Homaranismo

Homaranismo (the term in Esperanto, usually rendered as "humanitism" in English) is a philosophy developed by L. L. Zamenhof. Based largely on the teachings of Hillel the Elder, Zamenhof originally called it Hillelism. He sought to reform Judaism, because he hoped that without the strange dress code and purity requirements, it would no longer be the victim of antisemitic propaganda. The basis of Hillelism is the sentence known as the Golden Rule: One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.

Zamenhof said about Homaranismo:

With Hillelism we don't mean a new denomination; we mean a new corporate-religious order inside the old Jewish religion, which has existed for a long time. Everybody who lives ethically could take part in this religion with a clear conscience, no matter what the religious views he had before looked like.

Based on this idea, he came to the conclusion that this philosophy could be a bridge between religions, not just a subset of Judaism. Zamenhof subsequently renamed his philosophy Homaranismo.

Zamenhof first described this philosophy around the year 1900 and published it anonymously in a brochure in 1906. He later published a revised version in 1913 under the name Homaranismo.

While many different motivations drew early Esperantists to that movement, for Zamenhof Esperanto was always a means by which to facilitate improved human relations, especially beyond boundaries of race, language and culture. Zamenhof's daughter Lidia embraced this philosophy and taught it alongside Esperanto and her adopted religion, the Bahá'í Faith.

The beliefs and practices of Homaranismo have many similarities to those of the civil religions of the French Revolution, especially Theophilanthropy.

The symbol of Homaranismo is a green star like that of Esperanto.

See also

• Lidja Zamenhof
• Humanitarianism
• Religious humanism
• Bahá'í Faith

References

• Welger, Helmut: Kosmopoliti human (Homaranismo). Version 1999. ISBN 3-933417-02-3
• W. A. Macdonald, Humanitism: The Scientific Solution of the Social Problem, Trubner & Co., London, 1890

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Note: This article was adapted from the German Wikipedia article