British Humanist Association e-bulletin 9^th November 2009 

TAKE ACTION!

Remembrance Sunday

The BHA notes with regret the passing of a further Remembrance Sunday that fails to accommodate individuals from a non-religious background.  As with a number of national events, the current Remembrance ceremony disregards the variety of beliefs held within the armed forces and the population as a whole. 

Despite making representations on the matter, including to the Home Office and the Royal British Legion, non-religious people continue to be excluded from the official acts of Remembrance, although many local groups and volunteers attend the ceremonies and may take part in them unofficially.  

The BHA strongly advises all supporters to contact your MP to register your dissatisfaction with the current arrangements, and urge them to campaign for a pluralist ceremony incorporating those of all religions or beliefs. 

You can find out who your MP is by going to the official House of Commons website and entering your postcode. 

You can write to your MP at his or her constituency office or other address, but the best way is to send a letter to: 

House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA 

Most MPs have e-mail addresses - you can check yours on another page of the House of Commons website but a letter is more effective than an e-mail. 

A special Humanist Remembrance Day ceremony is taking place on Wednesday 11^th at 10:45am in The Private Chapel, The Old Farm, Welbeck Road, Mansfield, Woodhouse, NG19. The third of its kind, the ceremony will be led by BHA Celebrant Don Sharpe. More details, 01623555969 

EDITORIAL 

Tuning in

Due to a debate in the Lords last week and the religious-heavy remembrance service coverage, the BBC find themselves very much in the public eye regarding religious broadcasting. When the Communications Act 2003 was passed, the BHA scored a considerable success in its long struggle to get humanist broadcasting. Since that Act, the law requires programmes on "religion and other beliefs" but we are still waiting to see programmes about Humanism.  

Despite this we are inundated with Songs of Praise, Heaven on Earth, Around the World in 80 Faiths, A history of Christianity, Alleluia, Prayer for the Day, Devotional Sounds and, of course, the infamous Thought for the Day. Hours and hours of religious programming on both TV and radio. 

With a humanist now on the BBC’s Standing Conference on Religion and Belief and the debate in the Lords highlighting the discrimination against Humanism, we are hopeful that the wait may be over and we will soon be tuning in to more inclusive and relevant programming.

NEWS

See the full stories on our website.  

BHA welcome changes to PSHE education

The BHA has responded to the announcement from Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, that a number of changes will be made to Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education in England following a government commissioned review and public consultation on the subject.

PSHE, which includes Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), is to be made part of the national curriculum and compulsory in both primary and secondary education. The parental right to withdraw their children from SRE until they are 19 will be reduced to 15. 

BHA welcomes inclusion of evolution in primary school science

The BHA has welcomed a statement from the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) that the theory of evolution is to now be included in primary school science lessons in England. 

In April this year the government began consultation on a new primary school curriculum, which like its predecessor, failed to make any mention of the theory of evolution or process of natural selection. 

During the summer the BHA organised a public letter from a group of distinguished scientists and science educators, calling on government to include evolution in the primary curriculum. The BHA made its own submission to the consultation and encouraged members and supporters to do the same, as well as petitioning MPs and ministers on the issue.

Read Andrew Copson’s Comment Is Free article on this issue. 

Lords call for humanist broadcasting at the BBC

The BHA has echoed the Government’s response to a debate in the House of Lords last night on the BBC, Humanism, and Thought for the Day, saying that it ‘hopes the BBC has been listening’. The debate, called by Lord Harrison, and in which a number of peers declared their interest as ‘Happy Humanists’, took place on the eve of the BBC Trust’s deliberations on whether to allow non-religious contributors to the Today programme’s Thought for the Day.

Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said, ‘In a welcome break with past policy, humanists are now represented alongside religions in the new body liaising with the BBC on matters of common concern – the Standing Conference on Religion and Belief. While this change is significant in principle, in practice the BBC continues to discriminate against humanists and Humanism in its broadcasting. In speeches in last night’s debate, the extent to which humanism is ignored by the BBC was laid out – not one programme by humanists for humanists, not a single humanist contributor to Thought for the Day.'  

