The Conservative Humanist Association

Looks like Birmingham City Council employees will be blocked from reading the CHA website…

Websites relating to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other religions are OK for the eyes of council employees but sites to do with “witchcraft or Satanism” and “occult practices, atheistic views, voodoo rituals or any other form of mysticism” are verboten.

Needless to say, Conservative Party delegates from Birmingham - or anywhere else for that matter - are very welcome at the CHA’s ‘do’ at the Conservative Party Conference in, erm, Birmingham. 

On the subject of web sites, I recently checked out a blog run by a supplier of mine - graphic designer chap.  Seemed very decent.  As it turned out his site was a veritable coven of hatred against Catholics and he described himself on his site as an evangelical Christian.  Some people out there are very, very strange.  Be warned. 

As for the officials at Birmingham City council…wise up.  Tell your employees to browse the web at home.  Then you don’t need to ban anything.   

Tags: Big Brother, Birmingham City Council, Crazy Council Officials

BBC Radio 4 Westminster Hour featured an item by John Beesley on last Sunday’s edition that asked this very question.  Andrew Boff, a member the GLA and the Conservative Humanists, was featured in the piece.  You can hear it here.

The fundamental question raised in the piece was whether David Cameron and George Osborne - who tend to adopt socially liberal positions - can hold the Party together given the fact that the vast majority of Westmister candidates tend to hold more socially conservative positions.  However, as was pointed out in the piece, the Conservatives tend to allow free votes on issues of moral conscience.

The concern I would have, however, is that the socially conservative appears to be in the ascendancy in the Party.  This became obvious in the debates on the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill - where too many Tories appeared driven by doctrinal rather than personal positions.  Given the fact that we live in a society where only around a third of our adult population has a belief in God, this seems to be a move in the wrong direction. 

Tags: Conservative Party, Religion, United Kingdom

Iris Robinson, that multi-mandating DUP MLA, MP and wife of Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson, chose the House of Commons for her latest attack on homosexuals.  This is what she said in a Commons debate on the assessment and management of child abusers…

“We all agree that few issues arouse as much interest or concern in the community as that of sex offenders. The sentences served and their subsequent placement back in the community cause considerable disquiet among the public. There can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality and sodomy, than sexually abusing innocent children. There must be sufficient confidence that the community has the best possible protection against such perverts and it is important that there be a mature public debate on the issues, but the security of our citizens must be our overriding priority.”

It’s obvious that Mrs Robinson is stirring it up and enjoying all the attention.  It appears she likes to be at the centre of controversy.  However to continue walking into these situations, and providing for herself ever bigger audiences for her bizarre ideas, indicates that she is on some moral crusade.  Not content with the outrage of a local audience, she has decided to ‘go national’.

She added substance to her pronouncements in the House of Commons when interviewed by the Belfast Telegraph, Northern Ireland’s biggest circulation daily paper.  Here’s a quote.  Be prepared…

“What I say I base on biblical pronouncements, based on God’s word. I am amazed that people are surprised when I quote from scriptures … I cannot think of anything more sickening than a child being abused. It is comparable to the act of homosexuality. I think they are all comparable. I feel totally repulsed by both. … I am trying to reach out to people. That is what Christ teaches us … Anything I say is out of love. I am not hate-mongering. I cannot leave my Christian values hanging at the door when I go into politics. I am speaking out more now because we are getting it more and more rammed down our throats that the minority views are more important than the majority views. I am not trying to alienate anyone … I do not turn anyone away. I would never water down anything with the scriptures and I don’t think I should. I find it amazing, if not unexpected, as these days Christians are persecuted for their views but that will not stop me. There will be a judgement day and when I am judged I want to know that I did all I could to spread the word of God.”

And with elected representatives like this we think the greatest threat to our civil society comes from fundamentalist Islam! 

