What is Humanism? (Part 2)

My journey toward Humanism began when I was very young, and long before I knew what Humanism was, or even heard the word. In fact, it began when I was a very devoted Catholic who fully believed that Jesus was a real person and the "son of God" who had died for our "sins" and been resurrected. It began when I still embraced most (but not all, even then) of the RC Church's teachings. It began during the 1960's, as I watched the civil rights protests (and, as I've mentioned in a prior post, the way blacks were treated by Christian whites), and as I watched the first "living room war" - Vietnam - through nightly news clips and the rolling lists of names of soldiers lost or killed in the fighting.

I have always been a thinker. When I witnessed such things on television, I thought about the right and wrong of what I was seeing. I thought about it in terms of what I had been taught by my Catholic family and the church - what I'd been told Jesus taught and stood for. I looked at scenes of people being beaten by the police simply because they were born with a different color skin, and scenes of young men killing other young men in Vietnam (and sometimes women, children, and old people) - and I thought to myself "This is not right. This is not what Jesus would want to see happening in the world. This isn't what he died for. This goes against the Commandment not to kill, and Jesus' teaching that we should 'love thy neighbor as you love yourself' or 'turn the other cheek'".

More than that, such things made no logical sense. Beating someone with a baton just because they are different was wrong not only from a moral or ethical standpoint, but also from a logical standpoint. What did it accomplish? What did it prove? The answer to both was - nothing. So if there is no benefit to doing it, then it is not logical to do it. If anything, those who wished to keep minorities oppressed hurt their own chances for success, because anyone with an ounce of empathy would find such scenes disturbing, and find their sympathies lying with the victims.

The same was true about the war. What exactly did shooting people, or blowing them up, prove? Regardless of who "won" - which seemed to be based solely on which side accumulated the highest body count - it did not make them right, nor did it justify the suffering endured by everyone from the soldiers, to the people living there who did not choose to have a war fought in their streets, to the families back home that lost so many of their children. War served no purpose other than to indulge the barbarian side of humanity, and at the intolerable risk that it might well kill off the next Jesus, Einstein, Salk, etc., before they ever had a chance to become who they were meant to be. Therefore war was not just wrong...it was ignorant, barbaric, and detrimental to the future of mankind.

I was taught both by my religious instructors and my own family that Jesus was all about love, peace, forgiveness, generosity, and humility; and that the 10 Commandments were the most absolute rules of God - rules that could not be broken unless one were willing to risk an eternity in Hell. Yet this alleged "Christian nation" (as Pat Robertson, George Bush and Christian fundamentalists would have us believe) was not promoting peace, love, forgiveness, or generosity, and was certainly not following the 10 Commandments when it not only ordered the deaths of thousands (on all sides), but even forced people to become killers against their will (by drafting young men into service, and using threats of incarceration to force them to comply). Neither did the Catholic or Christian churches rise up in protest against such blatant disregard for the Commandment against killing. (The same holds true today, with the exception that, so far at least, the draft has not been reinstated.)

It seemed to me that both our national leaders and the various sects of Christianity itself paid lip service to such lofty ideals, but looked the other way, or even actively endorsed actions that completely contradicted the Christian values they claimed to uphold.

Needless to say, all of this made me question what I was taught at church. The seeds of doubt had been planted, not by some outside force or some "devil in disguise" trying to steal my eternal soul, but by the actions of very people who claimed to be trying to save it.

Over the course of years, more and more of what I'd been taught by the church came into question. Why were women not allowed to serve as priests, and viewed as inferior in some way? The allegation that Eve was the one who led Adam into the first "sin" just didn't cut it. Even if she had, that was on HER alone. Punishing countless generations of women for it was not the action of a loving, forgiving, kindly "god. Neither was it particularly comforting to think that this same "god" would order Abraham to kill his own son just to prove his obedience and devotion to that "god", only to turn around and say "oh, nevermind, I was just testing you". Further, such phrases from the Bible as "I am a jealous god" indicate that if this deity did exist, it was more of an insecure tyrant than a being worthy of devotion.

Such glaring contradictions fed more and more into the doubts that I had about the legitimacy of Christianity as a true religion, and later into my doubts about the existence of any kind of "god" at all.

Because of this, I determined that rather than follow someone's prescribed religion, I would simply follow my own heart. What did I, personally, think was good or bad? What did I think were the right and wrong paths for myself, and humanity, to take?

Through introspection, observation, and long thought, I determined that war, discrimination, poverty, oppression, hate, jealousy, and dishonesty were wrong. Love, peace, charity, kindness, compassion, honesty, and generosity were good and should be encouraged.

I felt that the founders of this country were eminently correct in saying that human beings had certain "inalienable rights", but far too limiting in their scope of what those rights were, or who qualified for them ("all men" should have been "all human beings", which would have included women, children, and people of all races right from the start). I believed those inalienable rights should have included the right to live in peace, the right to recieve help in times of need, and the right to personal safety (whether from a single attacker, an oppressor, or a war).

I believed that money truly is the root of all evil, because the pursuit of money leads so many to greed, jealousy, and dishonesty, the accumulation of wealth leads to selfishness, abuse of power, and elitism; and the lack of money has caused such great suffering for billions around the world. Therefore I believe that money and the accumulation of wealth should be abolished in favor of a society where all share equally in the bounty of the earth and the fruits of humanity's labor.

I also believed in personal responsibility, and that each of us has a responsibility not only to ourselves and our families, but to our fellow man, and the earth that sustains us. I believed that each of us has an obligation to contribute to the greater good of mankind in whatever way their intellect, talents, and abilities allow.

At the time, more than two decades ago, when I came to these conclusions, I still had not heard of Humanism, and had no idea that anyone else might have reached the same conclusions. That came much later...quite recently in fact.

About 4 years ago I came across a reference to humanism and found the word intriguing. I looked it up and was astonished to discover hundreds of links to it in the results. The very first one led me to the Humanist Manifesto II. When I read that document, I was torn between tears and utter elation. It said almost everything I had thought about the world, the future of humanity, and the way we should live and treat each other - but it said it better, and more importantly, it contained a clear vision for how those ideals might be achieved.

At that moment, I knew I was a Humanist, and that in fact, I had always been a Humanist, but just didn't know it. I also learned that I was not alone in my personal philosophy and beliefs, and a whole new world opened up to me. I've never looked back.

In regard to the question of "god", I have my own personal views on that as well. In purely empirical terms, I cannot say if there is any kind of deity out there or not. I simply do not know, and there is not enough scientific or historical evidence available to prove or disprove one. However, I have decided that it doesn't really matter if a god exists or not. If there is one, and if it is the kindly, loving, benevolent god that Jesus allegedly spoke of, then as long as I live my life honestly and continue to be a good person, I have nothing to fear. If there is no god of any kind, I also have nothing to fear.

And no, I do not find a life without belief in some god to be empty, unfulfilling, or without hope. In fact, I find it quite the opposite. There is not just one purpose to my life, but many. I am a parent and a wife, a clergyperson, at times a counselor or teacher, and an advocate. I stand up for what I believe in, and speak out against what I feel is wrong. I take the greatest joy and satisfaction from helping others, and appreciate the beauty of the earth on which we live. My spiritual life is also quite full, as I find inspiration in so many things - music, writing, a beautiful beach or sunrise, the wonders of nature, the vast universe that surrounds us, and so much more. I am full of hope as well - hope for the future of mankind; hope for an end to poverty, war, disease, and suffering of all kinds; and hope for reason to overcome radical fundamentalism in all it's forms.

So that is how I came to be a humanist, and I hope it also gives you some insight into what my personal understanding of Humanism is.