The British Humanist Association has put together four fantastic "sketch-art" videos in a series called That's Humanism!, narrated by the great Stephen Fry, which clearly and elloquently answer four important questions from the Humanist perspective.
Editor's note: this is another essay in the "Why I Am a UU Humanist" series. What is your story? Contact us and let us share it. (Please note that the essay content deadline is May 26, 2014.)
The question is: "Why are you a Unitarian Universalist Humanist?"
The answer is: not so easy.
I don't know why I am a Humanist. I just am. Rather late in life I learned that "Humanism" defines my personal outlook. (I think "worldview" is just a bit pretentious.)
I do know why I am a Unitarian Universalist. [My late wife, Fran, would say, "The short version, Dick."] After trying several Christian denominations over the years, by 1970 I would be what we now call a "none." Sometime in the mid 1980s I gave a ride to the elderly Catholic gentleman living across the street who liked to attend the Christmas service at the Universalist Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Leafing through their ancient Hymnal for Churches of the Free Spirit (circa 1940) I came across the following which I wrote down as an "alternate creed" (little did I know that "creed" is a dirty word in the "free church"):
I believe in:
The authority of evidence;
The supremacy of intelligence;
The leadership of competence;
The validity of freedom; and
The goal of commonweal.
OYG; something calling itself a "church" and believing stuff like that?! I was especially drawn to "The leadership of competence" having been exposed to too much of the other kind over thirty years in the U.S. Army. So I took the above as my personal credo and borrowed a book to read up on the history of the Unitarians and Universalists. Good stuff. When I learned that the Universalist Church of St J did not belong to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) (it does now) I joined the Universalist Society of West Burke, Vermont in 1987.
In 1989 Fran and I moved to Lexington, Kentucky and I joined the UU Church of Lexington (UUCL), the only game in town. In 1998 I complained to a friend about the New Agey feel good pap that was being preached there. My friend, Chuck who had come from Los Angeles said that in LA one had the choice of several flavors of UUism. He had belonged to the UU congregation of the old Blacklisted screen writers - the pinko, lefty, Socialist UU congregation. Chuck asked, "Is there any reason we couldn't have a Humanist fellowship at the UUCL?" I was aware that "HUMANIST TEACHINGS which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit" are among the sources of the "Living Tradition" of UUism and had wondered what those teachings were. I had heard of the "Humanist Manifesto" but had never read it. I now have - many times, all three versions and counting. And so was born the Humanist Forum that has been meeting at the UUCL monthly since September 1998.
Why I Am a UU Humanist
In the year 2000 I attended the Annual Meeting of the Friends of Religious Humanism (FRH) during the UUA General Assembly in Nashville. As a result of my becoming a member of the FRH I not only became a subscriber to the magnificent journal religious humanism but also the recipient of the book American Religious Humanism by Mason Olds. From that book I learned that the golden words above that I have taken as my credo come from the writings of Curtis W. Reese who, among other things, was Secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference, 1919-1930. (For those not familiar with Unitarian history please note that in 1919 "Western Unitarian" meant west of the Hudson River.) Then I knew my belief system had a name, "Humanism." Curtis Reese is my hero.
At the FRH Annual Meeting in 2001 new By-Laws were adopted changing the name of the corporation to "HUUmanists" to clearly indicate our affiliation with the UUA. And that is why I am a "Unitarian Universalist Humanist" aka a "HUUmanist."
Dick
Editor's note: this is another essay in the "Why I Am a UU Humanist" series. What is your story? Contact us and let us share it.
As a new member to HUUmanism (Pronounced "HU-U-manism"), I received a welcome packet including two issues of their journal “Religious Humanism”. In the Fall 2012 issue, the Editor’s Preface says “Increasingly, we face a choice, framed elsewhere by Mike Werner, [an author of one of the articles] between secular Humanist groups who do a better job of embodying a rational approach to life, and UU congregations who do a better job of providing full-fledged community.” And several of the articles emphasized the role that “community” plays in UU congregations and also Humanist groups.
“Community” is one of those words that we use in everyday parlance and seldom stop to think about. I found myself reacting to the word with the first associations of friendly and welcoming group of people. But as I reflected on the word a bit more, I realized that there was another aspect to it for me that adds a new, fuller dimension to the word. (I realize that the word “welcoming” may sometimes mean “welcoming to the GLBT community”, but I am using it here in the broader sense of welcoming of anyone and everyone.)
