Irish Divorce

Prior to a referendum in Ireland on divorce --which resulted in a very narrow majority in favour of divorce - the President of the Association of Irish Humanists, issued a statement on 'Divorce and the Common Good: A Fair Society is a More Moral Society'.

It stated: 'The opponents of divorce are basing their campaign on promotion of a theological concept of the 'common good' of society and in so doing they have indeed picked up on the key issue we face. The question now being asked of society in the divorce campaign is - do we want a society based on the individual's right to differ, and to be respected in their choices as to how they direct their lives? Or do we want a society where a majority of citizens have the right to impose a view of the common good on everyone?'

The AIH favoured a pluralist democracy composed of citizens with different moral and ethical views and behaviour. The statement continued: 'It would be foolish to think that the theological concept of the common good will be defeated without the most targeted undermining of its foundations. The passage of the divorce referendum will amount to a cultural revolution and such revolutions are immensely difficult to achieve. The alternative democratically defined view of what constitutes the common good of society must be widely perceived as preferable, and the concept that a majority of any size has the right to impose its beliefs in the form of majority rule, must be seen as unjust.'

American War

Kurt Vonnegut, the distinguished novelist and Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, has urged people to support humanism' in America. The AHA has warned people that the threat of the religious right, which triumphed in the 1994 Congressional elections, is a danger to a humanist society.

Pat Buchanan delivered an infamous speech in 1992 in which he promised 'a religious.., and cultural war for the soul of America'. Now the evangelical Protestants form the largest and most potent constituency in American politics. The right has successfully purged Republican moderates from state leadership positions. The religious right has begun to develop its own militias. A powerful 'anti-abortion connection' has formed within the 'patriot' movement.

At the Christian Coalition's latest 'Road to Victory' conference virtually every republican Presidential candidate showed up to speak. Pat Buchanan vowed to shut down the Department of Education, describing it rather bizarrely as 'a bunch of secular humanists in sandals and beads'.

German Peace Prize

The German Book Trade have awarded a Peace Prize to Professor Schimmel. Protesters pointed out that the prizewinner had not contributed to 'the realisation of the idea of peace' as is required. She regularly publishes articles in the official Iranian propaganda organ Spektrum Iran and has never criticised the murder of thousands of opponents of the Iranian rule. She has not distanced herself from the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. On the contrary she has called for understanding of these religious fanatics. She throws doubt on her belief in 'freedom of speech' by placing it in quotation marks.

The criticism of the award has been led by the Ahriman Publishing House. More than 530 members of the Association of the German Book Trade have opposed the candidate for the prize. It has emerged that two 'Vatican intimates' have pushed for her to be awarded the peace prize. The day before the ceremony a panel discussion was organised by Ahriman Publishing House in which many distinguished writers and human rights campaigners took part. The German press and media failed to give any publicity to this.

Freedom in Africa

The IHEU have sent a plea to the President of Kenya, President Moi, urging him to set Koigi wa Warnwere free. The letter stated: 'Human Rights give every man the right to a fair trial, and no man is to suffer inhuman punishments. Koigi wa Wamwere has been denied both these rights. The accusations against him were false, and the trial was a political farce. The verdict is inhuman and a great injustice. Kenya's treatment of Koigi wa Wamwere is not worthy of a state which claims to be governed by law. Give Koigi wa Warnwere justice now! Set him free!'

A similar comment could have been in relation to the Nigerian writer and campaigner, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who has been executed without proper trial. Ken Saro-Wiwa campaigned for justice and reparation for pollution by Shell oil company for the Ogoni region and people.

In his A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary (Penguin, 1995), he wrote of the injustice against the Ogoni people: 'The success, so far, of the nonviolent struggle of the Ogoni people led me, invariably, to think of the possible implications for the rest of Nigeria and, indeed for black Africa. For the continent is made up of nation-states conceived in the European colonial interest for European imperial or commercial purposes. In virtually every nation-state are several 'Ogonis' -- despairing and disappearing peoples suffering the yoke of political marginalisation, economic strangulation or environmental degradation, or a combination of these, unable to lift a finger to save themselves. What is their future?'

He also affirmed: 'To die fighting to right the wrong would be the greatest gift of life! Yes, the gift of life. And I felt better. What did a rough bus worse. May it be worse. The designers of the iniquitous system be shamed. My spirit would not be broken. Never!'

Application of Reason

V. M. Tarkunde, editor of The Radical Humanist, published in India, has commented on reason and rationalism. (The Radical Humanist, November 1995):

'Man's survival as a human being (i.e. man's freedom) is made possible because of the knowledge which he acquires by the use of his reasoning faculty. Man's progress has been largely the result of the knowledge which he acquired by applying reason to the experiences of life. By the acquisition of knowledge man is able to secure not only food, shelter and clothing for his physical existence, but also knowledge of various natural phenomena, such as sound, electricity, magnetism, etc. Man has developed different modes of transport and has also landed on the moon and sent space ships around various planets. The reasoning faculty of man is itself the result of the fact that the universe is law governed. As Darwin pointed out, no animal could have survived in a law governed environment unless it possessed a rudimentary faculty of reasoning. Reason is thus a biologically acquired potentiality.

