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January-February 2020

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Secular Humanism
By Bob Rees, IFH organiserSend cheque for £12, payable to IFH,
to Brian McClinton, 25 Riverside
Drive, Lisburn BT27 4HE

IRISH FREETHINKER MEETINGS
Holiday Inn Express,
University St, Belfast, 8pm
Next Meeting: Tom Woolley on Pastoral Care: Thurs 13th February

Richard Deboo (above), who gave a challenging talk on the morality of veganism on 14th November

Thurs:10th Oct: Wave and the Legacy:

Alan McBride, speaker, centre, and some of the audience at the above meeting
SUMMER CONFERENCE 2019

The 2019 Summer Conference, organised by the Irish Freethinkers and Humanists and the Humanist Association of Ireland, was held on 7th and 8th September in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co. Offaly.
The theme was Humanism and the New Ireland

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HEADING OH, OH, HEAVENWARDS

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Thursday 14th February
Speaker Brian Pelan, centre front, who talked inter alia about the View magazine,
http://viewdigital.org
and some of the audience (photo: Bertie McCullough)

IFH DECEMBER MEETING: TROUBLE SONGS

Speaker Stuart Bailie gave a fascinating talk on 13th December about his new book ‘Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict in Northern Ireland’. Trouble Songs involves over 60 interviews and conversations with the likes of Bono, Christy Moore, the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, Orbital, Kevin Rowland, Terri Hooley, the Rubberbandits, Dolores O’Riordan and the Miami Showband survivors. It’s an account of how music has been a persuader, agitator and peacemaker.

WHOSE JERUSALEM?>>>

Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018

An inspiration to us all

Is Trump a Christian?
Has Donald Trump really read the Bible? He does not appear to be at all Christian and certainly not humanist. Why, then, did 80% of white evangelical Christians vote for him? Read more>>>

The Myth of Grammar Schools

Value Life Above the Foetus

BREXIT: A THREAT TO LIBERAL HUMANISM

Liberal Humanism has been the dominant ideology of Europe since 1945. Brexit has dealt it a savage blow.
Read more>>>

SON OF SAUL

One of the best films of 2016 and indeed the decade. A bleak film, yes, but it offers a crack of light in an abyss of darkness. It is nothing less than a cinematic tour de force Read more>>>

I, DANIEL BLAKE
Another of 2016's best films: a man has a heart attack and is pronounced unfit for work by his doctor and then descends into the misery of the government’s Social Services.
Shelley Leggett's Review

CHRISTIAN DECLINE
Study reveals that people of no religion (48.5%) outnumber Christians (43.8%) in England and Wales. Although Northern Ireland is more religious, the trend is in the same direction.
Decline will be beneficial

Andy Barr: The Rich are Coining It	Eamon Murphy: TTIP: Post-Democracy	Andy Barr: Axe the British Monarchy
Brian McClinton: Radio Ulster should be less downmarket	Andy Barr: Does Islamic Fundamentalism threaten Peace?	Martin O'Reilly: Is It Moral for Humans to Use and Kill Animals?

News and Analysis

LATEST NEWS

IRISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH RETREATS TO THE DARK AGES
Date Posted: 2019-11-21
The Church's dismissal of Steven Smyrl as an elder shows that the DUP are not the only dinosaurs in Northern Ireland's jurassic park

BORIS AND THE BARD
Date Posted: 2019-11-21
Johnson's naked ambition is positively Shakespearean

A NEW IRELAND
Date Posted: 2019-11-21
Nationalists and Republicans have a responsibility in framing the discourse and debate of the benefits of a New Ireland which will be inclusive to all.

THE ABORTION DEBATE
Date Posted: 2019-01-08
Consultation and compromise are the only sane and sensible approaches.

THE MEN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS
Date Posted: 2018-12-17
Christmas was invented above all by three men: Pope Julius I, Dionysius Exiguus and Charles Dickens

GLOBALISM IS BETTER THAN NATIONALISM
Date Posted: 2018-09-26
At the UN President Trump has advised nations to reject globalism and embrace patriotism. But nationalism has no answer to the world's major threats: nuclear war, environmental degradation and malign technology. On the contrary, it is a major threat to humanity in all these areas.

HUMAN AGENCY AS A SOURCE OF FAITH
Date Posted: 2016-12-23
Brian McClinton was interviewed in the News Letter in 2014. Read an edited version in which he argues that Humanists want to build a better society through the application of reason, compassion and ethical living

RELIGION IN SCHOOLS
Date Posted: 2016-11-01
Read notes for a discussion on Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence (16th October) on religion in Faith Schools, in which the Religion, Philosophy and Ethics model is recommended as a replacement for RE.