An Atheist on the Alpha Course

Atheist on Alpha CourseWednesday 23rd October 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

The Christian Church’s ‘Alpha Course’ aims to recruit non-believers and lapsed Christians and convert them to evangelical Christianity.

Church advertising for the course makes bold claims about exploring the meaning of life, but critics suggest it targets the lonely and easily-influenced with a mixture of friendship, mild brainwashing and some tasty food.

Atheist and Chair of Dorset Humanists, David Warden decided to investigate for himself.

Find out what happened in this entertaining account of David’s experiences, which will also be of considerable interest to anyone considering taking the Alpha Course.

Join us for “an entertaining account of the secrets of the Alpha Course

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel also has an entrance on Gervis Road, which has roadside parking and is easier to access on foot).

[Update: David will also be presenting this talk for West Dorset Humanists at 7.30pm on 24th October at Wessex Royale Hotel, 32 High Street West, Dorchester DT1 1UP. Please see their website for more details: http://www.westdorsethumanists.org]

Please help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Dorset Humanists Expected to Take Part in Bournemouth Remembrance Day Service November 2013

Bournemouth_WarMemorialIt all began when the fledgling United Kingdom Armed Forces Humanist Association (UKAFHA) asked the British Humanist Association (BHA), though its local groups, to campaign for those of no religion to be included in Remembrance Day Services across the country and to lay wreaths on its behalf. Dorset Humanists  decided to approach the organisers of the Bournemouth service and having worked for about two and a half years for inclusion, it has been agreed by the Council and participants in the service (and parade) that Dorset Humanists will make a contribution as do local religious leaders.

The service is led by a Church of England clergyman along national guidelines formulated by Churches Together in England and Ireland and the Royal British Legion. The guidelines are flexible according to local preferences. In Bournemouth the service has been modified over the years to permit leaders of other religions to make short addresses and our aim was to persuade them to let the Chair of Dorset Humanists to do the same.

A meeting was called at which David Warden and Richard Scutt were able to present our case to Council officials, Rev.Dr. Ian Terry (who leads the service) and around 15 representatives of groups including Veterans associations, War Widows, Cadets, Guides and Royal British Legion. We were given a fair hearing and all present were given the chance to question us. After an hour or so of lively discussion and with considerable support from Rev. Terry in particular, the meeting decided that our proposal was accepted in principle. It now remains for the details of the address and the entry in the printed Order of Service (hundreds of which are handed out to attendees) to be agreed.

We are, at the time of writing, one of two groups (the other is Oxford Humanists) who have achieved this seemingly small but very significant concession. The BHA and UKAFHA are delighted and will encourage other local groups to do the same. The BHA is campaigning to get inclusion in the national ceremony at the Cenotaph though to date, Government ministers have stubbornly refused.

Rules of Engagement: Can atheists and faith groups work together constructively?

Rules of Engagement Poster Saturday 12th October 2.00pm 
Moordown Community Centre, Coronation Avenue, Moordown Bournemouth BH9 1TW

A presentation by the British Humanist Association’s Dialogue Officer Rory Fenton

As religious belief declines in the UK, interfaith initiatives are becoming increasingly popular as faith groups realise the benefits of working together, despite their conflicting beliefs and values. However, the non-religious are rarely invited to participate and are often regarded as the opposition.

In this talk, Rory Fenton will explain why he believes Humanists should constructively engage with their local religious groups, and will outline how we can overcome our differences and work together to achieve positive results.

Rory recently won the Charity Staff and Volunteers Award for 'Charity Innovator of the Year'

“Join us to discover how we can all benefit from constructive dialogue”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

Please help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

September Bulletin

DW 6298984 (crop)We’re really looking forward to welcoming Professor Chris French to Dorset Humanists this Saturday (14th September).  Chris is a leading investigator into the paranormal and his research indicates these phenomena can be fully explained by psychological and physical factors. We hope you can join us for what we expect to be one of the highlights of this year’s Dorset Humanists’ event calendar!

It's easy enough to be an atheist or a humanist in Britain but the shocking murder of Narendra Dabholkar in India demonstrates how risky it is to be an unbeliever in other parts of the world. Dorset Humanists is proud of its international links and we look forward to welcoming Bob Churchill, a spokesman for the International Humanist and Ethical Union to our meeting in December. 

Also this month in our bulletin, more tributes to Jane Bannister following the moving ceremony which celebrated her eventful life. 

We look forward to seeing you soon.

David Warden
Chair, Dorset Humanists

http://dorset.humanist.org.uk/DH-Bulletin-September-2013.pdf

Hidden Treasures of YouTube: The Videos

youtube In ‘Dawkins, Hitchens and Other Hidden Treasures of YouTube’ on 28th August, Dean Robertson presented an eclectic selection of entertaining and enlightening clips from the vast archive of atheist, rationalist, humanist and skeptical lectures and discussions available on YouTube.

