The Nigerian Humanist Movement gets a new Director

NHM has appointed Mr Ikechukwu Okechukwu as its new director.

He replaces Leo Igwe who is currently doing a research on Witchcraft Accusations in Africa at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. Mr Okechukwu was raised an Anglican but while growing up he gradually said farewell to the Communion and embrace common sense and the humanist lifestance. He is one of the most articulate, brilliant and active humanists in the country. Okechukwu was NHM's 2009 World Humanist Day Lecturer http://www.nigerianhumanists.com/ The topic of his lecture was Why Nigerians Believe in Witches http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2009/why-do-we-believe-in-witches/

He was also one of the organisers and presenters at the just concluded National Humanist Convention in Abuja. He is one of the brains behind the emerging group of humanists at Nigeria's capital.

In April Okechukwu represented NHM at a regional conference organised by Africa Unbound in Addis Abeba Ethiopa. He delivered a paper on Religious Creeds and Dogmas in Nigeria http://www.africaunbound.com/index.php/aumagazine/162.html?task=view. I think he is well qualified for the job. I am so excited that Okechukwu agreed to take up this important role at a crucial and challenging time in our organisation's history and hope he takes organised humanism in Nigeria to greater heights. We at the NHM are glad to have him as our executive officer. Mr Okechukwu can be contacted at ik_okey@yahoo.com

Leo Igwe, Founder, Nigerian Humanist Movement

INDIAN RENAISSANCE INSTITUTE

G-3, Plot 617, Shalimar Garden Extension-I

Dt.18^th August, 2011

SEMINAR ON THE :

RELEVANCE OF TAGORE’S THOUGHTS IN THE PRESENT CONTEXT.

2-30 to 5 pm, Sunday, the 21^st August, 2011

At Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi.

Dear friends,

Indian Renaissance Institute has organized the above seminar on 21^st August, 2011 at the aforesaid time and venue on the above subject on the occasion of the 150^th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabiindra Nath Tagore.

Prof Debjani Sengupta of Indraprastha College, Delhi University will speak on ‘Tagore’s ideas of Nationalism and Secularism referring especially to his essays written against the backdrop of the Swadeshi Andolan in Bengal.

Prof. Abdus Samad Gayen, Department of Political Science, Presidency University, Kolkata (West Bengal) will speak on the social aspects of Tagore’s ideas.

Eminent activists and educationalists will participate in the discussion.

Indian Renaissance Institute invites you to participate in the seminar at 2.30 PM on Sunday, the 21^st August, 2011 at Gandhi Peace Foundation, 223, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi (Ph: 011-23237491, 23237493).

With regards,

N.D.Pancholi

Secretary

(M) 9811099532

Distinguished Humanist, Religion Historian R. Joseph Hoffmann named as Provost of the Institute for Science and Human Values, Inc.

Amherst, NY- Match 30, 2011 - The Institute for Science and Human Values (ISHV) is happy to announce that Professor R. Joseph Hoffmann has been appointed Provost and associate editor of its new journal The Human Prospect. Hoffmann's advocacy for humanism dates from 1983 when he was a founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER) becoming chair of CSER in 2003. During his time in England, Hoffmann organized the Center for the Critical Study of Religion and was instrumental in founding its journal and its successor publication, CAESAR.

“I am proud to join the ranks of the Institute for Science and Human Values,” said Hoffmann. “This institute is the realization of a dream; that dream being the mission of Paul Kurtz, who carried the assailed message of humanism from the age of doubt to the age of necessity, and almost singlehandedly defended it against voices of unreason, both religious and secular. The specific aim of this Institute is to create a global ethics that respects the common humanity of our planet and supports the science of living and the art of moral decision-making.”

Hoffmann brings his formidable experience and talent to bear on a variety of important projects of the ISHV, including the Council for the Scientific Examination of Religion, which promotes the critical, scientific and secular investigation of religious texts and truth claims. It also evaluates the role of religion in public life and politics and provides a plausible skeptical alternative to extreme forms of religious practice and action, regardless of the ideology in question. Its general principles are to promote a humanistic understanding of religion and to encourage dialogue where possible and offer dissent when needed. A full description and the names of fellows and associates will be made available shortly.

Hoffmann will also bring his previous editing experience and strong academic credentials to bear as an editor of The Human Prospect, the journal of the ISHV. He will play a key role in building the journal’s stature as a new, illuminating voice on the pressing issues surrounding the intersection of religion, science, society, and humanistic values.

