To appeal to younger Humanists, we’ve signed up on Facebook. If you’ve got a Facebook account, make us your friend! If you don’t know what Facebook is, come and find out. Tags: Facebook, Internet, Contacts, Group

A new report examining the views of young Muslims in Ipswich and Suffolk has been published. Entitled “Exploring Young Muslims’ Views” – it was compiled by Mojlum Khan, a Suffolk-based Muslim and launched before an invited audience of local Muslims, senior representatives of local statutory bodies and others, at Suffolk College on Tuesday 27th March. Mojlum is closely connected to the Ipswich Mosques. He is the Development Manager at the Bangladeshi Support Centre and he also serves as a visiting Imam at a Young Offenders’ Institution.

The British Humanist Association has condemned the Governments ‘joint statement’ with religious groups released today, joining teacher representatives and some religious groups such as the Hindu Council UK in objecting to increased support for ‘faith’ schools. Andrew Copson, BHA Education Officer, said, ‘To expand state-funded faith schools is to increase discrimination in school admissions against pupils and their parents and to increase employment discrimination against teachers. It means more pupils will be segregated by religion and ethnicity and denied the right to a fully balanced education or to school with children from different backgrounds and learn with and from them.

Think about a moral principle or two. You know what I mean. Stealing is wrong. Lying is bad. You should not cause unnecessary suffering. You should try to help those in need. That sort of thing. blog.talkingphilosophy.com » Morality on Mountaintops. James Garvey asks if it’s excusable to do things that are usually considered morally dubious if you’re in some sort of life or death situation. Tags: Morality, Excuses, right+or+wrong

So folks, if any of you get spam emails from dead people, this explains why. You just wouldn’t listen, would you? The rapture: When all the believers in Jesus Christ, who have been born again, are taken up to heaven. After the rapture, there will be a lot of speculation as to why millions of people have just disappeared. Unfortunately, after the rapture, only non believers will be left to come up with answers.

In 2001 a new category of identity was introduced in the census: “mixed”. Thousands of Britons were no longer required to tick “other” or align themselves exclusively with the more established groups recognised by the state. The census results made it apparent that labelling people simply as “black”, “white” or “Asian” hid far more about the nature of Britain’s population than it revealed. Comment is free: Thinking outside the ticked boxes.

Plans to allow British scientists to create human-animal embryos are expected to be approved tomorrow by the government’s fertility regulator. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority published its long-awaited public consultation on the controversial research yesterday, revealing that a majority of people were “at ease” with scientists creating the hybrid embryos. Human-animal embryo study wins approval | Science | The Guardian. Despite religionists’ objections, the research should go ahead.

Hazel Blears is the Labour MP for Salford and Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government (since 28 June 2007). I’ve only just learned about a speech she made to the National Imams and Rabbis Conference in March this year. Ms Blears clearly sees religion as a good thing, while a lack of faith is (she seems to think) hardly worth bothering about. In the speech, she said,  It seems to me that for all the talk about British society becoming more secular, more consumerist, more avaricious, actually we have seen a growth in the importance of faith in many of our communities.

Have you noticed how often the word “closure” is used these days? A policeman or woman might say, when being interviewed on TV about a case, that they want to find the perpetrator so the that the victims can have “closure”. A verdict, a funeral, a divorce, or any event that marks a significant setback in someone’s life, and he or she may be expected to find “closure”. It’s one of those words that seems to mean something, but doesn’t.

The increasing interest in Humanism we’ve experienced locally and nationally seems to be largely due to concern over religious organisations’ influence in public life. Maybe we can do something about that. The next census could provide us with more leverage when it comes to reducing that influence by showing that such organisations don’t represent as many people as they’d like us to think. Andrew Trimby has written in the British Humanist Association website forum (members only),