Archive for December, 2007
What are you doing for New Year?
Posted by: | CommentsWith the end of 2007 rapidly approaching I look on this as a time of year to celebrate and look back at what I have accomplished, and forward to what I hope to accomplish next year.
I celebrate in a the usual ways, a bit of wine, beer and some nibbles, and hopefully surrounded by my closest friends and family. This year we’re having a SingStar party, which for those not aware is a game on the Playstation 3 which requires you to sing along to a song (like Karaoke), but you are scored at the end.
This year has like all past years had its good points and bad. I suppose the main good points are that I joined the Liberal Democrats, joined the BHA, and I joined Berkshire Humanist group.
I’ve been able to vote for the Lib Dem leader (Nick Clegg), and I’ve been able to vote for the people running the BHA.
The other positive thing is I’ve been writing this blog, and it’s amazed me how many people have read what I’ve written. I hadn’t pegged myself as being that interesting, but there is certainly a healthy readership looking at my postings.
While I don’t write about my work life at all I also managed to get a new job at the same company which I think will be quite challenging and interesting.
The things I’m less happy about are my weight, and my fitness, which started out really well and I let myself down as the year progressed. I’m going to start correcting that in the new year, and get out on my bike again. For 2007 I set myself the goal of doing a triathlon, and even went to a triathlon exhibition at Sandown park to get some inspiration. However I didn’t commit myself enough to this to even start training properly.
I’d also like to take the time to apologise to all the friends I didn’t keep in touch with enough this year. You know who you are! I shall endeavour to do better in the new year.
Looking forward a bit I want to do the London to Brighton cycle ride which is a BHF event. I sponsored a lot of people this year and helped them to raise money for good causes. Now its time to give a bit more than just cold hard cash, and actually get out here and do something.
So to all of my readers out there I wish you happy and prosperous new year!
BBC iPlayer: I’m Impressed
Posted by: | CommentsLast night I downloaded BBC iPlayer, and it downloaded my first TV show. iPlayer for the uninitiated is one of those tools that lets you download TV and watch it later at a more convenient time.
The BBC have a pretty good selection of comedy and drama, including Dr Who, which I didn’t really watch properly when it was on first time around. It lets you download programmes to your hard disk and you’ve got up to 30 days to watch them, then 7 days from first viewing to watch them over again. After that time they automatically delete.
The programmes do take a little while to download, but its worth the wait because the quality is really good. I’m not certain if its HD quality or not, but its a crisp and sharp image.
The system uses peer to peer file sharing, and you can turn it off when exit download manager. The BBC also make it very obvious that the technology is peer to peer unlike other companies who have downloadable content.
If you’re a radio buff I player also has shows on there as well, but I haven’t as yet listened to them. I personally think this is a bit redundant as I’d prefer to listen to radio shows as a Podcast on my iPod.
iPlayer also has parental controls and warns you before download if a programme contains adult content.
I think this is very cool and if more TV producers do this it pretty much sounds the death knell for Sky+ and Tivo.
I may even just download programmes in future instead of watching them when they’re on, allowing me to schedule when I want to watch TV shows. So the next time someone says did you see the Extra’s Christmas Special, I’ll be able to say, not but I’ll have a look if it’s any good.
Microsoft Live Writer
Posted by: | CommentsFinally a nice tool that helps me write my blog! I’m not one of those people that is either pro-Microsoft or anti-Microsoft, but if they have a good piece of software I’ll make use of it.
As I write this blog entry I’m using a product I found called Microsoft Live Writer, and it seems to be pretty darn good from my limited experience. While WordPress has a nice WYSIWYG interface, it is still browser based and sometimes a little slow to respond.
The install was pretty easy and I have to say, it configured itself quite nicely to detect my WordPress settings. There are few cool things about this software which I will talk about, the first and most important being the very functional and correct SPELL CHECK! It instantly corrects all my appalling spelling errors by underlining them in red and prompts me to either right click and choose an alternative or just hit F7 and check the whole document.
The editor like Microsoft Word has several views, starting with “Normal” which simply shows you the words as you type. “Web Layout” view shows your text as it will appear on the final page, and “Web Preview” mode allows you to directly see what the final published page will look like. You can’t actually edit in this mode but it is a quick way to see what your final article will look like. The Final view is “HTML” view which shows the code, pretty self explanatory.
The features and operation of the software is the same old familiar ones as you’d expect to find in Word. The keyboard shortcuts work in the same way, and I find that I can type much more quickly than if I use a web based editor.
As I start this paragraph I’ve just taken a screen shot, edited it positioned it and got it to the right size in my document, all without having to use another product. I think that’s quite cool.
Overall I’d give this product a rating of 4 stars and I haven’t even used all the features yet!
Religion in Politics
Posted by: | CommentsOn Thursday David Steel came out defending Nick Clegg’s honest claim that he was a non-believer. I too have applauded Nick for being honest about his values and their root origins. Lord Steel also stated that personal religious beliefs should be kept out of politics (according to the BBC). While I agree that we don’t want to become like the United States, I do think we should know if there are non-political organisations that would have an influence on our elected politicians.
Lord Steel is right when he says that personal belief is a private matter, but if you’re running the country like Gordon Brown does, I have concerns that his church also has his ear. How do we know that the church to which a politician belongs might not have some influence in policy making decisions such as creation of more faith schools? We hear more and more about what religious views our ministers have these days, and we see more and more influence of religion in our public service delivery.
My humanist view says that it shouldn’t matter what religion an elected official holds, however the job of an elected official isn’t just about doing the job of running government departments. Members of Parliament influence the very society in which we live through the direct consequence of policies and laws they make. We all know that Gordon Brown’s father was a minister and he’s been very open about his own faith. So what does he think about gay adoption? What does he think about stem cell research or abortion? You see, once that knowledge is out there you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
Unfortunately religion in modern society is a political issue like it or not. Why? Because I want to know that the people who represent me in government, share my values and principles.
