The Humanist Hour #213: Growing Up Humanist

Download an audio file of this podcast.

Today’s adolescent humanists in the U.S. aren’t the first generation of young people to be raised in a nonreligious philosophy. They are, however, the largest in modern times here – and the demographic shift means the generations that follow will likely be even larger. That means it’s time for us to pay attention to the challenges and opportunities faced by teenaged humanists.

At the American Humanist Association’s annual conference in Chicago this past May, the AHA convened a panel of familiar names. At least the last names of the panelists were familiar. This was a new set of humanists, however, the teenaged children of humanist leaders and other longtime humanists. They came together to discuss the challenges of being a minority among their religious peers, charting their own paths, and finding ways to live up to their humanitarian ideals. We’re sharing audio from that panel this week.

Due to time constraints, part of the Q&A session for this panel is not included in the podcast. You can watch the entire panel on AHA’s YouTube channel or read a transcript as featured in the latest issue of the Humanist magazine.

Panel links: