This past week I was approved by the Humanist Society (associated with the American Humanist Association) to be a Humanist Celebrant. This is a program that certifies celebrants and gives them the rights of clergy to perform weddings, birth celebrations, funeral, etc.
The program itself is a valuable one. I’m honored and excited the AHA has accepted me as a Celebrant. The process itself is straightforward though it takes time. You have to be a member of the AHA for a prescribed period, fill out a detailed application about your views, and get four recommendations. They want to see that you will uphold the Humanist ideals, that you are active in the community, and that you will purport yourself well as an AHA representative.
The only issue I encountered during the process was that one potential reference refused to be one based mostly on the AHA site. These friends are conscientious and religious. I had talked with them about Humanism multiple times. My thinking was that it would be valuable to have input from Christians who knew me well.
These friends don’t just give recommendations though; they needed to understand Humanism more. They went to Humanist sites, avoiding anti-humanist sites because they wanted to hear about Humanism from “the horse’s mouth”. What they found on the AHA site disturbed them to the point that they couldn’t conscientiously be a reference.
They found the Humanist principles and actually agreed with those – they considered them noble and inline with their own thinking. But when they went to the articles and stories on the site, they found those very articles didn’t adhere to the Humanist principles. What they found were emotional, political and irrational thinking instead of the scientific, rational thinking they were expecting.
I’ve had this same complaint myself about some of the work that comes out of the AHA. When they talk Humanism, it is close to perfect, but when the get involved in politics and current affairs, they try to make their point and do so by emotion and passion and not clear and reasoned thinking.
It is frustrating that the very organization I represent as a Celebrant has such an emotional face to it through their web site. I had to get a different reference that didn’t have such conscientious objections for the Celebrant application. Happily this worked and I’ve been approved.
The entire process took a couple of years, but that was because I had to be an AHA member for a certain amount of time and I wanted to build up my Humanist activity with the community prior to applying to be a Celebrant. If you have already been an AHA member and are already active, then the process is really just an application, the references, and then a few weeks for them to review the material.
I’ve posted a page on our site here about my work and availability as a Celebrant (or Officiate).
Rev. Sean Curley