When I first moved to the Boston area 13 years ago after living in the Philadelphia area and before that in Chicago, I found the people here to be friendly and welcoming. I could talk to people in line at the supermarket and talk about the weather and other superficial, friendly chit-chats. I found friendly folks in the choruses I joined, the Boards of Director of non-profit organizations where I served, and even at work. But I found that the people were not inclusive. No one would say “Let’s get together for lunch”, or “We’re doing such and such this Saturday, would you like to join us?” There was no opportunity for engagement or building of a relationship. I found that if I met a man I respected and desired to get to know better, I would ask to get together for lunch, or a drink and I would realize that he thought I was trying hit on him as if we were in a singles bar. And I found the same type of response if I suggested that to a woman. That type of friendliness just isn’t practiced here.
A few years after moving, I attended the Arts Week Conference at Star Island which has a history of being connected to both the UU and UCC churches. With my Fundamentalist upbringing but my non-religious current beliefs, I wasn’t looking forward to the daily Chapel services each morning. But after the first service, I mentioned to my ex-wife that I loved a service where the word “god” wasn’t mentioned once. That was my introduction to UUs. I became friends with the UU minister and met with her for meals and at other times that week for some great conversations.
After returning from Star Island, I checked into our local church which was also a combination of UU and UCC. (It turned out that the UCC half was much larger than the UU half.) I arranged to have breakfast on several Saturday mornings with the minister. I’m sure that on our first meeting or two, the minister looked at me as a missionary would view a Tutsi and was hoping to corral me as another member. However soon we were having peer-to-peer discussions on issues international, national, local and even issues within the church. (Like the fact that she loved my bumper sticker “When the love of power is replaced by the power of love, then the world will know peace”. But as a minister of that particular church she wasn’t allowed to put any such bumper stickers on her car.) I did become engaged in the church and was the editor of their newsletter, participated in several special projects, and even gave a few “sermons” in her absence.
But I felt badly that I didn’t have other close friends in the church. We would have a time of refreshments after the Sunday service and also discussion groups following the refreshments. The other members would be friendly and we might talk about the service or other issues, but we’d never get together outside of the church activities. So one January 1st, I resolved to do something about it myself. (I’m a believer that I must be the change that I want.) My resolution was to invite someone from the church for dinner (or whatever) once a month. That month, my ex-wife and I invited the minister and her family over for a Sunday dinner of fondue. But I found that the social dynamic of the minister, her husband, their five-year old, and my ex-wife meant that the discussion never rose above the chit-chat level. Friendly, yes. But still superficial.
And then I failed at getting anyone else from the church to get together with us. Like a well-brought-up adolescent, I would make it easy for them to say “No”, I would try three times, and then I would accept that it isn’t going to work and would move on. So my ex-wife and I tried another UU church. But the minister there wasn’t interested in a peer-to-peer relationship and viewed me only as a congregant filling a spot in a pew. And during the social hour following the service, it became apparent that the level of interactions with the members would not rise above the superficial level. Friendly and welcoming, but without depth.
Then I moved to another city and again had trouble developing any kind of a relationship with the minister or the UU church members outside of the church activities. And then I heard of a Humanism group which met once a month. I went there and really liked what I learned about Humanism and felt comfortable with their philosophy as well as the stimulating environment. Again, I became quite engaged in the group even giving a multi-media presentation on Dewey as a Humanist and was asked to be on the Steering Committee. But again, the only personal interactions were a few minutes before or after a planned activity. For that reason, plus the reason that I felt their definition of “Humanism” was too narrow in that it seemed to only include Pro-Science or Anti-Religion, I left.
Then I found another Humanist group – the Concord Area Humanists. After going to a few of their meetings and not really talking to many people, I at first wondered how long I would last there. But then one of the leaders started to talk to me and realized that with my background I might be able and might enjoy an opportunity to participate. So I was invited to be on their Steering Committee and became actively engaged in their activities. But more importantly, I found not one but several people who would, through their actions, say “You seem to be worth developing a non-superficial relationship with.” In a short period of time I actually got together with three different leaders of the core group. These “core leaders” were also the ones who introduced me to HUUmanism.
Through this journey I realized that I was looking for a church or belief system that resonated strongly within me, and was of course, friendly and welcoming. But I also was looking for an environment which would provide me the opportunity to develop relationships that would be deeper than friendliness. I required an opportunity to become engaged in the organization, and also I required relationships that were more than friendly interactions.
In my thoughts on “Self Culture”, a sermon by Ellery Channing in 1838, I developed what to me was a rather unique definition of “Culture”. “Culture” here is not the culture of art and humanities, nor is it an ethnic culture that we often think of. Rather, it is like the biology culture dish (Petri dishes). This is an environment which is specifically designed to promote the development of an organism. In this case, the “organism” would be a developed relationship with another human. So to me, when I think of the “Community” that I want to find in a UU church, or a Humanism group, or in a HUUmanism group, I am looking for an environment which is specifically designed to promote interactions to the point of developing relationships.
