When did you decide you were a humanist?

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.

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.

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.