Pagan Humanism?

[u/njclarke]

I was wondering if there are many on this subreddit who think of themselves as pagan humanists or who incorporate elements of modern pagan beliefs and practices into a humanist worldview?

I think of myself as primarily being a Humanist, so I have a view of the world that is largely based in science and rationality. I’m skeptical of most metaphysical claims such as the existence of an afterlife, of supernatural beings/deities or the soul and I try to base my ethical decisions on empathy.

But, I also Increasingly find a lot of meaning in ideas that come from the modern paganist movement. Things like marking the wheel of the year and paying attention to the rhythms of nature. Seeing that as a metaphor that mirrors the phases of human life. I’m also very interested in folklore and the ways it can help us to feel connected to our ancestors and our environment.

I’m aware that a lot of neopagan beliefs in Britain are a bit of a confection that blend together various new age beliefs with bits of folklore and that a lot of its historical roots are only about a century old as most pre-Christian beliefs have been either completely lost to time or subsumed into mainstream Christianity, but nevertheless it still speaks to me and scratches an itch when I am looking for more ritual or to look to something transcendent.

I’m getting married next month and we’ve opted to incorporate quite a few pagan elements into the ceremony we’ve designed, like having a hand fasting and choosing to have it in the wood, using a lot of imagery from nature in the words. We’ve had to tweak a few elements from more standard pagan ceremonies though to more explicitly frame things as metaphors rather than actual beliefs in spirits/gods etc and I’m still a bit worried some of my family will think it’s a bit out there and woo-woo.

This might seem a bit of a rambling post but really I’m just wondering if anyone else similarly mixes bits of other religions and beliefs into their Humanism and if anyone else ever feels a bit of a tension between them?

[u/JoeBwanKenobski]

I call myself a secular humanist because I think that label is the most precise description of my worldview/life-stance. And at risk of vast oversimplification these other influences (such as paganism) are ways that I modify the performative/aesthetic aspects of my worldview. They have long histories, folk traditions, and sometimes rituals that are engaging and useful for embodying certain ideals/ideas. Basically, I find that they have social utility that can help bind together a community but I don't find adding another frequently misunderstood or out-right maligned label adds much. But the content can be useful within our own community.

I'm at the phase of life where I am trying to build out "rituals" for my humanist congregation as well as my self and family. I borrow liberally from Paganism because culturally that feels like the non-christian tradition most closely tied to the history of my heritage (I'm a "European"-American mutt and grew up learning the history and folktales of those cultures). But it's only one of the traditions I borrow from. There are practices and ideas I borrow from many of the humanistic versions of eastern religions, but I feel no compulsion to claim those labels as my own either despite my resonance with them. Another example is meditation and yoga. I started practicing them for their physical benefits and because they can be enjoyable and calming activities and can be done with others. But I have no desire to claim Buddhist, Taoist, or Shinto labels despite the fact that they had some really profound ideas and useful practices.

Both of the example I've used have the similarity that they also have honed their language to help people understand some of the "big questions" of life. And while pondering those questions it is informative to read what other people and cultures have thought about them i always come back to the core humanistic principle of treating knowledge as provisional and think our worldview should change with the times as new things are learned. Basically, i like to steal good ideas new or old wherever I find them but they should still stand up to modern scrutiny and tools.

I like humanism as a life stance because it addresses many of life's/ethics big questions in a rigorous and systematic way but I feel like it's problem at times is that it is difficult to communicate. And this is where I feel some of these older traditions can perform well. They've had time to distill these big ideas into something that a lay person can easily understand as well as coming up with ways to represent and embody these ideas in practice. The wheel of seasons/life is a perfect example of this. I use it myself, it has strong symbolism that is easy to understand and it's easy enough from a rationalist perspective to strip out the metaphysics associated with it's origins but leave the concept mostly intact.

Tl;dr yes I use ideas from other places to inform my practice of humanism and also yes there is a tension to it in many ways.

[u/OurCommonAncestor → u/JoeBwanKenobski]

Could you tell me more about your Humanist congregation? Also, if you are a secular Humanist but who wants to include more rituals in your communal Humanist practice, why do you label yourself as secular? This is not a criticism, I'm just a little confused. And on your congregation, I'd love to learn more, as I am also part of a ritual heavy Humanist congregation.

