As the first book exclusively dedicated to humanists of African descent, "The Black Humanist Experience" gives Black humanists the opportunity to discuss their many and varied reasons for leaving the religious fold and embracing a humanist life stance. As a minority within a minority in the United States, African American humanists often feel isolated and misunderstood. And across the globe humanists are in the minority among Blacks just as they are among all races. These thoughtful essays help to draw attention to the vitality of the humanist movement within the Black community while putting to rest many myths about humanists. Contrary to popular stereotypes, most humanists do not reject religion out of disillusionment, ignorance, desperation, or misanthropy. The contributors to this volume, coming to secular humanism from many different backgrounds, demonstrate that the decision to adopt the humanist viewpoint is based on intellectual honesty and the best information provided by science, history, comparative religion, and other scholarly disciplines. Moreover, they show that a central concern of humanists of all races and nations is the preservation and promotion of what humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz calls the "common moral decencies" shared by most religious and ethical systems. At a time when faith-based organisations are favoured politically, especially within the Black community in America, this timely collection of essays shows that humanism, with its emphasis on reason, free inquiry, moral decency, and justice, offers much to Blacks world-wide.
Norm R. Allen Jr. is a writer and secular humanist activist. On August 31, 1989, Allen founded African Americans for Humanism, the first organization focused on the promotion of humanism and humanist ideals among people of African descent. He was the executive director of the organization from 1991 to 2010 as well as editor of its quarterly, the AAH Examiner. He also edited African American Humanism: An Anthology (1991) and The Black Humanist Experience: An Alternative to Religion (2003). Allen views secular humanism, a human-centered approach to living drawing upon reason, science, and secular ideals and guided by empathy and compassion, as particularly relevant for African Americans because in the narrative of American history black freethinkers have largely been ignored. In 1995 Allen wrote a major statement in defense of evolution and against creationism and "intelligent design" for Voices for Evolution, a publication of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). AAH was the only black organization to participate in this project. Since 1997 Allen has appeared on a number of nationally televised programs including the O'Reilly Factor, BBC News, and C-Span. He has also been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and in other media outlets. Allen is currently the secretary of the Institute for Science and Human Values and editor of the Institute's journal, The Human Prospect. He also writes a regular column titled "Reasonings" for the Institute's website. Allen is at work on his third book, Secular, Successful and Black, and continues to write numerous articles while traveling the world promoting secular humanism and skepticism.
