Diary
Ipswich Skeptics in the Pub Casual get together
Sunday, Oct 24, 2010Described as a “casual get together to discuss upcoming speakers”.Monthly meeting British Humanism since the 19th century national and local stories
Monday, Oct 18, 2010Following on from the film about the history of freethought in Europe shown at a previous meeting, a presentation about the history of the development of Humanism in the UK and in Suffolk, followed by a discussion about where we go next.Extraordinary general meeting to elect a new Chairperson
Monday, Oct 18, 2010As our Chairperson has resigned for personal reasons, we need to elect someone to take his place. Members will receive formal notification. Only paid-up members can vote.Monthly meeting The Geology of Suffolk
Monday, Oct 18, 2010Member Colleen Nunn will be talking about geology. She says: How much do you know about the ground beneath your feet and what it can tell us about about the geological history of Suffolk? Did you know, for example, that our county once had a climate like the present day Caribbean or that the River Thames once flowed through Suffolk? I will be exploring the rocks found here and demonstrating how they can reveal all sorts of clues as to how the landscape and climate have evolved through time.Faith in the Public Sphere A Humanist Perspective
Sunday, Oct 17, 2010From a lunchtime seminar organised by the East of England Faiths Agency for Suffolk County Council Staff in Ipswich on 14 October 2010. The previous seminar was led by a local vicar and more seminars would be led by various faith representatives. My introduction was followed by a Q & A session. Im a Humanist. Humanism is a descriptive word applied retrospectively (from about the late 19th century) to a certain set of beliefs and values, free from religion.Bye bye Claire
Saturday, Oct 16, 2010Claire Rayner has died. A few Suffolk Humanists (including me) went to hear her speak at an Essex Humanists meeting in Chelmsford a few years ago, when her humour and warmth made a strong impression. I have good reason to identify with some of the things that Claire said, especially when she got cross about lazy journalists who wrote about people with cancer “losing their fight” – stuff and nonsense!Will the 2011 census mislead on religion?
Monday, Oct 4, 2010The BHA and the NSS have both campaigned to have the next census, due in March 2011, changed to reflect a more accurate picture of religion in Britain, though their approach has differed. The NSS says, The information gained from the religion question widely thought to have been inaccurate and misleading is used by government departments when deciding about allocation of resources. Religious groups have used it to justify privileges.Post-Pope
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2010The cats can relax. Now that the Popes gone home, Ive stopped shouting at the TV. Who does he think he is, coming over here and telling us were aggressive secularists, and why does he imagine that the thousands of people who live here quite happily without religion have no morals? As for all that rubbish about atheists and the Nazis he obviously reads the wrong history books. Ive complained to the BBC about the coverage too much of it, too biased, too silly.Absence of evidence where there ought to be evidence is evidence of absence
Thursday, Sep 16, 2010Review: The New Atheism Taking a stand for Science and Reason, by Victor J Stenger. Prometheus Books NY. Michael Imison Victor Stenger is an American particle physicist, now retired to Colorado University, where he is an adjunct professor of philosophy. This book is the latest of ten or more well-received popular polemics he has written exploring the interface between physics and religion. In this work he takes as his starting point the series of best-sellers which started with The End of Faith by Sam Harris (2006) and continued with Dawkins The God Delusion, Dennetts Breaking the Spell, and Christopher Hitchens God is not Great.Letter to the East Anglian Daily Times about the Popes speech
Thursday, Sep 16, 2010I’ve written to the East Anglian Daily Times, as follows: Having just heard the Popes speech on arrival in the UK, Im absolutely furious. Its bad enough that were paying tens of thousands of s for his promotional tour when the Governments telling us were broke, then one of his minions describes us as like a Third World country ironically, the mans supposed to be a diplomat. Now those of us who dont have a religious faith are aligned with the Nazis.