“The Institute seeks common ground with people of faith and no faith, those who reject dogmatism in all its disguises, whether it come from religion, politics, or the academy. People whose primary interest is the creation of a "pact of virtue" that will lead us into a future of human values and human choices, and our best selves,” continued Hoffmann.

R. Joseph Hoffmann is Professor of Philosophy and Religion in the Liberal Arts faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston. He has served as Fulbright Professor in Lahore, Pakistan; as distinguished scholar in Human Values at Goddard College; and as Senior Vice President (Academic) at the Center for Inquiry. Hoffmann has taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, California State University Sacramento, and was Campbell Professor of Humanities at Wells College. His honorary and visiting appointments include periods in Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Melbourne, Australia, and Papua New Guinea, where he established the first interdisciplinary program in global religious studies and served as chair of the Department of History. From 1999-2003, Hoffmann was Professor of Civilization Studies at the American University of Beirut, the Middle East's oldest English-medium university. He received his PhD from Oxford University where he was tutor in Greek at Keble College, Senior Scholar at St Cross College, and later (1991-1999) Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies and a member of the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and a fellow of the Highlands Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought.

Baldwin Seeks to Speed Ratification of

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) chose today, International Women’s Day, to introduce legislation to speed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution.

“The ERA is intended to ensure equality for women and men in all areas of society,” said Baldwin. “It is an immediate and decisive remedy to end sex discrimination in federal and state laws and provides a clear benchmark for judicial interpretation. Achieving equality and justice for all in the United States is fundamental to our democratic principles, economic recovery, and continued leadership around the world. The intent of my resolution is simple: a path to equality for all Americans,” Baldwin said.

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Two excellent pieces promoting the mission of the ISHV from Joe Hoffmann!

"I hope that those of you interested in joing a cause, an organization, and a movement that is both targeted and appropriate to what’s happening in real time on the world stage will join the Institute for Science and Human Values. We affirm that there are non-religious solutions to the problems we face. We affirm that human beings shape the future by shaping appropriate values in the present."

"an undaunted Kurtz founded an organization whose name expresses better than any previous one what the unfaithed and unchurched and humanistic minority of this country need to support their habit of secular thought: The Institute for Science and Human Values. The Institute will be an engine for a process that Kurtz and others put into place forty years ago. It is unequivocal in lobbying for a secular and humanistic worldview, grounded in science, supported by inquiry, and skeptical of the claim of any movement or group to possess the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Review of Paul Kurtz, Multisecularism. A New Agenda, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, USA, 2010, 263 pgs.

by Floris van den Berg is a philosopher and co-executive director of Center for Inquiry Low Countries

The Best of Best

Paul Kurtz’ philosophy of humanism

Humanism is, like religion, a human-made concept; humanists are aware of this and appreciate this fact. Books on humanism can be analyzed in three categories: 1) a descriptive (historical or systematical) outline of what humanism is (e.g. Richard Normans, On humanism, or Peter Cave’s Humanism), 2) a critique on humanism (e.g. John Gray’s Straw Dogs), or 3) a forward looking agenda setting philosophy of humanism (e.g. Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism). Kurtz’ book Multisecularism – actually his whole voluminous oeuvre – falls in this third category.

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The abuse of the witch children of Akwa Ibom State

The Institute for Science and Human Values is an international organization devoted to the global advancement of science, reason, and humanist values. Naturally, we were appalled to hear how children accused of witchcraft in Akwa Ibom State are cast out of their families, beaten, tortured, maimed, and murdered.

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Catholic Church punishes hospital for performing a life saving abortion

By Stan Friedland

The recent decision by the Arizona Catholic Diocese to strip one of the most respected hospitals in the state of its Catholic affiliation because it performed an abortion on a patient in order to save her life is totally inhumane, immoral and most “unChristian”!

St. Joseph’s Hospital, founded 115 years ago by an order of Catholic nuns, enjoys a sterling reputation as one of the best hospitals in the State of Arizona. According to its medical records, an unidentified female patient, in her 20’s, who had a history of abnormally high blood pressure, developed severe pulmonary hypertension to such an extent that it impacted her lungs and heart to a life-threatening degree. She and her family consulted with her medical team which brought its recommendation of an abortion to the hospital’s ethics committee. Together, they all recommended an immediate abortion to save this patient’s life, which then was performed.

