Humanism

Andrew will visit us to talk about "Objections to Humanism". Please come and make him welcome, and bring interested family and friends.

A DVD from the European Humanist Federation, showing the history of feethinking in Europe, followed by a discussion on humanist history.

A belated post on World Humanist Day, the beginning of Humanist Week, but some of us have been busy window-dressing. We've put together an exhibit in one of the display cases at the County Library in Ipswich (Northgate Street) to mark Humanist Day and Week, so if you're in town, take a look.

While we were assembling it all (or while Andrew and John were assembling it - I supervised), a couple of people stopped to talk about it, expressing approval. We gave them leaflets.

My thanks to Andrew, John and Marion, and Sue, for all their help. Couldn't have done it without you!

An introduction to Humanism for kids (and anyone else who's interested).

How did it all begin? Where did we come from?

International Humanist Day is on 21st June, the summer solstice. This year, British Humanists will be marking Humanist Week from 21st to 27th June with a variety of events. We'll have a display in one of the cases at the entrance to Ipswich Central Library.

RE teacher Mr Thingummybob got our mailing last September, suggesting that they might not have included humanism and secular world views in RE yet, as they're supposed to - I helped to devise a new syllabus that was introduced in September 2007. As Year 10 don't do any RE, though they're supposed to, he has a cunning plan; ask me and a bunch religious speakers in for a morning for a RE "carousel", where we each talk to four of six groups for 50 minutes at a time. Strictly speaking, that's tick box RE. Anyhow, I said I would, and told him where to find some speakers from the minority faiths.

Yesterday, representatives of the Secular Coalition for America met White House officials to discuss issues of concern to American atheists, humanists and secularists. Before the meeting, they said,

... it will be the latest indication that the secular movement is gaining significant momentum, and that secular Americans, numbering in the tens of millions, are a constituency that must be included.

Predictably, fundamentalist Christian right-wingers have reacted as though President Obama was making a pact with the devil (who doesn't exist, though try telling them that).