Dean was only able to show relatively short clips, mostly taken from much longer lectures and debates, due to time constraints during the evening, so we’ll provide details in this post of the clips shown and you can check out the longer versions at your leisure.

Dean kicked off the evening with a quick look at a couple of whacky conspiracy theory videos:

1. ‘Chemtrails - Fully Exposed’ and ‘Chemtrails Wallisdown Bournemouth 2nd day of heavy spraying’

(And just in case these clips do make you anxious, here’s one that debunks this particular conspiracy theory: ‘Debunked: ChemTrails and ChemClouds’ )

2. ‘The pentagon was not hit by a airliner. See for yourself

(An explanation for this particular mystery is offered here: ‘Hunt the Boeing!’ (This link’s a webpage only).

3. Next we were treated to a short clip from ‘The Great Debate: The Storytelling of Science’. This full length video (the second half is linked in the description below the video on YouTube) from which the clip was taken features a panel of esteemed scientists, public intellectuals, and award-winning writers including science educator Bill Nye, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, theoretical physicist Brian Greene, Science Friday's Ira Flatow, popular science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, executive director of the World Science Festival Tracy Day, and Origins Project director Lawrence Krauss as they discuss the stories behind cutting edge science from the origin of the universe to a discussion of exciting technologies that will change our future.

From a congenial discussion/debate on to a couple of adversarial ones:

4. Intelligence Squared Debate - The Catholic Church Is A Force For Good In The World  This debate features two accomplished atheist rhetoricians: Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry challenging Archbishop Onaiyekan (of Abuja, Nigeria) and Ann Widdecombe.

5. William Lane Craig vs Christopher Hitchens - Does God Exist? Dean showed short clips of Craig and Hitchens in action during this debate, but in contrast with the debate above, Hitchens was outmanoeuvred this time, due to Craig’s highly accomplished debating technique. Atheists/agnostics who’ve been more successful in challenging Craig in debate include Arif Ahmed, Eddie Tabash, Stephen Law, Shelley Kagan, Bart Ehrman and Peter Millican.

6. Dean recommended the following link for locating around 600 more debates:
http://worldviewnaturalism.com/debates/

7. A bit of humour next from comedian, Dave Allen in Dave Allen on first contact with God

8. Many top universities now offer free video lectures and courses online, with most of their videos duplicated on YouTube. Dean featured some short clips from Yale’s university courses (1,176 videos), with his examples taken from the following courses: ‘Death’, ‘Frontiers and controversies in astrophysics’, and ‘Introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)’.

9. ‘The way Richard Feynman explained science was amazing’ is a classic piece of vintage Feynman. Do check out some other Feynman clips for entertaining easy-to-understand explanations of complicated physics.

10. Next we were shown a disturbing scene from the documentary ‘Jesus Camp’. The specific clip shown was entitled ‘Harry Potter is the Devil!’, but most or all of the documentary can be found in parts on YouTube.

11. We didn’t have time to show the intended clip from ‘Cosmos by Carl Sagan’ but the complete series is officially available on YouTube.

12. The Atheist Experience is a regular video podcast show in which the atheist presenters take calls from the general public (usually theists) and answer their questions. In this clip from ‘The Atheist Experience #693’, the presenters engage with a theist who believes in miracles.

13. Next, televangelists Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron explain how the banana is a perfect example of God’s creation (‘The Atheist’s Nightmare’, no less!). Both were apparently oblivious to the fact that the modern banana is the result of thousands of years of human selection/hybridisation, and that wild bananas are barely edible. Watch ‘Kirk Cameron and bananas’.

14. You’re in for a surprise if you’ve not come across the Mcgurk effect before, and it’s just one of many intriguing optical effects revealed in the BBC Horizon episode: “Is Seeing Believing?”

And now a couple of clips that show the lengths Creationists go to to deny evolution.

15. Richard Dawkins Interviews Creationist Wendy Wright.

16. In Children's video about dinosaurs: Creation Science, Ken Ham explains how Noah took baby dinosaurs on the Ark!

17. In Molly Lewis Stephen Fry, Molly Lewis serenades Stephen Fry accompanied by her ukulele(?) and an amusing lyric.

18. If you’re overawed by the size of our universe, Neil de Grasse Tyson puts it all in perspective for us in Neil de Grasse Tyson your ego and the cosmic perspective

19. And finally, although we didn’t show it on the evening, Dean really recommends (if you don't mind swearing) Tim Minchin's Storm the animated movie