Council of Australian Humanist Societies

Council of Australian Humanist Societies Inc
Formation 1965
Region
Australia
President
 Lyndon Storey
Affiliations International Humanist and Ethical Union
Website www.humanist.org.au}

The Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS) is the national umbrella organisation for Australian humanist societies in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. It is affiliated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). The official symbol of CAHS (and all member organisations) is the Happy Human.

Activities

CAHS publishes a quarterly journal, the Australian Humanist and awards the Australian Humanist of the Year (AHOY) annually and the Outstanding Humanist Achiever award when warranted.

Winners of the Australian Humanist of the Year award include Gareth Evans (1990), Robyn Williams (1993), William Hayden (1996), Philip Nitschke (1998), Peter Singer (2004), Tim Flannery (2005), Peter Cundall (2006), Lyn Alison (2010), Leslie Cannold (2011), Ronnie Williams (2012), Jane Caro (2013), Geoffrey Robertson QC (2014), Dr Carmen Lawrence (2015), John Bell AO OBE (2016) and Dr Rodney Syme (2017).

CAHS holds an annual CAHS convention, usually hosted by one of the member organisations.

CAHS hosts the Humanist Internet Discussion Group where humanists can share their thoughts on issues of interest.

IHEU's Minimum statement on Humanism

All member organisations of the IHEU are required by IHEU bylaw 5.1 to accept the IHEU Minimum statement on Humanism:

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. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.

The Australian national census categorises humanism as "No Religion". The 16% of Australians who fall within this category include other non-theistic life stances such as atheism, agnosticism and rationalism.

In 1983, the High Court defined religion as "a complex of beliefs and practices which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence."

See also

Sources

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