Science and free speech go hand-in-hand

The BHA has reasserted its position that free speech principles must be core to science. The BHA has made its comments in light of Professor David Nutt, Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, being asked to resign his post following the publication of an academic paper on scientific research into the relative harms of illegal drug use and other pursuits.

Naomi Phillips, BHA Public Affairs Officer, said, ‘Science provides us with the evidence on which we all can make rational and informed decisions and it is vital that scientists are able to discuss their research and findings freely and openly.’

‘We expect government to pursue evidence-based policy making although we know that this regularly does not happen. In reality, the government can ignore independent advice and evidence if it chooses. At the very least, however, those advising the government must be able to do so free from fear of being discredited or losing their jobs.’ 

Thinking of getting Sky TV for Christmas?

When new customers subscribe to Sky+ HD via the webshop the British Humanist Association will receive £120! If you are thinking of joining Sky please do so via our webshop so we can receive this huge donation. 

Call for evidence regarding the infiltration of schools

Earlier this year, a petition appeared on the number 10 petition website saying, “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to provide a mechanism that would prevent the infiltration of non-faith schools by religious groups who seek privileged access to pupils in RE, PSME or Citizenship classes, for example; and prevent such groups from loading the staffroom with their adherents.” 

Details of the practice were included:  “Increasingly, across the country, non-faith schools are being purposefully infiltrated by religious groups who gain privileged access to pupils and seek to convert them to their religious (usually fundamentalist) beliefs. Typically, such groups do not have precise published teachings or aims. They infiltrate schools by offering free staffing for RE, PSME or Citizenship lessons and holding Assemblies where they can encourage membership of their clubs and religious organisations, offering inducements, such a chocolate bars, for attendance. They may offer counseling services to pupils, eat in school canteens and ‘hang out’ in corridors. They engage in these activities over the heads of parents. This practice is both deceitful and unethical. Unqualified volunteer staff with a fundamentalist agenda are being given unsupervised access to our children. There is no point requiring teachers to qualify if unpaid, unqualified volunteers can take their jobs. This practice must stop.” 

The government’s response is below:

“We would of course look very closely at any specific cases where it can be demonstrated that this is occurring in non-faith schools and is causing concerns to parents.  It would therefore be helpful if you could provide substantive details of where this is occurring to the appropriate policy team within the Department for Children Schools and Families.  Please forward details to:

Terms and Conditions Division, Young People Directorate, Mowden Hall, Staindrop Road, Darlington, DL3 9BG” 

If you have any information about such practices in a school near you, please forward details to the BHA or to the address above.  

New Kiva gift certificates

You can now get gift certificates that keep on giving! Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. The BHA endorses the Humanist Team on Kiva and you can now get gift certificates here.  

Take action to end child poverty

The Campaign to End Child Poverty has just released a new call to action for children living in the UK. A report, released by the campaign, has shown that as unemployment rises more families are being tipped into poverty. This isn’t just happening in deprived areas but in more affluent areas too. It’s a reminder that as the recession continues we’re all in this together. The government couldn’t let the banks fail; so they mustn’t fail our children. 

We know you feel passionate about ending child poverty in the UK. Please take this action to support children in the UK.  

BHA EVENTS 

‘Darwin and the Darwinian Controversy’ By A C Grayling

18th November 2009, Main Auditorium, St Peter's House, University of Manchester, Precinct Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9GH. A lecture organized by the British Humanist Association, Chaired by Professor John Harris. Lecture commences at 18.30 and runs until 20.00 (doors open 18.00). A. C. Grayling will address the controversy surrounding Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, followed by questions. The event will be chaired by John Harris, professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester and member of the Humanist Philosophers. Tickets are £7 (£5 for members of the British Humanist Association or Greater Manchester Humanists) and can be purchased from www.humanism.org.uk/shop/tickets or by telephoning 020 7079 3580 

The lecture will be preceded by two optional events organised by Greater Manchester Humanists. There is a guided tour of the Darwin exhibition at Manchester Museum from 3pm and an optional buffet in Cafê Muse from 5pm. There is no charge for the tour, but advance booking is required. The buffet will cost £9, and must also be pre-booked. For enquiries about the tour or the buffet or to book a place on either please email secretary@gmh.humanist.org.uk. 

