The Eight Commitments are the basic groundwork on which we base our mission, and programs. They represent a national consensus developed over the many years that Ethical Humanism have exited. Membership in EHST does not require formal allegiance to these, but members understand that these are common commitments among the majority of members of the Ethical Humanism. The commitments were drafted and approved by our national organization, the American Ethical Union.
Ethics is central.
- The most central human issue in our lives involves creating a more humane world.
Ethics began as a choice.
- Creating a more humane world begins by affirming the need to make significant choices in our lives.
Self-reflection and our social nature require us to shape a more humane world.
- Growth of the human spirit is rooted in self-reflection, but can only come to full flower in community. This is because people are social, needing both primary relationships and larger supportive groups to become fully human. Our social nature requires that we reach beyond ourselves to decrease suffering and increase creativity in the world.
Democratic process is essential to our task.
- The democratic process is essential to a humane social order because respect for the worth of persons requires democratic process which elicits and allows a greater expression of human capacities.
We choose to treat each other as ends, not means.
- To enable us to be whole in a fragmented world, we choose to treat each other as unique individuals. having intrinsic worth.
We seek to act with integrity.
- Treating one another as ends requires that we learn to act with integrity. This includes keeping commitments, and being more open, honest, caring, and responsive.
We are committed to educate ourselves.
- Personal progress is possible, both in wisdom and in social life. Learning how to build ethical relationships and cultivate a humane community is a life-long endeavor.
Life itself inspires religious response.
- Although awareness of impending death intensifies the quest for meaning, and lends perspective to all our achievements, the mystery of life itself, the need to belong, to feel connected to the universe, and the desire for celebration and joy, are primary factors motivating human “religious” response.
