columbia University.)
- Albert C. Dieffenbach (former editor of the Christian Register.)
- John H. Dietrich (minister, First Unitarian Society, Minneapolis.)
- Bernard Fantus (professor of therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Illinois.)
- William Floyd (editor of the Arbitrator, New York City.)
- F.H. Hankins (professor of economics and sociology, Smith College.)
- A. Eustace Haydon (professor of history of religions, University of Chicago.)
- Llewellyn Jones (literary critic and author.)
- Robert Morss Lovett (editor, The New Republic; professor of English, University of Chicago.)
- Harold P. Marley (minister, the Fellowship of Liberal Religion, Ann Arbor, Michigan.)
- R. Lester Mondale (minister, Unitarian Church, Evanston, Illinois.)
- Charles Francis Potter (leader and founder, the First Humanist Society of New York, Inc.)
- John Herman Randall, Jr. (department of philosophy, Columbia University.)
- Curtis W. Reese (dean, Abraham Lincoln Center, Chicago.)
- Oliver L. Reiser (associate professor of philosophy, University of Pittsburgh.)
- Roy Wood Sellars (professor of philosophy, University of Michigan.)
- Clinton Lee Scott (minister, Universalist Church, Peoria, Illinois.)
- Maynard Shipley (president, the Science League of America.)
- W. Frank Swift (director, Boston Ethical Society.)
- V.T. Thayer (educational director, Ethical Culture Schools.)
- Eldred C. Vanderlaan (leader of the Free Fellowship, Berkeley, California.)
- Joseph Walker (attorney, Boston, Massachusetts.)
- Jacob J. Weinstein (rabbi; advisor to Jewish Students, Columbia University.)
- Frank S.C. Wicks (All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis.)
- David Rhys Williams (minister, Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York.)
- Edwin H. Wilson (managing editor, the New Humanist, Chicago, Illinois; minister, Third Unitarian Church, Chicago, Illinois.)
A 35th signature, that of of Alson Robinson, came in too late for it to be published with the other 34.