---
title: "Glossary"
date: "2025-01-06T09:43:47+00:00"
modified: "2025-02-27T13:20:14+00:00"
url: "https://heritage.humanists.uk/glossary/"
post_id: 10993
---

# Glossary

**The Humanist Heritage website contains a number of words linked to the history of humanism which may be unfamiliar, or used in specific ways. This brief glossary draws from those created to accompany our [resources for schools](https://heritage.humanists.uk/resources-for-schools/), as well as including some other words it might be helpful to define.**







For more on the history of some key words linked to the humanist worldview, see: [What’s in a word?](https://heritage.humanists.uk/article/whats-in-a-word/)







---







**Abolition/abolitionist** – to abolish means to get rid of something. ‘Abolitionist’ is frequently used to refer to someone who wanted to ban slavery.







**Activism/activist** – activism means working to make social or political change happen, like through campaigning or protests. An activist is someone who does this.







**Agnostic** – to be agnostic means to ‘not know’, and usually refers to the existence of god. Many humanists call themselves ‘agnostic’.







**Atheist** – atheist means ‘without god’, and refers to a person who doesn’t believe in god.







**Blasphemy** – blasphemy is saying or writing something about god or religion which is seen to be offensive.







**Campaigner** – a campaigner is someone who takes part in actions to achieve a particular goal, especially a social or political change. See also: activist.







**Compassion** – compassion is having sympathy and understanding for someone who is suffering.







**Deism** – the belief that a god created the world and the laws of nature, but does not get involved in human affairs. See also: [deism](https://heritage.humanists.uk/deism/).







**Democracy** – democracy means ‘power of the people’. A country where people can show this power by voting and taking part in decision making is called a democracy.







**Discrimination** – discrimination is treating a person or a particular group of people differently, usually worse than others, because of something about them.







**Disestablishment** – disestablishment is when a country removes the official status of a religion, e.g. the Church of England was disestablished in Wales in 1920.







**Dissenter** – a dissenter is someone who refuses to go along with the established Church. This is similar to a nonconformist.







**Empathy** – empathy is feeling what someone else is feeling, or imagining how it would feel to be another person.







**Equality** – equality is when everyone is treated equally and fairly, and has access to the same rights and opportunities.







**Ethics** – ethics comes from ‘ethos’, which means ‘ways of living’. Ethics are our beliefs about how we should act, based on ideas about what is right and wrong.







**Ethical Society** – ethical societies were groups of like-minded people who came together in the belief that it was possible to be good without religion and to change the world for the better.







**Evolution** – to evolve is to change gradually over time. Evolution is the process by which different kinds of living things are believed to have developed from earlier forms.







**Freedom of the press** – the right to publish newspapers, magazines, and other printed material without restriction or censorship by the government.







**Freethinker** – a freethinker is someone who thinks for themselves, and uses their own reason to examine what they’re told, or what is traditionally thought.







**Humanism/humanist** – humanism is an approach to life based on reason and empathy. A humanist is an atheist or agnostic who follows this approach to life.







**Humanist ceremony** – a humanist ceremony is a special event – like a wedding, funeral, or naming ceremony – which marks an important moment in life, without reference to god.







**Humanitarian** – focused on making people’s lives better.







**Nonconformism/nonconformist** – nonconformists were Protestant Christians who did not ‘conform’ to (were not part of) the established Church, e.g. the Church of England.







**Owenism/Owenite** – Owenism is the socialist philosophy of social reformer [Robert Owen](https://heritage.humanists.uk/robert-owen/); Owenites were followers of this system.







**Philosophy/philosopher** – a person’s philosophy is the beliefs and values they live by; a philosopher is someone who thinks deeply about things, and studies thinking itself.







**Pluralism** – pluralism is when different types of people, with different beliefs and opinions, live together within the same society.







**Radical** – holding strong beliefs about how society should be changed.







**Reason** – to think carefully about something, using logic and evidence.







**Reform/reformer** – to reform means to make changes; a reformer is someone who tries to do this, e.g. to change something about society or the law.







**Revolution** – a sudden and dramatic change, usually in how a country is run.







**Rights** – your rights are what you are morally or legally entitled to do or to have.







**Secular** – ‘secular’ describes things which are not religious, or separate from the church and religion.







**Secularism/secularist** – secularism means the separation of church and state and equal treatment for all, regardless of religion or belief; a secularist is someone who believes in this.







**Status quo** – the way things are; the current state of things.







**Suffrage/suffragist** – suffrage is the right to vote in political elections; a suffragist is someone who campaigned for this.







**Supernatural** – something outside of nature, which can’t be explained by science.







**Tolerance** – a fair and understanding attitude towards people who are different from you.







**Unitarian** – Unitarians believe in the ‘oneness’ of God (rather than the idea of the Trinity – father, son, and holy spirit). They emphasise the importance of personal conscience, and reject formal dogma.







**Wisdom** – being wise; using knowledge and experience to make good decisions.