The truth claims of humanism are largely to do with our understanding of the world and ethics (how we relate to and treat each other and the natural world, and why). The source and evidence for both sets of truth claims lie in human experience and knowledge gained by the scientific method rather than in authority or tradition.

Humanists understand the world through observation and through reasoning and hypothesizing (not necessarily in that order), processes normally associated with science and not uniquely humanist, of course, though exclusive reliance on them does differentiate humanists from some religious believers.

The distinctive truth claims made by humanists are ethical: that our relationships and moral values are founded on human nature and experience alone and concern for others does not require an external source or authority.

The impact of humanist beliefs on people’s lives may be considerable and life-changing or relatively uncomplicated, depending on family and social background. To be a humanist in a very traditional family or a society where atheism or agnosticism is not understood or tolerated will be hard or even dangerous, as it once was in Europe. A humanist who has once been a devout believer may feel alienated from family and community and rather isolated. In some societies (e.g. the USA), atheists, agnostics and humanists can be distrusted and discriminated against in various ways.

Others find that their humanist beliefs are acknowledged and respected, even widely shared, and that “open” societies can be as accepting of humanism as they are of religions. A humanist society would put more stress on personal autonomy and responsibility than on tradition.

Humanism has no authorities or leaders in the usual senses of these words, that is, individuals, texts or organisations that command obedience or universal respect.

Individual humanists seek and find knowledge, wisdom and guidance from a variety of sources, but they choose for themselves how much weight to give these sources, judging them against their own experience and how applicable these ideas might be to their own lives and times.

For their understanding of the world, humanists will look to and respect the methods and findings of science (the scientific method); for their values and their understanding of other people, humanists might look to philosophers and writers, ancient and modern, testing their ideas against their own. The ultimate moral authority for a humanist will be not be a text or religious authority, but his or her own conscience, though this raises questions about what the conscience is and where its intuitions come from. Most humanists would locate the conscience in the mind, and the feelings of guilt or satisfaction associated with the conscience in our understanding of and empathy with other people.

Because there is no authority, there are no obligatory practices in humanism which would express authority or respect for authority. Indeed, many humanists distrust authority and obedience per se and rely instead on reason and evidence.

Humanists acknowledge and accept the compromises and sharing and limitations on some freedoms that living alongside others entails. But they tend to be individualistic, in the sense of thinking for themselves and evaluating sources of knowledge and wisdom for themselves, though not in the sense being especially self-interested. One favourite maxim of humanism is: “Think for yourself, act for others.”

As a result, humanists tend to love discussion and debate, both amongst themselves and with religious believers. But often, despite their different and varied sources and influences, humanists share many moral values not just with each other but with religious people. Humanists attribute this to our most important values arising out of shared human nature and needs.

The most important humanist beliefs are that that we can live good lives without religion or a belief in God, and that we can know what is good by using reason, experience and empathy with others, not by reference to religious rules and traditions. Most people who call themselves humanists:

1.  do not believe in God: they may be agnostic or atheist;
2.  believe that we understand the world and what is true though experience and reason;
3.  believe that people, whatever their backgrounds, have much in common. They believe that many, perhaps most, of our moral values are shared, because they are based on shared human nature and needs, and what works best when people have to live together.
4.  believe that this life is all there is – there is no afterlife and that the rewards and punishments for the way we live our lives are here and now; so we should make the best use we can of our lives.

Humanist beliefs are often arrived at independently, by evaluating the beliefs around one and thinking about how well they relate to the real world and one’s own understanding.

Some humanist parents pass on their beliefs, though usually within a liberal framework of education and discussion which would allow children to choose their own worldview.

Many humanists read or hear something – perhaps in a book, a broadcast, a conversation, a humanist funeral, or an RE or Philosophy lesson – which they realise expresses their own beliefs. “Now I know what I believe!” is a fairly common reaction to learning about humanism.

Beliefs translate into practices for humanists in two main ways:

1.  in trying to live good lives by the light of reason and experience;
2.  in trying to avoid hypocrisy; humanists are not “don’t knows”, and having arrived at their beliefs by thinking deeply, tend to be disinclined to compromise over matters such as participating in worship or calling themselves “Christians” for convenience. For this reason, humanists have developed their own ceremonies to mark the significant stages of life.

