Diary
DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal
Thursday, Jan 14, 2010To donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Appeal, click on the image. The DEC distributes money to thirteen member agencies, all charities registered in the UK: ActionAid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, and World Vision. To find out more about these organisations, go to www.dec.org.uk. Outside the UK, there are a variety of aid agency appeals, including the International Red Cross appeal.The Linden Tree, Bury St Edmunds
Friday, Jan 8, 2010Near the station – 7 Out Northgate, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1JQ. 01284 754600. If driving along the A14, come off at the junction where you can see the sugar beet factory silos.Latest news about Leo Igwe
Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010For the latest news about Leo Igwe in Nigeria, see Think Humanism.Leo Igwe arrested in Nigeria HumanistLife
Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010HumanistLife, the BHA’s new website, offers a varied selection of stories. Bob Churchill from the BHA says, The aim is that www.HumanistLife.org.uk will become a major node for expression and discussion of issues close to Humanism on the web. We want to provide a space where our members and supporters, affiliated humanist groups, staff and Distinguished Supporters can build a content-rich, quality site, giving many humanist and other perspectives on current affairs, society, science and culture, as well as philosophical, artistic, video-based and other contributions.Blast blasphemy
Saturday, Jan 2, 2010Irish atheists are set to challenge the new blasphemy law in court, if necessary. It’s going to be interesting. If I were to tell you that I sincerely believe that my invisible, all-seeing, everywhere-at-once friend (the one who takes a benign interest in everything I do) is real, would you believe me? Maybe you would, but maybe you wouldnt believe he or she is real, only that I believe he or she is real.Bertrand Russell on You Tube
Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009A 1959 BBC interview with Earl Russell on You Tube. Bertrand Russell (1871-1970) has been a strong influence on humanist thinking. His autobiography began, Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the sufferings of mankind. For more on Bertrand Russell, click here.John there is nothing I hate more than these humanists Gummer to quit
Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer won’t stand for re-election, he says, as he wants to concentrate on the campaign against climate change. That’s commendable. We need more people to campaign against climate change, but… Remember how he got cross about humanists at the Conservative Party conference? In a subsequent exchange of letters over his outburst, Mr Gummer was unapologetic, claiming that he didn’t hate anybody and that the story wasn’t true.Seasons Greetings from Suffolk
Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009Peter Tatchells beatings have ruined his health
Sunday, Dec 20, 2009Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner who came to talk to us at a Colchester meeting in March 2007, has been forced to cut down on his activities by the consequences of the beatings he’s had, the Observer reports today. He was going to stand as the Green Party’s candidate in Oxford East, but has had to quit because “horrific beatings have left him experiencing permanent symptoms of severe concussion.” Peter’s lifestyle and workload are punishing, but as he’s driven to continue campaigning, he’s unlikely to give them up.The church is complaining again, but fewer people care
Saturday, Dec 19, 2009The church has been complaining again, this time about the BBC’s religious programming. There’s not enough of it, they say, or it’s not the right sort. The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, says, There is also a danger of the David Attenborough effect: religion always reported from the point of view of an observer of a fascinating and increasingly rare species, rather than explored as something of fundamental importance to the vast majority of the country.