A Gay Humanist Manifesto - Alan Keslian (inspiring books for teens .TXT) 📗

or longing for sex with our own gender. We are induced to inflict mental torment on ourselves.
Some religious believers are taught that obedience to dogma will bring an afterlife of everlasting happiness, presumably whilst gloating over the sinners – lesbians and gays included – who in their millions must suffer horrible everlasting torture. Some of the devout cannot wait to see their vision of eternity come into being, and as punishment for adult consensual sex subject we “sinners” to flogging, burning at the stake, or stoning to death.
The poet Edward Fitzgerald wrote of persecution by the religious:

What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke
A conscious Something to resent the yoke
Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain
Of everlasting penalties, if broke!

What! From his helpless Creature be repaid
Pure Gold, for what he lent him dross-allay'd -
Sue for a Debt he never did contract,
And cannot answer - Oh the sorry trade!

Zealots are seldom susceptible to reasoned argument, and if we try to engage with them they may delight in cursing us with hell-fire and damnation. They may try to turn the tables on us by claiming that they are the ones who are under threat from our devilish practices. Being drawn into slanging matches will rarely further our cause; mostly we can only hope that, as the philosopher Nietzsche put it, someone will “redeem them from their redeemer”. Some quotes to illustrate what those who take the Bible and the Koran as literal truth must believe are given in the appendix at the end of this booklet.
Dogma, political or religious, is at odds with a humanist outlook because it does not allow denial or dispute. For humanists the truth, rather than being set down by some absolute authority, is for us to discover using our own faculties to observe the world around us, and develop knowledge and understanding by thinking for ourselves and discussing and learning from others. We are not all-seeing and all-knowing. We are not outraged by different ways of looking at things, and accept that changes in the world and our knowledge of it may require us to change our views.
Not all religious people are dogmatic. Some regard zealots as followers of a false interpretation of their system of belief. The balance between zealots and moderates is hard to ascertain, and lesbians and gay men should be cautious when dealing with anyone of a religious persuasion until they make it clear they mean us no harm.
Even in tolerant societies, people who would like to make us suffer have not disappeared. They wait and watch for an opportunity to shift public perceptions. We must be on the look out for them, and do what we can to counter them. They may act secretively, being careful to obey the letter of the law whilst marking us down at job interviews; they may look askance at the slightest public display of same sex affection. They may insult us, then claim their words were intended to be humorous, not to cause offence. They will exclude us whenever they can and by any means. We may be busy getting on with our lives, but we should not forget that our freedoms were hard won, and if we do not resist prejudice they could be taken away.


We should promote an outlook of tolerance and respect for individuality and difference in society generally.


When somebody pressures us to conform to a norm of behaviour which goes against our natures, an understandable instinctive reaction is to push back, and perhaps even to try to impose our own preferred ways on them. The difficulty with this defensive behaviour is that it may not be consistent with wanting to improve the overall level of human happiness, as we are trying to force others into actions they would rather avoid. Tolerance should be our watchword, with the requirement that those we tolerate reciprocate by being tolerant of us. Some religious people welcome gay men and lesbians into their community. Most believers who talk of Christian values do not mean they want to burn heretics at the stake or that they relish the thought of billions suffering eternal torture in hell. Instead they may see the relationship of each individual to their god as being in essence a personal one guided by an “inner light”, and the views they hold on human rights, tolerance, respect for others, and desire for the common good may be very close to humanist principles.
As gay humanists we should welcome potential friends and form alliances with those who defend personal freedoms and support just causes. Our aim should be to promote humanism and improve life for ourselves and others, not to be hostile to everybody who does not share our system of beliefs in full. With those who are somewhere between dogmatism and tolerance, we should discourage them from the former and encourage them towards the latter. Reasoned argument will be good for us both. Those fundamentals of humanist belief, happiness, fulfilment and the common good, cannot always be defined precisely or with certainty. Whatever neurologists may discover about the biochemistry of happiness, levels of it fluctuate in ways that are hard to pin down. Spells of happiness and sadness can occur without us knowing for certain why, and any group of people contains individuals whose nature seems to be happier – or sadder – than most.
Fulfilment too is a matter of individual perception. At a family gathering, one great grandparent may look with satisfaction at the assembled four generations, grandparent to great grandchild, whilst the other may feel that the responsibilities and duties of raising a less than inspiring brood have been poorly rewarded.
Those of us lucky enough to enjoy success in our ambitions may find that any sense of fulfilment is short-lived, and before long feel compelled to embark on another project. When we got “there” (in the sense of the end of a project) there was no “there” (in the sense of lasting fulfilment) there. Happiness came perhaps from making step by step progress along the way, rather than after putting the last piece in place.
Humanists experience happiness and fulfilment in similar ways to others who are not humanist, and we should not become so sure of ourselves that we will not listen to people who think differently from us. If we indulge in the folly of believing we are always absolutely right, we will be unable to tolerate those with ideas that differ from our own, and if we continue far enough down this path we may become as inhumane and intolerant as the burners at the stake and stoners to death.
In politics too no one system or party has established itself as having a monopoly over happiness or fulfilment. A simplistic way to think of democratic politics is as a competition between a Robin Hood party, and a Robin Hood in reverse party. As humanists we might be drawn to support Robin Hood to reduce poverty, but history shows that a fair redistribution of wealth is very hard to achieve, and new elites tend to emerge through the transfer of wealth and power. What we can say is that a political system which encourages individualism and variety, works towards the common good, and offers opportunities to all is in keeping with humanism, whilst a conformist, authoritarian, inflexible and uncaring one is not.