David Kimball
John Hooper and Pat Mohr, president and vice president of the UU Humanist Association, attended the Moral March on Raleigh event on February 8, 2014. In the picture on the right, they are standing with Mike and Susanne Werner, fellow UU Humanists and secular activists. The march brought together approximately 80,000 people from around the country, including UUA president Peter Morales and over 1,500 other UUs, many wearing their bright yellow "Standing On the Side of Love" t-shirts. They came to Raleigh to protest regressive North Carolina GOP policies around health care, education, the criminal justice system and voter suppression that especially disenfranchise the poor and people of color.
The march was led by Rev. William Barber, president of the NC NAACP and a Disciples of Christ minister. Barber has been leading the Moral Monday movements gatherings in the state over the past year. Many secular organizers, including Susanne Werner, co-chair of the Secular Coalition of NC, pictured above on the right, were put off by the very religious language of Barber and the other speakers. However, the movement's organizers emphasized that Barber's "policy messages, his organization and his objectives are thoroughly secular and open to all, whatever their beliefs or lack thereof when it comes to religion. No modern political movement is as diverse and open as this one." So, Werner made an effort to communicate with Barber about the impact his style of speech was having on inclusivity. According to Werner:
"... [we] attended his press conference in Wilmington the week before the march; it was one of many he was conducting around the state. We were determined to talk with him... and were gratified that he fully engaged with us in a discussion of the secular support within his movement. We told him that seculars support his issues (he has the endorsement of Planned Parenthood, LGBT groups, ACLU and he speaks against tuition vouchers going to private schools) and attend his rallies, but there would be more seculars in attendance if the religious language and exclusive Christian references were toned down... He agreed to include seculars in his talks..."
Rev. Barber was true to his word and this is how he described the people who came out for the march:
“We are black. We are white. We are Latino. We are Native American. We are Democrat. We are Republican. We are independent. We are people of faith. We are people not of faith, but who, though they are secular, they still believe in a moral universe. We are people. We are natives and immigrants. We are business leaders and workers and unemployed. We are doctors and the uninsured. We are gay. We are straight. We are students. We are parents. We are retirees. We are North Carolina. We are America. And we are here, and we ain’t going nowhere!”
Many secular progressives are beginning to recognize that we must work in solidarity with the religious in order to achieve our common goals. It is gratifying to see religious leaders recognizing the same thing. Werner stated:
"My view is that if Rev. Barber’s group and we agreed on everything we would be one and the same organization and that we need to build coalitions wherever we can find enough common cause. My Wilmington group, Humanists & Freethinkers of Cape Fear, was very enthusiastic about supporting the march and we had 12 of us in attendance; 8 of us were able to find each other in the thousands of marchers (even with cell phones it was hard) and wore logo hats and marched behind our banner.
...I am cautiously optimistic that Rev. Barber’s movement will have an effect on our dire political situation here in North Carolina. The election this year will tell whether we are changing opinions here."
This article was originally published in the Humanist Network News. HNN is a weekly news e-zine of the American Humanist Association with a circulation of around 44,000.
When the topic of Humanist community comes up someone is bound to mention Unitarian Universalism. That is because UUs have what Humanists who want community are looking for. Unitarian Universalism also comes up because a significant number of UUs are Humanists and because organized Humanism was in large part an outgrowth of Unitarianism in its early days. Humanism and Unitarian Universalism go together, and I assert that theover 1,000 UU congregations are natural and practical homes for local Humanist communities.
The national secular movement is growing, and the growth is driven mostly by books, blogs and conventions. We are led by our authors, bloggers and speakers while the rest of us are mostly readers, commenters and attendees. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but we're missing the opportunity to form real, as opposed to virtual, relationships with one other. Our face time is mostly at conventions, which are wonderful, but who can afford to attend more than one or two a year?
We have some local groups that provide opportunities to get together regularly but most local group meetings consist of lectures, book groups or discussion groups. In general (though with exceptions), they don't offer much for families, socializing, volunteerism or social/political engagement and they tend to be few and far between. Scientific studies show the many benefits of social connectednessand most people realize that the staying power of religion has a lot to do with the draw of community. (Many speculate that there are a large number of non-believers in religious congregations who are there purely for the community.) I don't just want a Humanist local group, I want a Humanistcongregation that is fully engaged with my local community and concerned about making the world a better place. I want a place where I can find friendship, a village to help raise my kids, support during life's challenges and all the other benefits that religious folks get (with often a dozen nearby choices) but without having to leave my brain at the door or pretend that I am something I am not.
