All possess the same rights, including the right to exist. There are diverse national heritages in the family of humankind, each of which is entitled to some place in the sun. These represent a wide range of cultural expressions, in language and literature, music and the arts, culinary and social customs. No one group is entitled to dominate or deny cultural freedom to others. Many people find their own ethnic networks gratifying-they live in a Polish neighborhood, frequent an Irish pub, or visit a Jewish synagogue.
People cherish belonging to some close-knit community.
But at the same time there is an urgent need to transcend parochial differences and recognize shared values and interests with all human beings. This is the distinctive humanist message in the contemporary world, for it seeks to take us beyond narrow, chauvinistic, and intolerant prejudices to a new ethical plateau. Homo sapiens is descended from a common genotype. The division into separate ethnic, racial, religious, and national enclaves is recent in the history of the species. It is a function of isolated breeding populations and the influence of particular social, economic, political, cultural, and geographical conditions.