That said, there are no obligatory practices for humanists. They may choose to join a humanist organisation or to seek out other humanists for comradeship and support – or not; they may choose humanist ceremonies for rites of passage, or opt for civil ceremonies or none at all.

Humanists today do not worship, as they do not believe in a deity to be worshipped. However, the 19th century forerunners of contemporary humanism, Ethical Churches, were run like very liberal churches, with sermons, ministers and hymns, and the British Humanist Association has in its archives copies of the 1818 Ethical Church / Ethical Society hymn book “Social Worship”. Ethical Churches, later Ethical Societies, fulfilled a need for non-conformists and freethinkers to get together for an inspirational communal experience, usually on a Sunday when everyone else was at church. The focus was on doing good and inspirational ideas such as peace, liberty, justice, duty and courage. These were reflected in the language and format of meetings, though their roots in Christian services are evident, with references to God and Jesus alongside poems by Keats, Wordsworth and Tennyson set to music.

Later, Ethical Societies in the UK joined together as the Ethical Union, which in the 1950s became the British Humanist Association.

Humanists who choose to meet with other humanists today can do so freely. They meet in each other’s homes or in public spaces such as libraries, meeting rooms or pubs. Their meetings vary according to the interests of the group but might include visiting speakers, discussions on ethical subjects, or planning social events or fund-raising for charities, but not worship or prayers. The meetings are important to their members as spaces where they can meet like minds and find support for their humanist worldview.

Humanists may see life as a metaphorical journey, from youth to maturity, from ignorance to understanding, from aspiration and hope to fulfilment, but the journey is not a central concept or metaphor in humanism (despite some critics seeing humanism as embracing a naïve belief in human progress).

Humanists recognise the human need for rituals to mark the important stages of life. There are humanist ceremonies to celebrate birth and marriage, and in some countries, though not the UK, the arrival of adulthood. Humanist ceremonies are tailor-made for the people involved, and may involve readings, music, poetry as well as statements from those most closely involved and, possibly, a humanist celebrant. They will not include hymns, worship or prayer, though they may include time for quiet reflection or prayer for those who wish. They may also include traditional symbols such as flowers and rings.

Humanist baby-namings can take place anywhere, and are usually fairly informal occasions, in which family and friends welcome the new arrival and express their hopes and promises, in words such as: “We promise to use all our wisdom, patience and love to help you to fulfil yourself and help others throughout your life.” They may invite a friend to be the baby’s mentor or involve other children in the family in the ceremony.

Humanist weddings may be indoors or outdoors, formal or informal, traditional or very individual in style. The important thing is for the ceremony to suit the couple and add something personal, particularly the couple’s own readings and vows, to the necessary legal civil ceremony.

Humanists do not believe in an afterlife, and so humanist funerals look back rather than forward, celebrating the life of the deceased as well as offering an opportunity to grieve and say farewell. There will be no suggestion of life after death. A humanist celebrant may lead the funeral and offer guidance and suggestions to ensure that it reflects the beliefs, culture and personality, as well as the life and achievements, of the deceased.

Humanists have no particular festival days. Some humanists choose to celebrate New Year or “Winterval” rather than Christmas; some celebrate International Humanist Day on 21 June, or Human Rights Day in December, or on the birthday of Charles Darwin on 12 February, but none of these is obligatory. Many humanists simply enjoy public holidays such as Christmas and Easter in their own ways, and there are, of course, many non-religious festivals that include everyone: local fairs and celebrations and anniversaries, film and book festivals, Bonfire Night, et al. Humanists would like to see more of these, and some public celebrations that are meant for everyone, such as Remembrance Day on 11 November or “Peace Days” becoming more inclusive.

For humanists, the importance of festivals and holidays lies mostly in the rest and recreation and opportunities to be with friends and family that they bring. Some festivals are also an opportunity to remember a special person or event, or to celebrate human solidarity. Family celebrations such as birthdays and anniversaries are important to humanists too.

