Secular humanism affirms that human beings are responsible for their own meaning and purpose, that in the absence of a divine plan or afterlife to supply it, people themselves give value and significance to their lives through their choices, relationships, work, and ideals. Far from rendering life meaningless, humanists hold, this places meaning within human reach and responsibility: purpose is something created and pursued rather than received, and the finitude of life lends it urgency and worth rather than emptying it of value.
The movement's evolving self-understanding is documented across three successive statements: the original Humanist Manifesto of 1933, signed by thirty-four American thinkers including the philosopher John Dewey, which described humanism as a new, naturalistic religion for the modern age; Humanist Manifesto II (1973), which dropped explicitly religious language in favour of a more secular philosophical framing while retaining the core commitment to human self-determination of meaning; and Humanism and Its Aspirations (2003), also called Humanist Manifesto III, issued by the American Humanist Association, which restated the position in a shorter, more affirmative form. Across all three, the claim that human beings, not a deity, are responsible for discovering or creating value in their own lives remains the constant thread.