New Member Spotlight: Asmaa Radwan (Our First International Member)

Joined HumanistsMN:  September 2020.

Profession/Residence: I am a student in Arabic literature, working to be a writer in the near future. I live in Egypt and study at the University of Alexandria.

How she discovered us:  I discovered HumanistsMN through an American friend who invited me to a Secular Saturday gathering. This was after we had a discussion about religion and the importance of making change to solve existing problems.

What appealed to her about us: The group welcomed me in a really warm way I wasn’t expecting. Second, the events vary, and participants discuss urgent, important topics in a way that makes us connected more to reality, and to each other. Third, at the first event I attended, I raised my hand to ask a question, which the group listened to carefully, and it was answered in a respectful, safe space.

I hope to express my thoughts freely, and safely, in an atmosphere where everyone and every idea in the group is respected. I have great interest in educational lectures and events, and appreciate that they are available to me and membership is really affordable. I just hope that as I benefit from these lectures I can provide the group with something beneficial to them in the future.

Her journey to humanism: Before I even heard about humanism, I used to write about how I view life, and how I see  true value in humans, and by humans.

I wrote a prose poem that is called “Non-affiliated,” and this is part of it, which I hope can be a suitable answer to this question:

Even if you live your life
Fully till the end
The game will remain boring
As you have realized early
That there is no actual value
For anything!

Maybe except helping a human being
To feel like a human being!

So what I am going to say is that:
I believe only in humanity, and only
For humanity.

I also wrote this post a while ago:

“I treat every human being as an exception, a unique state of existence until proven otherwise. And even if proven, it does not negate the possibility of change, whether slow or accelerating. I very much believe in human abilities.”