Archive for the ‘Humanism’ Category

Last weekend, we hit Edinburgh as part of Weekend Away 2010. It’s been several years since I’ve been to the city so it was great to see it once again and despite the snowy weather, our train was only delayed half an hour each way, which while arguably appalling in many places is a relative victory in Britain.

On the Friday evening we joined the Edinburgh University Humanist Society to watch the Blair Hitchens debate live. It was most entertaining, despite Tony Blair not bringing any arguments to the table though it was shocking to see how withered Christopher Hitchens now looks.

Saturday saw us take a look round Edinburgh Castle which was free entry (win), followed by some shopping and then heading our for a few drinks in the evening. We started the evening with dinner at Biblos which delivered probably the best steak I’ve had from a non-steak dedicated restaurant and then headed to Frankenstein but Angry Tom was all angry about the music so we ended up at a rock bar which while failing to live up to it’s early promise of Taking Back Sunday, delivered relatively good music.

Sunday saw us take in the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Museum of Scotland, both of which were great but as the museum was closing early because of the weather conditions (apparently they’re not prepared for snow in Scotland) we only got an hour in there. Finally we went round the Christmas Market before heading home.

When I first heard of the MDI (Muslim Debate Initiative) I thought, what an excellent idea for an organisation. A robust exchange of ideas is not only the basis of a strong, diverse society but also a sign of respect…

Last year, when ran the Perspective Course for a second time and as part of our session on Islam, Nicola had arranged a speaker from the MDI to come up to Leeds to present a talk.

Being a student society we are very restricted on funding so the MDI had agreed to pay the travel costs associated with sending someone but we set about providing a welcoming atmosphere, moving our social away from the pub and to a local sheesha bar.

Then, on the day before the talk, the speaker phoned me saying he was about to book his train and wanted to check that we were fine to pay all the costs. I explained that Nicola had already agreed with the MDI that they would pay the costs but he denied this and insisted we pay the £70 train bill. I reluctantly agreed, presuming the situation was sorted.

However, twenty minutes later I received another phone call from the speaker saying that actually because he was booking at the last minute, the train bill would come to £250 and were we alright to pay this? To which I, of course, said no and he decided he wouldn’t be able to attend after all. Thankfully, within a day, the Leeds Makkah Mosque were kind enough to provide us with a speaker.

Maybe this was a mix up. I can understand that sometimes this happens.

Earlier this year we began planning a big debate between Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association and an Islamic speaker, so we once again contacted the MDI, presuming on good faith that last time has been a mix up. They agreed to send a speaker and after many emails being exchanged, everything seemed to be in place.

Then, when we contacted them a week before the debate was due to take place to confirm all the final details, the speaker emailed us back saying he had been told the debate was cancelled and so would not be attending.

I then contacted the MDI to find out what was going on and they confirmed what their speaker had said – they had decided the event was cancelled and told him not to go. They then asked if they would like them to provide another speaker and I said yes – and then never heard back from them.

Another debate successfully avoided.

What is interesting, is the parallels between these incidents and the infamous February 2009 debate with the Islamic Society at Leeds in which they actually went out of their way to prevent the event from going ahead. After all of this, I find myself very nostalgic for the debates we had back in the day with the Christian Union.

Yesterday, the first session of Intimate Details took place at Leeds Atheist Society. Intimate Details is a course which looks at sex, relationships and surrounding issues from a secular perspective – and indeed given it covers a lot of the same material as UCCF’s Pure course, some have cheekily nicknamed it “Impure.”

Yesterday’s session looked at sexuality and the various sexual orientations that exist, taboos and fetishes and the attitude towards sex in society such as sex in the media and education system as well as pornography, prostitution and religion.

Next week’s session will be looking at dating, relationships and sex. You can join us for that at 7pm on Friday 10 December.

On Saturday, Leeds Skeptics in the Pub hosted Jeremy Taylor, author of “Not a Chimp: The Hunt to find the Genes that Make Us Human” as well as a popular science television producer for many years.

Jeremy delivered a fascinating talk arguing that actually there was a good case for claiming humans really are special. He made the points that chimps are not as clever as we often think they are – tool usage for example is something that can also be observed in crows so it not on it’s own a sign of higher intelligence and went on to say that crows demonstrate signs of problem solving and abstraction that chimps to do.

He suggested that many people, Richard Dawkins being a good example, may be worried that if we don’t push the view that humans and chimps are almost identical and very close together in the spectrum it could open the door for the religious – something which none of us want but to avoid it at the expense of the truth is surely unacceptable.

Finally he put forward the case that it makes no sense to grant chimps human rights because they are incapable of understanding it or nor does it have any real meaning – even if you sign them onto the declaration of human rights that doesn’t mean anything because you still have to protect them. Much like we don’t grant a child rights until it has reached maturity and can understand those rights, it makes far more sense to take the view that we must decide to protect them because they are unable to assert any rights we could award them.

It was a fascinating talk and one that I really enjoyed. I think the real gem of this month’s topic was that many people at the meeting probably didn’t subscribe to Jeremy’s side of the argument, at least beforehand. It is easy for us to preach to the converted on clearly nonsense topics such as homeopathy but I think there is far more to be gained from talks such as this which really challenge our thinking.

On Tuesday, Leeds Atheist Society held a debate on banning the burqa. Myself and John were speaking for the proposition which was an interesting challenge as I don’t support the idea of banning the burqa. Never the less though we managed to win over the house in the end and clinch victory.

On Tuesday, Leeds Atheist Society held an interfaith panel featuring speakers from Baha’i, Quakers, Humanism, Christianity, Paganism, Scientology and Judaism.

The new Humanist Action Group website is now live!

HAG was founded in 2009 with the idea that we should stop talking about how Humanism is about living a good and ethical life which makes the most of it for ourselves and those around us and get out there and start making a difference – not because scripture told us we should but because it is the right thing to do.

The new website makes it easier for people to get involved in volunteering – simply fill in your details and enter your nearest town or city. We will then match your details to local volunteering opportunities that HAG is coordinating and let you know when they are available.

From December, the Humanist Community of Leeds is moving it’s meetings to the evening, with doors opening at 5:30pm. We were really impressed with how many people turned out this morning but we believe we can probably double attendance by moving to a later time, based on the feedback we have, so this should make for even better events.

On Wednesday I headed over to Bradford to present a talk to the newly formed Bradford Atheist and Humanist Society.

It only actually took me 30 minutes to get into Bradford, which results in a very embarrassing situation for Imran who lives there and told me that it takes him over an hour to get home – even though I managed it in half the time with me just guessing at which lanes and turn offs I needed to be using.

The talk was well received and the society seemed a positive and friendly bunch of people and I wish them all the best in the future! It’s fantastic to see such a society get going at Bradford University.

On Monday I was thinking about the talk I was giving to Leeds Atheist Society the next day was probably a little too similar to talks I have given to them previously.

Therefore I decided to try and re-write the entire talk in one evening. The result was what I’m calling “The Atheist Responses.” It’s basically the same as my Debating the Theists talk but as well as giving some general answers it also gives quotations from what famous atheists have said previously. The result seems to have been positive.