Funeral celebrant Roy Francis convinced Messenger that just as his wife was entitled to a civil celebrant marriage, she was similarly entitled to a civil celebrant funeral. Some 200 people attended and many urged Messenger to continue the work as "much more important than weddings." Messenger credits Dennis Perry, then brother in law of Helen Francis, of being a decisive influence. From this time on some marriage celebrants began to quietly and carefully officiate at funerals when they were asked to do so. On Tuesday 3 May 1977 a group, consisting of some authorised marriage celebrants and some other persons formed an
Humanist Manifesto periodical. His Secular Humanist Declaration was the starting point for these enterprises. "Humanist Manifesto 2000: A Call for New Planetary Humanism" is a book by Paul Kurtz published in 2000. It differs from the other three in that it is a full-length book rather than essay-length, and was published not by the American Humanist Association but by the Council for Secular Humanism. In it, Kurtz argues for many of the points already formulated in Humanist Manifesto 2, of which he had been co-author in 1973. The Amsterdam Declaration 2002 is a statement of the fundamental principles of modern Humanism passed