[u/JoeBwanKenobski → u/OurCommonAncestor]

We are one of the chapters of Sunday Assembly. To me secular is only a political stance and can be summarized as the belief that religion and government operate best when kept separate, the government shouldn't discriminate against anyone based on their religious beliefs/world-view (e.g., atheist, agnostics, humanists), and that anyone of any tradition can serve in public office should they wish. If someone shares my humanists values I'm not particularly fussed if they are of the atheist or theistic variety, my congregation has both, and the religious humanists understand the importance of secularism just as much as the atheistic humanists. I personally find little value in trying to convince others God doesn't exist. It is an interesting philosophical exercise and we should be free to explore the question if we wish, even in blasphemous ways, should one desire but it bores me now and find there are much more important things to worry about.

I'm an atheist and as such don't believe rituals have any supernatural elements. But I do believe they serve a psycho-social and dramatic function. I flipped my views on the power of ritual after experiencing the euphoria that Christian's claim can only come from communing with the holy spirit, ironically enough, at a Ghost (the band) concert (we call rituals). An aside, I never miss a chance to tell others about Ghost; I don't believe in souls either, but if i did, I gave it over to Satan that night during the re-imperatour- the experience was that powerful. Intellectually some of the books I've read on the topic include Sasha Sagan's For Small Creatures Such as We, and Kate Cohen's We of Little Faith, and William James' On the Varieties of Religious Experience (though it was decades ago when i was an undergraduate studying psychology). We also rented space at a Humanistic Jewish Temple for a time, and they did many of the Jewish rituals/practices despite most of them being atheists, I learned much from them.

My friend and fellow organizer at my chapter of Sunday Assembly calls himself a Naturalistic Pagan (he's also an atheist and scientist) and is another of my big influences on this topic. One of the core tenets in our motto is "Wonder More." And a big part of that to me is a "reverence" for nature. I don't believe any of the Pagan gods/goddess exist but the things they represented to the people who did worship them makes sense to me and as a nod to our ancestors we try to incorporate some of those elements into our ritual practices. We know more about how the universe works and should update our beliefs accordingly but I don't think the pagans were wrong in the placement of their reverence.

[u/OurCommonAncestor → u/JoeBwanKenobski]

I personally haven't experienced the power of ritual myself, but I do think it's worth incorporating intentionally into our lives. I also agree that reverence for nature is good, and reverence for the greater universe that we partly compose.
I particularly like your definition of the word secular, as that's how I understand it. However, would you not just be a secularist, and a Humanist, separately? To me, applying secular to Humanism is either a misguided attempt to broadcast one's atheism, or it is a way to describe one's Humanism as having no distinct religious components that other Humanists wouldn't find appealing. As in, a religious Humanist organization might practice Humanism with rituals and songs and practices that are not universally appealing and representative, while a secular Humanist organization might practice Humanism stripped of anything unique or ritualistic, so that it is as appealing to as many people as possible, perhaps to organize the broader Humanist community. Secularists come in all stripes, and I have to believe that the majority of Humanists are secularists anyway.
A Small nitpick, but I am confused about your use of the term atheistic and theistic Humanists. All Humanists are naturalists, and therefore atheists. This is in the definition and explanation put forth by Humanists International, and all member organizations agree to this definition. I don't know if Sunday Assembly is a member organization, but I still think it's important to use words like Humanist in a consistent manor as not to dilute the term or confuse anyone. Perhaps one might be a deist or pantheist, but I still think that's pushing it. Someone who might refer to themself as an theistic Humanist might just be a theist with Humanistic values in most other respects, but they cannot be a Humanist by definition.
Most important of all, thank you for organizing! Unless you've found the secret sauce, organizing is hard work, and I am very thankful. I'm especially glad for your openness to ritual and reverence. Have you heard of spiritual naturalism? The Spiritual Naturalist Society has a great book list for more suggestions like what you've read already. Also check out r/HumanistCongregations. You're experience is quite valuable and I'd love to see you there.
Have a wonderful day.