How a Muslim Introduced me to Humanism

Posted: 06/22/2012 3:47 pm
Chris Stedman.
Author, Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard Fellow and founder, State of Formation

"What's a 'Humanist'?"

As a Humanist activist, it's a question I hear a lot. I'm not comfortable with the idea of trying to answer it on behalf of all Humanists, so I usually respond to the question by sharing the story of how I came to identify as a Humanist. And since yesterday was World Humanist Day, I got to thinking and I feel inspired to share just a small bit of it here. (There are many events that preceded this story but, well... I'll get to that later.)

The story of how I became a Humanist is a funny one to me in part because, after searching so long for an identity that affirmed my naturalistic worldview and compassionate ambitions, I found secular Humanism because of a Muslim.

After years of evading discussions about other people's religious identities or challenging religious dogma in my academic studies of religion, I faltered when it came to discerning how to identify myself. I used "atheist," "agnostic," "nonreligious," and "secular" interchangeably, but none of them really felt right; while each was accurate, they all seemed a bit inadequate -- more like descriptors than identities. None encapsulated how I saw the world; none felt like an affirmation of the values I held. So I just went about doing interfaith work without an affiliation, content to create opportunities for people of varying worldviews to engage with one another constructively. Still, I wasn't completely sure how to articulate my own perspective. I knew I didn't believe in God, but found the idea of declaring positive values much more daunting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-stedman/how-a-muslim-introduced-m_b_1616660.html