Down under. It is a world I learned about during history lessons a long time ago. There was nothing positive that we were taught. England sent her worst criminals to that forgotten part of the world, and also women to keep the soldiers who guarded the prisoners, company. This was the image we got.

“A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question…” It seems appropriate to quote these words from the Introduction to Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in these times of trouble.

Thank you, Dr Vijayam, the Gora family and the Atheist Centre for hosting this 7th World Atheist Conference: “The March of Atheism”, a conference which itself marks an important step on that march. But the path of Atheism has never been easy. I would like this morning to examine some of the reasons why.

There are a few faces which, when we see them depicted anywhere, need no accompanying text to say who they are. Einstein and Darwin are two outstanding examples. They are giants of science, and even more, they are giants of general culture, whose work has wrought fundamental changes in the way the universe is understood and viewed well beyond their own sciences of biology and physics.

Recently I held a seminar to mark the celebrations of World Philosophy Day 2008, an event that I have been organising here in Kenya on behalf of UNESCO since 2003.

For those of you reading this, the words before you will, if the publication schedule runs according to timetable, coincide with two events that science is celebrating: the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his first exposition of the Theory of Evolution, namely On the Origin of Species.

Over the last 220 years population growth in Australia has been largely based on migration from many cultures. The resulting diverse range of people have brought with them their philosophies, both secular and religious.

The decision of the Australian branch of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), which acts for the (State) Government of Victoria, Australia, to accredit tuition in government schools by the non-Christian religions, prompted the Humanist Society of Victoria to prepare an ethics lesson plan for assessment. If approved, the lessons will begin in 2009.

Having been vigorous in the 1940s to the 1960s, Australian Humanism, that is secular Humanism, has become vulnerable, yet the potential for the development of a powerful and dynamic Humanist movement in Australia is very great.

The Humanist Society of New Zealand (HSNZ), formed in 1967, has a proud forty-one year history as New Zealand's first and only exclusively Humanist Society. From its inception, it has supported the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and it has a history of innovation that others have sought to emulate.