The Party of Humanists () is a minor political party in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

that first participated in the 2017 federal election.

Party platform

The underlying ideology is

evolutionary humanism Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...

. The core themes of the Humanist Party are science and education, the right of self-determination of the individual, and

secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

. For example, the party supports the

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and self-responsible use of drugs, supports legal voluntary euthanasia and is against circumcision of children. The party also supports the implementation of

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

. Currently, the Party of Humanists is the only party in

that specifically targets

non-religious Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...

people,

freethinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

, and

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

as voters.

Programme

Health and science

* Compulsary health insurance should only cover evidence based medicine, not pseudomedicine such as homeopathy * Legalization of active euthanasia under specific circumstances * Legalization of all drugs, but only for adults and with more prevention measures such as education, drug-checking, regulated production and sale * Openness towards new technology and impartial assessment of the harms benefits, e. g. with respect to

genome editing Genome editing, or genome engineering, or gene editing, is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism. Unlike early genetic engineering techniques that randomly inserts ...

and stem cell research * Reduction of antibiotic use in livestock farming in order to avoid emerging resistances * Funding for in-vitro-meat research

EU and military

* Founding of a united European Federal Republic. Today’s national states shall be converted into strong sovereign regions. * Rejection of a

compulsory military service Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

year for young adults * Establishing a united European military

Economy

* Simplification of the

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

system by eliminating exemptions as well as cutback on unnecessary

subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

* Deregulation of shop opening hours on sundays * Trialing and implementation of

Climate

* Stopping the nuclear energy phase-out in germany and utilization of new reactor types to combat

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Social topics

* Legalization of surrogate motherhood * Legalization of

sex work Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...

, modeling after New Zealand * Legalization of abortion regardless of gestation age, modeling after Canadian abortion laws

Freedom of speech and the Internet

* Repeal of upload-filters and protection of net-neutrality

Religion

* Complete

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

* Introduction of unified ethics education instead of compulsory religious education in schools * Removing references to god from the constitution and other laws * Prohibition of medically not-indicated

religious circumcision Religious circumcision generally occurs shortly after birth, during childhood, or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision is most prevalent in the religions of Judaism and Islam. Circumcision for religious reasons is most promi ...

in children unable to consent

History

The party emerged from a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

group called "Initiative Humanismus" with over 700 members. One year after the decision to establish a party, the Party of Humanists was founded on 4 October 2014 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. On 21 March 2017, the Party held a joint press conference along with the

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informa ...

, the Liberal Democrats, the New Liberals, the Transhuman Party Germany, and the youth organization of The Left to announce a "socialliberale proclamation" and better cooperation among the participating organizations.

Leadership

The current federal executive committee of the Party of Humanists consists of eleven members: * Andreas Schäfer (Party Leader) * Dominic Ressel (General Secretary) * Stephan Wiedenmann (Treasurer) * Axel Börold * Tim Büning * Richard Gebauer * David Kaufmann * Maria Krause * Sonja Marschke * Alexander Mucha * Vincent Weber

Federal state parties

References

External links

Offizielle Website der Partei der Humanisten
(Official website of the Party ''German'')
Leitbild der Partei der Humanisten
(Mission Statement of the Party ''German, English, Esperanto'')
Grundsatzprogramm der Partei der Humanisten
(Principle program of the Party ''German'') {{Parties of Germany Liberal parties in Germany 2014 establishments in Germany Political parties established in 2014 Euthanasia in Germany Humanist Party Irreligion in Germany Progressive parties Secular humanism Secularism in Germany Social liberal parties Universal basic income in Germany