They are not religious, so they don\u2019t go to church. But they are searching for values and rituals with which to raise their children, as well as a community of like-minded people to offer support.<\/p>\n
Dozens of parents came together on a recent Saturday to participate in a seminar on humanist parenting and to meet others interested in organizing a kind of nonreligious congregation, complete with regular family activities and ceremonies for births and deaths. . . .<\/p>\n
Humanism is both a formal movement and an informal identification of people who promote values of reason, compassion and human dignity. Although most humanists are atheists, atheism is defined by what is absent \u2014 belief in God \u2014 and humanists emphasize a positive philosophy of ethical living for the human good.<\/p>\n
\nThe seminar\u2019s organizers wanted to reach out to people like the Proctors \u2014 first-time parents scrambling for guidance as they improvise how to raise their daughter without the religion of their childhood.\n
\u201cI\u2019m often told that when people have kids, they go back to religion,\u201d said John Figdor, a humanist master\u2019s of divinity student who helped organize the seminar. \u201cAre we really not tending our own people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the country, religious observance hits a low for people in their mid-20s and steadily increases after that, \u201cin conjunction with marriage and children,\u201d said Tom Smith, of the General Social Survey at the University of Chicago, which has polled people about religious affiliation and practice for decades. . . .<\/p>\n
The Proctors found themselves making decisions about religion when they had a daughter last year. Andrea said her parents asked, \u201cOf course you\u2019re going to baptize her, right?\u201d She answered, \u201cActually, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Andrea did a Google search for someone who might perform a nonreligious ceremony to mark Sienna\u2019s entry into the world and found Epstein, the Harvard humanist chaplain.<\/p>\n
Epstein officiated at the ceremony, while both sets of grandparents spoke about their hopes and dreams for the child, Andrea said. The Proctors named \u201cguide parents\u201d instead of godparents.<\/p>\n
Hey, the humanists don\u2019t need to go to all of the trouble to create a church with God. Just go to a liberal mainline congregation. Here they will find rituals, liturgies, and sacraments still going on, long after the theologians and pastors have abandoned the Christian faith.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A number of humanists are trying to organize themselves into congregations so that they can have meaningful rituals without having to believe in God. From Humanist Parents Seek Communion Outside Church: They are not religious, so they don\u2019t go to church. But they are searching for values and rituals with which to raise their children, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-religions"],"yoast_head":"\n
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