THIS IS ME

 This is a page intended as a collection of member’s beliefs, interests and opinions – for you to measure up against your own. It will expand as contributions arrive. It will contain simple statements of “What I believe as a Humanist” or “My pathway to Humanism” or hopefully some simple story about a ‘Humanist experience’, involving perhaps another individual, which is worth telling. The exercise is intended only as an aid to those trying to find their own route to what they personally believe. Every path is different.

Each view or belief expresses on this page will be applicable to that individual and does not represent the collective views or beliefs of Berkshire Humanists. They are subject to change at any time maybe from a comment or input of verifiable information that you would like to make. We hope that you will add your name to the contribution, but if you prefer not to be named this will be respected. Obviously anything too controversial will be better aired in the Berkshire Humanist forum.

 

 

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Humanism a personal story.

From Robert Ede our Webmaster dated 31/05/08

As long as I can remember I have never believed in a god. My family background is generally that of a lapsed Christian, although my dad is a fervent atheist. As a child I was baptised into the Anglican Church, something I’ve always been puzzled by. However there is no great story to tell, it’s simply that in my parent’s day they were expected to have a christening. My grandmother on my dad’s side of the family I would describe as committed Christian, and quite conservative, and God has always been a point of contention between her and my father.

Having grown up in a small village, the only local school was a Church of England aided school. I remember the Christian ethos of the school, with regular visits from the local rector, and also crossing the road to the local church of St Peter & St Paul where I was baptised.

I recall even at the age of 5 or 6 wondering, what happens when we die. The story of heaven sounded quite appealing as a child, although even at that age I wondered how we could know about heaven, given that nobody comes back from the dead.

I soon started questioning the story of creation by around aged 8 and before I knew it, I had become what Richard Dawkins might describe as a cultural Christian. I had started reading about dinosaurs, evolution, astronomy, and the how the universe began.

I never really believed in god, and didn’t give it a further thought until my early twenties. I met a group of very interesting people who introduced me to new age ideas, as well as an introduction to the Mormon faith. At this point I was an associate member of the Society for Psychical Research, and looking to find some amazing truth that telepathy, telekinesis and non-corporeal existence could be proven by science. This was a stretch too far, and I didn’t need to continue my membership of the SPR long before their experiments demonstrated what I already suspected. There is no evidence for anything supernatural.  There I was, the naked truth of humanity was laid bare.

I can’t say I felt any sense of loss, it was simply that I had followed the technique of Sherlock Holmes determined the most probable outcome. To quote Nietzsche “God is dead”, or in my case was never there.

I then went on an exploration of religion for a number of years, looking at all sorts of things such as Buddhism, and Unitarianism. This interest in understanding religion continues to this day, but I take a slightly different view.

So how did I find out I was a humanist? Well, after I found out that god was dead, I started looking for more human ways of establishing values, and a positive life view. I explored the written work of Tony Robbins, and it was amazing. I learned how to control depression, rage, and all sort of behaviours that had let me down in the past. I continued this search by reading about Neuro-linguistic programming, and hypnosis. This changed me from someone who felt something was missing to someone who found a purpose for life, and I decided what and who I wanted to be.

Then one day, purely by chance, I found the BHA web site. I heard of humanist weddings before, but the BHA was something I’d never seen before. Reading that Claire Rayner’s story I knew right then and there, I could identify myself as humanist. The values, and the principles described match exactly with who I am.  From there, I found a new world of Dawkins, Hitchens, and Grayling.

So that is the short version of how I found Humanism, hopefully this has given you some insights if you’re new to humanism.  From there I found Berkshire Humanists and the rest is history.

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Arline Dace………………………………… dated 31/05/08

As a Humanist

I believe in searching for the truth in all aspects of life.
I believe in freedom of thought.

I believe it is healthy to recognise the indoctrination that we have been subjected to in childhood and seeing it for what it is.

I believe religions have been created by humans
- As a reaction to the fear of the unknown
- To control the behaviour of individuals
- To control the behaviour of the masses.

Many people need the comfort of the thought of an omnipresent, beneficent father figure, and a beautiful ideal life after death. If one has been given comfort by falsehoods then letting go of such images can be very disturbing and cause fear.

Letting go of indoctrination can be likened to letting go of the side of a swimming pool where one hangs on for fear of sinking. With the courage of letting go comes the realisation that one can swim on one’s own.

Liberation from preconceived ideas allows a state of awareness unfettered by the proscrlptions of ‘holy scriptures’ and the’ blinkers’ of a faith, telling one how one ‘ought’ to think and react to any situation, and instead allows one to truly listen to ones’ own inner voice.

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This is what ONE Humanist believes.

I believe in the strength of human minds to
- reason,
-explain,
-peacefully action or tolerate
their way through any problem they may encounter
……………………………………………………………or just imagine.
I believe this can best be achieved by
- structured thinking,
- acting socially, holistically and globally,
- cycling processes of hope, questioning, and rest.
- accepting and using naturalistic processes
like evolution and science,

offering and enabling
*positivity with substance,
*testing without judgement,
*establishment and publication of all criteria,
*creativity and choice,

with respect and responsibility

whilst working towards

reproducible truth and overviews.

Always with the application of pure human love.

David McKnight June 2008

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A letter Composed by Alan Stuart (our Press Officer) showing many of his opinions.

Martin Salter MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A OAA
Dear Martin Salter

Face to Face and Side by side

I refer to the above Government White Paper. I am deeply concerned that the Government is continuing its policy of perpetuating the involvement of religion in public life. Religion is a very personal belief and those who feel deeply about it should be free to practise those beliefs as they think fit. They should not however be given any special privilege to force those views and superstitions on others. The Government is encouraging The Department of Communities and local Government to involve as many “Faith” organisations as possible in their various activities. The Government is also investing £7.5m in interfaith work. This is supposed to involve “people from different faiths and beliefs and those with none”

The Government seems to be overlooking “…. those with none” Schools, Hospitals and prison visiting are particularly notable for their lack of Humanist or secular involvement. Religion is responsible for dividing the nation and deliberately creating controversy where there was none.

There have been so many examples recently where religious privilege has caused deep concern. Many people regard some religious methods of slaughtering animals for food as being unacceptable, but they are obliged to eat such meat because others insist on it. Even one of the Christian religions says that however it is slaughtered you must not eat it on a Friday! Christian churches will not marry divorcees, but such couples can remarry in a register office. Or can they? What if the Registrar holds strong religious views and refuses to conduct a register office wedding because his/her God says it is wrong? This is the type of religious privilege that the Government is promoting.

This is further amplified when children are divided by not being permitted to wear rings and bangles, but if a child claims that the adornment has religious significance then it is ok. Similarly if a child or a teacher wants to cover their face during lessons they can only do so if a religious reason can be quoted. Why also can a pharmacist claim religious reasons for refusing contraception to someone in need? I could go on but I am sure that you could name many other such absurd cases.

In short what I am saying is that the Government must recognise that organised religion is dangerously divisive and it should not be deliberately trying to link it to our daily lives. I would like to think that I can count on your support in using your influence to get this important message over to your friends in office.

Yours sincerely

Alan Stuart