Let’s Celebrate Humanism! Building Community by Assigning Significance Within a Secular Life

This speaker participated in our 2019 Conference. Learn more about our 2023 conference speakers here.

University of Miami

Sunday, June 9, 2019
11:15am-11:45am

Secular Humanists participate in the bringing together of community and family through the celebration of universal life events. However, they do not contribute to a sense of community reflective of our humanist philosophy. It is not enough to have the freedom to choose our beliefs. Or, to feel awe at the majesty of nature – solitary experiences. Religious holidays offer an emotional cultural attachment to non-believers who celebrate them as secular events. When we choose to reluctantly participate on the periphery of religious holidays, we doom ourselves to being forever marginalized. The secular humanist community needs its own cultural identity and meaningful stories with their corresponding celebratory days.

Anita Peters

Anita Peters has been a Humanist Celebrant since 2014. She is a founding member and on the Steering Committee of The Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County, Connecticut. She brought the Death Cafe movement to Connecticut and regularly officiates at lifecycle events. She describes her family as a cultural bouillabaisse: “Within my immediate and extended family are Catholics, German Jewish refugees, Church of England and British Humanists, secular Turkish Muslims, Unitarians, agnostics, a Uruguayan atheist, a Sanskrit scholar.” She has a BA in Chinese Studies from Vassar College, an MIA from Columbia University and is a certified high school history teacher.