David Warden Participates in Bournemouth Remembrance Service

We are pleased to report that David Warden, Chair of Dorset Humanists, took an active part in the Bournemouth Remembrance Service at the Bournemouth War Memorial on 9th November 2014. Lyn Glass, Vice Chair of Dorset Humanists, accompanied David at the occasion. This is the second year that Dorset Humanists have been allowed to make a contribution to what was previously an exclusively religious service.
David was representing the Defence Humanists, a section of the British Humanist Association, and augmented religious leaders’ contributions with a secular reading about peace. The Defence Humanists is a growing body of servicemen and women, their families, veterans and civilian members of the Ministry of Defence. Their mission is to seek to represent the interests of all those who subscribe to non-religious beliefs. 
David read the following words:

Peace begins with respect. If we cannot accept a world of human difference we will never enjoy a world of peace.
Peace needs humility. If we are willing to see our own faults then the bridges of trust can be rebuilt.
Peace needs co-operation. If we realise that most of what we desire cannot be secured by ourselves alone we will cultivate friendship.
Peace needs compromise. It needs a willingness to tolerate a world that is less than perfect.
Peace requires justice. We must be willing to share the world's resources fairly.
Peace is hard work. There are no laws of history that will guarantee its arrival.
So let our tribute to those of all beliefs who have suffered and died in conflict be our resolve to work for peace.
Adapted from Sherwin Wine 'Celebration: A Ceremonial and Philosophical Guide for Humanists and Humanistic Jews' (2003)

For more details of the Remembrance service, please view Bournemouth Echo’s report here:
www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11590148.UPDATED__Thousands_pay_tribute_at_Remembrance_Sunday_events/

Dorset Humanists to participate in Bournemouth Remembrance Service again

For the second year running, Dorset Humanists will once again be one of only a handful of non-religious groups nationwide that are allowed to actively participate in local Remembrance Ceremonies.

Bournemouth’s Remembrance Day Service will be held at the War Memorial in Bournemouth’s Central Gardens on Sunday 9th November and begins at 10:57am. A two minute silence will be held at 11am. which will be indicated by the firing of a field gun provided by the Royal School of Artillery.

The Service is led by representatives of local Churches, the Jewish Community and Dorset Humanists but all are invited to take part – a Public Address system will broadcast the Service and Orders of Service will be distributed amongst members of the public.

We hope you will be able to attend and support our continued representation at these important civic services. For more details of the ceremony, please visit: http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/CouncilDemocracy/MayorofBournemouth/Remembrance-Day/Remembrance-Day.aspx

Humanists included in Remembrance Service

The thousands of people who attended this year’s Remembrance Service at the Bournemouth War Memorial may have been surprised to see Humanists included in the Order of Service alongside representatives of the Christian and Jewish communities. This is the very first year that Humanists have been included. David Warden, Chair of Dorset Humanists, took part in the service to represent the UK Armed Forces Humanist Association and the thousands of service men and women who do not subscribe to any religious faith. He said he was ‘delighted and privileged to have taken part this year’ and that ‘Bournemouth has shown national leadership by including people of no religion in this service’. 

The 2011 Census showed that 30 per cent of people in Bournemouth do not subscribe to any religion. Humanists are atheists and agnostics who base their ethics and values on reason and our common humanity. Dorset Humanists is a Partner of the British Humanist Association.

These are the words read by David:

Peace begins with respect. If we cannot accept a world of human difference we will never enjoy a world of peace.

Peace needs humility. If we are willing to see our own faults then the bridges of trust can be rebuilt.

Peace needs co-operation. If we realise that most of what we desire cannot be secured by ourselves alone we will cultivate friendship.

Peace needs compromise. It needs a willingness to tolerate a world that is less than perfect.

Peace requires justice.  We must be willing to share the world's resources fairly.

Peace is hard work. There are no laws of history that will guarantee its arrival.

So let our tribute to those of all beliefs who have suffered and died in conflict be our resolve to work for peace. 

Adapted from Celebration: A Ceremonial and Philosophical Guide for Humanists and Humanistic Jews (2003) by Sherwin Wine.

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

It 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.

Is "interfaith" an idea whose time has passed?

source: Stephen Law tweet

“Interfaith” and Inclusion: Another View | Center for Inquiry centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/in…
— Stephen Law (@stephenlaw60) April 22, 2013

Tom Flynn of Center For Inquiry, USA says...

"On my view, those of us in the movement who are not comfortable with the "religious humanist" identifier should not be seeking entry to interfaith events. Instead, we should be boycotting them, then demanding something more inclusive in their place.

"When they say interfaith, they really mean interfaith." Really, though, who should find this surprising? Sometimes words mean what they say. Dictionary.com defines interfaith as "relating to, between, or involving different religions." Why should non-religious people want, much less expect, to be included in an event whose stated scope is only to bring together representatives of different religions? Why should atheists and hard secularists who actively disdain religion want to play any part in something like that?" 

"I don't appear on interfaith panels anymore. When invited, my stock reply is "Sorry, this is an event for representatives of various religions, and I do not represent a religion. When you plan an event that's not narrowly restricted to persons of faith, be sure to call me." 

"In my view, it's the real message of inclusiveness that most of us in the movement should be emphasizing -- a message we cannot credibly send while some of us are begging to be included onstage alongside the priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams." 

There's a popular impression that "interfaith" is the acme of inclusiveness, that when you want to stage an event that's designed to encompass an entire community, an interfaith observance is the way to go. That impression is decades out of date, and more of us ought to be saying so. Because an interfaith event embraces only members of religions, and does so frankly and openly, in a nation where twenty percent of adults don't belong to any religion, "interfaith" is not the last word in inclusivity. Interfaith events, by definition, exclude twenty percent of American adults. They exclude a third of the young." 

"If, after some traumatic event such as the Boston bombings, officials want to hold an event that includes everyone, from now on they need to do better than interfaith. They need to develop events that do not draw most of their architecture from religious services that no longer speak to the identities and aspirations of one adult American in five. Except in situations where representatives of different churches legitimately do want to just talk to one another -- wrangling out differences in how they interpret the Bible, or some such -- "interfaith" is an idea whose time has passed." 

"Of course, it's difficult to maintain that principled position when you're begging for grudging admission to what amounts to the back seat on the church bus." 

"To my mind, leaders of atheist and secular humanist and other strong-freethinker groups shouldn't complain that they are being excluded from interfaith events. They shouldn't campaign to get in. No, we should stay out even when asked, and use whatever spotlight that casts our way to press the argument that in a nation that is home to growing numbers of post-religious men and women, real inclusion demands something way better than an interfaith event ... something that is radically more inclusive than a church service with the points of doctrinal disagreement sanded down." 

"Traditional believers acknowledge the pain of loss, but cover it over with the ointment of beliefs in the afterlife. Unbelievers are confronting a starker reality: the deceased is truly, achingly gone and will never, ever be seen again. To put it more flippantly than I probably should, when believers and unbelievers sit side by side at a memorial event, they are two discrete groups doing two very different things. The unbelievers are there to say "Good-bye forever"; the believers are there to say "See you later." I don't know if it will ever make sense to try to achieve two such disparate objectives at a single event."

Full Story.