What is the role of faith in community development and cohesion work? - New Event!

19th November 2009, Conway Hall, (Brockway Room), Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL, 1:45pm - 5:30pm.

A discussion seminar presented by the British Humanist Association for Interfaith Week 2009.

Current government policy appears to champion the contribution of ‘faith groups’ in community work. 'Faith' and the 'faith sector' are seen as playing a key role in defining communities, as well as fostering social capital and providing much needed services.

But the ‘faith sector’ tends to be seen as being somehow separate and distinct from the voluntary and community sector as a whole.

Featuring...

Polly Toynbee, BHA President and Guardian Journalist, Prof. A.C. Grayling, Professor of Philosophy, University of London, Dr. Henry Tam, Community Empowerment, Department for Communities and Local Government, Gabriel Chanan, Community Development Consultant and former Director of Policy and Research at CDF, Dr. Doreen Finneron, Executive Director of the Faith Based Regeneration Network, Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters and Women Against Fundamentalism, Prof. Marjorie Mayo, Professor in Community Development 

Who is this seminar for?

Local Authority equality officers/ regeneration officers/ community cohesion practitioners, People engaged in community development practice, management or policy development, People involved in empowerment issues in the voluntary sector, Academics, People involved in ‘interfaith’ work, Local Councillors and other politicians, Community activists

Download the full poster Purchase a ticket (£25)

Bentham lecture 2009 - The Strange Rebirth of Liberalism

20 Gordon Street (Christopher Ingold Building), Chemistry Lecture Theatre, University College London, WC1H 0AJ, 26th November 2009, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

150 years on from the publication of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, there is a view that liberalism is in crisis. Richard Reeves, Director of the think-tank Demos, will argue that true liberalism - the liberalism of Mill - is not the problem, but the solution. His latest book is John Stuart Mill – Victorian Firebrand, an intellectual biography of the British liberal philosopher and politician, which was shortlisted for the Channel Four Political Book of the Year, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Richard is a political columnist for Prospect magazine and a regular contributor to The Guardian, Observer and New Statesman as well as a range of national radio and television programmes. In 2005, he was a presenter of the four-part BBC2 series, Making Slough Happy. 

In 2006, Richard was selected by The Guardian as a ‘Thinker to Watch’ and was featured in the paper’s regular ‘Ideas Interview’. He is also a former Columnist of the Year and Young Financial Journalist of the Year. Richard is the author of The 80 Minute MBA (2009) and Happy Mondays – putting the pleasure back into work (2001) nominated as a Sunday Times business book of the week and described by Theodore Zeldin as a 'wonderful book - optimistic, wise and thoughtful.' Other publications include CoCo Companies - Work, Happiness and Employee Ownership (2007), Papering over the Cracks, Rules, Regulation and Real Trust (2006, with Edward Smith), ‘Good work and professional work’ in Production Values (2006, with John Knell), and The Politics of Happiness (2003). 

The Chair will be Jonathan Wolff, Professor of Philosophy, UCL. Introduction by Peter Cave, Chair of Humanist Philosophers. Tickets are free but you must register here. 

AFFILIATED GROUP EVENTS 

Cotswold Humanists

Friday 27th November, Milsom Street Day Centre, Milsom Street, Cheltenham, GL50 4BA, 7.30pm. 

The Changing Face of Funerals - a Celebration of Life. A talk by a local Funeral Director.

http://www.humanism.org.uk/meet-up/groups/south-west/cotswold  

Humanist Society of West Yorkshire

Thurs 8th November,7pm, Swarthmore, 3-7 Woodhouse Sqaure, Leeds, LS3 1AD.

“Student Atheist, Humanist & Secular Societies” - Norman Ralph, former president of the The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies.

http://www.humanism.org.uk/meet-up/groups/north-east/west-yorkshire 

OTHER EVENTS 

Gilbert is Dead

by Robin French

Hoxton Hall, London, November 4th-29th, 2009 

The play is a tragi-comedy about evolution. Set in London in the early 1860s, we follow eminent taxidermist Lucius Trickett, who finds himself on a mission from Queen Victoria to help explorer Gilbert Shirley find the mysterious ghost loris – a primate that proves Darwin’s theory wrong and thus that God exists… 

Cast: Ronan Vibert, Kate Burdette, William Chubb and Suzan Sylvester, Directed by Robert Wolstenholme

Tuesdays – Saturdays 7.30pm

Sundays 4pm

Sign Language interpreted performance Tuesday 17th November

TicketWeb Online Box Office – Click Here 

Do faith schools promote religious intolerance?

