Apparently, we’ve won an award from the British Humanist Association for The Best Group Website, with a certificate and everything! Hooray! Denis Johnston, our secretary, collected it at yesterday’s Groups Annual Meeting (GRAM) in London. Thank you Denis. No acceptance speech from me, but a big thank you to our webmaster, my son Nathan Nelson, who keeps the technical show on the web, as it were. You might be interested in his website – Big Wide World.

BHA President Polly Toynbee has been cited in the official Iranian media as “One of the great conspirators who wants to overthrow the Islamic regime,” according to a contributor to the BBC’s Dateline London yesterday. Polly said this is probably because of her presidency of the BHA, “… and we tend to attack all religions.” You have 6 days to see the programme using BBC i-Player.

Hollywood stars who’ve supported film director Roman Polanski, arrested for a rape he committed in 1977, may be regretting rushing to his defence, as public opinion, led by some outspoken women, has condemned him. According to The Telegraph, Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein said Polanski was a “humanist” who had been the victim of a “miscarriage of justice”. Oh no he isn’t.

Andrew Brown of the Guardian made a lot of readers cross when he wrote that atheists are all middle-class, Aga-owning snobs. Now Theos, the public theology think tank, says that – Although atheists have historically been drawn from upper social grades and higher education levels, the research shows that converts to atheism are disproportionately drawn from groups with no educational qualifications whereas converts to theism are disproportionately drawn from higher socio-economic grades and from people with a masters degree or higher.

An urgent message from the IHEU: Behnoud Shojaee and Akram Mahdavi are scheduled to be executed in Evin prison this Sunday October 11, 2009, which falls one day after the International Day Against Execution. They were under 18 when they committed the crimes they’ve been sentenced for. Please read the IHEU report and act now.

In today’s Guardian, Kitty Empire writes, If secular humanism had a house band it would be Oklahoma’s Flaming Lips. Having begun life in the mid-80s as lysergic slackers, the Lips have evolved into a kaleidoscopic outfit in which the forces of good and evil thrash it out nightly. Warm fuzziness and faith in human decency triumph most of the time. Their best-known epiphany, “Do You Realize?”, watches the planet hurtling through space before skewering fans with the knowledge that everyone they know, someday, will die.

Tonight on Radio 4, the first part of ‘And Another Thing’, Eoin Colfer’s sequel to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Read by Stephen Mangan, with Peter Serafinowicz. If you miss it, you’ll be able to listen via i-Player. We’ve written about Douglas Adams elsewhere on this site. Apparently, Colfer’s sequel has been approved by Adams’ widow, and it sounds as though Douglas might have approved. Review tomorrow, probably.

Not quite the outcome that Mr Blair had in mind when he agreed to invade Iraq, Iraqis disillusioned with a God that allows the chaos and carnage they’ve endured since 2003 are losing their faith. He must be so disappointed.

The NSS reports: Caf Church is the brainchild of Baptist Minister Cid Latty of Christchurch Baptist Church, Welwyn Garden City. The concept is simple – people won’t go to church, so why not bring the church to the people via high street coffee chains? “The idea is to encourage those who might feel uncomfortable in a church building to worship in a more neutral environment,” say the organisers. Costa Coffee and the Gloria Jean coffee shop chain have co-operated with this scheme.

Education Minister Ed Balls made a speech at the Institute of Directors yesterday. This is some of it: It is now just over two years since we launched our Faith in the System document at the British Library. It was a hugely important event. And it came just a few months after I began this job in fact, the speech I made then was one of the very first speeches I gave as Secretary of State.

And if he smite him with an instrument of iron … the murderer shall surely be put to death (Numbers 35:16). Amnesty International has issued an urgent appeal for a man facing execution in three weeks’ time despite the fact that jurors at his trial consulted passages from the Bible in deciding his fate. Thirty-two-year-old Khristian Oliver is set to be executed in Texas, USA on 5 November. He was sentenced to death in 1999 for a murder committed during a burglary.

Last weekend, South Central Liberal Democrats Regional Conference passed a resolution calling for the state to be completely independent of any religion and none, as follows: Conference notes: That Britain is becoming more multicultural every day and virtually every religious faith in the world is now actively practised in the UK; The steady decline in attendance at traditional Christian Churches and That the Church of England is still tied to the Monarchy and the State; That much discord in the world arises from strong religious belief or none.

Some of the things that Terry says may upset Humanists who regard themselves as part of a “movement” that shares beliefs – a sort of quasi-religion. I sympathise with Terry’s view of Humanism, but maybe you have a different point of view? There’s more from the NSS on You Tube.

eBay/Paypal and MillerCoors are donating a cent per hashtag (via tweet, Facebook update, or blog post). The campaign is aiming for a Guinness World Record for the distribution of the largest mass message through social media in one day. Click here for my blog post.

