For the fictional religion in the Marvel Universe

Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...

 see Church of Humanity (comics)

Church of Humanity (comics)

The Church of Humanity is an anti-mutant, Christian-based religious sect/hate group in the Marvel Universe. It was created by Joe Casey, though Uncanny X-Men writer Chuck Austen featured the cult in a controversial storyline which involved an elaborate plan to install the recently ordained...

. For the fictional religion in the Honorverse

Honorverse

The Honorverse refers to the military science fiction book series and sub-series created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. The series is set primarily after Honor Harrington's October 1, 3961, birth; although she is the protagonist in most of the stories, more recent entries make only...

 see Church of Humanity Unchained

Church of Humanity was a positivist church influenced by Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte

Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...

's "religion of humanity." Comte's "religion of humanity" in France, although small, inspired the rise of the "Church of Humanity" in England. It also had a branch or variant in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Richard Congreve

Richard Congreve

Richard Congreve was one of the leading figures in the specifically religious interpretation of Auguste Comte's form of positivism. In that capacity he founded the London Positivist Society in 1867 and the Comtist Church of Humanity in 1878...

 of the London Positivist Society

London Positivist Society

The London Positivist Society was a philosophical circle that met in London, England, between 1867 and 1974. In 1934 it merged with the English Positivist Committee...

 was important to the founding of the English church in 1878. Despite being relatively small the church had several notable members and ex-members. For example Anna Haycraft

Anna Haycraft

Anna Haycraft was a British writer and essayist who wrote under the nom de plume Alice Thomas Ellis...

 was raised in the "Church of Humanity" before converting to Catholicism.

The New York City version originates with English immigrant Henry Edger. In 1854 he decided to dedicate himself to the "positive faith", but actual organization of the movement did not come for another decade. In 1869 an organization formed with David Goodman Croly

David Goodman Croly

David Goodman Croly was an American journalist, born in New York and educated at New York University. He was associated with the Evening Post and the Herald , and then became an editor and subsequently the managing editor of the World. He married Jane Cunningham, known as "Jennie June", in 1856...

 as a leading member. Croly strongly believed in the religious element of Comtism, but was somewhat limited in evangelizing for it. By the 1870s the positivist organization led to an American version of the "Church of Humanity." This was largely modeled on the English church. Like the English version it was atheistic, but had sermons and sacramental rites. At times the services included readings from conventional religious works like the Book of Isaiah

Book of Isaiah

The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...

. It was not as significant as the church in England, but did include several educated people unrelated to Croly. Nevertheless one of the most noted people raised and baptized in the New York "Church of Humanity" was David Croly's son Herbert Croly

Herbert Croly

Herbert David Croly was an intellectual leader of the Progressive Movement as an editor, and political philosopher and a co-founder of the magazine The New Republic in early twentieth-century America...

.

Temples of Humanity

• Chapelle de l’Humanité — 5 rue Payenne, Distrikt Le Marais
  Le Marais
  Le Marais is a historic district in Paris, France. Long the aristocratic district of Paris, it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance...
  
  , Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  
• Templo da Humanidade — Rua Benjamin Constant 74, Rio de Janeiro
  Rio de Janeiro
  Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
  
  , Brasil
• Capela Positivista — Avenida João Pessoa 1058, Porto Alegre
  Porto Alegre
  Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
  
  , Brasil
• Capela Positivista — Rua Riachuelo 90, Curitiba
  Curitiba
  Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...
  
  , Brasil

Print reference

• A Crusade for Humanity: The History of Organized Positivism in England... By John Edwin McGee