Humanism - The Larger Picture
Our CAH group is an intersection of the American Humanist Association (AHA) and the Universalist Unitarian Association (UUA), at an interesting time. We have members in both, and are entering a period when we will make important decisions on how we proceed with our presently small group.
The AHA has about 12,000 members. The UUA has about 160,000 members, of whom more than half typically identify as Humanists when polled. The national UU Humanist Association (UUHA), although only having about 1000 members at present, is an active constituency within the UUA. AHA shared an outreach table with the UUHA at UUA General Assembly in June last year. Relations are good.
In the mid 1900s, Unitarians were in the forefront of modern Humanism. This position has diminished over the last several decades. However, the UUA now has a new President, Peter Morales, who is a Humanist.
The Humanist constituency in the UUA is waking up. There are more than 80,000 potentially Humanist UUA members ready to be awakened! This why we can say the CAH is at an interesting intersection with the AHA, which is now the largest Humanist organization in the US.
The AHA and the UUA HUUmanists both have great strengths to bring to a stronger Humanist voice in the US. Together we can have a near-term potential strength exceeding 90,000 voices if we work at it.
This country needs more rational thinking in guiding our affairs. The AHA and the UUA have different strengths to bring to the table, but are both strong on rational thinking and behavior. I would expect them to remain separate organizations, whatever happens, but their combined Humanist voice could be much more influential than two separate ones.
As a group that includes UUs and AHA members, we can achieve much in helping generate an influential Humanist voice.
Both the AHA and the UUHA are affiliated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union, which has about 5 million affiliated members world-wide. We can all be part of a powerful Humanist voice, nationally and internationally
Next AHA Annual convention will be in AHA, San Jose, CA, June 3-6, 2010, followed by the UUA one in Minneapolis, MN, June 23-27, 2010, followed by the next IHEU triennial convention in Oslo, Norway, Aug 12 – 14, 2011.
It would be great to have Reports from these Conventions at our CAH meetings.