Saturday November 21st, 8 pm at Bushey & District United Synagogue, 177/8 Sparrow Herne, Bushey Heath, WD23 1AJ. 

A debate on religious schools as part of Hertsmere Interfaith Week. For more information, or to become a part of Hertsmere Interfaith Week, please contact Event Co-ordinator, Deborah Berenson interfaith.herts@googlemail.com, 07849305785 

TAKE ACTION! 

Take two minutes to petition the Prime Minister on assisted dying

Despite continued public support for a change in the law, Parliamentarians are reluctant to take a stand on assisted dying for fear of losing the support of a vocal minority of anti-choice campaigners. 

Please add your name to an online petition, calling on the Prime Minister to launch an independent commission to investigate the impact of an assisted dying for the terminally ill law and to guarantee enough parliamentary time to debate, and if necessary, act upon, the findings. 

Please add your name today: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Assisted-dying/ 

Tell the BBC what you think of their programming!

The BBC is running a consultation on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four. This is your chance to tell them what you think about their programming. 

We want an end to the privileged status and position of religions and religious broadcasting by the BBC, and for some programmes about humanism or from a humanist perspective to be broadcast. In spite of legislation making clear that religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs such as Humanism, should be treated equally in terms of broadcasting, the BBC continues to resist doing so. 

We want the BBC to fulfil its obligations and include Humanist programmes in its broadcasting. Find out more about the consultation. 

Find more information about the BHA’s work on broadcasting. 

Not already a BHA member? Join now and support our vital work!

Melvyn Bragg and guests Richard Corfield, Jane Francis and Sanjeev Gupta discuss the geological formation of Britain.

Around 600 million years ago the island that we now call Britain was in two parts, far to the south of the Equator. Scotland and north-western Ireland were part of a continent (Laurentia) that also included what is now North America. To the south-east, near the Antarctic Circle, meanwhile, you would have found southern Ireland, England and Wales. They formed a mini-continent (Avalonia) with what is now Newfoundland.

Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, as they inched their way north, the two parts came together - first as part of a vast unitary continent (Pangaea) {Gondwana}, later as a promontory on the edge of Europe, and eventually, as sea levels rose, as an island.

The story of how Britain came to be where it is now, in its current shape - from the separation of North America and Europe to the carving out of the English Channel - is still being uncovered today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n8t48 

Richard Corfield is senior lecturer in earth sciences at the Open University; Jane Francis is professor of palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds; Sanjeev Gupta is a Royal Society-Leverhulme Trust research fellow at Imperial College London.

ScienceDaily (1999-08-10) -- Fire provided the spark for modern human evolution, but not because it allowed our ancestors to eat meat. Rather, it was the ability to cook tuberous roots akin to carrots, potatoes and beets that caused hominids to turn a major evolutionary corner about 1.9 million years ago, according to anthropologists Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, Gregory Laden of the University of Minnesota and Harvard colleagues David Pilbeam, Jamie Jones and NancyLou Conklin-Brittain.

And,  Starch 'fuel of human evolution' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6983330.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8270000/8270396.stm 'A Protection Racket'

Ref, 'Evolution. Fish to Man. Man's Debt To The Past' http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!960.entry

Ref, 'The Prehistoric Mind. How did Prehistoric Man Think? The Primitive Mind' - http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!1520.entry

Self-deception at 'Creationist Schools' - mostly today - are the 'Private Schools' or 'Independent Schools' (Private - family, homes, so on...). Nursery (some) and in the earlier learning 'Primary Schools'. By my experience: 'religious services' of schools, generally, and those that are aimed at older children UK. Reaction to my personal confrontation of the current 'authority' or 'status quo' = generally; with some amusement or more like impertinence. Ref, 'the impertinent insolence of truths or dogmas, and in those who have 'total certainty' about their faith or belief: impertinent insolence flying in the face of the Divine'.

