Be Reasonable

I'm a humanist and I'm ok

I'm a humanist and a member of the British Humanist Association (BHA). I've identified myself as a humanist since I had the term described to me when I was eighteen, I was already a humanist for some time before that, but didn't know it.

The BHA describes humanism as follows:

"Humanism is an approach to life based on humanity and reason - humanists recognise that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone. Our decisions are based on the available evidence and our assessment of the outcomes of our actions, not on any dogma or sacred text.

Isn't that a wonderful way to live your life? To accept that there's no higher power judging us or telling us what to do. To accept that we must find our own way to live a good life. That morality isn't something set in stone, but something that we must endeavour to improve as we learn more.

Humanism includes atheism but introduces an ethical aspect. The Humanist Manifesto is a not a dogmatic set of principles, instead it captures the current thinking in an evolving world view. There have so far been three versions of the Humanist Manifesto, each taking into account how society has developed and what has been learnt since the previous version.

Humanism is a grown-up lifestance. Humanists accept that just as we are able to look back at those who supported slavery with a sense of moral superiority, future humanists will be able to look back at us with a sense of moral superiority. This encourages us to think about how we could improve our society, for example by eradicating homophobia. We can't just rest on our laurels and believe that if we just follow a particular set of rules then we'll have lived a good life. We have to try harder than that and evolve what it means to live a good life.

Being a humanist makes me feel alive. I know that I have only a limited lifespan and that this life is the real thing, not a rehearsal. I owe it to myself to make the most of it. For me that means achieving personal happiness and fulfilment in the context of aspiring towards a greater quality of life for everyone.

Humanism definitely helps with understanding what personal happiness and fulfilment involves. I've got no higher power to thank or blame for events in my life. That gives me both a sense of empowerment and a sense of responsibility. I don't believe in fate which means that I don't just sit back and wait for things to happen - things happen as a result of the laws of nature and human action. If I want to see a particular outcome then I need to do what I can to influence it, not just sit back and say "well, if it's meant to happen then it will".

Humanism is more demanding than religion. It doesn't give you easy answers, but it does give you the best answers that are available. This makes it far more satisfying.

A British Atheist? What's the point?

Some people might wonder whether there's any point being an atheist in the UK. Haven't we fought that battle and won? Surely religion is on its last legs?

Well, in some ways this is true. Church attendance is very low and although lots of people call themselves Christians, this is more an indication of their heritage than their religious beliefs. The average British 'Christian' would be horrified by much of what is in the bible and just likes the idea of heaven.

The problem is that the Christian church has a grossly disproportionate influence on society, partly because it is the established church with various privileges enshrined in law. Other religions probably have an even more disproportionate influence on society due to ideas of inclusiveness - if the government asks the Christians, then it must ask the Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Pagans and worshippers of Ra the Egyptian Sun God.

One example of a ludicrous and outmoded privilege is the Lords Spiritual. The two archbishops and 24 bishops get free passes into the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament. You can find a good description of the kind of problems they cause here.

I find it utterly objectionable that schools are legally obliged to have a daily act of (Christian) religious worship. I strongly believe that religion, of any flavour, must be kept out of schools.

Politicians also seem to be a scarily religious lot. Tony Blair shows a disturbing penchant for encouraging religious activity, particularly in association with schools.

I'd love to be in the position where atheist was just as meaningless a label as aunicornist, but we're just not there yet.

Stop it, you're embarrassing me

While I certainly respect other people's right to be religious, I honestly feel that religion is a negative force it the world. When I think of the religiosity that currently plagues the world, I'm bemused, frustrated, fearful, sickened and most of all, embarrassed.

I'm bemused because I just don't get it. Why can't they see the emperor has no clothes? I can understand why religion still exists in parts of the world where modern thinking isn't prevalent. But in western countries where science is taught in schools, what's going on there? I sometimes wonder if they're faking it. Is there some great conspiracy that I'm not in on? Will someone one day provide me with a plausible reason as to why it's in the best interests of humanity for me to pretend that I believe in God? This explanation actually seems more plausible to me than the idea that millions of educated people are religious. Yep, I'm bemused.

I'm frustrated because all this silliness gets in the way of rational thinking. If all the intellectual energy that is currently directed towards interpreting an ancient collection of folk tales was instead applied to the advancement of society just think where we would be. I feel strongly that leaving behind racism, sexism and homophobia are steps forward in human morality. The religious contest every step forward. Just think how much more quickly society could progress without religion. Yep, I'm frustrated.

I'm fearful because the situation seems to be getting worse. This is most obvious in the US. The idea of a president believing that god is on his side is absolutely terrifying to me. Bush is very very scary.

