Why I'm a Humanist

(Via Abi)

Before I start rambling, if you want to know what Humanism is all about....

I thought I'd write about my reasons for being Humanistic...

I had an odd and sort of fractured childhood, but when I was very little I remember my parents were evangelistic Christians, or whatever the correct term is.... I didn't often get to go to their church - it was an odd, small 70's box of a building, and inside there were 'new age' Christians in white robes, who would push you over with the power of Christ (or rather, their hand) it scared me really, and the way my parents talked about God made me feel uncomfortable, because I had little seeds of doubt right from the start...

Later on, after we moved house, my parents tried the local (more um, normal) church, and disliked it, so they seemed to forget about Christianity, and never really mentioned it again. Sunday turned into a day which was spent lounging round the house drinking wine until Mum saw double....

When I met Tony (my husband) I hadn't really thought about God all that much, I think it's much easier in the UK to just avoid religion, as it doesn't seem as culturally important here as in the US and other countries... but when you get into a proper relationship, you discuss everything don't you, so naturally, eventually it came up.... I thought of myself at that time as an Agnostic, I was sitting on the fence, not really caring about making my mind up. Tony on the other hand is a supremely logical creature (or at least thinks he is, but it's just 'man' logic, and therefore incorrect most of the time ;) ) I found myself agreeing with a lot of the things he said - that there is no proof of a higher power, there never has been proof, that a lot of things in the bible are impossible (the lack of evolution, the whole nativity story etc etc) and over the next few months I decided to become an atheist...

There were a few things that troubled me about being an atheist - for a start when I said 'I'm an atheist' I felt it was a sort of negative statement... I was in effect saying 'I don't believe in God' which can be easily twisted into 'I don't believe in much of anything'.... also faith is important to me. How can you be an atheist but value faith? Well, I started by attempting to have faith in myself, I believe in myself. I have lost that belief from time to time, sometimes for long periods, but it always returns.... I have faith in my ability to be a good person, a person of worth, a loving, caring human. But that was just not quite enough, it was a very closed bubble of faith, and it didn't feel quite comfortable....

So I started to expand my bubble.... I didn't just believe in myself, I didn't just have faith in myself... I had faith in Tony, my children, people close to me.... then I realised after a while that I have faith in humanity. It dawned on me that I have an integral faith in human beings and humanity as a whole. Humanity may go astray from time to time, have it's bad apples and bad moments but intrinsically I feel that humanity has this amazing capacity for caring, and love.... and I have faith in that, a very strong faith. I also believe that each person, no matter how much they have strayed, no matter what they may have thought or done, can find the happiness, the caring and the love inside themselves, if they are willing. Some people may need a lifetime of professional care, but I think a glimmer of that 'goodness' will shine through. I have faith in people.

It took a while for me to realise that this was Humanism... or at least my own form of Humanism. My mother in law Phyllis has recently started talking to me about her Humanistic beliefs, and the Liverpool group she is thinking of joining..... rather than converting me she helped me to realise that this was what I had been believing in all along. I'm looking forward to having people to share it with.

My beliefs may seem very naive, and I find the problem I have with expressing them to others is that the age card gets pulled a lot.... a few people have laughed off my beliefs and told me that when I have 'lived a little' I will lose my faith in people..... I would offer those people the chance to walk in my childhood shoes, in which I met a few people who did evil things.... and then see if they would tell me the same thing. I believe that people who do evil things still have the capacity for good - it's not God given, it is residing somewhere deep within themselves.

Anyway I should shut up, Come All Ye Faithful has just come onto Classic Fm and I feel suitably sinful ;) ;)