(Some, private funded schools and some: Church Schools or Faith Schools - some, will tell you they teach quite differently they are happy to lie - 'school gates' are kept firmly shut)

Click the top line for the 'correct size article'.

Behind those school gates, the 'easier answers' and 'superstitious ones' are everywhere, and in many, repetitive constant' prayer' or praying is considered very important! They are not learning, how to: 'handle freedom and not conformity' or that, 'respect for authority is nearly always wrong and violence is sometimes right'. 'True freedom, always, and by most generations, will have to be hard fought for'. Ref, Karl Popper and Others. PC - ness of today.

I would like you to consider the meaning of freedom that much used, but misunderstood word. Freedom is a word rather like time, everyone thinks they know what it means, but cannot define it.

The foundation of freedom is knowledge and without knowledge no man can be free!

That is why religious and secular dictators throughout history, have burned and censored books, closed universities, imprisoned professors, and do so today in Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Iran, and many other Nations. Freedom is the ability to choose courses of action, and to make decisions that are based on an objective knowledge of the World. Without such knowledge, primitive subjective feelings, values, and goals, remain the primary determinants of human action. Knowing this; the sophisticated and unscrupulous - manipulate the credulous. True freedom is frightening to many because it necessitates the individual breaking out of the cocoon of half truths, ignorance, and ready made opinions, in which, most of mankind is happily and comfortably imprisoned.

No man can be free until he seeks objective answers to three questions, namely, "Where am I? What am I? Why am l?" For, it is the ability to frame these questions that separates us from the rest of the animal world and nothing else. And, it is the approach to fording the answers that distinguishes the educated from the ignorant, and the cultured from the philistine. Any attempt to answer these questions must be made with a ruthless determination, to avoid conclusions that are based on poor evidence, or on a desire to see the world, as so many wish it to be, magical and made for us. I say, any attempt to answer these questions, because for psychological reasons that is beyond the scope of this lecture. Few people will ever try to do so! (Have given up! Ref, `The Long Childhood' tribal culture - J.Bronowski. 

Most prefer what Huxley called, "The sleep of everyday living". Even the brilliant Voltaire wrote, "Through a quarter of my lifetime, I was absolutely ignorant of the reasons for everything I saw, and heard, and felt, and was merely a parrot, prompted by other parrots". Sir Winston Churchill spent 40 years looking at the countryside, but noticed nothing before he started painting it.

We are part of the evolving animal world and that this fact, which individually and collectively we prefer to ignore. We pretend we are god like creatures playing with nature, not subject to her inexorable law. Smart organisms survive, and those that fail to make sense of their environment perish. We must understand ourselves, and our place in nature, or die. There is no choice about this. The only choice is to recognize it and do so in time!

If you take the trouble to study the evolution of Primates, Hominids (us) and their brains, ancient and modern group behaviour and how you have come to have certain loyalties and attitudes a structure will appear. All the meaningless little pieces of knowledge will form a coherent whole, perhaps, what you now consider sensible will seem trivial and ridiculous. Ref, 'The Fear of Freedom' Erich Fromm 'The Proper Structuralised View Of The World.

A new kind of freedom will have been achieved.

There is also however, a more personal answer. 'Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know, we become insensitive to many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand, induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge, where in fact we have ignorance and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the Universe. Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears is painful but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales ('The Infantile Situation GB' -'Identity and Violence' Amartya Sen) . To teach how to live without certainty, and yet, without being paralysed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy in our age can still do for those who study it.'

The Church of England.

How aware are our children and parents of this matter. Do they know what is going on, now, in our Schools!

Are they at all aware of History, and of 'Human Group Behaviour? And, why do humans like to believe in something that is quite often preposterous. In fact, humans seek a faith or belief or an ideology - it is in their nature to do this, for better or worse.

Bewildered And Afraid:­

With regard to all basic questions, a great sector of our culture has just one function to, "Befog The Issue"! One kind of smokescreen is the assertion that the problems are too complicated for the, "Average individual to grasp"! On the contrary, it would seem that many of the basic issues are very simple, so simple in fact that, "Everyone Should Be Expected To Understand Them"!