I'm sickened every time I hear a disaster survivor claim that they prayed to God and he saved them. Do they really believe that they are morally superior to all the people who prayed and still died. Do they think they are better than the babies and children that God didn't save? I feel sickened that these people are so blinded by fake morality that they've lost touch with human morality.

And finally, I'm embarrassed because we should know better, we do know better. I cringe to imagine what future historians will write about these times.

How I Became an Atheist

So how did I come to be an atheist? Well there was no great moment when I saw the light, I didn't lose my religion. I was brought up in a household with a father who is an atheist and a mother who chooses to believe the nice bits of Christianity without thinking about it too much. We didn't attend church as a family and I never went to Sunday school. I did go to a Church of England primary school which had daily acts of worship including prayers at the end of each day (I cringe to think of this now). We also had a weekly assembly in the local church (the vicar would come to us if it rained). I remember giving religious readings in church at Harvest Festival and Christmas services.

The weird thing is that I remember hearing lots of bible stories as a small child, but I don't remember feeling that we were supposed to think they were true. I remember them in the same way that I remember Aesop's fables. I understood that the stories had an underlying moral message, but I don't think I realised that people actually believed that they had happened.

When I was at middle school (in the 1980s), religious education was all about learning about other religions. I remember learning a lot about Hinduism. I don't remember thinking about religion much at this age, but I would certainly have understood that people did in fact believe in various religions.

I guess I have to credit Erich von Daniken for helping me come to an actively atheist and rational world view. As a young teenager I read some of his books including Chariots of the Gods: Was God an Astronaut? and found them fascinating. Could this stuff really be true? Had aliens really influenced the development of civilisation on earth? (I was young.)  Then I read an article debunking his books which got me thinking about how we actually determine what is true. I realised that religion was no more plausible than von Daniken's explanations and that critical thinking was crucial.

At the age of eighteen a boyfriend's father explained that he was a Humanist and what this meant. Prior to this I hadn't realised there was a term for my worldview.

I've never wavered from being an atheist. I was never tempted by any of the many religions I encountered at University. I was never convinced by any of the so-called proofs of the existence of God that I encountered when studying philosophy. I can listen unswervingly to any number of explanations as to why God/Allah is the reason why a horrendous natural disaster isn't even worse.

Why I'm an atheist

In  the simplest  terms  I'm an  atheist  because I  don't believe  in God(s).  It's not just that I don't believe in any of the gods in common circulation, I don't believe in any divine beings.

Many religious folk misunderstand this and think that in order to be an atheist you would need to be able to disprove the existence of gods (or at least their God). Either that or you would need to accept the non-existence of gods 'on faith' and therefore you would be using similar reasoning to them.

Plenty of people have explained why this is dodgy reasoning, but I don't think it will hurt to do it again. In order for me to believe in something I have to have sufficient evidence to accept that it is true. I don't have sufficient evidence to believe in gods therefore I don't believe in them. In fact I have no evidence whatsoever for the existence of gods. On the other hand there is plenty of evidence that the human brain is capable of inventing gods. The non-existence of gods seems by far the most reasonable conclusion and I therefore don't believe in gods. There's no need to disprove the existence of gods to take this position.

So does this mean that I can't be certain that gods don't exist? Yes it does. If convincing evidence becomes available to prove the existence of gods then I will become a believer. Similarly, if JK Rowling produces concrete evidence that the Harry Potter series is not actually a work of fiction but a true story then I would also believe that. I happen to think that the former is just as likely as the latter.

Shouldn't I technically call myself an agnostic if I can't disprove the existance of gods? Well given my position this would seem rather silly to me. I don't feel the need to say I'm agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden, Father Christmas or unicorns. Fortunately afairyism is the default position for adults so I rarely need to express my position on topic. Unfortunately atheism is not the default position.

Blogging for Reason

I'm happy to be called a sceptic, a rationalist, a humanist and an atheist. I don't believe in gods, astrology, reincarnation, clairvoyance or anything else that requires a paranormal explanation. I do believe in sound reasoning.

I think religion in particular is a negative force in the world. It prevents society from applying reason to the big issues of our time. On so many topics (war, abortion, euthanasia, genetic research, etc) our scientists and philosophers are forced to spend energy refuting religious arguments rather than having reasoned debates based on facts and knowledge.

The UK population is not  particularly religious, yet the religious have a big impact on the way we live our lives. It's not okay that bishops automatically get places in the House of Lords, it's not okay that English schools must have a daily act of worship and it's not okay that the government wants to fund more faith schools. More people need to say that it's not okay.

My reason for blogging is to make a small contribution towards making superstition less acceptable and reason more acceptable.

- Be Reasonable