The AHA organizes and supports local humanist chapters in many major American cities, is a full member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and provides support for other humanist organizations, including the Humanist Institute, the Humanist Society of Friends, the Friends of Religious Humanism, the AHA Feminist Caucus, and the Humanist Chapter Assembly. The AHA has an active outreach program that provides humanist celebrants, chaplains, advocates, speakers, and advisors to help individuals and organizations that need non-sectarian assistance from a naturalistic philosophical viewpoint. Definitions of Humanism Humanism is a way of living, thinking, and acting that allows every individual to actualize his or her highest aspirations and successfully achieve a happy and fulfilling life. Humanists take responsibility for their own morals and their own lives, and for the lives of their communities and the world in which we live. Humanists emphasize reason and scientific inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, human values and compassion, and the need for tolerance and cooperation.
Humanists reject supernatural, authoritarian, and anti-democratic beliefs and doctrines.
The American Humanist Association Humanism is a rational philosophy informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and social justice. Humanism thus derives the goals of life from human need and interest rather than from theological or ideological abstractions, and asserts that humanity must take responsibility for its own destiny. The American Humanist Association Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives.