Hope

I have a friend named Damien who is an axiological atheist. Meaning - he is an atheist - who is mostly concerned with ethics and values.

Is that the same as a Humanist? No - but it's related.

He comes out of religion and so has a focus on the harm religious belief can do to people.  He is an awesome person. He interviews people, he creates graphics and he shares his thoughts and ideas with graphics and through activism. At the heart of everything he does - is love. Here is a link to his blog: http://damienmarieathope.com/

And now - without further ado - are some of his thoughts - in graphic form. 

PS - he also interviewed me for his show.  This was our conversation:

Is a Humanist an Atheist?

The answer is not necessarily.

A  humanist approaches the world in a secular way. Problem solving etc are done without the aid of supernaturalism (and that means without the aid of gods). There are lots of people who believe in supernatural things but chose to approach life secularly anyway. These people would be pragmatically a-theist, but not theistically a-theist.

However, Humanism, as a term, was coined to describe a specifically non-theistic, non-religious approach to living well and ethically. Our morality is unapologetically grounded in human compassion and we don't appeal to gods or supernaturalism at all in our moral reasoning.  Lots of people of faith agree with this approach to morality and problem solving and find that it blends well with their theism. For instance, people who have taken my Living Made SImpler course and read my books tell me that it provides additional grounding for the theistic morality they hold. But because the word Humanism is a specifically secular approach and because there is no other term to describe such an ethical approach, people of faith who share this value system describe themselves as being humanistic as opposed to humanist.  Meaning, they agree with humanism, but are still religious or theistic in some way. 

As a result there are groups for Humanistic Judaism, Humanistic Christianity, Humanistic Islam and humanistic whatever.  A Humanist is someone who is secular and therefore not religious.  Someone who is humanistic - approaches whatever their theistic beliefs are in a humanistic way.  

To learn more about Humanism consider getting my book: The Handy Humanism Handbook
or check out this online course: Living Made Simpler

Religious Tolerance

Why evolution may help us be more tolerant with intolerant people of faith.

Ok – so if there is anything I am not tolerant of, its intolerance.  The problem is that there are a lot of intolerant people in the world. I think good people who do tolerate and accept diversity are in the majority – but you wouldn’t know that by how vocal and obnoxious the chronically intolerant are.

Anyway – I was asked the other day, by a militant atheist, why reason and atheism hasn’t won the day and why I spend hardly any time railing about religion. My answer was simple.

Religious people aren’t going to go away any time soon. This isn’t a matter for reason. It’s how our brains are wired. Our brains clearly evolved to see patterns and to imagine intent in other actors. I personally think that we atheists, who don’t see patterns but randomness in the universe, are mutants, outliers. Clearly we are in the minority. Perhaps evolution will favor our brains in the long run, but in our lifetime, we are stuck with the wide variety of people who are alive on planet earth with us. And those people see and experience the world in a profoundly different way from us.

And this gets me to the topic of tolerance.  Religious belief and non-belief appears to be both a product of nature and nurture.  Nature gives us our basic brain structure that makes us more or less likely to see supernatural influence in the world. And nature dictates how we culturally assign values to those basic beliefs and experiences of how the world works.

The more we accept these differences, the less we have to tolerate them because it’s not a matter of toleration; it’s a matter of acceptance.

The limit of this is when people use their beliefs to oppress other people. That should never be tolerated. Accepting that people experience the world differently doesn’t mean they have the right to oppress or kill other people. Just as we don’t tolerate people with serious anger management and/or mental illness killing or harming other people as a result of their illness, we should not tolerate people with different religious brain wirings using their religious beliefs as an excuse to hurt or harm others either.

People will experience the world the way they experience it. What we need as a society is an agreement that these differences don't give you permission to harm or oppress anyone.  This is why as a Humanist, I’m both for freedom of belief, but I don’t tolerate religious based violence or oppression. I’m not anti-religion, unless the religion is anti-human.

I accept religion.  I just don’t tolerate the oppressive forms of it.

Charles Darwin was right

Not just about evolution, but about anti-theism as well.

I am a Humanist and as a Humanist, I value Freethought on all subjects: including religion. We Freethinkers know no taboo.

However, you will also notice that I rarely write or speak about religion, focusing instead on how we all can use the tools of Freethought and critical thinking and compassion based ethics to lead better more ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.  

I take this approach because I know the benefits of this approach aren’t just for the non-religious. Everyone can benefit even if they don’t make full use of the tools. 

I am on occasion asked why I don’t take a more anti-theist approach. The quick reason is because I’m not an anti-theist. I’m a Humanist. I honestly don’t care what other people believe or don’t. I care whether they are a good person.  The other reason is because I don’t see that debates about belief or not belief do any good. I see them cause conflict, but not much learning.

On this subject, I am going to defer to Charles Darwin who said, 

“I am a strong advocate for free thought on all subjects, yet it appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follow[s] from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, I have confined myself to science. I may, however, have been unduly biased by the pain which it would give some members of my family, if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion.”

— Charles Darwin

On these matters I agree with Charles Darwin. 

Misandry and Misogyny

There has been a lot of discussion within the organized atheist movement about the existence of misogyny and misandry within the movement. And while I totally agree that these approaches are negative and are not conducive to bringing people into the movement, I wanted to address here, the reality of these views and how we deal with them as Humans.

I am a Humanist which means, generally means that I like humans in the abstract. In real life they tend to annoy me. I do try my best to treat each human I meet as a unique individual. I try not to lump all men together when one does something stupid. I try not to lump all women together either when one of them does something stupid. I say try, because the reality is, I fail at this. A lot. And I think the reason I fail is because I am human and I get frustrated just like everyone else. Our human brains have a tendency to generalize patterns. It’s a good thing that it does this but it does have some unintended consequences

The fact that from time to time I harbor misandrist and misogynist thoughts doesn’t mean that I am a horrible person. It means that being perfectly wonderful to everyone you meet all the time is not a realistic goal to have. It’s something to strive for certainly, but not something you are necessarily going to achieve.

I say this so that you can have compassion with yourself whenever you find yourself thinking less than charitably towards a group of people.  Because for me, letting go of my misandrist feelings towards my husband whenever he puts a bottle cap into our silverware drawer requires me to first remind myself that I am not perfect either. Since I am not perfect there is no reason for me to get angry just because someone else does something stupid from time to time. If I can find compassion for myself, I can find compassion for others and the negativity ebbs away. 

Humanity vs. Spirituality

My friend Mick wrote me the other day about his thoughts on Humanism.  He said he had been playing with the concept of humanity.  I liked what he wrote so much I asked him if I could share it here.

"It occurred to me recently that 'humanity' is a much more useful concept than 'spirituality'. Basically, the thing I would like more atheists to admit is that there are a lot of things, which transcend our understanding, and there always will be.  But the problem with the word "spirituality" is that it suggests a definition of what that transcendence is -- i.e. spirit.  A humanist, on the other hand, just says - I am facing the unknown as a human with all my limitations, but also all my amazing abilities. I do not have a God, or a lucky number 7, or any of that - just my humanity. I am willing to learn from experience.” - Mick

You can find Mick on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/mickmle1 where he is known as the Fragile Atheist.

Freethought Music

Yes - there is such a genre as Freethought music. And it transcends genres. Here is a list of Freethought artists I am familiar with. If you know of others, please add them to the list. You can sample each artist’s music on their website.

Markella - former opera star turned Freethought recording artist. http://www.markella.com/ 

Freethought MC - MC stands for Man of Conscious, he creates hip hop music and is in the studio working on his next album - http://www.reverbnation.com/freethoughtmc 

Peace of Rock - poetic rock music from and for free minds - http://peaceofrock.net/ 

Johnny Hoax - Atheist Rapper - http://www.reverbnation.com/johnnyhoax 

Also - here are some other Freethought music and entertainment resources you might like to know about.

Keith Lowell Johnson - Atheist comedian - very funny - http://keithlowelljensen.blogspot.com/ 

Inspirational Humanist Radio Hour - an hour long show out of NY. Airs Tuesday nights at 10 pm but available on podcast as well - great music and musings. - http://www.radiohive.org/category/shows/ihrh 

As I said - these are just a few artists I know about. If you know of others, please let me know!

Grief without God

This seems to be the topic of conversation this week. Anyway - Thinking Atheist did a great show on this yesterday. It is about 1 1/2 hours long, but the first woman really gets it right. Having lost a child myself, I completely understand where she is coming from. She's right, without a belief in god or an afterlife, you have no choice but to accept the reality of what has happened and this acceptance helps you cope more effectively with your loss.

At this point I am absolutely convinced that it is easier to grieve without a belief in god then it is to grieve with a belief in god.  And if you are interested in this subject I have an entire chapter dedicated to grief in my book. Anyway - because it is so moving and so important a topic - here is the youtube version of Thinking Atheist's radio show from yesterday. Now go grab some kleenex.

Arrogant Atheists

I realize this is a blog about Humanism, and Atheism isn’t part of my normal repertoire. But trust me, there is a point to all this. This post is actually written for people of faith trying to make sense of the apparent arrogance of “new” atheists, meaning people who have only recently come to their atheism as opposed to old hands like me. What you need to know is that most of them aren’t trying to be arrogant. What they are trying to be, believe it or not, is helpful.

I think we can all agree that the closer your understanding of how the universe works is to how it actually works the easier the time you will have navigating your way through it. What is happening with the “new” atheists is that they have recently experienced a dramatic change in how they think the universe works and this change in understanding has made their lives not just easier, but A LOT easier. And when you experience something that is not only that dramatic, but that is also incredibly effective at improving your life in general, well, it’s REALLY hard to keep that new knowledge to yourself.

One of the powerful new techniques that “new” Atheists learned on their journey was the discipline of Freethought. Humanists also practice Freethought and regardless of belief or unbelief, there is no reason you shouldn’t as well. I have an entire chapter dedicated to this topic in my book. Here’s part of the concluding paragraph of that chapter:

“A word of warning: once you begin to practice Freethought, you will wonder how you ever made reasonable decisions before. …This newfound knowledge of the tangible benefits of Freethought will probably make you less patient with those who do not practice the technique. Just remember, a little compassion goes a long way."

Conclusion: Most “new” atheists aren’t being arrogant; they are just being a bit inarticulate in their excitement. Be patient with them.

A Delicate Balance

I have been helping a friend of mine from Bahrain edit an essay about Humanism. I am loving the essay. It continues to astonish me how people from all over the world manage to reach the same conclusions about life. Anyway, he said I could share some of it with you and the bit I want to share has to do with balancing the competing aspects of the Humanist philosophy. As I agree whole-heartedly I am sharing it here.

He quotes Barry Seidman who is a writer, producer and Humanist who wrote in an essay titled Imagine All the People the following statement.

If we cling to atheism as the basis for our behavior in society, then we may become what I call, "atheist avengers," putting our energies in debunking God while leaving social justice issues behind. If we only focus on science and skepticism we risk the twin evils of elitism and arrogance, finding more strength in attacking religionists or debunking the masses, than in making the world a better place to live. And if we focus only on social justice issues and ignore the problems of supernaturalism and the tool of science, we can find ourselves trapped in the labyrinth of postmodernism, and wind up building our societies on the fallacy that humans have free will. - Barry Seidman

My friend, A.R.M. of Bahrain, sums up the various aspects of Humanism thusly “So humanistic thoughts mostly concentrate on living a peaceful life, doing good, research, critical thinking, social justice, making the world better place to live, free will, and democracy.” Now that’s what I call balance.

Religious Tolerance 101

So, today I responded to a youtube question about why Atheists ridicule people of faith. It is a good question, because let’s face it, everyone believes something different and some of us don’t believe any of it at all. And despite that we still all need to get along.

Religious tolerance isn’t easy. It means accepting people for the good people they are despite the fact they believe something that probably seems absolutely absurd to you. And then they need to reciprocate that acceptance of you despite your differences. It isn’t that hard to do, you just need to be respectful of the fact that very good moral people can believe very different things and that is ok as long as they are good moral people.

If you sincerely like someone you will respect their beliefs regardless of how ridiculous those beliefs seem to you. If you don’t you won’t. It is as simple as that. And I can say from experience, the ONLY times I get snarky about faith is when I am pushed to that point by someone who isn’t respecting my disbelief. If you are nice to me despite the fact I don’t believe as you do, I will be nice to you to. It really is that simple.

Pragmatism?

I have been reading Greg Epstein’s new book. Apparently there are several different flavors of atheism. According to him I am a pragmatic atheist, which means that for me whether god(s) exists or not is irrelevant to living an ethical and successful life. I actually told an ethics class at a college that I thought the existence of god was irrelevant a few years back and almost every jaw in the room dropped. Apparently considering gods irrelevant is more shocking then not believing in gods at all. In my defense I was asked to present non-theistic ethics to them so the question of the existence of god was totally relevant to our discussion.

Regardless – I had no idea I was such a pragmatist. I’ve always considered myself an apathetic agnostic, atheist, ignostic apatheist. But what do I know. What is really important to me is not whether gods exist but rather once you have decided for yourself as an individual what you believe or don’t believe about gods, the next question is what is really important. Given what you believe, are you going to approach life with love or with fear and hate? And how does that affect your personal ethics? Your answer to this question, by the way, impacts me and everyone else on the planet. So yeah, color me pragmatic.

And that is why I am a Humanist. Humanism is a very pragmatic approach to living well and being a good person. That is why I titled my book – The Humanist Approach to Happiness: Practical Wisdom. It isn’t a philosophy book so much as a book about the pragmatic reasons for being an ethical, compassionate and responsible person. If you want to learn more you can buy an advanced copy here: http://www.cafepress.com/sumogirl.409202605 If this link is no longer good it means I found a publisher and you can find the new link on my website at http://www.sumogirl.com/