I Am a Humanist :: Personal Narrative Essays

I Am a Humanist One Sunday afternoon, under the warm, unrelenting gaze of the sun, a revelation interrupted my usual observations of the psychological flux seemingly inherent in all family relationships. Since the fact which I had noticed seemed relevant to the conversation, I saw no harm in prodding out the truth by a simple statement, "My sister is one too." Of course I meant it partially in jest, since she had made no such rebellious declarations. A few inconsequential discussions had made me consider stating her liberalism valid, and I took only a small step further by calling her an equal. Some would call such a leap flattering, but my mother thought the statement horrendous. "You may hold your own beliefs, but she's just a little girl! How could you?" The exact wording, time, and place are not important -- the tone of intolerance and look that made me want to proclaim,"Yes, I'm cold-hearted" are what have stayed with me. Such a response was justified by society -- and, as I have been repeatedly informed, extremely calm by almost any comparison. I was not referring to political alignment, but something far more serious and controversial. The group I had unjustly compared her to was the outcast of society's philosophy; I had called her a cold-hearted atheist. There are many good reasons for such anti religious intolerance in a social structure worried about the individual. How can godless ones be comforted -- in life and death? My mom, with good reason, was worried about my sister's soul; on Earth she would face a lifetime not knowing about a universal and unconditional love and her status in the afterlife was too scary to contemplate. Such a view was undoubtedly skewed by parental concern which concentrated on the child and not the world at large. Society, regardless of rigidity, is built upon moral rules that distinguish participants from simple feuding creatures. Most problems arise from the fact that the citizens of these advanced moral institutions find breaking the rules to be beneficial -- and are sometimes unable to resist the temptation. It is rather judicially expedient to proclaim God's judgment in all sentences and refer crimes to the afterlife. Both solutions require a believing population.