On the corner of Northgate Street, near Ipswich Central Library. Nearest car park, Crown Street.

A new group, unconnected with us, but sure you’ll be welcome.

The Prime Minister’s Office has responded to an e-petition that read: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to include the teaching of evolution by natural selection in the new national primary curriculum. Details of Petition: Scientists are agreed that all todays living organisms have evolved over millions of years from simpler organisms. This evolution is best explained by Darwins theory of natural selection and its subsequent refinement. Natural selection is the most powerful tool for understanding living things.

Women with insecure immigration status fleeing violence cannot access the benefits they need to get protection and support. Due to their extreme vulnerability, immediate action is needed; the UK is in breach of its international human rights obligations while this situation persists. Amnesty UK is organising a mass lobby of parliament on Wednesday November 4th to urge the UK government to ensure equal protection for all women facing violence in the UK.

Author, broadcaster and campaigner Sir Ludovic Kennedy has died aged 89. Sir Ludovic was a distinguished supporter of the BHA and an honorary associate of the NSS.

The question was asked by a student from Liberty University in Virginia, US.

You’ll find it hard to believe (I know I did), but Iowan Christians have been offended. By a bus. Yes! I know! My thanks to Ariane Sherine for this snippet of shocking news. Incidentally, today is the first anniversary of the launch of the Atheist Bus Campaign, which one of our members says was “The most positive defining moment of my life.” Ah!

On the corner of Duke Street and the High Street. Nearest car park – Magdalen Road.

A Humanist will be among a group of Suffolk Inter-Faith Resource people on the 1st floor at Hadleigh Library to play the board game Diversity. Come and learn about some of the faiths practiced in Suffolk. Suffolk Humanists & Secularists is affiliated to SIFRE.

Richard Dawkins has struck a book deal with Transworld, part of the Random House group, with a title aimed at teenagers, due out in autumn 2011: Aimed at the adult and young adult market, the book addresses big questions about the natural world, including What is a Rainbow? Why are there Seasons? and Who Was the First Man and the First Woman? Each question is answered first by myth and legend, and then by lucid scientific explanation.

When Pope Benedict XVI visits the UK next year, he might have expected protests from gay and lesbian organisations, child protection campaigners, and HIV and AIDS activists. Now it’s looking like his reception by our Head of State, HM Queen Elizabeth II, might be somewhat frosty, and Archbishop Rowan Williams may find it hard to be welcoming. On the 19th October, Ann Widdecombe MP and Archbishop Onaiyekan lost a debate with Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry that “The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world.

54% of Britons think creationism and intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution in school science lessons, according to a MORI poll commissioned by the British Council, which suggests that those 54% didn’t pay much attention to their own science lessons, or weren’t taught well. If the school curriculum was determined by parental choice, ignorance would be perpetuated ad infinitum. Read why the creationists and intelligent design enthusiasts are wrong.

I was on BBC Radio Suffolk today, talking about the MORI poll that shows 54% of Britons think creationism & ID should be taught in school science lessons. You can listen again via the website. It’s on the James Hazell programme, from about 10.10am. The other contributor was Prof. Michael Reiss, who resigned from his role as the Royal Society’s director of Education over the issue. Listen to the phone-in after the interviews.

The Bishop of Lichfield has criticised councils that “rebrand” Christmas to avoid offending other religions. This is ironic, considering that the Christian church rebranded the earlier pagan midwinter festival in about the 4th century. The bishop needs a history lesson.

If we are going to teach ‘creation science’ as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction.

The discussion about creationism in school science lessons on BBC Radio Suffolk is now online. It’s on James Hazell’s programme, 26th October, about 35 minutes in. You have 7 days to listen.

A message from Maryam Namazie of the One Law for All campaign about the rally on November 21: I am now responding to Sharia-related comments and questions every day of the week until the One Law for All rally on November 21. You can see my responses for the past two weeks by visiting the One Law for All website. If you have any questions or comments, please email them to me or post them on the website and Ill be sure to respond.

The latest Gay & Lesbian Humanist online magazine is available now – free. It includes a look at what life is really like for gay people in Russia and the former Eastern bloc countries of central and Eastern Europe.

Emitos Girls Humanist Football Club is a really special project running in Uganda. Supported by Women and the Free World Organisation (WOFEWO), the aim of the club is to empower and educate girls aged 12-20 years through football. The Central London Humanist Group is aiming to raise 3,700 for football kits, the costs of playing away and for 3 Workshops on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS through the International Humanist Trust, the charitable arm of the IHEU.