Withdrawl of Support from the Humanists of Florida

We feel strongly that a Humanist organization should be actively and explicitly promoting Humanism in the public sphere, and that all activism undertaken by a Humanist group should reflect the distinctly Humanist approach to the various issues of concern to Humanists.

As HFA is no longer explicitly  advocating for Humanism, we have lost confidence in the ability of the current leadership of HFA to represent us properly as Humanists. 

Please be sure to click on the "petition" tab to read the entire text of the letter stating the reasons why we have withdrawn our support from HFA. 

The purpose of publicly stating our withdrawl of support is to alert the leadership of HFA to the fact that several life and long term members had independently decided to withdraw their support in hopes that by making these private decisions publicly known, it would spur the board to discuss the strategic implications of continuing to pursue their objectives in the manner that they have been.

If you are a life or long term member or have held volunteer positions within the organization - please be sure to note that in your comments. 

 

Dear HFA board - 
We, the undersigned, are publically withdrawing our support from the Humanists of Florida Association. As longtime supporters of HFA, we do not take this step lightly.  It is because we are firmly committed to the promotion of Humanism within the state of Florida that we take this action.

The reason we are withdrawing our support is because we feel that HFA has become a Humanist organization in name only. While we firmly support the long stated objectives of the organization, we find that the current leadership has chosen to achieve these objectives in a manner inconsistent with our values as Humanists. Attempts have been made to discuss our concerns with the leadership of HFA, and we were assured that corrective action would be taken. Unfortunately, the problems have worsened and we no longer feel that HFA represents our views as Humanists thus forcing us to withdraw our support.

There are several interrelated problems that cause us to feel this way.
1)      One of the central values of Humanism is that of freedom of belief. This value is inconsistent with the increasingly anti-theist focus the organization is taking in pursuit of it's secular objectives.









2)      Recent actions taken by the organization do not help advance the cause of Humanism. The sole reason given for undertaking these actions is because they advance an atheist or secular agenda.
3)      Leadership does not talk about Humanism in the public forum except when acknowledging their affiliation with HFA.
4)      When the leadership does talk about Humanism, they restrict their comments to the topic of secular humanism only. The recent regional conference in Tallahassee is an example of this where only secular humanists were invited, thus discouraging all other Humanists from attending such as those who are HUUmanists, Jewish Humanists or just plain Humanist.
5)      The leaders have invited speakers to the annual membership conference who are not only hostile to Humanist activism; these highlighted speakers have openly attacked individual Humanists for disagreeing with their anti-theist approach to activism.
6)      No activity has been proposed that would further the creation of Humanist communities or support openly Humanist lifestyles in the state - even though this is one of the greatest needs of Humanists in Florida today.

The objections outlined above should not be taken to evince any antagonism toward atheism.  Indeed it is safe to say that nearly all of us are atheists. It is just that, as Humanists, we hold certain values such as compassion, reason, freedom and tolerance in the highest regard and it is these values we wish to see promoted on behalf of us as Humanists.

While we strongly hold that anti-theists have a right to express their anti-theists beliefs and to advocate for those beliefs in any manner they see fit, we feel equally strongly that a Humanist organization should be actively and explicitly promoting Humanism in the public sphere, and that all activism undertaken by a Humanist group should reflect the distinctly Humanist approach to the various issues of concern to Humanists.

We are upset that the current leadership of HFA is misrepresenting the philosophy of Humanism to the general public and is further equating Humanism with atheism. This approach effectively means that there is no Humanist voice speaking on behalf of Humanists in Florida.

Even though many of us are atheists and support atheist causes, we are adamant that Humanist advocacy is vital to the public debate. We choose to support a Humanist organization because we have an expectation that such a group will explicitly advocate for the Humanist viewpoint. As HFA is no longer explicitly advocating for Humanism, we have lost confidence in the ability of the current leadership of HFA to represent us properly as Humanists.

We strongly feel that if the leadership is not interested in promoting Humanism, and/or is unwilling or unable to advocate on behalf of Humanists in Florida, they have no claim to represent Humanists in Florida, because they certainly no longer represent us.

As a result, we publically withdraw our financial, intellectual and philosophic support from the organization until such time as new leadership is elected that is committed to the promotion of Humanism in the state.

Additional notes of concern we feel should be addressed:
·         The current president of HFA is suing several long term and life members of HFA for defamation. Even though this action is not related to the operation of HFA, it does make her ill-suited to lead this organization because her actively hostile relationships with long-term and life members negatively impacts HFA’s ability to fundraise in support of its Humanist mission.
·         At least one life member has been prevented from posting on public discussion boards managed by HFA. This appears to be a result of him publically stating his disagreement with the decisions made by the leadership of the organization. Freedom of speech is a deeply held Humanist value, and HFA has a long standing free speech policy. It is therefore of great concern to us that the current leadership is not only not respecting the right of membership to dissent, but that they are actively trying to suppress the voice of life members of the organization.
·         At least one paid membership organization has been removed from the website despite being one of the founding membership organizations and the fact that they are paid up on their dues. Repeated requests to be reinstated on the website have been ignored. The leader of this particular group is one of the members being sued by the president of HFA in relation to her ongoing lawsuits involving the Atheists of Florida. This potential conflict of interest has caused us to question the reasons why this membership group has had their listing on the HFA website removed. 

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