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HUMANIST SOCIETY OF WEST YORKSHIRE
Affiliated to the British Humanist Association
NEWSLETTER (109) JULY, 2008
Summer Social, Sun. 13th July at 3.00 to 7.00pm
This will be at the home of Brian and Jean Layfield at 36 OAK DENE CLOSE (as on the street sign, but Oakdene on the map), Fulneck, Pudsey, (0113 2574044) with its extensive view over the Fulneck Valley. As usual, food and drink will be on a ’faith’ basis. There will also be a collection box for the Rationalist Association “Mustard Seed Appeal” for the only secular school in Uganda . It has opened fairly recently; more details in the ’New Humanist’
By car, the easiest way to describe is to make your way to Pudsey traffic lights. Go down Robin Lane, with the former Town Hall on your left, and follow it round its bends as it becomes Littlemoor Road. At the T-junction with Roker Lane go right, Oak Dene Close is first on the left.
May Meeting, "The Unwoven Rainbow: A Journey Towards Rationality.”
Dr Richard Parker gave an account of the affect on his life of reading “Unweaving the Rainbow” by Richard Dawkins, having bought it at a book promotion at Leeds University and getting it signed for him by the author. Before that, although not really liking Christianity, he had gone along with it. At age nine he was given a Gideon Bible, but so disliked what he read that he threw it away. By the time he went to University he was into Chinese philosophy, the X-files and UFO magazines. Dawkins’s book gets its title from the poetic attack by Keats on Newton for explaining that the rainbow is caused by the chromatic dispersion of white light, thus removing the beauty and wonder of this natural phenomenon. The book is Dawkins’s answer to the accusation that science takes away the beauty and wonder of the world; he maintains that it adds to the beauty and majesty of nature.
He examines how remarkable events are seen as more than just coincidences, the belief that “There must be something in it!”. He goes with Hume:- “The most likely explanation is the one we should accept.” Hume cites the case where a crowd of 70,000 people believed they saw the sun move towards the Earth. However, a far greater number at that time did not notice this strange event, so the most likely explanation is that it did not move, the crowd were swayed by the power of suggestion. Similarly, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is much less likely than that he was in a coma and revived in the cool of the cave or that the body was removed. This argument led to the author’s rejection of Christianity and all other miraculous beliefs.
The speaker then examined a present-day example of irrational thought - pseudoscience,. used in the marketing of skin creams, toothpaste, gold-plated cables in audio visual equipment and many others. The media can start campaigns based on insufficient scientific research without peer review such as resulted in herceptin being accepted as a drug for breast cancer when it is not as good as cheaper drugs already approved by N.I.C.E. Then followed a wide-ranging discussion by the 25 or so present, including a group from the Leeds (University) Atheist Society.
The Secretary gave a presentation of humanism to three groups of pupils at a “Diversity & Unity Focus Day” at Brighouse High School on 19th June.
Errata. Early editions of the May Newsletter should have read (1) in the Secretary’s Report that his “single page A4 format does not look as professional!” and (2) under AOB “It was agreed to send our thanks to Greg Owens”. Explanation. A polymath is one who knows many arts and sciences (Chambers), not a parrot who can do sums!
Diary; all meetings at 7.30 (Coffee from 7.00) at Swarthmore, unless stated otherwise.
Tues. 14th Oct.; “Humanism - The National Scene” Naomi Phillips (BHA, Public Affairs)
Tues. 11th Nov; TBA
Tues. 9th Dec. “Humanism & the Search for Meaning in the Post-modern world” Prof. Colin Campbell (Dept of Sociology, York University).
Tue. 13th Jan. “The Religions of Pre-Christian Britain” Paul Dean.
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