This website is the personal work of Greg Swartz. It is my attempt to explain atheistic humanism as I see it. These are my personal thoughts which might or might not be consistent with established groups advocating for atheism or humanistic thoughts and living. It is not a new organization or an attempt to establish a new organization. For the most part, I agree with what extant humanistic and atheistic groups are are doing.
After many years of thinking about and studying the various belief systems devised by humans, I decided that the best match with my own thoughts is atheistic humanism. It is not an exact match, but is is the closest that any comes to my own life stance. So, first, briefly:
Important in this discussion, too, are the rights of the Religious vs Non-Religious persons. Eventually, I intend to discuss other related topics. Freethought, freethinkers, secularism and secularization come to my mind initially.
So, what motivates me here? I think that it has to be the truth!
From a very early age, I questioned what adults told me about entities that no one ever saw – Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy and those sorts of things. By the time I was at least seven I was adding God to that list. Though I continued to go to church with my family, I continued to be skeptical of what I was hearing in church.
By the time I was about 17 or 18, multiple events had occurred making me question the existence of God and I was definitely realizing that God was a fiction. About then, I specifically remember being in church when we were asked by the minister to pray. I sat there with my head bowed silently talking to God when I had to admit that there was no one on the other end of the conversation. So, about then, I decided that I was an atheist, though I really did not know what to do with that reality. Neither had I been confronted with all the arguments for and against the existence of God.
For a very long time, I realized that there were other atheists out there, but I was not aware of any active groups or any concerted efforts to advance atheism. Yes, there was Madalyn Murray (O’Hair was later added to her name due to marriage), but my impression from the press was that she was a bit of a nut job. Then, it was in the late 1990s that I learned about humanist and atheist groups and became active in several groups often referred to as free thought groups.
I, also, began to actively study religion, skepticism, atheism and humanism and have settled into the present definition of my beliefs. I, also, became an activist – thus, this website among other things which is very much under development. More posts should come, but until then for further information or comments about this website, you can contact me via email.
If you, too, would like to do some research on these subjects, then check out my resources pages.