SHIFT - Secular Humanism, Inquiry and Freethought

SHIFT is close to my heart and mind now and will always be ~ I co-founded this group, along with Jason Cooperrider, a University of Utah Neuroscience Graduate Student from Ohio, on May 4, 2009. I acted as President from then through December 12, 2009, and am currently serving as the group's Interfaith Liason while Jason leads as President during this Spring 2010 semester.

The purpose of this Student Group is to provide a diverse, safe, non-dogmatic and engaging community for free-thinking students of The University of Utah. Our group (as you can see by the links along the right-hand-side of our blog) is very engaged in Atheist, Skeptic, and Humanist communities and causes locally, nationally and internationally. We are interested in providing a local comfortable space for free-thinkers here at the U, but we are also very interested in sending our students back out into the world as engaged, caring citizens who are aware of their rights, strengths, and commonalities with others in the world.

Many people do not know that they can "come out" as non-believers and still be respected in their communities. Many feel oppressed and/or discriminated against. I hope for this group to provide empowerment to students, so that they can not only find local safety and acceptance among like-minded peers, but so that they can know that they can be accepted in the wider world as well.

My goal as Interfaith Liason to the group is to engage our members in discussion and activity with people of faith in the community. Many people of faith have pre-conceived notions of people without faith, and the only way to break down these pre-conceptions is to engage ourselves calmly, rationally and kindly with people of faith and non-faith alike. Each and every one of us is human! We come from diverse backgrounds and cultures and live with diverse opinions and values, but fundamentally, each of us is human.

When I look a student leader of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship in the eye and, respectfully and curiously, ask him, "What exactly is Great Lent?" * or, "How exactly does your faith differ from Catholicism?" ** I learn more, which is a main goal of Secularism, and I see this peer as a human being with convictions and cares and values, which is a main component of Humanism.

I hope that SHIFT will continue to grow and assist many in SHIFTing their points of view, continually questioning their convictions and ideologies, and, basically, progressing always toward kindness, love and embracing humanity.

* Great Lent, as it was explained to me, is a 40-day period of fasting, prayer and self-reflection, ending on Palm Sunday, which is 7 days before Easter, which is the Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This year, therefore, Great Lent takes place from February 15 - March 28.

** Orthodox Christianity, as it was explained to me, differs from Catholicism in it's leadership ~ they respect the Pope as an inspired (by God) human being, but do not believe in his infallibility, or, his inability to make mistakes as a human being. Their church is therefore led by a Council of Bishops.