Peter Ferguson,
Galway City,
Galway Co.
Ireland
I was born in 1984 to a fisherman and a fisherman’s wife. My parents are not particularly religious, they are not regular mass goers anymore but they did take us children to mass as was expected of them. My earliest memory of religion was being forced to go to church every Sunday and remembering how boring it was. I used to hide behind the couch every week to avoid mass, and as I never changed my hiding place I was quickly found every week; I wasn’t a very bright child. My first doubts regarding religion occurred when I was 8 when I was chastised by my third class teacher for asking a priest where God came from as this had “embarrassed” her, and I should simply accept what I was told without question. I treated religion flippantly from then on, and as something that simply must be endured. My parents finally gave me the choice of whether or not I would like to continue to go to mass or not at the age of 13 and I haven’t stepped foot in a church since bar official occasions.
Even though I wasn’t religious in any manner, I would still call myself a Catholic, simply because I never thought about the topic and mindlessly accepted the status quo, (an attitude I fear many among my generation have). I went through my education with the delusion it was pointless, even trying to drop out at junior cert level as I felt the leaving cert was “unnecessary”. Luckily my parents forced me to stay and I eventually scrapped past my leaving cert. After 4 years of working in various factories an opportunity came to go to New Zealand, which I immediately took. It was during this trip, at the ripe age of 22, that I began to read for leisure for the first time; this ignited my ascent from being a quasi-Catholic to a Humanist. While staying in a TV-less hostel, out of sheer boredom I began to read The Science of Discworld, a fantastic book which flamed an interest within me in both fantasy and science. Throughout the year I read some more and met a variety of people which broadened my mindset and opened me up to different ideas and philosophies.
On my return from New Zealand I decided to continue my new found love of education by embarking on a degree in Classics and History, it was during this time that I became increasingly perturbed by religion’s influence both past and present. I began to identify with the term atheist and began reading the usual atheistic literature. However, I quickly realised the term “atheist” was meaningless in many ways and wholly insufficient as it is a label which states what I am not, not what I am. I quickly found Humanism as the answer I was looking for: as a philosophy it encompasses my ethics, morals, respect of art, literature and science, and most importantly, respect for fellow my man. It not only describes my rejection of religion, god(s), and superstition, but it also embraces my belief in a rational, ethical world without the need for divine revelation. To this end I have decided to continue my studies, I am currently doing PhD in Classics focusing on the interactions between Paganism and Christianity in the Roman Empire. In 2012 I established the Humanist Atheist Society in NUI Galway in the hopes that it will encourage people to consider their beliefs and question the role and function of religion in today’s society. It is through Humanism that I plan to live by example and demonstrate that an ethical and moral life is easily achievable without the need for dogmatic religion.
Galway City,
Galway Co.
Ireland
I was born in 1984 to a fisherman and a fisherman’s wife. My parents are not particularly religious, they are not regular mass goers anymore but they did take us children to mass as was expected of them. My earliest memory of religion was being forced to go to church every Sunday and remembering how boring it was. I used to hide behind the couch every week to avoid mass, and as I never changed my hiding place I was quickly found every week; I wasn’t a very bright child. My first doubts regarding religion occurred when I was 8 when I was chastised by my third class teacher for asking a priest where God came from as this had “embarrassed” her, and I should simply accept what I was told without question. I treated religion flippantly from then on, and as something that simply must be endured. My parents finally gave me the choice of whether or not I would like to continue to go to mass or not at the age of 13 and I haven’t stepped foot in a church since bar official occasions.
Even though I wasn’t religious in any manner, I would still call myself a Catholic, simply because I never thought about the topic and mindlessly accepted the status quo, (an attitude I fear many among my generation have). I went through my education with the delusion it was pointless, even trying to drop out at junior cert level as I felt the leaving cert was “unnecessary”. Luckily my parents forced me to stay and I eventually scrapped past my leaving cert. After 4 years of working in various factories an opportunity came to go to New Zealand, which I immediately took. It was during this trip, at the ripe age of 22, that I began to read for leisure for the first time; this ignited my ascent from being a quasi-Catholic to a Humanist. While staying in a TV-less hostel, out of sheer boredom I began to read The Science of Discworld, a fantastic book which flamed an interest within me in both fantasy and science. Throughout the year I read some more and met a variety of people which broadened my mindset and opened me up to different ideas and philosophies.
On my return from New Zealand I decided to continue my new found love of education by embarking on a degree in Classics and History, it was during this time that I became increasingly perturbed by religion’s influence both past and present. I began to identify with the term atheist and began reading the usual atheistic literature. However, I quickly realised the term “atheist” was meaningless in many ways and wholly insufficient as it is a label which states what I am not, not what I am. I quickly found Humanism as the answer I was looking for: as a philosophy it encompasses my ethics, morals, respect of art, literature and science, and most importantly, respect for fellow my man. It not only describes my rejection of religion, god(s), and superstition, but it also embraces my belief in a rational, ethical world without the need for divine revelation. To this end I have decided to continue my studies, I am currently doing PhD in Classics focusing on the interactions between Paganism and Christianity in the Roman Empire. In 2012 I established the Humanist Atheist Society in NUI Galway in the hopes that it will encourage people to consider their beliefs and question the role and function of religion in today’s society. It is through Humanism that I plan to live by example and demonstrate that an ethical and moral life is easily achievable without the need for dogmatic religion.