The doggedness and tenacity of America's neo-fundamentalists have resulted in wave after wave of attacks on rational inquiry and the scientific method. But this threat to reason, intelligence, and freedom of thought is not confined to the United States. The danger posed by conservative religionists is worldwide, with global implications for domestic political stability, educational policy, relations between and among religious groups within culturally diverse societies, scientific research, as well as world peace and international relations. Cultism, spiritism, mysticism, the desire to give religiously based moral codes the force of legal sanction, intense efforts to control educational policy and political institutions, and the belief that revelation can be made manifest through international relations, are just some of the obstacles to reason and intellectual freedom that exist in many parts of the world.
In 1986 a distinguished group of intellectuals and scholars from many nations (including France, Great Britain, Norway, Spain, the United States, and Yugoslavia) came together in Oslo, Norway, under the auspices of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the Academy of Humanism, to examine this phenomenon and to explore a humanist response. This absorbing collection of papers attests to the deep concern of these humanists for the fate of reason and free inquiry within the human community.
Established in 1983, the 500th anniversaary of the Spanish Inquisition, the Academy of Humanism is currently composed of forty-five distinguished Humanist Laureates, who seek to disseminate humanist ideals and beliefs. The academy's goals include furthering respect for human rights, freedom, and the dignity of the individual; tolerance of diverse viewpoints; commitment to social justice; a universalistic perspective that transcends national, ethnic, religious, sexual, and racial barriers; and belief in a free and open, pluralistic, and democratic society.