The 1974 WT book called Is This Life all there is? on page 68 quotes a book by Corliss Lamont called The Illusion of Immortality. An edition (from 1936) of that book can be read online at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222482 . I invite JWs and other Christians to have a look at that book.
Corliss was a socialist who wrote literature promoting socialism and who successfully resisted McCarthy and the C.I.A. He was also convinced of evolution, was a Humanist, and he wrote the book called Humanism As A Philosophy (later called The Philosophy of Humanism). The Second Edition of that book, bearing the copyright date of 1949, can be read at https://archive.org/details/humanismasphilos00lamo . I invite JWs and other Christians to read that book - much of what it says is very good. It makes a good case for a number of the ideas of Humanism. In his book he says that the type of Humanism he writes about has "eight central propositions". Regarding them he says the following:
First, Humanism believes in a naturalistic cosmology or metaphysics or attitude toward the universe that rules out all forms of the supernatural and that regards Nature as the totality of being and as a constantly chang- ing system of events which exists independently of any mind or consciousness. Second, Humanism, drawing especially upon the proven facts of science, believes that man is an evolutionary prod- uct of this great Nature of which he is part and that he
is an inseparable unity of body and personality having no individual survival beyond death. Third, Humanism believes that human thinking is as natural as walking or breathing, that it is indivisibly conjoined with the functioning of the brain, and that ideas, far from existing independently in some separate realm, arise and have reality only when a complex liv- ing organism such as man is interacting with its environ- ment and is intellectually active. Fourth, Humanism believes that man has the power and potentiality of solving his own problems successfully, relying primarily on reason and scientific method to do so and to enlarge continually his knowledge of the truth.
Fifth, Humanism believes, in opposition to all theories of universal predestination, determinism or fatalism, that human beings possess true freedom of creative action and are, within reasonable limits, the masters of their own destiny. Sixth, Humanism believes in an ethics or morality that grounds all human values in this-earthly experiences and relationships; and that holds as its highest loyalty the this-worldly happiness, freedom and progress — eco- nomic, cultural and ethical — of all mankind, irrespec- tive of nation, race or religion. Seventh, Humanism believes in the widest possible development of art and of the awareness of beauty, in- cluding the appreciation of external Nature, so that the aesthetic experience may become a pervasive reality in the life of men.
Eighth, Humanism believes in a far-reaching social program that stands for the establishment throughout the world of democracy and peace on the foundations of a flourishing and cooperative economic order, both national and international.
These eight points embody Humanism in what I be- lieve is its most acceptable modem form. This philosophy can be more explicitly characterized as scientific Human- ism, secular Humanism, naturalistic Humanism or dem- ocratic Humanism, depending on the emphasis that one wishes to give. Whatever it be called. Humanism is the viewpoint that men have but one life to lead and should make the most of it in terms of creative work and hap- piness; that human happiness is its own justification and requires no sanction or support from supernatural sources; that in any case the supernatural, usually conceived of in the form of heavenly gods or immortal heavens, does not exist; and that human beings, using their own intel- ligence and cooperating liberally with one another, can build an enduring citadel of peace and beauty upon this earth.