To let them appear to be so enormously complicated that only a "Specialist" can understand them tends to discourage people from trusting their own capacity to think. The result of this is two fold.

1) A scepticism and cynicism towards everything that is said or printed.

 2) A childish belief in anything that is told with authority.

This combination of cynicism, and naivety, is typical of the modern individual.

Another way of paralysing the ability to think critically is the absence of any kind of "Structuralized Picture Of The World" or "The Proper Structuralised View Of The World". (Proper = Scientific and an outline knowledge of Cosmology, Evolution and the History of Man.

Facts lose the specific quality, which they can have only as parts of a structualised whole, and retain merely an abstract quantitative meaning, each fact, is just another fact, and all that matters, is whether we know more, or less. The Media have a devastating effect on this score. The announcement of the bombing of a city, or the deaths of hundreds of people, is shamelessly followed by an advertisement for soap or wine. Those of a fashion show, follow, pictures of war. The trite thoughts, or breakfast habits, of a fashionable nonentity, are reported with the same seriousness, as events of a scientific, or artistic importance.

Because of all this, we cease to be genuinely related to what we hear, our emotions, and our critical judgement become hampered, and eventually, our attitude to what is going on in the world assumes a quality of flatness and indifference. Life loses all structure, it is composed of many little pieces, each separate from the other, and lacking any sense as a whole.

The individual is left alone with these pieces, like a child with a puzzle. The difference, however, is that the child knows what a house is, and therefore, can recognise the parts of the house in the little pieces he is playing with. Whereas, the adult does not see the meaning of the whole, with the pieces which come into his hands, he is bewildered and afraid and just goes on gazing at his little meaningless little pieces.

Economic crises, unemployment, war, govern man's fate. (IMF http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8282074.stm) Man has built his world, he has built houses and factories, he produces cars, and clothes, and he grows grain and fruit. But, he has become estranged from the products of his own hands, he is not really the master any more of the world he has built, on the contrary: this man made world has become his master before whom he bows down, whom he tries to placate, or to manipulate, as best he can. The work of his own hands has become his God. He seems to be driven by self-interest, but in reality his total self, with all its concrete potentialities, has become an instrument for the purposes of the very machine his hands have built.

He keeps up the illusion of being the, "Centre of the World", and yet, he is pervaded by an intense sense of insignificance, and powerlessness, which his ancestors once consciously felt toward God.

Barmy Britain through the Looking Glass

'how an obsessive adherence to certain laws 'flies in the face of common sense''. Ref, Creationism, or 'fundamental religiosity' in our Schools - "An impertinent insolence that flies in the face of the Divine".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/philipjohnston/6238090/Barmy-Britain-through-the-looking-glass.html

T. S. Eliot. Wilhelm Muller. Albert Camus. ('in history we set no great store': individually, and by the great length of the 'cosmic time lines' we are just will o' the wisp's) 

"Modern nations are driven by powerful forces along the roads of power and domination . . . They hardly need our help and, for the moment, they laugh at attempts to hinder them. They will, then, continue. But I will ask only this simple question: what if these forces wind up in a dead end, what if that logic of History on which so many now rely turns out to be a will o' the wisp?" 

Into the deepest mountain chasms
A will o' wisp lured me;
How to find a way out
Doesn't worry me much.

I'm used to going astray,
And every way leads to the goal.
Our joys, our sorrows,
Are all a will o' the wisp's game !

Through the mountain stream's dry channel
I wend my way calmly downward.
Every river finds its way to the ocean,
And every sorrow to its grave.

Summer of Love

Humanists have always been supportive of equality and human rights, particularly for those who are persecuted due to religious teachings because fewer people are prepared to voice their objections. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues have risen up the agenda again, with the BHA working with many other organisations to make sure these issues are discussed and that human rights are put before religion. 

Of course, freedom to express one’s beliefs is also very important, but it cannot be allowed to oppress the rights of others. The BHA, along with the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) and various local groups, have attended numerous Pride festivals this summer supporting the events and giving out information to raise the profile of Humanism. The BHA also had a stall at the GALHA’s birthday celebration. 

