I just got back a little while ago from our third monthly meeting.
To say I was taken aback by the turn out would be an understatement, we filled the room and even had to go next door for more chairs. We had a great bunch of people turn up and I think we have the start of a really vibrant group.
As a result of today you’ll start to see some changes around here in the next few days with at least three new authors on this blog.
As I type this the Irish Minister of Finance is delivering this years budget. FXM over at Irish Atheists asks the question why not remove the tax exempt status from the Catholic Church?
I can see no good argument for continuing to give tax breaks to any religion. The Catholic Church in particular owns large amounts of property throughout the country and doesn’t face the sort of inheritance tax that helps to keep property in circulation.
So today’s questions are – Why am I wrong and what did you think of the budget?
An Australian teacher accused of denying the Holocaust was arrested in transit through Heathrow yesterday and held facing extradition to Germany.
Gerald Frederick Töben, 64, who was en route from the US to Dubai when he was seized, was sentenced to nine months in prison in 1999 by a German court under a law that prohibits “defaming the dead”.
He was held under a German arrest warrant, issued in 2004, which alleges that he had carried out “worldwide internet publication” of material that was antisemitic, and denied, approved or played down the mass murder of Jews perpetrated by the Nazis during the second world war. The warrant stated that he had committed the offences in “Australia, Germany and other countries”.
I’m really not sure how I feel about this. My default position is that free speech is a good thing and that we have nothing to fear from fringe ideas. In an open marketplace of ideas surely bad ideas will be criticised and disproven, but that doesn’t seem to be how the world really works. For example take a look at the below video –
– it seems that for many people they’re happy to believe things that fit their worldview without analysing it more deeply.
So my question is are there ideas that are too dangerous to be freely debated? Put differently can we trust people to take the time to investigate for themselves?
Some of you may have read on Pharyngula and elsewhere about the problems Martin Wagner has had with a creationist we’ll refer to as YP. In essence Martin is being harassed and threatened with legal action and needs help to build a fighting fund, I contributed a couple of day ago.
I’d like to ask people to read Martin’s account of what has taken place and if you feel sympathetic help him out.
For those of you who don’t recognise the name Martin is one of the co-hosts of the Atheist Experience and also contributes to their blog.
Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.
Currently we hold meetings on the second Sunday of each month. If you’re a Humanist, Atheist, Agnostic, or Sceptic living in the Mid-west (or willing to travel) and are interested in meeting like minded people please leave a comment below and we’ll get in touch with details.
You may also like to visit the HAI website and consider joining.
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American Jewish Committee
Washington, D.C.
May 2nd, 2008
Seeking a New Global Order: The Viability of Hope featuring Ayaan Hirsi Ali in conversation with David A. Harris.
Former Dutch Member of Parliament and author of Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali has a conversation with American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris about her life’s journey from being raised a devout Muslim to leaving her religion and seeking asylum in the Netherlands.
They cover issues of tolerance, freedom of expression, and how Muslim immigrants integrate into western culture.