Thanks so much for inviting me to this interfaith gathering. Secular humanists are happy to be included in such events. As an atheist, I’m a bit of an outlier on the faith spectrum. While I have no faith in any gods, I do have faith in reason. I also have faith that people of all faiths and none can discuss our religious differences, and can also put them aside to cooperate for the benefit of humanity. And that’s what I think this get-together is all about.
I’m pleased to be at this Hindu Temple where my friend and colleague, Dinesh Sarvate, is on the board of directors. He’s in Uganda now, but he recently emailed me and recommended a wonderful Indian movie, called PK, about an alien from another planet who came to Earth to do research on humans. In the process, he becomes fascinated by all the different religions and creation stories, just as many secular humanists are.
PK discovered that humans usually grow up with god beliefs implanted by family and culture. That’s why most Asians are Buddhists, people from India are mainly Hindus, Saudi Arabians are Muslims, Israelis are mostly Jews, and the majority in the United States are Christians. In other words, religious belief seems to be based more on geography than theology. And with all the conflicting faith beliefs in the world, secular humanists and atheists (as well as PK) believe that they can’t all be right. But they can all be wrong.
PK always asked direct questions that some religious people found heretical, while others found thought provoking -- like why an all-knowing god would change his mind because of a prayer, or why a god who ignored the prayers from millions of starving children would take a special interest in a football game.
PK said whatever was on his mind because people from the alien’s planet did not know how to lie. This behavior seemed so strange to humans that they thought he must be drunk. That’s why they named him PK (which I later learned means ”Tipsy.”) With such truth telling on PK’s planet, I wonder how any politicians can get elected. Then there was the question of an afterlife, which confused PK because he heard so many different and conflicting views from humans who claimed to have the one true way. Now I admire people (religious or not) who do what they think is right, without regard to rewards in this or an expected afterlife.
Speaking of an afterlife, I know exactly what will happen to me when I die. I’m going to medical school -- just like my Jewish mother always wanted me to do. I wish to use my body parts to their fullest when I’m alive, but I hope others will make good use of them when I die.
We humanists are committed to the application of reason, science, and experience to better understand the universe and its inhabitants. We accept the best science available for our “creation” story. Evidence indicates that our universe began with the “Big Bang,” approximately 13.8 billion years ago. What, if anything, happened before the Big Bang? If we can’t yet answer, we say, “I don’t know,” rather than make up stories.
So how do atheists and secular humanists make moral decisions? I believe we should be guided by the expected consequences of our actions. We don’t consider acts to be right or wrong simply because religious authorities or ancient “holy” books tell us they are -- unless we can also justify them on real life moral grounds. We believe that the plight of the human race, indeed of the planet, is in our hands. Humans create problems and humans must solve them. No gods will do this for us. Immortality for atheists is the good works that live long after we have disintegrated.
I think Abraham Lincoln best summed up my philosophy: “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.”
Now I may be an atheist, but by one measure I’m the most religious person here. You see, I have not one, not two, but three different religions. First I joined the Society for Humanistic Judaism, consisting of atheist Jews who focus on good works. Then I joined Ethical Culture, another nontheistic religion. And I also joined the local Unitarian Church after they invited me to give a sermon on positive atheism, and most of them agreed with what I said.
Finally, I believe that behavior is more important than belief. We should treat people as individuals, and not generalize or stereotype. Most of my life I was advantaged because I was born with white male privilege, and tried to help those who were less privileged. It wasn’t until 1990 that I learned about legal discrimination against atheists in South Carolina, because I was barred by our state constitution from holding public office. That’s when I became an accidental activist atheist and ran for Governor of South Carolina to challenge this provision. I describe that experience, and an eventual Supreme Court victory, in my book, Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt.
Along the way, I had help from many religious and nonreligious friends, which again shows the importance of working together to end discrimination and cooperating to make this a better world.
PK discovered that humans usually grow up with god beliefs implanted by family and culture. That’s why most Asians are Buddhists, people from India are mainly Hindus, Saudi Arabians are Muslims, Israelis are mostly Jews, and the majority in the United States are Christians. In other words, religious belief seems to be based more on geography than theology. And with all the conflicting faith beliefs in the world, secular humanists and atheists (as well as PK) believe that they can’t all be right. But they can all be wrong.
PK always asked direct questions that some religious people found heretical, while others found thought provoking -- like why an all-knowing god would change his mind because of a prayer, or why a god who ignored the prayers from millions of starving children would take a special interest in a football game.
PK said whatever was on his mind because people from the alien’s planet did not know how to lie. This behavior seemed so strange to humans that they thought he must be drunk. That’s why they named him PK (which I later learned means ”Tipsy.”) With such truth telling on PK’s planet, I wonder how any politicians can get elected. Then there was the question of an afterlife, which confused PK because he heard so many different and conflicting views from humans who claimed to have the one true way. Now I admire people (religious or not) who do what they think is right, without regard to rewards in this or an expected afterlife.
Speaking of an afterlife, I know exactly what will happen to me when I die. I’m going to medical school -- just like my Jewish mother always wanted me to do. I wish to use my body parts to their fullest when I’m alive, but I hope others will make good use of them when I die.
We humanists are committed to the application of reason, science, and experience to better understand the universe and its inhabitants. We accept the best science available for our “creation” story. Evidence indicates that our universe began with the “Big Bang,” approximately 13.8 billion years ago. What, if anything, happened before the Big Bang? If we can’t yet answer, we say, “I don’t know,” rather than make up stories.
So how do atheists and secular humanists make moral decisions? I believe we should be guided by the expected consequences of our actions. We don’t consider acts to be right or wrong simply because religious authorities or ancient “holy” books tell us they are -- unless we can also justify them on real life moral grounds. We believe that the plight of the human race, indeed of the planet, is in our hands. Humans create problems and humans must solve them. No gods will do this for us. Immortality for atheists is the good works that live long after we have disintegrated.
I think Abraham Lincoln best summed up my philosophy: “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.”
Now I may be an atheist, but by one measure I’m the most religious person here. You see, I have not one, not two, but three different religions. First I joined the Society for Humanistic Judaism, consisting of atheist Jews who focus on good works. Then I joined Ethical Culture, another nontheistic religion. And I also joined the local Unitarian Church after they invited me to give a sermon on positive atheism, and most of them agreed with what I said.
Finally, I believe that behavior is more important than belief. We should treat people as individuals, and not generalize or stereotype. Most of my life I was advantaged because I was born with white male privilege, and tried to help those who were less privileged. It wasn’t until 1990 that I learned about legal discrimination against atheists in South Carolina, because I was barred by our state constitution from holding public office. That’s when I became an accidental activist atheist and ran for Governor of South Carolina to challenge this provision. I describe that experience, and an eventual Supreme Court victory, in my book, Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt.
Along the way, I had help from many religious and nonreligious friends, which again shows the importance of working together to end discrimination and cooperating to make this a better world.