However, I really do wonder whether people who come to these types of conclusions really are suffering from a severe neurosis.  How is it possible to reach these types of conclusions without having suffered some type of severe mental trauma or constant, unrelenting brain-washing?  Whoops, sorry, she’s a member of the DUP - Northern Ireland’s answer to the Taliban.  That must be it.  I must look up that nice psychiatrist chap I know.  Perhaps he might provide her with some pro bono time. 

Tags: DUP, Fundamentalist Christianity, Iris Robinson

9.30-11.00pm
Media Suite B, ICC (note change of venue)
Monday 29th September, 2008

Please help us, and the BHA, with the costs associated with this event. 

More details to follow shortly…but mark your diaries because Professor Richard Dawkins will be our guest speaker. 

Tags: Conservative Party Conference 2008, Conservatives, Fringe Meeting, Humanists, Politics, Richard Dawkins, UK

Lionsgate has released a movie trailer for Larry Charles’ documentary Religulous, which follows Bill Maher as he travels around the globe interviewing people about God and religion. 

However, more interesting is Bill’s interview with Larry King.

According to Wikipedia “Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary. His commentaries target a wide swath of topics, from the right-wing to the left-wing, bureaucracies of many kinds, religion, political correctness, Hollywood, the mass media, and persons in positions of high political and social power, among many others. He supports the legalization of cannabis and gay marriage and serves on the board of PETA.  He is also an outspoken critic of religion and is an advisory board member of The Reason Project.”

Tags: Dan Maher, Larry Charles, Religion, Religulous, Trailer

Apparently, according to several media reports, there may have been a deliberate attempt by Red Ken supporters during the London Mayoral campaign to rake through articles written by Boris in the past and re-publicise them.  The logic was that Boris would be shown in some type of bad light.

One such article was one he wrote in the Spectator back in 2005 about Islamic terrorism.  However, on re-reading this piece I have to say it makes a lot of sense…I mean a lot of sense. 

One particularly inspired quote is below.  Boris has a great ability to state it as it is.  He exposes poppycock where it exists and has a tendency to take most people with him.  In this respect, perhaps Ken and his supporters were well out of step with modern Britain and modern London in particular. 

It is time that we started to insist that the Muslim Council of Great Britain, and all the preachers in all the mosques, extremist or moderate, began to acculturate themselves more closely to what we think of as British values. We can’t force it on them, but we should begin to demand change in a way that is both friendly and outspoken, and by way of a first gesture the entire Muslim clergy might announce, loud and clear, for the benefit of all Bradford-born chipshop boys, that there is no eternal blessedness for the suicide bombers, there are no 72 virgins, and that the whole thing is a con and a fraud upon impressionable minds. That might be a first step towards what could be called the re-Britannification of Britain.

Tags: Boris for London, Britain, Muslim Council

Tags: BHA

I was delighted to note that Andrew Boff has joined our Conservative Humanist Facebook Group.  Andrew was one of the runners for Conservative Candidate for the London Mayoral race.  He was pipped by Boris but has had a long involvement in local government in London.

He commented…”Wow! Fantastic … to my shame I wasn’t aware that we had a group within the Conservatives. I should mention that I have views on a number of some moral issues that may be at odds with the majority of opinion in the BHA. I’ve been very frustrated at having broadly “Pro-Life” views but feeling that that side of the debate has been dominated by religious references rather than rational thought.”

Well done Andrew and you are very welcome. 

Tags: Andrew Boff, London Mayor

A bunch of Conservative Future activists at UCL have started a new Conservative Humanist Facebook group.  There are quite a few members already so please check the new group out and join or become a fan:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15956064609

Tags: Conservative, Facebook, Humanist

We’re hoping to have some type of event - we’re not sure what form it will take - at Party Conference.  But we’d like to know from our readers what Humanist speaker you’d like.  Richard Dawkins has expressed interest but has a rather full diary and is somewhat difficult to track down these days.  What About Polly Toynbee?  Or BHA DG, Hanne Stinson?

Have you any thoughts about a good speaker for a fringe meeting to help us convert all those Cornerstone Group Members? 

Comments welcome. 

Tags: Conference 2008, Conservative Party, Fringe, Speakers