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When did you decide you were a humanist?

When did you decide you were a humanist? Watch a collection of humanists answer the question.
9.5
I stopped believing in god when I was about 14 but I didn’t actually realise that I was a humanist until I went to a humanist funeral and I started to read about humanism and I thought well actually this philosophy fits me exactly. I first became a humanist I suppose at birth, I only heard of the word though when I went up to university. I don’t think I’d even heard the word humanism until I saw a job advertised for a public affairs officer at the Humanist Association, and really read about, started to read more about Humanism that’s when I really knew that absolutely that’s exactly my beliefs, exactly.
43.7
I decided to become a Humanist quite late in life, I was raised religiously and then discovered atheism as many people do, but atheism wasn’t quite enough for me, it kind of defined me in a negative by saying something I didn’t believe. When I found Humanism it was a delightful revelation because I could finally describe myself with a word which was positive and said a lot about what I do believe in.
68.4
I’ve always been a little bit of a Humanist, and I think over time, as I moved away from my religious background I started realising that I needed, that I was that, but I didn’t have a word for it until I came across Humanists UK, and from then I was like oh wait these are people who think the way I do.

Take a look at the video of different humanists answering the question, ‘When did you decide you were a humanist?’

Think about how an identification with the label ‘humanism’ might differ from an identification with a religion.

The next step will explore this further.

This article is from the free online

Introducing Humanism: Non-religious Approaches to Life, with Sandi Toksvig

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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