From all we hear about Christianity in America – creationism, intolerance, ignorance and so on – it appears to be devoid of rational Humanism. Not so. Among others, there’s a local Humanist group in the Greater Sacramento area, California. HAGSA’s President and newsletter editor is Bill Potts, who was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire. Bill says he didn’t discover Humanism until 1963, while he was living and working in Canada. He recently joined the BHA and takes a keen interest in British Humanism.

Link: Biography – Alan Johnson MP – Labour MP for Kingston Upon Hull West and Hessle Having lost nearly 300 local council seats in yesterday’s elections, Blair has shuffled his cabinet and Alan Johnson’s in charge of education. Will he be a better Education Secretary than the very religious Ruth Kelly? Will it make a difference to the faith schools issue? Probably not. Johnson voted against a rebel amendment requiring faith schools to take 25% of their pupils from ‘other backgrounds’, which doesn’t bode well.

Suffolk College affirms that minority ethnic individuals are entitled to the same equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities as the majority population. This is outlined within the College’s Equal Opportunities Policy. The College strives to ensure that, whatever the heritage and origins of members of the College community, everyone is equally valued and treats one another with respect. This policy serves to remind us all that diversity in our society is a strength and we must ensure equality and equity having regard to issues of gender, age, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and culture.

Jesus – The Musical and more Jesus – The Musical and more It’s the weekend, so it’s time for the near-weekly roundup of the stimulating and the stupid on the Interweb. “Intellectual infancy”: the phrase reminds one that religions survive mainly because they brainwash the young. Three-quarters of Church of England schools are primary schools; all the faiths currently jostling for our tax money to run their “faith-based” schools know that if they do not proselytise intellectually defenceless three and four-year-olds, their grip will eventually loosen.

I’ve been trying to avoid joining things because I’m already a member of too many organisations to give them all the attention they probably deserve. By joining an organisation you might feel obliged to participate in some way, so if you don’t, you feel guilty. However, I’ve recently joined an organisation that won’t make me feel guilty because I’m already doing what it stands for, every day. I’ve joined the Cloud Appreciation Society.

THE Church of England has debunked the widely held view that young people are spiritual seekers on a journey to find transcendent truths to fill the “God-shaped hole” within them. A report published by the Church today indicates that young people are quite happy with a life without God and prefer car boot sales to church. If they think about church at all, the images young people come up with are “cardigans”, “sandals and socks”, “corrupt”, “traditionalist” and “stagnant”.

The newly appointed government minister responsible for equality is facing controversy after she refused to say whether she believed homosexuality was a sin. Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, a committed Catholic and member of the Opus Dei group, was embroiled in a renewed row over her religious beliefs yesterday. Link: Independent Online Edition > UK Politics – Scene_1 Kelly’s last job was Minister for Education, where she favoured faith schools.

I’ve met quite a few people I’ve come to think of as ‘seekers’. They’re religious people without a religion. They may try out various religions or sects, rejecting each one in turn when they fail to come up to expectations. We even had a C of E rector in our village who’d done this – he’d tried various denominations. The last I heard of him, he was doing missionary work in Africa.

A new TV series starts on BBC2 on Friday 26th May at 9pm. Terry Jones promises to expose the truth about the ‘Barbarians’. It seems that the Romans and the Catholic Church gave the Barbarians a reputation they didn’t deserve. Terry Jones pieces together new archaeological evidence to reveal the startling truth about the Barbarians, in the process discovering how the Roman propaganda machine was able to pull off a great con-trick and turn their enemies into monsters fit for children’s stories.

For once, an evolutionary biologist and a creationist agree on something. Professor Steve Jones, the author of an updated version of Darwin’s Origin of Species, and John Mackay, an Australian preacher who believes the book of Genesis constitutes literal truth, are both convinced that creationism is making a comeback in British classrooms. Link: Independent Online Edition > Schools It’s difficult to understand how this can happen, but it seems that we need to be vigilant.

It’s the end of the week again, so it is surely time to postpone whatever it was you were planning on doing and spend the rest of your day getting nicely relaxed for the weekend. If you’re at work we obviously don’t advise misappropriation of company resources to fuel your own amusement when you should be working, but… well, actually we do. Go on. So here’s a summary of some of the best content we’ve found on the web this week… click read more below to find out about the strange religious things people find in their food, blasphemous cartoons, and health warnings for bibles.

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Summer food, summer music and conversation in summery Suffolk, near Hadleigh. It’s a bring-a-plate tea – everyone brings a plate of food to share. Ask what’s needed. Members and invited guests only. If you want an invite, email us. Members, please email anyway ASAP to let us know you’re coming.

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: The midsummer social announced for today has been postponed until Saturday, 24th June.

A group of leading British doctors called today for the NHS to stop using “unproven” complementary treatments such as homeopathy, sparking complaints of “medical apartheid” by proponents of the therapies. Link: Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Top doctors accused of ‘medical apartheid’ It’s reported that ‘groups representing complementary practitioners reacted angrily’ to the call for an end to funding for unproven alternative therapies, but then they would, wouldn’t they?

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Tea in Halesworth with members of the Norfolk Humanist group. Email for an invitation and directions.

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: BBC Radio Suffolk presenter Rachel Sloane is doing a series of features about faiths and philosophies in Suffolk for her Sunday morning programme. She’s been invited to come and meet us and will record her encounter. Please don’t be shy but come prepared to talk about why you’re a Humanist, and what Humanism means to you. In return, Rachel will tell us about her work. We’ll be in Room 1 at Castle Hill Community Centre from 7.

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Regret this event has been cancelled.

At Suffolk Humanists’ May meeting, Michael Imison talked about the origins of religious belief. Two books relevant to the subject were published this year. The first was by the American philosophical writer Daniel C Dennett, called Breaking the spell – Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. The spell Dennett wants to break is the widespread taboo on subjecting religion to scientific examination, which seems to arise from a fear that, without religion to impose morality, society would fall apart.

The Satanic Verses, Behzti, Theo van Gogh’s Submission, Jerry Springer: The Opera, the Danish cartoons of Muhammad … now we can add the London exhibition of the work of Maqbool Fida Husain to the rapidly expanding list of works of art and satire targeted by militant religion. Link: The Observer | Comment | Yet again we cave into religious bigots. And this time they’re Hindus It seems that every religious fundamentalist, of every religion, wants to get in on the act.

Documentary following the freshmen class of Patrick Henry College, a conservative Christian college that has provided the current White House administration with more interns than any other college in America. All the courses, from biology to political science, are taught from a biblical point of view. Link: Radio Times | TV listings grid Channel 4, Monday 5th June, 8–9pm. That’s America, you might think – what’s it got to do with us?