Humanists celebrate festivals, even ones that are religious in origin, in secular ways, and tend to stress the ancient (pre-Christian) seasonal origins of some holidays, for example those in the middle of winter or at the start of spring. They may well exchange cards and presents and have special meals and family traditions, just like most other people, but they will probably not join in with the more religious elements of some festivals.

International Humanist Day is important as the only day that celebrates humanism, though it is not a public holiday or a mandatory one for humanists. Human Rights Day is important to many humanists because humanists value human rights as an international acknowledgment of the shared human values that are central to humanism. The anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin is important because he provided an alternative explanation for the way life evolved that made it possible for people in the 19th century to envisage life without religion.

There are no particular rituals associated with humanist celebrations; how humanists mark these occasions will depend on the cultures and societies they belong to and on individual preferences.

Humanists have long recognised the need for rituals to mark the important stages of life, such as birth, marriage (and same-sex civil partnerships) and death, but humanist ceremonies are tailor-made for the people involved rather than following any particular tradition or pattern.

The most distinctive features of all humanist celebrations, whether personal, family, public or civic, are the absence of hymns, worship and prayer, and the individual nature of each ceremony.

There are no key stories in humanism, and no sacred stories.

On the other hand, it seems to be a general characteristic of human beings to enjoy and learn from stories, both true ones and fiction, and so stories of various kinds are important to humanists. Though they distinguish carefully between truth and fiction, humanists find psychological and moral truths in both.

Most humanists in Europe and North and South America are familiar with the stories of the Bible and the great works of mythology and literature that are part of our common culture and which encourage us to think about the human condition and our place in the universe. Humanists are capable of appreciating stories from the world’s religions without believing that they are necessarily literally true. Most humanists appreciate the power of imaginative fiction, poetry, myth, drama and metaphor to move us and persuade us to empathise with characters both like and unlike ourselves and to think about important moral questions. Teachers will be familiar with the way even quite banal stories can stimulate intense discussion about motivations and morality.

Historical and scientific narratives can also be inspirational for humanists, who, for example, find meaning and beauty in the immense “story” of evolution or in stories of human benevolence, courage and creativity.

Stories can be taken at face value, as mere entertainment – and humanists are unlikely to object to “mere” entertainment. But fictional and non-fictional narratives are often also a way of exploring the world and learning more about it, ourselves and other people. The works of Shakespeare, for example, are valued for their psychological and moral insights as well as for their drama, poetry and narrative drive.

Humanists also see the scientific account of evolution of life on Earth, and the accounts of the discoveries which led to it, as both true and fascinating, placing humankind firmly in the natural world (a place which is not seen by humanists as demeaning) and offering powerful explanations of human beings, their nature and behaviour, as well as of other species.

Humanists do not necessarily share stories, so their impact will tend to be personal rather than communal. As a group, however, they do attach great importance to the scientific accounts of life on Earth; the developing understanding of this in the 19th century was instrumental in moving many Christians away from literalist interpretations of the Bible, and for some caused a loss of religious faith and a shift towards humanism.

There is no great range of symbols unique to humanism and none of any great age. The best known is perhaps the “Happy Human” symbol. This was the winning design in a competition in the 1960s and has been adopted and adapted by humanist organisations all around the world. It was chosen for its happy appearance, happiness and humanity being central concepts to humanists, and for its H-shape, standing for humanism. The slightly higher arm on the left was intended to hold different national flags.

The meaning of the “Happy Human” symbol is easily understood, but it is a human creation and has no special or sacred status.

The “Happy Human” symbol is very distinctive, but humanists do not always choose to appear distinctive and many do not wear or display the symbol. It is useful as a well understood logo that links together many different humanist organisations around the world.

While they understand the symbolism and the need for symbolism of some faith groups, some humanists object to religious symbols being on permanent display in shared public spaces such as crematoria or schools because they feel excluded by them.

The “Happy Human” symbol has not yet permeated into art, music, literature and architecture, and on the whole humanists share many of the symbols and symbolic language of the rest of humanity, such as flowers signifying transience at funerals, but also representing beauty and nature at other times, rings and the stars suggesting eternity. We are all surrounded by artistic, literary and practical symbols (such as warning signs, brands and logos) – and it would seem to a humanist that using and understanding symbolic images and language are natural aspects of being human.