I'm a secular humanist.

[franceslievens]

In honour of tomorrow's first morality lessons of the new school year¹ I can declare to yee all that what I teach is secular humanism according to American standards. I even did a test² and that was the result, with Unitarian Universalism coming in second. I can even find myself in Unitarian Universalism. Jon Cogburn describes the basic principles of the Unitarian Universalists, and they have a lot in common with the basic principles I use in my classes. He even cites the same prejudices of the believing folk: How can you have a morality without dogmas? You can. You can even have a morality without faith in a supernatural being. That is the ultimate difference between my world view and Jon Cogburn's: I don't believe in a deity, and I don't feel the need to be part of a community that performs rituals.

Two interesting things occured in my results, though: both nontheism and Roman Catholicism ended pretty low in my ranking. The first one because a moral view is much more important for me than the fact I don't believe in a god, and in case of Roman Catholicism I don't seem to have that much in common with the religion I grew up with. I do think Flemish Catholicism, isn't as Roman as the pope would like it.

¹Actualy I don't have to teach yet tomorrow. It's the first day of school for heaven's sake. Let the kids get into the mood first.
²Yes, I'm aware that link isn't working for you at the moment. Maybe try again tomorrow. It seems to work fine at the moment (4:04pm).

Comments

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Here are my results:

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (98%)
3. Nontheist (78%)
4. Theravada Buddhism (78%)
5. Liberal Quakers (77%)
6. Neo-Pagan (69%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (57%)
8. Taoism (56%)
9. New Age (48%)
10. Mahayana Buddhism (42%)
11. Reform Judaism (42%)
12. Sikhism (33%)
13. Orthodox Quaker (30%)
14. Scientology (27%)
15. New Thought (25%)
16. Jainism (24%)
17. Bahá'í Faith (24%)
18. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (18%)
19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (16%)
20. Hinduism (15%)
21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (13%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (12%)
23. Eastern Orthodox (9%)
24. Islam (9%)
25. Orthodox Judaism (9%)
26. Roman Catholic (9%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (0%)

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I don't know about my exact results. I'll have to do it again, but when I wanted to the test didn't load and then I didn't have time. I'll do it tomorrow -- after school.

[lijability.livejournal.com]

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (98%)
3. Theravada Buddhism (91%)
4. Liberal Quakers (84%)
5. Nontheist (82%)
6. Neo-Pagan (63%)
7. Taoism (61%)
8. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (59%)
9. Mahayana Buddhism (50%)
10. Orthodox Quaker (49%)
11. New Age (48%)
12. Jainism (38%)
13. Reform Judaism (38%)
14. Bahá'í Faith (30%)
15. Seventh Day Adventist (30%)
16. Hinduism (26%)
17. Scientology (26%)
18. Sikhism (25%)
19. New Thought (23%)
20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (18%)
21. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (17%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (17%)
23. Orthodox Judaism (12%)
24. Islam (11%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (8%)
26. Roman Catholic (8%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (8%)

Unitarians are sometimes, more-or-less, spiritual atheists, which is what I consider myself to be. People ask me how I can be both atheistic and spiritual. I simply point out that if there is no god, how is it that man is still spiritual? In other words spirituality is a natural attribute of man's emotional psyche.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I have heard of spiritual atheism and it's quite common for atheists to proclaim themselves one. I think one of the more well-known Belgian atheists has actualy written a book aout it!

[lijability.livejournal.com]

Athéisme spirituel? have you read it?

I wonder if there is an English translation.

Google indexes quite a bit on it. There is even a CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL ATHEISM.

Maybe I [we?] should look into this more......

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

No, I haven't read it. i'm one of these aheists that thinks spirituality and rituals ren't necessary for the good life. Although as a child I did love my rituals, it's something I left behind when growing up. Maybe it'll come back one day!

Knowing you, you'll be looking into it, without having me prompt you. You could write something for salon_virtuel? ;-)

[lijability.livejournal.com]

Frances... I sense that you may be a bit defensive concerning spirituality. I don't understand that among some [many?] atheists. Spirituality is the sum total of your emotions at any one time. I cannot imagine that when you sing an aria or other song that you do not impart your own emotions, your spirit, into that song. Love is a complex emotion which is an expression of your spirit. It need not be a ritualistic expression of emotion, although I can imagine some which aren't religious, such as rooting for a team, school spirit, even national pride. There are plenty of secular semi-ritualistic forms of spirituality.

Man is a spiritual animal. It is a purely natural expresssion of our emtional self; not an entity unto itself borne of some supernatural entity. Spirit is at the heart of our sense of wonder and what even drives our scientific endeavors. The age of exploration, our yearning to go outward into space, to know, to understand, all is driven by spirit.

That's about the best I have, I'm good at summarizing, lousy at getting at the details.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am defensive when talking about spirituality. Maybe that's because of the abundance of spiritual and esoteric guides these days and everyone looking for their inner peace? I think most of these books are a load of crap. I do have the habit of linking spiritualism to some sort of higher being or higher conscious. You broaden the idea of spirit, which makes it more interesting, but on the other hand one can say: we have a word for that Lynn, it's called emotion, and maybe what you're hinting at even has some points in common with what Spinoza calls passion, but I'd have to look it up.

So this is, in short, my explanation why I'm defensive about spirituality. And also the fact my emotions sometimes scare me. ;-)

[lijability.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you might as well call it emotion, though I have the feeling that spirituality is a complex of emotions [sum total of emotions]. And I guess another word would be passion, I have in the past used that word.

Religious ritual, people going into spiritual states, your guides..... I think thy are useful for people. I actually think believing in a god and having some religiosity is quite good. Beliefs tie a people together. In a small family group or tribe religiosity was that which part of the controls which ultimately forged our societies. Spirituality grew up with that, and perhaps has become overblown. Religious legality and prophecy are aspects that have gone way too far. But religion was the rule in Europe until the Reformation and later Renaissance when man began to realize another way to channel that emotion, that passion, yes, that spirituality... into an evidentiary study of life, the world and the universe - science.

But still.... if you're on a hillside in the Ardenne watching a sunset over the woodlands and pasture don't you just let it get to you, enjoy the wonder? I've visited the Grand Canyon several times and each time I just have to sit on the edge and watch and wonder for an hour or more.

I once sat on the southwest edge of what they call the "Island in the Sky" a plateau in Canyonlands National Park watching the sunset and an approaching "rain-cloud" from the west-southwest (down the Colorado River in the direction of the Grand Canyon). I was so enthralled that I was just going to let that "rain-cloud" ehcompass me. Now that's spirit/wonder/passion..... although the cloud was all dust!

I had to pitch my tent in a blinding dust storm with my travelling companion. He and I couldn't see more than 8-10 feet. Going from the Jeep to the tent, you could get lost, so we strung a sting of fishing line. Helluva night, dust everywhere, in everything.... caused another kind of spirituality, the spirituality of clean sheets and a shower in a motel room..., heehee. Still, it was an experience, a thing to behold, to wonder about -- spirit.