News and Opinion

Since I have retired as web-editor for Leicester Secular Society I am also handing the admin duties on this blog to my successor Frank Friedmann. This is just a token entry for December 2007. I may open a blog of my own devoted to my wider interests. It's been a worthwhile exercise, though I would have preferred to get much more response from readers. I wish Leicester Secularist and the Society all the best for the new year. TTFN.

The leading article in the Nov/Dec issue of New Humanist, illustrated with a Rowson cartoon, which also features on the cover, is an attack on fellow humanist Richard Dawkins (a "distinguished supporter" of BHA) and fellow "new atheist" Christopher Hitchens , by another humanist, Richard Norman, who is a former Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Kent, and is a member of the Humanist Philosophers' Group: http://newhumanist.org.uk/1623 There is also a discussion on their blog about the offensiveness or otherwise of the cartoon: http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2007/11/new-humanist-cartoon-controversy.html In a comment on the blog I wrote: "The issue here in my view is not the cartoon but the article by Richard Norman that it illustrated. It is an attack on one humanist figure (Dawkins) for being a humanist by another (Norman) who wants to pussy-foot round the poor religionists in case we upset them too much. There is far too much of this in theh...

I've just come back from a lecture given by the Bishop of London at Leicester University on the subject of "Climate Change and the God Delusion", so thought I'd write up my impressions while still clear in my mind. The lecture was due to start at 5:30 but the Bishop didn't arrive until about an hour later (meanwhile I took a little walk to get some fresh air). The delay was due to his chauffeur-driven car being held up in traffic on the way from London (a measure of his commitment to fighting climate change?). The Bishop's use of "The God Delusion" in the title was a bit of a fraud since he did not address any points in Dawkins' book, merely throwing out the customary jibe about "fundamentalist atheists". He has however evidently read the book, since he made use of some of the ideas in it for his own purposes, as indicated below. The lecture was the inaugural one of a series which are to be concerned with "theological thinking on c...

This companion and contrast to my last piece has been prompted by the decision of the editor (or it maybe the deputy editor playing the fool while the chief is away since this is the silly season) of Leicester Mercury to offer a weekly column to the local Bishop to regale us with his views on anything he chooses. Is this what passes for professional journalism these days? In days past journalists were capable of providing us with plenty of views of their own devising based on their observations of society and their interviews with its denizens. Now whenever there is any emotive or moraly challenging event they turn first to the local vicar for his judgment. Why should "faith" in the existence of mysterious beings behind the workings of the universe gives them greater insight than people who have studied the problems in a rational manner? At least the editor has published three letters (one from myself) condemning his decision, and hoping that it is not too late to rescind it...

Is it paranoid of me to think that this is the greatest threat to the world and to continuation of the scientific enlightenment into the next millennium? Last Sunday there was a massive demonstration/rally in Indonesia calling for a Grand Caliphate of all Muslim countries based on Islamic law. This project is openly proclaimed by Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Britain. Equally on the American side there are the Dominionists who claim that America is or should be a Christian country, for instance: Christianity is Americas True Faith by Al Bedrosian . This is despite the fact that the founding fathers were definitely not Christians. This thesis is expounded in a new book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges who is himself a Christian writer. For an account of his views see here also . Some of the links here came from an alarming discussion on the BCSE forum. The British Centre for Science Education is concerned principally to campaign against the teach...

Don Cupitt came to Secular Hall on Thursday (26th July) to speak on "The Meaning of the West: Secular versus Religious Interpretations". He maintains that "'Western Culture' is ... the most powerful and dynamic cultural tradition that has yet appeared among human beings". He is right to put 'Western Culture' in inverted commas here, because there is no such thing. The term 'Western Culture' is a label used by those who want to polarise the development of ideas into an Us and Them, East versus West battle. We must be careful not to fall into this trap. What is in reality "the most powerful and dynamic cultural tradition that has yet appeared among human beings"? The answer is the culture of reason and of human-based rational ethics and of scientific method. And this is not 'Western Culture' it is Rational Culture, it is Humanist Culture, it is Scientific Culture, it is Enlightenment Culture, and most of all it is World Cultu...

