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Secular humanism
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===Ethical movement=== [[File:Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London 07.jpg|thumb|[[Conway Hall]] in London]] Another important precursor was the [[ethical movement]] of the 19th century. The [[South Place Ethical Society]] was founded in 1793 as the [[South Place Chapel]] on [[Finsbury Square]], on the edge of the [[City of London]],<ref name="City of London">[https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/planning/heritage-and-design/conservation-areas/Documents/Finsbury%20Circus%20Character%20Summary.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054149/https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/planning/heritage-and-design/conservation-areas/Documents/Finsbury%20Circus%20Character%20Summary.pdf|date=4 March 2016}}, City of London page on Finsbury Circus Conservation Area Character Summary.</ref> and in the early nineteenth century was known as "a radical gathering-place".<ref>''The Sexual Contract'', by Carole Patema. p. 160</ref> At that point it was a [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches|Unitarian]] chapel, and that movement, like Quakers, supported female equality.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.keele.ac.uk/history/currentundergraduates/tltp/WOMEN/RENDELL/CORE1.HTM#Title| title = "Women's Politics in Britain 1780β1870: Claiming Citizenship" by Jane Rendall, esp. "72. The religious backgrounds of feminist activists"}}</ref> Under the leadership of Reverend [[William Johnson Fox]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ethicalsoc.org.uk/history.htm |title=Ethical Society history page |publisher=Ethicalsoc.org.uk |access-date=2013-09-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000118230842/http://www.ethicalsoc.org.uk/history.htm |archive-date=18 January 2000}}</ref> it lent its pulpit to activists such as [[Anna Wheeler (author)|Anna Wheeler]], one of the first women to campaign for feminism at public meetings in England, who spoke in 1829 on "rights of women". In later decades, the chapel changed its name to the South Place Ethical Society, now the [[Conway Hall Ethical Society]]. Today Conway Hall explicitly identifies itself as a humanist organisation, albeit one primarily focused on concerts, events, and the maintenance of its humanist library and archives. It bills itself as "The landmark of London's independent intellectual, political and cultural life." In America, the ethical movement was propounded by [[Felix Adler (professor)|Felix Adler]], who established the [[New York Society for Ethical Culture]] in 1877.<ref>Howard B. Radest. 1969. ''Toward Common Ground: The Story of the Ethical Societies in the United States.'' New York: Fredrick Unger Publishing Co.</ref> By 1886, similar societies had sprouted up in Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis.<ref name=Campbell>Colin Campbell. 1971. ''Towards a Sociology of Irreligion.'' London: MacMillan Press.</ref> These societies all adopted the same statement of principles: *The belief that morality is independent of theology; *The affirmation that new moral problems have arisen in modern industrial society which have not been adequately dealt with by the world's religions; *The duty to engage in philanthropy in the advancement of morality; *The belief that self-reform should go in lock step with social reform; *The establishment of republican rather than monarchical governance of Ethical societies; *The agreement that educating the young is the most important aim. In effect, the movement responded to the religious crisis of the time by replacing theology with unadulterated morality. It aimed to "disentangle moral ideas from [[religious doctrines]], [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] systems, and ethical theories, and to make them an independent force in personal life and social relations."<ref name=Campbell/> Adler was also particularly critical of the religious emphasis on creed, believing it to be the source of sectarian bigotry. He therefore attempted to provide a universal fellowship devoid of ritual and ceremony, for those who would otherwise be divided by creeds. Although the organisation was overwhelmingly made up of (and entirely led by) atheists, and were many of the same people as in the secular movement, Ethical organisations at that time publicly avoided debate about religious beliefs, publicly advocating neither [[atheism]] nor [[theism]], [[agnosticism]] nor [[deism]], instead stressing "deed without creed" and a "purely human basis" for morality.<ref name=Campbell/> The first ethical society along these lines in Britain was founded in 1886. By 1896 the four London societies formed the Union of Ethical Societies, and between 1905 and 1910 there were over fifty societies in Great Britain, seventeen of which were affiliated with the Union. The Union of Ethical Societies would later incorporate as the Ethical Union, a registered charity, in 1928. Under the leadership of [[Harold Blackham]], it renamed itself the British Humanist Association in 1967. It became the [[Humanists UK]] in 2017.
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