Towards a Multifaith Theocracy?

Do you remember when Prince Charles proposed that he would become Defender of Faiths when/if he eventually became King?

John Denham, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Development has appointed an interfaith coven clique committee of 13 advisors to guide his policy making. It includes my old sparring partner the Bishop of Leicester Tim Stevens who is now the convener of the bench of Bishops in the House of Lords.

Bishop Tim is also taking part in a debate at the House of Lords on 27 January on the future of the Lords Spiritual. He is suported by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, and opposed by Polly Toynbee and Jonathan Bartley with David Aaronovitch in the chair. Could be a fun event!

Our January Meeting

A notice of our January meeting has appeared in Hastings Observer today, on page 18, under the exciting headline "Humanists are inviting people to a discussion". The headline I provided was: "What Does Humanism Mean To You?" which will be the subject of the discussion. The venue is the Dripping Well public house, 1 Dorset Place, from 6:30 pm Thursday, 14 January. Humanists in my experience all tend to have different views, as indicated by such terms as Rationalist, Freethinker, Secularist, Atheist, Bright, Unbeliever, and so on that are used as alternatives.

There is also likely to be some discussion, initially, about the way the Group should develop. A bank account in the name of Hastings Humanists has been opened (although I'm still awaiting confirmation from Lloyds Bank). We have received a £50 donation from a supporter to start off the account.

I think the Group is now at the stage where we should introduce a £5 Membership Fee for those who wish to be formal Members. This is an entirely voluntary payment. Supporters, and indeed Opponents, who do not want to be formal Members can still attend our meetings. Being a Member means that you are declaring yourself in support of Humanist ideas, and means that you get a vote in the election of the Secretary and any other officers, and a say in the way the group is run, and the right to put your name forward for election. There may also be other privileges.

Let's hope the weather will be better by then.

Campaign Against Irish Blasphemy Law

The Atheist Ireland group has published a list of 25 so-called "blasphemies" as part of its campaign to repeal the new Irish Blasphemy Law which came into force yesterday. The 25 quotes include sections from the Bible and the Muslim Hadith and from religious pundits like Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor and Ian Paisley, as well as from well known sceptical writers like Mark Twain, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. There are comments on RD.net, where Richard Dawkins says he is praoud to be included in this list.

Blasphemy is now a crime in Ireland punishable by a 25,000 Euros fine. The new law defines blasphemy as "publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion", with some defences permitted.

Atheist Ireland argues that this new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. It is dangerous because it encourages religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at the UN.

The shooting of a man who was trying to break into the home of one of the Danish cartoonists who drew cartoons of Mohammed is also relevant to this issue.

A Big Year for Science

This year 2010 marks the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Society in 1660, so it's going to be another big year for Science. Melvyn Bragg is getting it off to a good start with four "In Our Time" programmes in the mornings on radio 4. No doubt we can expect to hear of some results from the experiments at CERN during the year, and perhaps from the new space telescopes.

Another series of programmes on Radio 4 are the "Dear Darwin" letters written by current scientists explaining how Darwin's ideas are relevant to their research. (These were apparently first broadcast early in 2009, and are now being repeated late at night.) Last night's letter by Peter Bentley covered developments in computing, whereby evolutionary methods are being used for purposes of improving design. Contrary to "Intelligent Design" proponents who maintain that evolution cannot produce more information, he indicates that evolution is all about information, and that it has much wider relevance than solely to the evolution of biological species.

The "Material World" is another Radio 4 science programme that I regularly listen to. The presence of science on Radio has been quite good lately. However on television my impression is that it is less evident. The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for instance have been sidelined to a lesser channel.

Humanist Life

Time to come out from my seasonal hibernation to see if it is safe for Humanists to venture out without fear of being bombarded by carol-singing proselytisers of the Jesus Nativity cult.

There is a new website apparently launched by the BHA but in some way independent of them. It is called trendily HumanistLife without a break between the words. Unfortunately the first three articles are all dictated by the religious agenda, since they are about Humanists' attitudes to Christ-mas.

The statement in the top right corner reads: "Humanists make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values. We take responsibility and inspiration not from the supernatural and divine, but from what is real and from each other." But why is it necessary to mention "the supernatural and divine" at all, as if they have any real existence? We don't think much of astrology or magic or postmodernism either, so why mention them!

In the left=hand column I noticed that Stephen Law is writing a book on History of Humanism. A work of this nature is needed, as existing works that I have seen are poor. I hope it will be comprehensive and cover such related developments as Freethought, Secularism, Positivism and so on. I've posted a comment to that effect.

This could develop into a good resource for Humanists. It is asking for people to submit content, but I couldn't see any indication about who is editing the content. Presumably BHA staff who may already be overloaded.

In the Local Press

Today's Hastings Observer contains a belated report of our 12 November meeting, with of course the notice of our 10 December meeting removed. It appears in the "News from around the clubs" section on page 18.

Typically it is sandwiched between a large quarter page advert for another "Evening of Clairvoyance" with Stephen Holbrook. (Why is this superstitious nonsense so popular in Hastings? It now seems to be a regular monthly event.) And on the next page a nearly half-page article featuring a large photo of Kevin Carlyon, the local White Witch, who is supposedly placing a curse on the proposed Link Road with Bexhill. (Doesn't this lay him open to being sued by any drivers who have an accident on it? Probably not, since there is usually a get-out clause for religion in the law somewhere.)

There is a more interesting article on page 16 accompanied by the familiar portrait of Thomas Paine. This is about a document found in a shop on the America Ground (the Robertson Street area of Hastings). It is an agreement between Pain (as he then spelt his name) and his former wife Elizabeth, in which he transfers their shared property in Lewes to her before he emigrated to America. For what he got up to when he reached America this page of links to his Selected Writings makes a good read.

Sussex Online TV

The Hastings Observer, last Friday, carried a full page advert for a new Local TV for Sussex, www.sussexonline.tv, which is produced by a consortium of local newspapers. I've looked at it a couple of times since then, and the newscast has been the same throughout the week, beginning with Dame Vera Lynn in Eastbourne and including a typical local press Christmas story of the "miracle" of a baby Llama born in Ashdown Forest Llama Park.

There is also of course BBC local radio and regional TV news. This has recently been split into separate Sussex and Surrey sections instead of Southern Counties.

There is also a local venture Hastings Online Times which I encountered on facebook, but this is not yet very active. I sent them a notice about Hastings Humanists, but nothing appeared as far as I could see. If anyone knows about other local media outlets that are worth noting, or on which we might get some publicity, please let us know.