Our work on the Equality Bill will see us supporting moves to remove exemptions that religious organisations have in discrimination law, including against those with non-heterosexual lifestyles. We are also supporting the call for an apology for Alan Turing and supporting the Day in Hand campaign to encourage same sex couples and friends to hold hands in public with pride. 

So while various religious organisations try to use their ‘religious rights’ to discriminate against others, the BHA will continue to lobby for inclusive legislation and government policy which allows people the freedom to be who they are and speak out against those voices who try to argue that they have a ‘right’ to discriminate.

Airline Bomb Plot 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8242238.stm (vague memories - today, will o' the wisp's: frightening chaos and delays - will o' the wisp's are going to jail)

Uncompromising Groups and the Rich and Poor Divide - Europe. 

The former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, he was appointed chair of the £70m a year super-quango when it was launched two years ago to bring together equality bodies for gender, race and disability discrimination, as well as sexuality, age, religion and human rights.

Critics said it was impossible to reconcile so many uncompromising interest groups, with the equality minister Harriet Harman recently admitting everything had been put "into one melting pot". http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/04/equality-watchdog-problems-trevor-phillips

G20 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8239855.stm

Keynes is rejected. (throw money at the poor, pay off their mortgages: do whatever it takes  - they will spend it, i.e., $1 given = $1.60 to the real economy. The middle class will save it, and if it is spent on the Bankers, it is, and has been, totally wasted - except, maybe - to keep them open from day to day! Money that is spent on Government (middle class) - they will mostly make up, so many more, very silly, and ghastly repressive rules. Vs the 'Weimar'. 

"Today that is disturbingly similar to what triggered the 1923 hyperinflation. As in Weimar Germany, money creation in the U.S. is now being undertaken by a privately-owned central bank, the Federal Reserve; and it is largely being done to settle speculative bets on the books of private banks, without producing anything of value to the economy. As gold investor James Sinclair warned nearly two years ago:"

“[T]he real problem is a trembling $20 trillion mountain of over the counter credit and default derivatives. Think deeply about the Weimar Republic case study because every day it looks more and more like a repeat in cause and effect . . . .”9

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13673

Accord’s first birthday marked by launch of new award.

Accord is now one year old and to mark the occasion we are launching a competition to find the school doing most to bring together people of different backgrounds and beliefs. The prize will be open to all state schools and will be judged by a panel of experts from diverse political and religious backgrounds.

The aim is to recognise schools that develop an ethos based on shared values across all that they do, including admissions policies, assemblies and links with the local community.

Apply today!

For the awards to be a success, we need your help. If you are a parent, governor or teacher at a school with inclusion at its heart, then please nominate it for an award today.

Alternatively, you can forward details of the award to someone else better able to fill in the application form.

In the words of Accord Chair Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain:

“So many people just sit back complain about the state of our schools that Accord has decided to do the reverse - actively seek out and reward those that are inclusive, tolerant and transparent.

Not all of Britain is “broken” - there are also many examples of remarkable success and cohesion - so it’s time to praise those schools that work hard to build bridges between the different faith and ethnic communities.”

Apply today!

Polly Toynbee, the journalist and social commentator, is one of the judges of the awards and said:

“We need to celebrate schools that find ways to bring people together by promoting  thought and ideas, encouraging debate across cultural barriers, opening minds and exploring beliefs with tolerance and imagination." 

Apply today!

From the opposite political spectrum, the Award has also been welcomed by former Conservative Secretary for Education, Lord Baker, who has agreed to serve as one of the judges. He said:

“One of the ways in which harmony, understanding and tolerance will be promoted in many of our towns and cities is if children of all races and creeds learnt alongside each other, had lunch together and played together at school.  The Accord Awards will help to highlight the best examples of such inclusivity, tolerance and transparency and I am glad to have been asked to be one of the judges.” 

Apply now! To enter a school for the awards, please contact Alex Kennedy (0207 462 4990 / alex@accordcoalition.org.uk) for an application pack or visit the Accord website for further details.

