World Humanist Day!

 Humanists around the world celebrate World Humanist Day, 21 June 2013


World Humanist Day is celebrated every year on June 21. It is an opportunity for Humanist individuals and organizations to publicize the positive values of Humanism and to share the global concerns of the Humanist movement.

Humanist groups have been celebrating World Humanist Day since the 1980s. It is the only freethought holiday officially recognized by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), the global federation for Humanist, atheist, rationalist, laique, ethical culture, secularist and other freethought groups.

Humanist groups around the world mark World Humanist Day with a wide variety of activities ranging from activism to parties. World Humanist Day may be recognized with official proclamations or promotional campaigns to educate people about the size of the secular community and the ethical values of Humanists. Groups may run courses or conferences to deepen understanding of Humanist principles and programmes. They may emphasize their global solidarity by raising awareness and money for a freethought group working in a different country. Or groups may simply throw a party or share a picnic to celebrate their sense of community.

Origins and History

World Humanist Day originated in the 1980s, when several local state chapters of the American Humanist Association (AHA) began celebrating World Humanist Day.

But different chapters had different ideas as to when that day should be. Some chapters, for example, preferred the anniversary of the founding of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), while other chapters celebrated a Humanist Day on different dates of significance. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, first the AHA and then the IHEU passed resolutions declaring June 21 to be World Humanist Day. In both cases it was done as twin resolutions: the first to decide that there should actually be a World Humanist Day, the second to decide when that day should be.

Every year since then, World Humanist Day has been celebrated around the world on June 21.

For more information on World Humanist Day visit www.iheu.org/world-humanist-day-overview