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THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS’ LAUTSI DECISION:

Abstract: The paper discusses the context, substance and likely implications of the European Court of Human Rights’ very recent but, in our view, historic decision in the case of Lautsi v. Italy. The article offers an outline of the case and of the decision’s motivation, a presentation of the responses, and a brief discussion of its relevance to the similar Romanian case. We examine in some detail the objections leveled against the ruling, track the progress of the Court’s relevant jurisprudence on the issue, and suggest some possible consequences.

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Eight-Year-Old Scientists

The eight to ten year olds investigated the way bumblebees see colors and patterns,

Britain's prestigious Royal Society accepted for review a report on bees produced by a group of elementary school children. The Societ subsequently published it in Biology Letters, complete with the children’s hand drawings.

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ISHV will publish a quarterly journal called:

The Human Prospect: A Neo-Humanist Perspective

The Institute for Science and Human Values, Inc. (ISHV) will publish a quarterly journal called The Human Prospect: A Neo-Humanist Perspective. The journal will focus on the promotion of human values and how to foster those values throughout society. Moreover, the journal will deal with scientific issues and their impact upon and relationship to society.

The journal will feature articles, essays, book reviews, film reviews, reviews of television programs, etc. There will also be news about conferences, cruises, seminars, and other gatherings of interest to skeptics, secularists, freethinkers, humanists, rationalists, and others.

Contributors will include experts in the fields of science, philosophy, ethics, education, and other areas. However, we also invite articles, items, letters to the editor, and other submissions from our general readership.

ISHV announces leadership

Dr. Stuart Jordan inaugural president

WASHINGTON – The Institute for Science and Human Values, Inc. (ISHV) announced the names of the people who will direct its mission today, including President Stuart Jordan, a retired NASA physicist, and Dr. Vincent Parr, associate of the late psychologist Dr. Albert Ellis.

Dr. Paul Kurtz, chairman of the board, said he was “excited and pleased” to have landed Jordan.

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Periyar International of Washington D. C.

Cordially Invites You

To Periyar’s 132nd Birthday Celebration

Periyar the prophet of New Age, Socrates of South East Asia,Father of the Social Reform Movement, and arch enemy of ignorance, superstitions, meaningless customs and baseless manners.” - UNESCO

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MOSQUEMA MADNESS

Today there is a raging debate about whether Muslims should build an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, where terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. Everyone participating in this debate claims to recognize that Muslims have the right to build the center. However, its opponents argue that it is not morally right for them to do so. Opponents have complained that to build the center so close to Ground Zero would be insensitive, as though all Muslims are terrorists, as if all Muslims embrace Osama bin Laden, and as if no Muslims died in the terrorist attack.

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International Freethought Film Festival Waives Student Film Submission Fees

Promoting reason, critical thinking and freedom of inquiry through the medium of film, The International Freethought Film Festival is a home for independent films that critically examine truth-claims. Reason, logic, critical thinking and science are embraced as the best way to explain the universe; while superstition, dogma, tradition and argument by authority are rejected as justifications for practices, policies and behaviors that are often of detriment to humans and the earth.

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Read Leo Igwe's response to the attack

The recent attack on my family which led to my father's loss of one eye was an unfortunate development. It was yet another attempt to intimidate us and undermine our campaign for justice.

To any intelligent observer of the trends in Nigeria, this incident would not have come as a surprise. Because Nigeria has practically been taken over by thugs, hoodlums, kidnappers and bandits.

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Father of Nigerian Humanist Activist Brutally Attacked

Institute on Science and Human Values

Statement on Leo Igwe

Two men physically attacked the family of a prominent humanist and human rights defender in Mbaise, Nigeria on August 4 in retribution for his work.

“They shot twice in the air and my mother fainted,” Leo Igwe, founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, said. “They later descended on my aging father and started beating him. They blindfolded him with a piece of cloth and hit him several times with stones.

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Humanists Announce Formation of New Institute Dedicated to Ethics

Brandishing a statement of "Neo-Humanist" values, a group of leaders in the humanist movement has established a new non-profit aiming to re-humanize secularism.

“We aim to be inclusive and to work with religious and non-religious groups to help solve common problems facing the Planetary community,” Paul Kurtz, chairman of the new Institute for Science and Human Values (ISHV), said.

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