I was not born into humanism. Neither my parents nor grand parents were humanists. Some of my father's forbearers were liberal enough to involve themselves with the Underground Railroad in cahoots with John Brown and his rabble rousing group.

Farther back in time you can find some liberal preachers in the Boston area that have been implicated in the formation of the American Unitarian church and were preaching a liberal message that may have contributed to the unrest that eventually led to American liberation from England.

I came to this philosophical bent the same way many do. A slow process of awakening to the truth of the world around me and by involvement with it and the people and situations I have come in contact with.

My parents were not particularly churchy people. In fact I do not recall my father ever mentioning his involvement with any church during his growing up in west Kansas sand hill country. I do remembering him mentioning his family's involvement with John Brown and a preacher in Boston way back in the middle 1700's. He always made these remarks with the disclaimer that the Boston preachers were probably witch burners and the folks associated with john Brown were outlaws-as if he were slightly embarrassed by the association or that he needed to make the disclaimer less people will think less of him if they knew he had come from a family with long held liberal beliefs.

My mother on the other hand was made to attend church by her very devout god-fearing parents in central Kansas and did so until she was married to my father in 1938. I do not recall what cult, sect coven or denomination it was she and her family attended but I do know her father sang in the choir and was a very active member, even in leadership, until he became too frail to attend. I also know that none of her 3 brothers were particularly active church goers after they left home, suggesting they were not going of their own volition.

I never had a serious conversation with either of my parents about their personal religious beliefs and can only guess what they really believed. I do know that they had different views of the world and people around them.

My father accepted everyone he met at face value and let his assessment of them be formed by their actions over time. My mother would do the same but her first impressions were usually more judgmental and slower to change.

I was born in California, Pasadena to be precise. About a mile from the Rose bowl I was told. I do not know if this fact has had anything to do with my current philosophical bent but it does not hurt.

Dad was a Geologist, so we moved from place to place depending on where his profession took him. Consequently we did not have a steady church to attend as we moved from Southern California to Albuquerque to Aztec, New Mexico to Moab. In Moab mother experimented with church's to find one that suited her and her need to give us kids an ethical religious upbringing. We were Baptists, Presbyterians and finally Episcopalians. I did not mind too much going to church except that it interfered with playing. I did go to church school and learned all the common bible stories. I was even confirmed at age 13 or so. I remained a dutiful, unquestioning little Episcopalian throughout my school years.

I do remember feeling that I was not a true believer and questioning my desirability to be a member of the "saved" class when my time would inevitably come.

My young adult hood found me not caring about such things as being saved, heaven, hell or anything at all about the existence of God.

It was not until I met Julie and moved back to Utah in the early 1980's that I seriously gave any of this any real thought. And it came slowly. I have never been a real deep thinker and mostly just shrugged off questions of faith as a waste of energy and time. I have since come full circle and believe that questions of faith are a waste of energy and time-why bother.

Julie, and her mother Alice were regular attendees at First Unitarian Church where we are now. I attended with them and our children and started to learn what liberal religion is. We were avid members of first church for a decade or so. It is here that I learned of my ancestor's involvement in the founding of American Unitarianism-from my children coming home from religious philosophy classes they attended at this church.

Julie's mother Alice was an original member of this humanist chapter and was she and Julie that introduced and brought me here. I will be forever grateful for that.

That is the abbreviated testament of my journey to humanism.

--Bob Mayhew