How Humanism Took Root in Lithuania: The Story of Laimingas Žmogus

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/07/18

Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė is the CEO and co-founder of Laimingas Žmogus (Happy Human), the Lithuanian Humanist Organization. She leads the organization’s advocacy, ceremony programs, and democratic development initiatives, promoting equality, transparency, and non-religious life stance values in Lithuania. Gerda Surgautaitė is a co-founder and a board member of Laimingas Žmogus and a multidisciplinary creative who bridges theatre, education, and entrepreneurship. She helped pioneer humanist ceremonies in Lithuania and focuses on youth guidance, critical thinking education, and advancing humanist values. Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė and Gerda Surgautaitė about founding Laimingas Žmogus, Lithuania’s humanist organization. They discuss the origins of humanist ceremonies, promote equality, address challenges in education and gender roles, and explore their role within the international humanist movement. The conversation explores advocacy, youth engagement, and democratic values.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What are your names and titles?

Urte Zukauskaite-Zabuke: I am Urtė Žukauskaitė-Zabukė, CEO and co-founder of Laimingas Žmogus (Happy Human), the Lithuanian Humanist Organization.

Gerda Surgautaitė: I am Gerda Surgautaitė, co-founder and a board member of Laimingas Žmogus.

Jacobsen: When was Laimingas Žmogus founded?

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Officially in 2020, but its roots go back to 2016.

Jacobsen: What inspired the founding of the organization?

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Both of us were inspired by my wedding. My husband and I are atheists, and we were looking for something meaningful and personal.

At that time, the concept of humanism and secular life ceremonies was virtually unknown in Lithuania. While researching online, I discovered the existence of humanist ceremonies abroad.

Surgautaitė: Being a professional actress and a close friend, I conducted their wedding ceremony. That event became the very first humanist ceremony in Lithuania.

From that point on, we began offering humanist ceremonies to the public.

Jacobsen: What is your current membership size?

Surgautaitė: We are not yet a formal membership-based organization. However, we currently have around 55 trained celebrants across Lithuania.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: We consider these celebrants to be part of our internal community. They participate in decision-making processes, including the election of board members.

Although we have not yet opened general public membership, we are building a democratic structure and preparing to welcome broader community participation.

Jacobsen: How would you describe your path of growth? Moreover, what do you consider some of your key achievements during that journey?

Surgautaitė: First of all, I would say one of our most significant achievements has been offering humanist ceremonies to the people of Lithuania, providing a real alternative to religious and state ceremonies.

We have also developed a system for creating these ceremonies, along with a social business model that allows the organization to sustain itself without relying on government funding, purely through the ceremonies themselves. In that way, we are financially independent from external sources. That is a significant achievement.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Politically, we also helped popularize the concept of humanism and humanist ceremonies in Lithuania. We are now the second-largest provider of ceremonies, after the Catholic Church.

We account for nearly 4% of all ceremonies performed in Lithuania. We are also the only life-stance organization in the country that offers LGBT+ marriage ceremonies, even though such unions are not legally recognized in Lithuania. Last year, we launched a campaign in support of LGBT+ marriage. Over 20,000 people in Lithuania signed this symbolic humanist wedding certificate of a LGBT+ couple.

The National Museum of Lithuania later accepted that certificate as part of the country’s LGBT+ history. Of course, it is not enough for full recognition of LGBT+ rights, but it was a significant step forward.

Humanist ceremonies serve not only as a sustainable model for our organization but also as a means of education and advocacy. We continue this work with funeral ceremonies, promoting non-religious options and offering a more personalized and free vision for end-of-life practices.

Jacobsen: What would you say are the core principles of Laimingas Žmogus? For example, some organizations list the Amsterdam Declaration 2002 or 2022 on their website and present that as a summary of humanist values.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: We have spent a great deal of time building an internal culture within the organization, which is something I am very proud of. In our weekly meetings, we revisit our core principles and team values. They are not dogmatic—we revise and reflect on them together each week.

While they are partly based on the Amsterdam Declaration, they also come from our lived experience and what we genuinely believe. One of our key principles is that freedom equals responsibility. If you want freedom, you must also take up responsibility.

Surgautaitė: For me, one of the most important core principles is feedback—feedback is a gift. We actively encourage team members to provide feedback, whether positive or critical, as it helps us grow. Another core principle is transparency: being open about what we do and how much it costs, in every possible way.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Transparency is essential, especially when it comes to the Church.

When we were founding the humanist movement, we reflected deeply on how to make it fundamentally different from religion.

We wanted to avoid creating something that could resemble a new cult, which was genuinely a concern for us. Transparency became one of the key principles in preventing that. Of course, democracy within the organization and evolving governance structures are also crucial. These were, and still are, among the most important aspects.

Surgautaitė: We also believe that sometimes questions are more important than answers.

Jacobsen: As a journalist, I agree.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Yes, that is one of our guiding principles as well.

Jacobsen: In post-Soviet states more generally, how would you describe gender equality?

How do people define their roles regarding gender, both personally and socially?

Surgautaitė: That is an excellent question. During Soviet times, women were encouraged to work and participate in public life. However, they were still expected to carry what we in Lithuania call “the four corners of the house” (=do everything).