	Reality
	Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
	Philip K. Dick  (1928 - 1982)
	U.S. science-fiction writer
	I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon, 1986, "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8198556.stm "President Barack Obama has awarded the highest US civilian honour - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - to 16 people praised as "agents of change".

Only Seven Men

Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking - Charles Darwin, Sir Charles Lyell, Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley, and Alfred Wallace. We still haven't got it and don't really like it, because it all makes us feel so small and so very insignificant; we like things small and personal; to feel that we are of some importance (DNA 'neither knows or cares', and our universe is so vast that it is nearly beyond any comprehension). All of us tend to regress, particularly in hard and difficult times, to varying levels of myth and superstition, or a regression to a vast myriad and potentially dangerous - individual or group - Romanticisms. What have they been teaching to our children at their School? Ans: mostly, and not much doubt it, principally: a very narrow form of Romanticism with the ongoing 'pap of relationships'. How to handle freedom, and not 'romantic conformity' should be, somehow, taught to our children. The progress is very slow, a fear of the new = neophobia (government - laziness - incompetent: a small adjustment - especially, to any New Enlightenment) running very deep in our educational processes. Parenting, is for most, a brief and fleeting moment: it carries only some, and very occasionally some little power, politically: in this regard. Ref, 'Compulsory Worship Law UK' 1940s. To most people 'stuff and ...' now for the 2000's!

Not 'getting at the big truths' and 'stopping exploring', due to the easy (romantic) and (popular or indoctrinated - 'lowest commom denominator') dogmatic answers.

'The Atheist and the Bishop' http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m6ggf

Series in which an atheist and a bishop come together to apply their own philosophies to the experiences of people they meet, with Jane Little chairing the discussion.

Public debates between those who believe in God and those who resolutely do not appear more polarised than ever, often obscuring central human questions about how we should live and how modern ethics should work.

Here, Professor AC Grayling and Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Bishop of Oxford, visit a faith school and then meet the organiser of an atheist summer camp to explore where we get our values from and whether you need God to be Good.

Mind Maps For Children "What Shall We Tell The Children?" http://www.mindmeister.com/13207398

Nicholas Humphrey  http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/humphrey/amnesty.html

British Humanist Association e-bulletin 10^th August 2009  

The right to freedom of belief

We have been thinking a lot about the human rights of young people recently. We think about them a lot anyway, with human rights laws and practices forming the basis for much of our campaigning work, but over the last couple of weeks we have been focussing much of our efforts there. 

As well as having a section on child rights in our response to ‘Rights and Responsibilities’ and continuing our work with child rights groups (see News below), we have been working on the problems caused by collective worship in schools. The idea that all pupils must be involved in a (broadly Christian) act of worship in school goes against all the protection of freedom of belief that human rights thinking has achieved. 

Those who support collective worship may well argue that there isn’t a problem as parents have the right to withdraw their children. However, as we have pointed out, this does not mean that a young person can withdraw themselves - if they have a different religion or belief to their parents this puts them in a very difficult situation.

Essentially, an act of worship of whatever designation (or even the experimental ‘interfaith’ kind) means that some people (perhaps the majority) are forced to take part despite being non-religious. Surely the education system owes non-religious pupils more than that? 

In the same vein, there’s more news below of Andrew Copson on Teacher’s TV, discussing Humanism in schools, and an opportunity for a volunteer to join their local SACRE.

(Things are changing slowly, but most children are still made to sit through hours and hours, of what they may consider, sometimes, a combined view with their parents; quite barbaric and medieval, interminable, shallow and utter nonsense (for them). This does not, even in the slightest or even can compare; with the excitement of exploration and wonder of the latest discoveries and adventures, and in, the sudden emerging of a myriad of facts - 'modern enlightenment' - that are very 'real' and called *'proper' truths) *scientific or anthropological. Also, many 'Proper Truths' in education may be neglected by the great amount of time stupidly wasted on many superstitions. This may lead some to self-harming, and in; the harming of any progress that may be gained for our future societies positive outlook for improvement. 'World History' has shown, by now, this is a fact of life and most clearly.

Against Humanity http://books.google.com/books?id=dabhkdJ_xQ4C&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false Page 20

Thursday 13 August 2009

ReformRE - epetition response