Why Dignity?
I have always found it curious that despite our shared humanity, humanism is rarely an inherited worldview. Millions inherit political identities. Millions more inherit religious traditions. Entire communities pass beliefs, rituals and doctrines from one generation to the next. Yet how many self-described humanists were born into humanism in any meaningful sense? Very few. Unlike most worldviews, humanism is more often discovered than prescribed. Its proponents usually arrive there after years of inquiry, self-reflection and existential searching. More curious still, when they finally arrive, they do not find certainty. They find even more questions. Once we accept that human beings possess inherent worth, we are not handed a book that prescribes a moral life or guarantees meaning. We are given only the first pieces of the existential puzzle. Humanism tells us that people matter. It does not immediately tell us what we owe one another, how we ought to live, or what responsibilities follow from that recognition. Those questions remain ours to answer. It would seem, then, that humanism functions less as a blueprint for …