Whilst opposing those who condemn us because of our sexuality, we should give credit where credit is due. We should not undervalue kind and helpful actions performed by those with beliefs different from our own.


For some of us, having rejected religious belief, understanding the world through science seems to be all that is necessary for a full and happy life. When success follows success that may be so, but when illness or other misfortune hits, we may feel the need for more comfort and consolation than marvelling at the world through the lens of scientific understanding.
At times we all need support and sympathy, and the more unfortunate of us may have to cope with prolonged misery or pain. The company of family or friends, and being with others experiencing similar difficulties can be of great benefit. Religions often make charitable and other supportive acts part of their purpose, and whatever might be said against their doctrines, the good they do should be recognised. If religious people feed the hungry and help the homeless – without coercing them into singing hymns and saying prayers – we should applaud their charitable actions, even though we believe doing good to be part of human nature, not a result of divine inspiration, nor a means of securing a premium place in heaven.
Some non-religious people like to launch attacks on those who believe in a god or gods, along the lines of “I am an atheist. I believe in science, not superstition, no doubts, no uncertainties, you've got it wrong”. In some circumstances heated arguments about beliefs may clear the air, but we must try not to be dogmatic, or appear blinkered and intolerant. Hostile words are unlikely to win new hearts and minds over to the humanist view. What grounds do we have for ordering others to adopt our way of looking at the world? Have we come to think the working of our brain cells is infallible?
Religions, with their myths, legend, history, rituals, architecture, works of art, music and literature have played such a part in the development of civilisation that they cannot be easily dismissed or written out of human history. Religions change as new rulers and priests vie to inflict their personal stamp on the masses; sometimes they spread their beliefs through military conquest. Many people see their religious background as part of their culture and identity. They may be happy to think of the legends and ideas as metaphors or as being of historical importance, whilst at the same time using a scientific and rational view of modern society as the basis for how they live.
We may wish humanity to be otherwise, but religions are likely to continue to be successful in attracting followers. For humanists to stand tall among the many religious believers in the world today, we will need to show that our outlook is generous and inclusive to all those who work truly and sincerely towards the same ideals.


SO WHAT NOW?


A traditional way to end would be to provide a list of further reading. The wide range of subjects touched on, secular humanism, ethics, science, evolution etc. means that a good library or a search of the internet will yield plenty of material. Readers who want to read more should have little difficulty in finding material for themselves.
Joining humanist associations and similar groups, or simply discussion with open-minded friends, is a mutually enjoyable way to develop and sustain our humanist outlook. At any gathering of lesbians and gay men there will probably be some like-minded people, or the internet may enable us to find others, or to join on-line groups. Gay humanists also take part in a whole range of voluntary and charitable activities.
A quote from Machiavelli may seem surprising here, but he understood that standing up for oneself is essential: “The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.” The words to act virtuously in every way are key in this quote. In our search for love, we will at times find ourselves in conflict with others who wish us harm. The strategies we need to deal with them must be different from the kind and helpful behaviour we should adopt towards those who act in a kindly way towards us.
The future will bring fresh challenges for gay humanists. Medical science may open new avenues to parenthood