Why humanism is the future, with David Voas | Humanists UK Convention 2023

Seven years ago David gave a TEDx talk entitled ‘Why there is no way back for religion in the West’. It has been viewed 1.8 million times. Six months ago, he featured in a humorous video by YouTube personality Max Fosh, whose tale that ‘I technically started the third largest religion in the country’ has reached two million views. In this talk, at Humanists UK Convention 2023, David tries to find the moral to this story in a whistle-stop tour of religious decline, social change, and the rise of humanist values. He will look at what the census and various surveys tell us about the state of religion in the UK.

[eddiequinn]

I'm fortunate to be one of the 53% of British citizens who are non-religious .

[drkyasmar]

I am so glad i left the country where I was born. I am free to say i am a Humanist.

[ayammayaone]

Thank you, most interesting, and informative!
Signed Atheist Indian Feminist born and brought up as a Catholic Christian in India !
:)

[alicedeen]

Really happy that religion is drying up and going away. Great video.

[mrjonno]

Excellent talk. Great that Humanist ceremonies are becoming more mainstream. I'm concerned that faith and theocracy are not replaced as philosophy is vital for humanity to make sense of our world for our betterment. Seems to me that broadcasters should promote Humanism equally to traditional religions where they do do. I despair at BBC to still to discriminate against Humanists on the 'Thought for the Day' slot.

[australiagreg]

I lived in New Zealand throught the 70's. 80's. Every govt form requested that we state our religion.
We were all born into a religion however very few of us practiced it.
Apparently we were Church of England often refered to as C of E. I never new what C of E meant till early adulthood.
I think this was evident in many Commonwealth countries.

[AdmiralBison]

I think this is a natural progression of civilization.

More awareness, discovery and less superstition beliefs and harmful practices.
Reason and compassion >>> dogma and culture wars.

[Sentientism]

Fascinating thanks David! A tangential point - but for Humanism to really boldly "be the future" we need to drop anthropocentrism. Any worldview that ignores or forgets the interests of non-human sentient beings or doesn't take them seriously in our practical decisions is destined to be a dead end. Fortunately, caring seriously about all sentient beings is good for us human sentients too - and the planet all our fellow sentients share.

[al]

As predicted correctly by great genius and champion of positivism and humanism Sigmund Freud in his future of an illusion. These are great news

[sammo]

Hi, thank you for posting this video, I'm learning more about humanism and I'm non-religious, however I have a question, what is the humanist reaction to religion in cultures where religion is not organized like Abrahamic religions yet it plays an integral and essential part of people's lives, for example Shinto in Japan, Japanese people won't tell you they identify as Shinto or Buddhist but their lifestyle is heavily influenced by them, how can humanism operate in such as society (Taiwan is another example and Bhutan to some degree), I feel like Humanism shouldn't out loud say that it's against religions but to say that it's against religious laws that are forced on people, considering that there are examples of non-religious ideologies that are also harmful like communism and state-atheism like in China, where they were happy to massacre religious people and destroying thousands of years relics and temples, I would say that the problem is not in religion or atheism, but in country thinking that it has the right to tell its people what religion or non-religion they must folow
I'm still learning so I may have missed something 🙏🏻 have a great day

[sotonteve]

Isn't there supposed to be an update from the government about humanist marriage in england and wales today 31th July 2023?

[melakaman]

A pity there were no close ups of the charts

[robandrews]

Work hard
Go home to pray
Then sleep on hay
Because you'll have pie in the sky
Why you die, bye--and--bye.

Yeah, it's a nice thought. But it seems TOO GOOD to be true. Like a poster said: " an 80 --year-old is going to some place where he'll have a young body forever."

[hanskostka]

life after death - what an immature combination of words - why not - birth before the TV program - also a senseless combination of words -- life after death - you mean as an 80 year old person in dementia or can I choose and be like a twenty year old full of vigor and life surrounded by virgins or like a new born - without any knowledge looking out for mother's breast and receiving a bottle of some artificial baby food - can I choose which version of life after death I can have?

[casiandsouza]

Quit watching when I realized knowledge was not being addressed. It has recently occurred to me that qualities attributed to the soul are stored in the genome.

[AdmiralBison]

I'm not sure how or if they're related but Socialism is also on the rise and seen more favorably by younger generations.

because as Religion was a powerful Social/belief structure of society is no longer seen as necessary or even relevant,
that same seems to be happening with Capitalism (though only just beginning) due to economic inequalities and issues being questioned.

[theironherder]

If humanism is absolutely and with certainty the future, why would anyone feel motivated to advocate the point?

[tolkarius]

i feel the opposite of this happening...

[Cacofonixravi]

Religion will be relegated to museums in future. Buddha was the earliest Atheist, Humanist.
India's population is largely not educated and lot of poverty. It's still in dark ages

[MrHPT]

Make no mistake. Humanism is religion. One of the the definitions for religion is: a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. Are not humanists making themselves more important than other species on the planet?