Spiritual Malpractice

Why meaning well isn’t enough. When it comes to helping people overcome adversity – this could be a matter of life and death and if you don’t know what you are doing you can make matters worse.

I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately on bullying: specifically on how to get bullying to stop using operant conditioning. While most of the people I do panel discussions all know what they are talking about and are giving out advice that is based on sound science and proven best practices, there always seems to be someone whose approach is spiritual. Without exception, these “spiritual” helpers just want to share the “wisdom” they gained from being abused themselves. They teach the techniques that helped them survive the experience emotionally, but with scars.  The advice they give isn’t just bad, it’s dangerous.

Here is why.

Because I said so

Why kids not only have a right to know why there are rules, they need to know. A lesson in Humanistic Parenting.

I am a Humanist parent. Recently I read an essay by Jon Rosemond, a parenting expert, who was talking about how important it is for a parent to say, “because I said so” to a child. His reasoning is that kids need to learn to respect authority because in the real world, they are going to need to obey authority. Also, he thinks kids aren’t capable of understanding an adult’s reasoning so there is no point in sharing your reasoning with a child.

Grrrrrrr

He’s wrong on both counts.
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More work needs to be done

As a mother and as a Humanist the following statistic is upsetting. We Humanists need to do more!

According to a study done last year (see: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/07/12/515641/study-40-percent-of-homeless-youth-are-lgbt-family-rejection-is-leading-cause/?mobile=nc) 40% of homeless youth are LGBT and one of the main reasons they are homeless is because their family rejected them!

The 4 C’s of Humanism

Critical Thinking, Compassion, Courage, Commitment

Defining Humanism is such a difficult thing to do. There is no easy way to say – this is what Humanism is and have that be the end of it. It is a life philosophy. It is vibrant and full of nuance, and that’s why it works so well.