A NEW Center for Inquiry was opened in Amherst, New York on 9-10 June 1995. The dedication event was entitled 'Defending Reason in an Irrational World'. The new center will be occupied by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH) and the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). There will also be a library.

The Secretary General of IHEU sent a message on behalf of the IHEU offering congratulations: 'We are confident that the opening of the Center for Inquiry will inaugurate an exciting and successful new era in North American humanism and in the global humanist movement.' (A full report of the opening will appear in the next issue.)

THE development of humanism in Slovakia is uphill work, according to Jamslav Celko, founder of the Prometheus Society. (Free Inquiry, Vol 15 No 1). About 72 per cent of adults declare themselves to have a religious belief, while 18 per cent say they are nonreligious.

He comments that, 'the efforts of religious organisations to ground all social activities in religion are finding substantial support not only with politicians, but also with certain public and state officials'. Atheism is connected with communism, and also seen as the source of amorality, crime and pornography. A complete review of the school system to allow more church schools is taking place and there are efforts to introduce religious indoctrination into schools.

The Prometheus Society hopes that a government commitment to human rights will lead to tolerance and real equality for humanists.

NIGERIA is the most heavily populated seminary in the world, according to Nigerian humanist Dominic Ogbonna. There is a religious vocation boom which is interpreted as a sign that the 'Christian deity will rechristen Europe through Africa'. The reasons may be economic rather than devotional. In a depressed and corrupt economy the priesthood is a sure way of achieving economic security.

Dominic Ogbonna says that religious indoctrination of the continent is worse than the ideological and economic devastation which followed the colonial experience. Public opinion is against humanist views and Dominic Ogbonna writes: 'My agnosticism has cost me a job here and there, but with few exceptions, I find it all quite humorous.' (African Americans for Humanism, Vol 5, No 1)

A group in the USA to support those who are infected with or affected by AIDS or HIV illness has celebrated its third year. AASH (Agnostics, Atheists, and Secular Humanists) was started by Warren Allen Smith, a founder in 1988 of the Secular Humanist Society of New York and former editor of its journal, Pique. AASH was begun as a memorial to Fernundo Vargas a well-known Broadway figure.

Asked if AASH might be imitated elsewhere, Warren Allen Smith said: 'Put yourself in the position of any atheist or humanist in hospital when a priest, rabbi, shaman, or other bearer of sad tidings enters your room. Wouldn't you rather be visited by a fellow non-believer who carries around no religious baggage and who has a sense of humour.' (Secular Humanist Bulletin, Vol 11, No 2)

A THREE-DAY science exhibition was organised on 2-4 February, 1995 at the Gora Science Centre, the Atheist Centre, Vijayawada, India. It was opened by the MP, Mr V. Sobhanadriswara Rao, who stressed the necessity of creating a strong public opinion in favour of environment protection. He also warned of the dangers of the depletion of forest wealth.

Other speakers highlighted the role of common people in safeguarding the environment and warned of the dangers of pollution -- especially that from automobiles.

Dr Vijayam, a leader of the Atheist Centre, said the objectives of the Science exhibition were to inculcate the scientific outlook and rational thinking among young people. (The Atheist, February 1995)

Humanist of the Year

The American Humanist Association has named Ashley Montague as humanist of the year for 1995. Montague is a renowned' anthropologist and social biologist and is the author of more than a hundred books. In 1942 he wrote Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race, which served as the basis for the UNESCO position on the subject. In 1953 his book The Natural Superiority of Women had a major influence on feminist writings and The Elephant Man (1971) had a similar influence in bringing new rights for the handicapped. He financed, wrote and directed. the film One World or None for the National Commission on Atomic Information.

Joseph Chuman, a leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County (USA) writes:

In a narrow sense humanism is a philosophy of life which denies supernaturalism while affirming reason and the pursuit of the good life for all. I've long believed, however, that humanism is something that reaches more deeply than even this. It embraces an abiding appreciation for the irreducibility of the human being. It is an appreciation acknowledging that there is a dimension within the human which cannot be fully explained in scientific Or reductionist terms. We begin to touch this appreciation when we ask the questions 'Why preserve human life?' 'Why concern ourselves with future generations which we will not live to see or from whom we will not benefit?' If we respond with something like 'We need to respect and preserve human beings in order to ensure a viable gross national product' we have made men and women into mere appendages, fulfilling a utilitarian purpose, and not as ends in themselves.

This 'sense for the human' transcends the power of description. To attempt to exhaust its significance in words or doctrines is like trying to catch the flowing stream in the cup of one's hands, to catch it is to lose it. For this reason novelists, poets, musicians, artists and people of religious natures, with their heightened powers of the symbolic, have been the best purveyors of what is ultimately an ineffable aspect of our experience.