Richard Teerlink

Like many humanists, Richard Teerlink, on coming of age, gave up his childhood religion for humanism. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, he discovered dinosaurs, steam engines, atoms, and planets early in elementary school, which instilled in him a keen interest in all branches of science. He graduated from South High School and the University of Utah, and then taught for 31 years, primarily at Kearns High School, until his recent retirement. He taught science, of course: Advanced Placement Biology, Introductory Biology, Genetics, Introductory Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Human Biology. He was on the committee that wrote the Utah State Curriculum for Biology and Human Biology. Organic evolution, he is proud to say, was the uniting thread that tied the curriculum together.

Early on he found scientific explanations of the world more cogent and real than the religious explanations he had learned in his devoutly LDS family. By the time he went on a mission, he had studied biology and was acquainted with the evidence for evolution. He was thus conflicted and confused by the temple ceremony, which is rooted in the biblical Genesis story. While on his mission, he got into an intense argument with a humanist in Liverpool, England, and came away with the "mind-releasing feeling that she had won."

On his return to college, his faith eroded and eventually collapsed. Casting about for a structure to replace his faith, he came across Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Julian Huxley's Religion Without Revelation, which introduced him to humanist ideas. He also discovered the Unitarian Church where Hugh Gillilan, our own vice-president, was minister. Unitarianism and humanism have been central to his life ever since.

He is a self-professed "tree hugger," and a lover of back packing, river running, wilderness experiences, and travel generally. He recently taught a class, The Meaning of Evolution, for humanists and Unitarians, which was so successful that he plans to follow up with other courses that will hone the science literacy of all who attend. Watch for future announcements in these very pages.

--Earl Wunderli