The following is a message I sent to Leicester Mercury on 28 June, using their website form. Since I got a blank screen for reply I sent it again by email on the 30th June. It has not been published. Dear Editor, In view of the large Muslim population in Leicester, I'm surprised that you do not seem to have given any coverage to the setting up of the "Council of ex-Muslims of Britain". [This was set up by Mariam Namazie, Secularist of the Year in 2005, who spoke about Humanism at Leicester's Secular Hall in February this year.] Many Islamic states still threaten people with death under Sharia law if they leave Islam. Telegraph News Item Your recent defence of free speech by support for the knighthood to Salman Rushdie is admirable. But one wonders how many people in the Muslim community are afraid to express their doubts about religion in view of the many threats against infidels that one reads in the Quran. Not all local Muslims are regular attenders at the Mos...

There was a petition on the No.10 website that asked: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ban within government-funded schools the promotion or practice of any particular faith or religion." The Government has sent this response to all people who signed the petition: http://www.number-10.gov.uk:80/output/Page12064.asp There doesn't seem to be any allowance for people to reply to the government response, so I'll do so here. The Government remains committed to a diverse range of schools for parents to choose from, including schools with a religious character or "faith schools" as they are commonly known. Why should this be a government 'commitment'? Is the government also committed to setting up Marxist or Wiccan schools for those who want the choice? Religious Education (RE) in all schools, including faith schools, is aimed at developing pupils' knowledge, understanding and awareness of the major religions represented in the country...

Since we at Leicester Secular Society, according to our badge, promote Freethought Secularism I thought we ought to post a response to this attack: freethinking ruins all things . Although it is from an obviously hostile website, devoted to defending 'Christendom' against 'Jihad and Liberalism', it was recently featured on the Richard Dawkins site, because of its attack on the book God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. The first false claim is that: The atheists and freethinkers say they want openmindedness, but their minds are plainly shut off to the fountains of wisdom of thousands of years because the wisdom contained in scriptures and hymns--from which virtually all great Western art and literature derive and to which all of it pays often unwitting tribute--is expressed in an idiom and attributed to a source that they reject out of hand. In The God Delusion , at the end of Chapter 9, Richard Dawkins lists a whole series of phrases from the Bible that have beco...

Dear Archbishop, I would like to take up two points from your recent speech in the House of Lords. (1) I find the conclusion you draw from your story about "the four atheist inmates" quite absurd. You say: "... all the inmates were offered the chance to go to worship. The four young men with no religion declined the offer, ... The prison officer, not wanting the four men to remain locked up in their cells, asked them to clean the toilets ..." Clearly the four unbelievers were being punished for their irreligion by being made to clean the loos. The proper equivalent to them going to the chapel would be for them to be allowed to go to the library to study, or to the garden for quiet contemplation. "The following Sunday, our four non-religious young men took up the offer to go to worship. The prison officer was puzzled why they had opted in this week. ..." OH NO HE WASN'T! He was putting on the old Mackay. [Mackay (played by Fulton Mackay) was the chief p...

I've recently sent two letters to the Leicester Mercury that were not published. The advantage of having a blog is that I can publish them here. 26 March Dear Editor, Surely it shows a serious lack of judgment to devote a large part of your "World View" page of international news to the goings on in Coronation Street? You do realise, I hope, that this is Fiction? You give more space to it than the Real murder of Bob Woolmer in the next column! On what basis does the TV story rate greater importance than the servicemen kidnapped by Iran? (Although the above letter wasn't published I received a typewritten letter in response from the Deputy Editor, Richard Bettsworth, trying to justify the decision, but I remain unmoved. This is just dumbing down in action. There are other pages in the paper for entertainment news.) 29 March Dear Editor, Francisca Martinez (Mailbox 27 March) like many other people who have spoken against the Sexual Orientation Regulations, includin...

