A. Eustace Haydon

From Philosopedia

Haydon, A. Eustace (1880—1975)

Haydon was a pioneer in the study of world religions and a leader of the Humanist movement. Born in Canada, he was ordained to the Baptist ministry and served a Baptist church in Dresden, Ontario (1903-04). After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Haydon was made Professor and Chair of the Department of Comparative Religion at the University's Divinity School, a post he filled 1919-45.

Although he did not have Unitarian ministerial credentials, for five years (1918-23) Haydon commuted from Chicago to minister to the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wisconsin. After retirement from the University, he served as Leader of the Chicago Ethical Society 1945-55. He was among the thirty-four authors and amenders of the 1933 Humanist Manifesto, first drafted by Roy Wood Sellars. Late in life Haydon also contributed to the 1973 Humanist Manifesto II. In 1956 he was recipient of the American Humanist Association's Humanist of the Year award.

In his theoretical work Haydon described the "many and manifold" forms of religion as "the search for the good life," a continuing quest for realization of the highest human ideals. "More needful than faith in God," he wrote, "is faith that man can give love, justice, peace and all his beloved moral values embodiment in human relations."

Haydon's University lectures charmed and challenged his students. He wrote and spoke with a poetic quality. Among the many students drawn to his classes were future Unitarian ministers James Hart, Kenneth Patton, and Randall Hilton. Hilton, later Dean of Lincoln Center in Chicago and Secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference, recalled a seminar in which Haydon exercised his magic to open the minds of skeptical graduate students.

"We had been discussing for several days the role of meditation in various cultures. This particular day he came in, sat down, and said, 'Today I am going to discuss prayer.' The class laughed. He came in front of the table and said, 'Let us pray.' The laughter was even louder. He started talking. After the second phrase you could have heard a pin drop. At the conclusion he said 'Amen.' The class sat silent. Then he said, 'That, gentlemen, is prayer.'

"Finally a cynic in the back row said, 'No, Dr. Haydon, that is not prayer. It is hypnotism.' To which Haydon replied, 'Hypnotism, maybe, yes. What is hypnotism? The unification of a single mind around a single object. Prayer is the unification of the group mind around a single purpose.'"

Among humanists Haydon was a candidate for recognition as a latter day St. Francis. Outside the Divinity School he fed, nearly every day, a congregation of squirrels and pigeons. The squirrels climbed up his legs while pigeons perched on both shoulders. University of Chicago students called him "The Pigeon Man."

Soon after his retirement Haydon's approach to the study of world religions was superseded. The influence of his great heart and intellect survived in the ministry and work of his students.

Haydon wrote frequently for The Humanist. In 1945 and following an anti-humanistic, anti-socialistic Leader Horace Bridges, Haydon became Leader of the Chicago Ethical Culture Society (1955—1965) and the Los Angeles Ethical Culture Society (1965—1975). In addition, he served as an officer of the American Humanist Association.

He once wrote,

• More important than faith in God is devotion to the human ideals of which he has become the symbol. Too long the strong gods have been made to bear the burden. Wistfully man has watched for the day of divine action to dawn and ever heal the hurt of disappointment by more passionate faith. Hopes hung in the heavens are of no avail. What the gods have been expected to do, and have failed to do through the ages, man must find the courage and intelligence to do for himself. More needful than faith in God is faith that man can give love, justice, peace, and all his beloved moral values embodiment in human relations. Denial of this faith is the only real atheism. Without it, belief in all the galaxies of gods is mere futility. With it, and the practice that flows from it, man need not mourn the passing of the gods.

Haydon was an expert about international burial practices.

Edwin H. Wilson, in The Genesis of a Humanist Manifesto (published 1995), described the considerable efforts that Haydon made in helping edit the first manifesto.

(See entries for Ethical Culture and for burial practices, a subject upon which Haydon was an expert.)

{AEU; CL; DUUB; EU, Howard B. Radest; EW; FUS; HM1; HM2; HNS; HNS2}