 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
||
|
British Humanist Association e-bulletin 14th June 2010 ’Editorial | News| HumanistLife | BHA Events | ’Affiliated Groups Events | Other Events | Take Action! ’Lewisham Humanists’ 50th birthday There are local and student humanist groups affiliated to the BHA right across the country (see our Google map). Humanist groups come in all shapes and sizes and provide for a variety of different needs. We’re often told that – especially in some rural areas where a great deal of community or village life still involves the church (along with a lot of religious assumptions) –local humanist groups can provide much-needed secular fellowship. Most humanist groups hold monthly meetings with talks, or debates, meeting in hired spaces – often the back rooms of pubs! Some local humanist groups have a long and successful history. This month the Lewisham Humanist Group celebrates its 50&&&&&&&&th birthday. The group has quite a pedigree, with Barbara Smoker (who has a long involvement in Humanism and secularism – you can buy her book from the BHA) and Denis Cobell (a long-serving humanist celebrant) playing active roles in the group for many years. The group at one time ran a "Sunday Club", and in 1977 took part in anti-fascist demonstrations. It has run various campaigns over the years, such as protesting the preclusion of a local schoolgirl from a C of E school because her mother wasn’t a churchgoer! In 1997 the group opposed St George’s Church search for funds from non-churchgoers and were "virtually evicted from their grounds" for their trouble. BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson, and Martin Rowson, cartoonist for the Guardian and New Humanist, will be speaking at the group to celebrate the Jubilee Gala evening at 19:30 this Thursday 17 June, in the Civic Suite, Lewisham Town Hall. There will be music and comedy and the event is free and open to all! The BHA supports local groups in a number of ways, including visits from BHA staff – which can even draw a bit of a crowd when promoted locally. This weekend Andrew was in Dorsetand he’ll be visiting Lewisham and Cardiff Humanists in the coming weeks. Paul Pettinger (who recently moved to the Accord Coalition) will be speaking to Central London Humanists this Wednesday, Tana Wollen (Head of Ceremonies) is visiting Essex Humanist Group later this month, and into July Bob Churchill (Head of Membership) will be visiting the Cotswoldsgroup. Find out more about affiliated humanist groups. NEWS Academies Bill will create irreversible religious divisions in the schools system The Academies Bill, which was debated in Parliament for the first time last week, represents a step-change in policy, allowing high-performing, state-maintained schools automatically to become Academies. The Academies Bill has bypassed scrutiny by MPs and has been introduced straight into the House of Lords. Andrew Copson commented for the BHA, ‘We are especially concerned about the provisions of the Bill that will make it compulsory for state-funded religious schools to become religious academies but builds in no analogous protections for community schools to always become inclusive secular Academies. This double standard dangerously entrenches irreversible religious privilege in the system. Religious Academies will increase massively in number, and be totally freed from any sort of curriculum entitlement for our children. The spread of creationist teaching and of biased and counter-educational RE and sex education that occurred under the previous government will receive an additional boost from this Bill.’ The BHA does a lot of work on ‘’faith schools, and the Academies Bill represents a huge new challenge. As the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group reforms for the this new parliament we’ve already been working to establish what the changes mean and briefing MPs directly on the issue of the Academies Bill and religion in schools in general. You support our work specifically on ‘faith’ schools and education campaigns at www.humanism.org.uk/donate by selecting the “No faith schools” fund when donating online. Or if you donate over the phone on 020 7079 3580 you can ask for you donation to go straight to the ‘faith’ schools fund. Prisons should focus on secular programmes, not on religious interventions Prisons should avoid making a fetish of faith and treat prisoners equally, regardless of their religion or belief, we told the media last week. The BHA made the comments following the publication of a report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons on Muslims in prison. Naomi Phillips, BHA Head of Public Affairs, said, ‘The Labour government’s strategy was effectively to hand over control of the rehabilitation of some of the most vulnerable people in our society to religious organisations. This is despite the previous government admitting that there is no credible evidence that “faith-based” interventions actually have any direct impact on re-offending rates. Neither is there evidence that religious organisations have better, measurable outcomes than inclusive secular organisations. ‘Today’s report from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons recommends that staff should engage with Muslims as individual prisoners with specific risks and needs, rather than as part of a separate group – yet the seemingly large and growing emphasis on meeting religious needs, even to the point where prisoners feel the need to convert, is surely counterintuitive to that aim. It is a potentially dangerous and damaging path to follow which would see prisoners being seen and engaged with primarily on grounds of their religious identity. … [R]eligious interventions must be totally voluntary and always and only be supplementary to those secular programmes.’ More news in brief… We must “transform religious education”, the BHA said last week. The current system where syllabuses for RE are drawn up by committees in each local authority in England and Wales needs radical reform. The call comes in response to the Ofsted report on RE in schools, which demonstrates the variable provision of RE in schools in the absence of a national syllabus. In particular it noted that some local syllabuses could be over-prescriptive and, ‘There were significant inconsistencies in the way humanism and other non-religious beliefs were taught, and some uncertainties about the relationship between fostering respect for pupils’ beliefs and encouraging open, critical, investigative learning in RE.’ The BHA campaigns for a reformed subject like Belief and Values Education, or Philosophy, or Moral and Philosophical Studies, which would be balanced and objective, and would include a wealth of ethical and philosophical ideas, rather than focusing narrowly on the ‘facts’ of religious traditions (let alone being significantly biased toward a single religious tradition as is sometimes the case at present!). Read more about our RE policy. Pharmacists have a duty to tell patients that homeopathic products and treatments are not effective, the BHA has stated in its response to a consultation on new guidance for pharmacists. The draft guidance was produced by the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, in response to recommendations by the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee following its inquiry on the use of homeopathy in the health service earlier this year. Naomi Phillips, BHA Head of Public Affairs, said, ‘No pharmacies in the UK should be selling or labelling homeopathic products as effective. As trusted medical experts at point of delivery, pharmacists have a duty to explain to patients that there is no clinical or scientific evidence to support claims that homeopathy is effective. They should also explain the potentially great health risks associated with how some people take homeopathic products, for instance where someone chooses to take homeopathic products as alternative “medicine”, rather than supplementary to medically recommended and effective treatments. ‘We particularly support the recommendation in the guidance that there are clear signs on shelves where homeopathic products are being sold, advising patients to seek further advice from the pharmacist.’ See all News stories on our website. Subscribe to our RSS feed (’whats that?) Do we still need Enlightenment values? Yes! says humanist philosopher The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts) asked “Do we still need Enlightenment values?” last week in a lunchtime discussion session. Humanist Philosophers member and BHA Distinguished Supporter Nigel Warburton defended Enlightenment values, and also explained that tolerance and pluralism were only negatively affected by ‘faith’ schools. Audio of the discussion is available online. As Nigel tells us, ‘Quite a few people in the audience seemed to agree with the point about Faith Schools being bad for religious toleration...’ Reduced Price of BHA Book The BHA produced book “Thinking about death” has been reduced to just £2 in the BHA’s online shop. The book reflects a range of approaches and perspectives based on the 2003 Humanist Philosophers’ Group Conference. Buy a copy today! HUMANISTLIFE In ’todays featured article at HumanistLife, BHA Vice President, Professor Lewis Wolpert, explains why David Hume is his own “Humanist Hero”. This is the first in a series of posts taking us into Humanist Week (next week) written by members and supporters of the BHA. You can find out more about the project and submit your own “Humanist Hero” piece atwww.humanism.org.uk/humanism/humanist-tradition/heroes. BHA EVENTS Humanism, Philosophy and the Arts day conference 26th June 2010. Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London, WC1R 4RL “The greatest weapon against political So will argue Martin Rowson, Guardian and New Humanist cartoonist and author, at our summer day conference on the 26th June. The day will also include Professor Richard Norman on the Arts and the Meaning of Life, Julian Baggini on whether philosophy or the movies are best for teaching us ethics, Ken Worpole on a humanist architecture, Nigel Warburton on the visual arts, poetry readings by the acclaimed humanist poet Alan Brownjohn, and even a performance by the BHA Choir! Come along and discuss the role of the arts in creating meaning in human lives and any other issue you want to raise from the floor as we explore these sometimes neglected topics. Buy your tickets online for just £15 (or £10 for members of SPES or the BHA; or £5 for students). Tickets are also available with a credit or debit card from 020 7079 3580 during office hours. This event is jointly hosted by the British Humanist Association and the South Place Ethical Society. Humanist Week 21st-27th June Humanist Week is a national project run by the BHA to increase awareness of Humanism at local, regional and national level. The week is based around World Humanist Day, which is the 21st June and is supported by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. During the week we will be running events, and sending out information to get the message of humanism across to as many as we can, and we urge those who can help us, to do so. See our Humanist Week page and briefing (PDF) for local groups. AFFILIATED GROUP EVENTS Find a local humanist group near you Central London Humanists 16 June, 6.30pm. Hughes Parry Hall, Chancellor’s Room. Paul Pettinger, now Co-ordinator of the Accord Coalition, will talk to the group about faith schools in the UK's state education system. Paul will speak for about 30-40 minutes and audience Q&A will follow, with the event ending at 8pm. Discussion will inevitably follow in The Lord John Russell, a pub down the road from the venue. Lewisham Humanists 17th June. Civic Centre, Catford, London, SE6 4RU, 7pm Jubilee Gala- 50th Anniversary Celebrations. To mark half a century of the Lewisham Humanists, there will be comedy, music, discussions and a talk from BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson. For more information contact deniscobell@yahoo.co.uk, or visit the Lewisham Humanists. OTHER EVENTS Gods & Politics – Atheist Conference, Copenhagen 18th-20th June. Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen “As the name implies, one focus of the conference will be on religion and politics – what challenges do we as non-believers face today, and do we have a strong enough voice in the debate? But the conference is much broader than that, and we have a fantastic line-up of speakers from all around the world and covering many different fields. You can look forward to presentations by some of the most influential psychologists, skeptics, philosophers and scientist in the world – including James Randi (US), Lone Frank (DK), and PZ Myers (US).” One Law for All- London Rally The venue for this event has changed. 20th June, opposite Downing Street (SW1A 2, Richmond Terrace junction with Whitehall), 2pm-4pm – followed by a march to the Iranian Embassy, 4pm to 5pm Join One Law for All in a rally against Sharia and religious laws and for secularism and universal rights. The rally marks the anniversary of Neda Agha-Soltan's murder at a protest in Tehran. Speakers include Caspian Makan (Neda's fiancée), Peter Tatchell (esteemed human rights campaigner), and the BHA’s head of public affairs Naomi Phillips. For more information about this event, and the group in general, visit http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/20-june-2010/. See Further: The Festival of Science + Arts 25th June – 4th July, Southbank Centre This year the Royal Society, the UK’s academy of science, marks its 350th anniversary and to celebrate Southbank Centre and the Royal Society are coming together to explore science and our human impulse to understand the world we live in. See Further: The Festival of Science + Arts is a unique ten-day festival filling every corner of Southbank Centre this summer. The festival explores links between the sciences and arts and features a host of cross-disciplinary collaborations, scientific and artistic events. http://www.seefurtherfestival.org/ TAKE ACTION! Homeopathy in Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland, a consultation is being run on whether guidance should be given to pharmacists about the provision of homeopathic products within a pharmacy. We believe that homeopathy does not have the evidence base that medicines need to be provided on the NHS and that pharmacists should be equipped with the knowledge and guidance they need to support patients and customers in making informed choices – including making clear that there is no scientific or clinical evidence base to support claims that homeopathy is effective. The consultation is open until 18th June 2010. You can read the ’BHAs response to the consultation. You can read more information and respond to the consultation yourself. Protest the Pope! The Pope is planning to visit the UK on a Papal visit later this year. The Pope's opposition to women's reproductive rights, gay equality, embryonic stem cell research and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV has a huge effect on the human rights of millions of people across the globe. We want to make sure that the UK government understands our concerns, takes the opportunity to speak out against these practices and does not make the taxpayer cover the cost of the visit. You can: Humanist Heroes – Who’s yours? We’re looking for short articles on your “humanist heroes”. Humanist Week 2010 runs from World Humanist Day on 21st June to 27th June. We’ve spent some time organising special events, including the day conference on Humanism, Philosophy and the Arts, and supporting groups to celebrate Humanism in their local areas. The theme of Humanist Week 2010 is ‘Humanist Heritage – celebrating humanist contributions across the ages.’ You can help by writing a short piece for a series of articles on your “Humanist Hero” (inclusive of heroines, naturally). You can discuss a role model that Humanism has produced at any time in history. See some of the names in articles already submitted and get more information on submitting your Humanist Hero piece. Not already a BHA member? Join now and support our vital work! ABOUT THE E-BULLETIN BHA policy How to contribute If you have an upcoming event or news item you would like mentioned in this bulletin, please email the editor (we reserve the right to edit submissions for publication). Enjoyed the bulletin? Why not forward it on? Feel free to send the bulletin to humanist and freethinking friends, and any local or national media contacts. To unsubscribe from this bulletin, email website@humanism.org.uk with “Unsubscribe from BHA e-bulletin” in the subject line. Contact us The British Humanist Association 1 Gower Street London WC1E 6HD Tel: 020 7079 3580 Bob Churchill Head of Membership and Promotion British Humanist Association (BHA) 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD Tel: 020 7079 3586 Fax: 020 7079 3588 Find us on social networking sites via www.humanism.org.uk/meet-up/online The BHA is a Registered charity no. 285987 and depends on donations and legacies from its members and supporters to carry out its work. You can join or donate or register for our free e-bulletin online. |
||