James V. Grasso

From Philosopedia

Grasso, James V. (20th Century)

Grasso was an editorial assistant of The Humanist who wrote “Humanism in the Eighteenth Century” (July-August 1951), which was described in Genesis of A Humanist Manifesto:

In 1951, a Boston humanist named James V. Grasso discovered a reference to the Humanistic Religious Association of London, with a constitution dated September 1, 1853. Eighty years before "A Humanist Manifesto" was published in the United States, local needs had produced religious humanism in organized form in England:

In forming ourselves into a progressive religious body, we have adopted the name "Humanistic Religious Association" to convey the idea that Religion is a principle inherent in man and is a means of developing his being towards greater perfection.

We have emancipated ourselves from the ancient compulsory dogmas, myths and ceremonies borrowed of old from Asia and still pervading the ruling churches of our age.

Grasso noted in his article, "Humanism in the Eighteenth Century," published in 1951 in The Humanist:

The objectives of the Association were to spread the knowledge of the time and to foster the cultivation of the sciences, philosophy and the arts. The group recognized the individuality, independence and equality of members, and established an electoral system for officers, which provided the vote for each member, male or female, at the age of 18.

The group provided for universal education of children, mutual assistance for those in need (provided that they were unable to help themselves), for the appointment of qualified speakers and teachers, and for social and cultural meetings. Their objective seems to have been to better the members as a whole through education of both children and adults, without neglecting the fine arts and worth-while social intercourse. The association would, they hoped, become "a high school for the people" and would help "form the groundwork for a higher period of cultivation."

Grasso set up a Humanist Club at Harvard University in 1950, at the time one was founded at Columbia University. John Dewey hailed the establishment of the two groups and was informed that the first such club had been founded in 1948 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

Grasso was executive director and a member of the board of directors of the American Humanist Association’s Humanist Fellowship of Boston.

(See entries for John Dewey and Humanist Club.)