The Likeminds Humanist Organization maintains a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and affirms their ability to improve their lives through the use of reason and ingenuity as opposed to submitting blindly to tradition and authority or sinking into cruelty and brutality, while adding the important element of a comprehensive worldview and set of ethical values – values that are grounded in the philosophy of enlightenment, informed by scientific knowledge, and driven by a desire to meet the needs of people in the here and now.
Additional expressions, such as an emotional attachment to a particular religious view, are personal, arising primarily from previous experiences that have oriented people’s own individual lives. We are each entitled to have our own. Therefore, such views should not be imposed upon others.
The LikeMinds believe that each person can live an equally good life on earth, fulfilling whatever is important for themselves, without people having to have conflict throughout the world because of another’s personal view of life, or because their definitions differ from one’s own; the members of any congregation will be unable to agree upon a single definition. But, we will only have a stable society if we each are willing to allow everyone else the right to have his or her own view of life.
The LikeMinds feel that it is essential to maintain the conditions of free inquiry, and an open society, in order to encourage the expression of all ideas because the expansion of knowledge can ultimately result in the best choices for the growth of everyone. They support using all means available for ascertaining the truth, and applying the results obtained in the most reliable manner that will improve the welfare of all life on earth. Their values and standards are relative because they are allowed to modify in order that they may improve as we grow through own experiences.
They count Humanists, Freethinkers and religious progressives as the core of their activities but are always willing to work with friends and allies on issues of common concern. The positions they hold and the actions they take are not simply for their own benefit, but for the betterment of all of society and the world in which we live.