Editing Religious humanism (section)

====20th century====

In 1915, a Positivist defined the term "humanism" in a magazine for the British Ethical Societies. Another Unitarian Minister [[John H. Dietrich]] read the magazine and adopted the term to describe his own religion.<ref name="Humanism as the Next Step"/> Dietrich is considered by some to be the "Father of Religious Humanism" (Olds 1996) particularly for his sermons while serving the [[First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis]], which has since been considered the "birthplace of Congregational Humanism".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Welcome to First Unitarian Society |url=https://firstunitarian.org/ |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis |language=en-US}}</ref> 

In 1929 [[Charles Francis Potter]] founded the [[First Humanist Society of New York]] whose advisory board included [[Julian Huxley]], [[John Dewey]], [[Albert Einstein]] and [[Thomas Mann]]. Potter was a minister from the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] tradition and in 1930 he and his wife, Clara Cook Potter, published ''Humanism: A New Religion''. Throughout the 1930s Potter was a well known advocate of women's rights, access to birth control, "civil divorce laws", and an end to capital punishment.

The [[Humanist Manifesto I|first ''Humanist Manifesto'']] was written in 1933 primarily by [[Raymond Bragg]] and was published with thirty-four signatories. Unlike its [[Humanist Manifesto|subsequent revisions]], the first manifesto described a new "[[religion]]", and referred to humanism as a religious movement meant to transcend and replace previous, deity-based religions. However, it is careful not to outline a [[creed]] or [[dogma]]. The document outlines a fifteen-point belief system, which, in addition to a secular outlook, opposes "acquisitive and profit-motivated society" and outlines a worldwide egalitarian society based on voluntary mutual cooperation. Bragg and eleven signatories were [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] ministers.

The [[Fellowship of Humanity]] was founded in 1935 by Reverend A. D. Faupel as one of a handful of "humanist churches" seeded in the early 20th century as part of the American Religious Humanism movement. It was the only such organization of that era to survive into the 21st century and is the first and oldest affiliate of the [[American Humanist Association]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Genesis of a Humanist Manifesto | url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/edwin_wilson/manifesto/ch2.html | access-date=May 14, 2006 }}</ref>

In 1961 ''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'' defined religious humanism as "A modern American movement composed chiefly of non-theistic humanists and humanist churches and dedicated to achieving the ethical goals of religion without beliefs and rites resting upon superstition."