HUMANIST SOCIETY OF WEST YORKSHIRE
Affiliated to the British Humanist Association

NEWSLETTER (114), FEBRUARY 2009

“Neo-Darwinism - Darwinism plus Genetics”
Dr Richard Parker (Leeds University Teaching Hospitals Trust) Tuesday 10th February 7.30 to 9.00pm      (coffee from 7.00 in the Café) in Room 3, Swarthmore Centre, 2-7 Woodhouse Square, Leeds, LS3 1

This is the week of the of the two-hundredth anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the one hundred & fifty year anniversary of his publication of “On the Origin of Species”.  One rational criticism of Darwin’s theory of evolution was that, after some generations of the advantageous variant strain mating with the original strain, the advantageous feature would be averaged out to almost no advantage.  Darwin had to admit he could not explain why this did not happen.  He had no knowledge of the work of  the monk Mendel  on the crossing of smooth and wrinkled peas that has led to the modern science of genetics.  So come along and all will be revealed!

           January meeting “The Religions of Pre-Christian Britain”, Paul Dean

It was very gratifying to see an audience of about 40 completely filling the room; about half being members and the rest students from the Leeds U.U. Atheist Society plus a few enquirers. This is Paul’s own summary. 
            Britain and Ireland have by far the greatest number and concentration of megalithic monuments found anywhere in the world.  The earliest of these monuments (communal burial mounds known as ‘long barrows’) date from around 4500BCE.  Consequently, when the Romans landed in Britain in 43CE some of these monuments were over twice as old to them as Jesus is to us today.  Many of these monuments would have taken months, years or even decades to construct, which hints at the urgency of the beliefs of the people at this time.
The majority of long barrows, which date from around 4500BCE to about 3000BCE, have their entrances aligned to the east – towards the rising moon and sun.  This alignment towards significant lunar and solar events is also seen in the later (3200BCE to beyond 2000BCE) henges and stone  circles, which also frequently contain human burials or cremations.  This preoccupation with heavenly bodies and their association with human death most likely reflects a belief system that was strongly influenced by fertility.  This may not seem so obvious to our modern eyes, but to the people of the Neolithic who were new to the ways of farming and had no understanding of science, the connection between the sun and the yearly life cycle of their crops would have offered a significant and mysterious ‘understanding’ of their world.   Likewise, the monthly cycle of the moon may have been intricately connected with the female menstrual cycle in the minds of these prehistoric people.  Life was very difficult in the Neolithic, with the majority of people dying in their 20s.  Under  challenging conditions people reacted superstitiously and found comfort in rituals connected with death and the sun and moon, which could bring about fertility of the land and protect themselves from the unpredictable forces of nature.  This theme of fertility is also seen in the strange deposits found at henges and in burial chambers: ox bones, stag antlers and carved chalk phalli and testicles.  Examples of bisexual figurines have also been found, as well as many examples of rock art that depict aspects of both farming and human reproduction.
Another intriguing aspect of human burial in the Neolithic is that bodies were often left to fully decompose before burial.  The bones were also sometimes smashed prior to burial and many of the skulls and long bones are missing upon excavation – perhaps having been retained for use in rituals.  Ritual deposits of flint flakes, antlers, animal bones and ornamental mace heads have been found with burials, as well as at stone circles such as Stonehenge.  One belief system that has been suggested to explain this strange treatment of the dead is ancestor worship, which is still prevalent in modern society (e.g. Shinto Buddhism).
The construction of megalithic monuments ends by about 1500BCE.  After this time, it seems that natural temples (springs, tree groves, rocks) as well as some megalithic monuments were used for ‘worship’, and were believed to be the dwelling places of natural spirits and local deities.  By the late Iron Age, such worship was overseen by the mysterious tax-exempt scholarly priesthood known as the Druids.
Many beliefs from the Iron Age were connected with the life-giving powers of water.  Offerings (metal objects, figurines, skulls) have been found at the source of several major European rivers, such as the Thames. Their modern names derive from the Celtic goddess associated with the source spring. 
The Romans equated many of the existing deities with their own and thus they provided much of the information we have regarding Celtic deities.  These include: Brigid, the triple goddess of blacksmiths, healing and fertility; Curnunnos, the horned god of animals and hunting (who possibly became Norse Odin, Anglo-Saxon Woden and modern Father Christmas!); and Coventina, the triple fertility goddess of water/wells.
The Christianisation of Britain was a slow process.  Around 600CE Pope Gregory instructed that the ancient temples should be converted to Christian temples so that the people would passively ‘worship the one true God’.  Subsequently, stone circles were converted to church yards, churches were built on stone circles and inside earth henges, and standing stones were reshaped into the Christian cross.  The 4 major Celtic solar festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasad and Samain were also appropriated as the Christian festivals of Candlemass (or ST Brigid’s Day!), Walpurgis Night (May Day) , Lammas and All Souls’ Day.

            Leeds Skeptics meet at 2pm on Saturday 21st February and Sat. 21st March at ‘Carpe Diem’, which is on the south corner of Great George St. and Calverley St. opposite the side of the Town Hall.  It is under the ’Old School Board’ building with an entrance down steps in Great George St. and another first door on the left in Alexander St. off Calverley St. You can find out more about them by following the links on our website.  So, it is your chance to ‘seize the day’ or maybe the afternoon at least!

            Leeds U. U. Atheist Society will be holding their ‘Rationalist Week’ from Mon. 20th to Fri. 24tth April.  Again there are links to them from our website.

            Quote of the Month  "Freedom of religion does not always guarantee the right to behave in a manner governed by a religious belief and does not confer on people who do so the right to disregard rules that have proved to be justified."
Ruling from the European Court of Human Rights on a French Sikh man who was denied the right to wear a turban in a driving licence photo.

Diary; all meetings at 7.30 (coffee from 7.00), Swarthmore, 2-7 Woodhouse Sq LS3 1AD                 Tue. 10th Mar.  “Ashley Montagu as Humanist Critic of Darwin” Gregory Radick
 Tue. 28th Apr.  AGM. Please note change of date.  After the formal business, Douglas Dale will give a  light-hearted talk on “How I became a Humanist” .