The November 2007 edition of IHN is now available online for download in PDF format. There are articles on: Superstition, Witchcraft and Humanism Leaving Faith Looking at North America The Turin Colloquium, 16 June 2007 I wrote some of it, but don’t let that influence you! International Humanist News Tags: IHN, IHEU, International+Humanist+News

Within the same week, two people have asked me if we have Humanist Sunday Schools in the UK. One drew my attention to this article from Time magazine about an American Humanist Sunday School. I think we’ll have to get our ourselves organised. On Sunday mornings, most parents who don’t believe in the Christian God, or any god at all, are probably making brunch or cheering at their kids’ soccer game, or running errands or, with luck, sleeping in.

An American Humanist group, run by a Brit – Bill Potts, born in Yorkshire.

Saturday November 24h 2007 is Buy Nothing Day (UK), It’s a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from consumerism and live without shopping. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending! BUY NOTHING DAY – Saturday November 24th 2007. Tags: But+nothing+day, Consumerism, Shopping, Not+shopping

Making the case for the separation of religion and the state in The Economist (1/11/07): A RELIGIOUS fanatic feels persecuted, goes overseas to fight for his God and then returns home to attempt a bloody act of terrorism. Next week as Britons celebrate the capture of Guy Fawkes, a Catholic jihadist, under the Houses of Parliament in 1605, they might reflect how dismally modern the Gunpowder Plot and Europe’s wars of religion now seem.

Dr Jacqueline Watson of the School of Education at the University of East Anglia researched the situation regarding Humanism in RE, including in Suffolk. You can read the results here (PDF). This is from the report on the BHA website: New research published today (11/11/07) has suggested that Government policy on including ‘secular worldviews such as Humanism’ in school RE is not being effectively implemented. The British Humanist Association, which commissioned the research, has expressed its disappointment with the findings, and called for Government action and legislative change to address this failure.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is being studied by the American Academy of Religion. Honestly. This weekend in San Diego, some of the world’s leading religious scholars will be discussing the satirical “deity” in pop culture. Faith Central – Times Online – WBLG: Flying Spaghetti Monster theology. You couldn’t make it up. Will they research pirates too? The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (all hail his noodliness!) Tags: FSM, Flying+Spaghetti+Monster, American+Academy+of+Religion, AAR, Silliness, Kansas

You may well have heard about Facebook in the news, or heard workmates or friends talking about it. You might have had invitations to join Facebook clogging your email inbox. Chances are, you have already given in and joined. Membership of the social networking site is increasing all the time, with an ever-greater range of ages and interests joining. Well, now Suffolk Humanists have set up a group on Facebook as well!

In case you thought we were fixated on religion, this post was going to be about ethical issues unrelated to religion, but there’s one story about bishops that I couldn’t resist, from New Humanist magazine. Stephen Bates used to be the Guardian’s religious affairs correspondent, but now he’s had enough. Now I am moving on. It was time to go. What faith I had, I’ve lost, I am afraid – I’ve seen too much, too close.