John,

It’s a popular misapprehension that humanists “worship” the human. It is true that Renaissance Humanism developed out of the idea that individuals have worth, dignity, and rights. But that claim has now been adopted by a large number of people on the planet, of all religious and philosophical stripes. I don’t speak for all humanists, but personally I have serious doubts that a cogent “self” exists. So worshiping what we might mean by the term the self would be worshiping an illusion. The question is what to “give worth to” as an ultimate concern. All living things and the cosmos is plenty for me personally.