They were professionally active, but at home, they carried full responsibility for the family, taking care of the children and managing the household. In our generation, men are increasingly taking on more responsibilities in family life. They are more involved in raising children, and the situation is improving significantly.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: The government is also supporting gender equality through legislation. For example, childcare leave is not reserved only for women. In Lithuania, parents can take up to two years of childcare leave, which is a generous policy.

However, at least three months must be taken by the other parent. Sometimes couples split the time equally, but the law ensures that both parents are involved to some extent.

Of course, inequality still exists. Lithuania also has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe, and men make up the majority of those deaths.

So gender inequality affects not only women, but it also impacts men. There used to be immense emotional pressure on men to be providers and protectors, which can be overwhelming, and a lot of men still believe that.

Fortunately, we are seeing some movement towards greater equality.

Surgautaitė: Still, the education system has yet to find effective ways to address this imbalance.

One reason is that nearly all teachers—and most principals—are women. So, for students, it can be not easy to find strong male role models, especially in schools.

This becomes even more problematic in the context of widespread divorce. In Lithuania, many children are raised primarily by single mothers. Moreover, when there are no strong male role models at home or in school, these issues become cyclical. It becomes harder for children to envision models of equal partnership within a family structure.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: That said, we are pretty fortunate when it comes to reproductive rights. Abortion is legal in Lithuania, and for now, there is no strong political agenda to change that. So that is one area where we have some stability, which is encouraging.

Jacobsen: So you have divorced families, and most teachers and principals are women.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Yes, and in those divorced families, it is usually the women who take care of the children. That in itself becomes part of the larger problem.

Jacobsen: In those cases, what happens to the boys? What happens to the girls?

Moreover, where are the men? To wrap that together, what would be the humanist response?

Surgautaitė: What happens to the boys and girls? As I mentioned, it becomes difficult for them to imagine a different way of living—how responsibilities could be shared, how partnerships could be more balanced. So they turn to the internet for answers. Unfortunately, the answers they find—often from popular TikTok influencers—are not good ones.

Jacobsen: Influencers like TradWives and Boss Babes and those kinds of personas?

Surgautaitė: TradWives, online incel’s communities. I work in a high school, and I can see how dangerous this trend is becoming. Young people are seeking guidance online, and many influencers are simply seeking attention. What they promote is rarely aligned with a humanist worldview. Much of it actively contradicts humanist values.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: As for the humanist response, we promote marriage equality. We emphasize that the role of a celebrant is not just to create a beautiful ritual, but also to engage with the couple beforehand.

Celebrants meet with the couple, ask deep and profound questions, and help them reflect about the true meaning of the ceremony. They are encouraged to act, to some degree, like facilitators or guides—helping the couple reflect and think intentionally about their partnership.

Of course, the main task remains crafting the ceremony itself. However, we train our celebrants to approach it with a focus on humanist values – equality, mutual respect, and individual freedom. We are also currently exploring humanist confirmation courses.

It is important to enter the space of youth education, particularly to reach students who may lack positive role models. These programs could help place them in peer groups where they are exposed to humanist values—not just “good values,” but values rooted in critical thinking, equality, empathy, and reason.

Surgautaitė: Or at least to provide some guidance. We aim to raise topics and questions, especially those that promote critical thinking.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: Or simply to create a safe space. A space where young people feel accepted and valued. Humanity as a whole is facing numerous existential questions at present, given the global developments unfolding around us.

Jacobsen: And people will either take a bad answer or no answer at all.

So if we do not provide any answers, others will offer harmful ones in our place.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: It is especially difficult for young people today. Many are finishing school without knowing what profession they want to pursue, or even what their lives will look like six months from now. How can someone realistically make such major life choices in the 10th grade?

It was hard enough for our generation, but it is even more challenging for today’s youth. That is precisely where humanists should step in.

Jacobsen: Within the international humanist community, how do you view post-Soviet Northern European groups that work within the humanist tradition? How do they fit into the broader global movement? You have seen the diversity of concerns, lifestyles, language barriers, and cultural contexts. However, people still unite around a shared cause.

Zukauskaite-Zabuke: That is a great question. Post-Soviet and Northern Europe do not always overlap. For example, Romania and Hungary are post-Soviet, but not part of Northern Europe.

So I would group post-Soviet countries separately in this context.

Yesterday, we were discussing how we entered the humanist movement originally as seekers, looking for resources, guidance, and learning. Thanks to support from Humanists International and a good dose of our perfectionism, we have grown into a stable and well-established organization.

Now, we are in a position to give back—to share our knowledge, resources, and experiences.

We view such exchanges as invaluable, not just for building global solidarity but also in facing the shared threats that humanists encounter worldwide.

Although we are part of NATO, we firmly believe that international cooperation is essential, not only for security but also for fostering global understanding and reinforcing the value of peace.

Jacobsen: Any final thoughts?

Surgautaitė: I would add that the global humanist community is incredibly inspiring. Moreover, although we face such complex challenges in the world—political instability, misinformation, rising authoritarianism, and social polarization —there is strength in knowing we are not alone.

Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Urte and Gerda.

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