Several years ago when I wrote in the Leicester Mercury concerning the wearing of the burqa, there was quite a lot of reaction, including letters from Muslim women. My most recent letter, (24 January) quoting the views of Taslima Nasrin on the need for women to cast off purdah, found no response at all. This lack of participation by the local Muslim community is very worrying for our democracy. It suggests that people are afraid to express their views. Two important meetings of Muslim reformers have taken place over the past two weeks. On 4-5 March a 'Secular Islam Summit', took place in Florida. Its aim was to counter the reactionary voices which have been speaking on behalf of Muslims, to foster solidarity for societal growth in Middle Eastern and South Asian countries, and to seek reformation in Islam. There were more than twenty speakers from across these areas. They advocated reform of education and promotion of human rights, maintaining that these values do not belong to ...

I've just put a page about Richard Carlile among the short biographies on our website. His name has come to mind since he was one of the many victims of the so-called "Society for the Suppression of Vice" founded by the sainted William Wilberforce, whose involvement in the abolition of the slave trade, 200 years ago, is widely celebrated (e.g. 'In Our Time' on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 22nd), though his other less laudable activities, on behalf of evangelical christianity, tend to be forgotten. The Society began with King George III's 1787 Royal Proclamation 'For the Encouragement of Piety and Virtue, and for the Preventing and Punishing of Vice, Profaneness and Immorality', which Wilberforce suggested, and followed by setting up the Proclamation Society , which became the SSV in 1802. An interesting publication on the history of these issues is Making English Morals : Voluntary Association And Moral Reform In England, 1787-1886 by M. J. D. Roberts. ...

560 million and 50 year Birthday for Leicester's oldest celebrity Dr Mark A. Purnell of the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester has kindly invited us to the Annual Saturday Seminar to be held at the University on 10 March. LEICESTER'S FOSSIL CELEBRITY: CHARNIA AND THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY LIFE Tickets for the seminar and reception are £20.00 with a buffet lunch or £15.00 without - full details and application for tickets here ). Organised by Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society Section C (Geology) in conjunction with the Department of Geology, University of Leicester, & Leicester Museums and Galleries The reception will formally open an exhibition of local and international Ediacaran fossils called 'Charni@ 50' and will launch a new BGS map of the geology of Charnwood. The public exhibition opens 11 March - 15 April 2007.

This is the first of a series of occasional postings aimed at helping secularists and humanists to counter misrepresentations and misperceptions and build the political, social and moral case for secularism and humanism. We are winning the argument but we still need to convert this into political pressure and action. In Leicester we prevented a second Church of England academy. But in addition to preventing we need to project the idea of a better way, a secular way, forward that all can share in. Apathy is the big problem. Support http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/endfaithschools/ Allan Hayes (1)Religion not a basis for most ( http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/newsarticleview.asp?article=2288 ) ( http://tinyurl.com/y2yejj ) In this poll: 62% chose ‘Human nature by itself gives us an understanding of what is right and wrong’, against 27% who said ‘People need religious teachings in order to understand what is right and wrong’. 62% said ‘scientific & other evidence provides the best wa...

Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer, who currently lives in exile in Calcutta, India, calls for Muslim women to Burn the Burqa, and to do away with all other forms of purdah. Perhaps the Muslim women of Leicester could take a lead in bringing about this modernising and liberating reform. The article was published in Outlook India on 22 January. Taslima writes (page 2 of article): Irrespective of which book says it, which person advises, whoever commands, women should not have purdah. No veil, no chador, no hijab, no burqa, no headscarf. Women should not use any of these things because all these are instruments of disrespect. These are symbols of women's oppression. Through them, women are told that they are but the property of men, objects for their use. These coverings are used to keep women passive and submissive. Women are told to wear them so that they cannot exist with their self-respect, honour, confidence, separate identity, own opinion and ideals intact. When I first mo...