'Reason can, however, be used for good as well as bad ends. What is necessary for man's progress is not mere reason, but rationalism. Rationalism consists of the application of reason for deciding what is true and what is false (science) and what is good and what is bad (morality). Rationalism is the basis of scientific as well as moral development. As M. N. Roy said, the urge for freedom and search for truth are the pillars of man's progress.'

Critical studies

A new Centre for Critical Studies in Religion, Ethics and Society has been inaugurated at Westminster College, a Methodist College in Oxford, England. The Centre aims to hold symposia, publish a journal, and produce other publications. There was a symposium on 'Dialogue between Religion and Humanism' at the opening event (3/4 November 1995). At the official inauguration Paul Kurtz, President of the International Academy of Humanism, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, State University of New York, spoke on 'The future Cause of Humanism'.

He spent some time defining humanism and establishing its claims. He looked at some of the difficulties facing humanism today. One is multiculturalism. 'One aspect of this movement is no doubt positive, for it encourages an appreciation for the diversity of human culture, and it seeks to cultivate toleration toward ethnic minorities. Another aspect, however, is very questionable; especially when multiculturalists join post-modernists in attacking the possibility of objective knowledge. They have maintained that any effort in the universities to offer a corpus of objective literature expresses Western bias. Multiculturalists defend an extreme form of cultural relativism. They maintain that any cultural system of beliefs and values is as true as any other, and therefore humanistic ideals and standards of scientific rationality that emerged in Western humanism are no more warranted than those of primitive cultures.

He hoped that 'Humanism because of its emphasis on the dignity, value, and happiness of each individual, its reliance on critical thinking and scientific technology to solve human problems, and its desire to build a genuine democratic world community, is the most appropriate ethical philosophy for the age'.

He offend a caveat, that people hungered for something more, some spiritual nourishment. He concluded:' Organised humanism has always appealed to a relatively small minority of individuals, even though large sectors of humanity may adopt aspects of humanism. Most likely these trends will continue in the future. If this wen the case, the main function of humanism would be to serve as a gadfly; the critical conscience of humankind, debunking the myths of self-deception, attempting to bring soaring transcendental fantasies down to earth, appealing to common sense, and providing reasonable ethical alternatives. Even if humanism is unable to vanquish the myths of transcendence, it can help to moderate those who accept them and restrain those who wish to impose them on others. At the very least, humanism is necessary to help us to bake our bread, cope with problems, and make life worthwhile. Though again, we are reminded that, in the last analysis, men and women do not live by bread alone. It is clear that if humanism is to gain ground in the future, it will need to forge dramatic new ideals that can heighten the imagination and inspire commitment and devotion to them. But the question remains: Can it do so without betraying its skeptical methodology.'

UNITED NATIONS at 50

Dr Ies Spetter is a leading member of the Ethical Movement in the USA and has been an active member of IHEU for many years. He recently addressed the New York Society for Ethical Culture on the topic 'The United Nations at Fifty: Our Personal Destiny and the World's'. Here is an extract from his lecture:

'The United Nations is often problematic. Politically it can never entirely win, because it is torn by the conflicts of nations. But in the areas of human care it is remarkably successful. Here are some examples of accomplishments. The United Nations commission for refugees has cared for 30 million people since its establishment in 1951. The World Health Organisation has wiped out small pox. The United Nations enacted more than 300 treaties for human rights. There are the food and agricultural organisations of the United Nations, the !nternational labour organisation, the United Nations children's emergency fund, UNICEF, which provides immunisation for 80 per cent of the world's children saving three million young lives each year.

'Sometimes pictures speak louder than words indeed. A speaker at a recent N.G.O. meeting spoke of a photograph all of us have seen. It was taken during the horrible ethnic killings in Rwanda. It showed a baby, abandoned at the roadside, tears in its eyes, reaching out with its small hand. And behind the baby was a big vulture, just waiting, waiting for the child to starve to death. Are not all of us photographers of that baby? Need not all of us cast our lot with the moral courage that makes hope more than a pious wish?

'A dear friend of mine, the late psychiatrist, Dr. Joost Meerloo, wrote an essay that can help us. He said:

'Yes, the caveman always stands in front of his cave with a brutal battleaxe in his hand. That caveman within us is always afraid, he is the eternal warrior who wallows in unreason and hostile delusion. But there is also in people, what he called 'the psychology of courage'. It is the courage of the creative element in us,. the courage to break away from the draining pessimism. That is the highest courage possible. It overcomes the drag of discouragement ...

'All of us have to become students of the future, so that hope can be justified by our labour, and confidence can be built by commitment to that better world we want. We are not helpless cogs of history. Our purposes matter. Each of us had a circle of people we love, who are precious to us. In our better moments of moral growth we know as well that every life is precious. We need not close ourselves off because there is still so much which needs to be conquered in ourselves and in the world. The joy of life, the understanding of life - each of us is entitled to discover these. And in this lies the hope and some of the consolation of the world.'