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Comment by brandonmenc | Hacker News Reader

> Ritualize

No thanks. This is the first thing I started to dislike about being raised Catholic, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I'm the opposite - I miss the community and its events. There's a growing Humanist community where I live precisely for that reason. The vast majority of the population are Catholic so life revolves around Catholic rituals, whether we like it or not. It's great to have secular alternatives for marriages, funerals and baptisms.

I attend both religious and secular weddings and funerals, and no one seems to be missing a beat.

As an agnostic, I've never thought, "we need an alternative." That probably has to do with the fact that marriages and funerals, even religious ones, are already highly personal, custom affairs.

> secular alternatives for [...] baptisms

An initiation ceremony for secularism? I find that bizarre.

secularism begins at conception :)

>An initiation ceremony for secularism?

Nothing of the sort. It's a secular christening, .i.e. a party for friends and relatives after the baby is born. I think some European Humanist groups call them naming ceremonies but I haven't been to anything that formal.

Yes, my parents (who are not religious) did that when my siblings and I were born – a "naming party". I don't think there was any actual ritual or any organization involved, though.

Where do you live? What are the alternatives for someone who's curious about these communities?

Ireland. The main humanist group [1] is in Dublin but there's a few smaller groups popping up, for example in Cork [2]. It's mostly an excuse for a chat over pints, but there's also some campaigning, e.g. for a secular education system.

[1] http://www.humanism.ie [2] http://corkhumanists.weebly.com/

I think he meant more along the lines of "having a wedding" or "having a funeral" than "sacrificing a cow" (but pardon my ignorance of Catholic rituals).

"sacrificing a cow"

Also see sports as ritual, fellowship with the boys coming over and grill some brats and burgers while consuming mind altering substances while watching a ritual. Burnt Offering. Stereotypical non-sports party is almost as ritualistic.

check out the Less Wrong Solstice Celebration [0]. It tries to establish a pretty formal ritual with humanist/rational values. I have no personal experience, though.

[0] http://lesswrong.com/lw/8x5/ritual_report_nyc_less_wrong_sol...

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