The Giordano Bruno Foundation is a Germany based non-profit foundation under public law that pursues the “Support of Evolutionary Humanism”. It was founded by entrepreneur Herbert Steffen in 2004 and was named after the Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 monk Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno , born Filippo Bruno, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited...

 who was convicted of heresy and burnt at the stake in 1600. The foundation's executive spokesman is Michael Schmidt-Salomon

Michael Schmidt-Salomon

Michael Schmidt-Salomon is a German author, philosopher, and public relations manager. As chairman of the Giordano Bruno Foundation, a humanist organization that is critical of religion, he has been identified as Germany's "Chief Atheist." His books include the Manifesto of Evolutionary Humanism:...

, who also wrote the “Manifesto of Evolutionary Humanism” on its behalf. From its beginnings the foundation was particularly committed to the work of church critic Karlheinz Deschner

Karlheinz Deschner

Karl Heinrich Leopold Deschner , is a German researcher and writer who has achieved public attention in Europe for his thorough and fiercely critical treatment of Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular, as expressed in several articles and books, culminating in his opus The...

.

The Giordano Bruno Foundation is emphatic on criticism of religion. It holds the view that religions “balefully affect the cultural evolution of humanity to this day”. With its commitment to a “Cultural Ideal of Humanism and Enlightenment” it tries to counter the thoughts of “German (Christian) Cultural Ideals (Leitkultur)” as well as the politically indifferent multiculturalism.

The Foundation supports the Central Council of Ex-Muslims (Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime), founded in 2007. The council consists of former Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s that criticize islamism

Islamism

Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...

 and tries to raise consciousness for the lacking religious freedom within Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

.

Activities

One of its projects is the “Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen Deutschland” (fowid) (Research Group World Views Germany) that customizes empirical data on the social dissemination of world-views.
Its fields of work are:

1. Evolutionary Humanism
   Evolutionary Humanism
   The book "New Bottles for New Wine" by Julian Huxley, 1957, contains a collection of his essays beginning with and ending with "Evolutionary Humanism". In the latter essay, Huxley called for a new religion compatible with science....
   
    / naturalistic world-view
   Humanistic naturalism
   Humanistic naturalism is the branch of philosophical naturalism wherein human beings are best able to control and understand the world through use of the scientific method. Concepts of spirituality, intuition, and metaphysics are not pursued because they are unfalsifiable, and therefore can never...
   
   
2. Criticizing religion / Secularism
   Secularism
   Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
   
   
3. Epistemology / Philosophy of Science
   Philosophy of science
   The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
   
   
4. Ethics
   Ethics
   Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
   
   

In collaboration with the “Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands” (Humanist Association of Germany) it coined the “Humanistischer Pressedienst” (Humanist News Service)”. The Humanist News Service brings secular humanist

Secular humanism

Secular Humanism, alternatively known as Humanism , is a secular philosophy that embraces human reason, ethics, justice, and the search for human fulfillment...

 views to the public.

Deschner Award

In 2004 when Karlheinz Deschner was celebrating his 80th birthday, the foundation announced that they will award a biannual price in honor of him. The award which is endowed with 10'000 Euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s will be given to individuals or organizations that
"contribute extraordinarily to the secular, scientific and humanistic cause". The first Deschner award was given to Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins

Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...

 on October 12, 2007.

Board of directors

The board of directors consists of Herbert Steffen and Michael Schmidt-Salomon. The board of trustees consists of Carsten Frerk, Hermann Josef Schmidt und Jacques Tilly.

External links

• Giordano Bruno Foundation (in German)
• Research Group World Views Germany (in German)
• Humanist News Service (in German)