Ruminating on African American Humanism: My Experience and Skepticism
This article is part of a series of two from students in a course on humanism at Pitzer College taught by Sikivu Hutchinson. The other article is posted here. Both articles were previously posted on the Black Skeptics LA website. This course has introduced me to the subject of African American Humanism and Humanism of the Eurocentric variety. Never before have I been presented with such an ideology that rejects supernaturalism and holds religion and gods as human constructs in such depth, it has only been an unfavorable and abstract idea of atheism. It makes sense in this Christian nation that I have not been taught about these beliefs in my education thus far, and that I only have learned about them at eighteen years old in a progressive institution such as Pitzer College. I am struck by humanist ideas surrounding mental health, self-preservation, and acts of finding safety while taking this course. The words of mental health counselor Suandria Hall have left an impression on me. She left morsels of wisdom and reflections; she …