I won’t say that it’s bad in all cases, as we know Lord Ahmed an openly Islamic politician helped get our Gill out of Sudan when faced with beatings and imprisonment for blasphemy.
It is impossible to keep religion out of politics when we are a Christian country. Our Queen is head of the Church of England, and 26 unelected Bishops sit in the house of Lords. Cry foul if you wish, but all the time we have the state church we can’t avoid this kind of thing. If we were a secular state, I would agree religion should be out of politics, but we’re not.
When I voted for Nick Clegg in the leadership contest I knew he shared my values, but didn’t know if he was religious or not. If he did believe in God it wouldn’t bother me anyway as long as he was honest about his values and his policies. Equally, if people believe in God and that belief informs their political policy making they should be open and declare it.
So here’s a question to the readers out there:
Should UK politicians be required to declare their religious convictions and affiliations publicly? Do we want to know if the Conservative Party is a Christian Party? (at least according to John Gummer it is). Should we have a Minster for Religion and Ethical Beliefs? (no pun intended)
Wouldn’t it be lovely if religion didn’t matter, and everyone had a common framework of values to work from, but we don’t and politicians need to get real and understand religion is a voting issue for the religious and secular alike.
Religion or no Religion?
Posted by: | CommentsI have recently been frequenting various humanist discussion groups of late, and just getting a feel for the tone of the Humanist movement. I’ve been trying to identify if there is some truth to this mythical hard line athiest persona that is constantly portrayed by some religious groups and politicians.
My conclusion is that I don’t think there is such as thing as the “Millitant Atheist”, but there are some people, like all people who generalise and put things into nice neat boxes. For some its easy to see religion as being a definition of the whole person, so they say, “That John Smith is a Christian”, or “That Jane Brown is a Baptist”.   As with all things religious and humanist there are shades of grey and even a bit of colour.  The world is not black and white and so we cannot make absolute statements about anything, like: “Religion is bad”.
When I think of people who are religious, particularly older people I wonder if they use religion as a way to ease their anxiety about death and suffering. They would say there is a god, and he knows all, saves all, and for all suffering there is a reason. This is a mechanism for comforting that person, who otherwise may be not be able to deal with the humanist reality of; we’re born, we live, we die. My question to the less understanding atheists is this: Who does it harm if they decide they want to ingnore the evidence and comfort themself with a fiction?Â
When we move on to the things that humanists defend we talk of equality, justice, fairness, goodness.  A humanist would argue there is nothing wrong with a gay lifestyle, whereas many religions would. As a humanist I cannot see a justification for the persecution of gay people by the religious. So in this respect we are in conflict. However there are some very dedicated religious people that visit the sick in hospital, or do work for charity. I know a Christian who gave away his car to someone more needy, and asked nothing in return.  The religion that helps people and that is fair, is not something to protest about.Â
I recently asked someone (and didn’t get an answer) if I am a hypocrite for being married to a woman who was Catholic and is now Pagan.  My answer to this is that I am not, because my wife is extremely tolerant, and believes in the same values that I do.  I am not clear on the rationale for her switching from one religion to another, and it doesn’t matter to me. The core person that I know and love, is a human being not a religious entity.Â
I wonder how may humanists and religious worshippers stop and look at what humanism has in common with many faiths.  Buddist teaching promotes peace and non-violence. Many Christiain charities do work in Africa giving people clean drinking water and medicines, a cause that not many humanists would be against.  Our approach may be different but in the grand scheme, we all want to create the best world we can.
I know this view is idealistic, however my feeling is that as we evolve culturally the gap between humanism and religion will diminish. I think we’ll end up with to classes of human, one with a god belief and one without. Culturally we’ll become closer aligned over generations to the point where this conflict becomes meaningless, because all the old dogmas will be left behind on both sides and all belief will be tolerated in the framework of a common system of values.
Perhaps in this time of goodwill to all, we should stop and think if our approach to our fellow humans helps our cause, or just creates an adversary. Our actions define our reality, so we should stop and think about which reality we wish to create.
Victory for Nick Clegg
Posted by: | CommentsIt was a hard fought campaign and my Facebook inbox was being deluged regularly asking for my support in the campaign to get Nick elected as party leader.   I didn’t take much convincing to vote for Nick, and he was my favourite candidate from the start.
 The big selling point for me is Nick’s recognition that we have a whole load of disengaged voters out there who are fed up with the punch and judy show that goes on in the commons. Nick is the person to reach out to those people and get them engaged, and I share the sentiment that we are a liberal country. Unfortunately many ordinary liberals also think that they won’t bother wasting time voting because it doesn’t count for anything.Â
Chris was an admirable opponent and I think he’s going to continue to be a strong voice in the party. Let’s be honest the gap between them during the whole campaign wasn’t massive, so I can imagine how it was a tough choice for some, and the reason the vote was so close. I agree with the commentary on Radio 4 this evening which described Nick, Chris and Vince as a winning trio, and I think this team will establish a credible alternative to the Tories and Labour.
I am really looking forward to seeing Nick in action during PMQ’s and see him put his vision into action, leading the Liberal Democrats into the next election.
Fat Loss Lost!
Posted by: | CommentsA confounding title to this post? Not really, its about all the fat I lost and then gained back again. As you know from my previous postings I was losing weight, and it was going quite well.
Unfortunately it all went a bit wrong when I started not sleeping. As I couldn’t sleep I always felt exhausted, and so I stopped exercising, and was drinking more, and not resting properly. It’s been like a permanent state of jet lag.
Fortunately my wonderful doctor has given me something to help me sleep, and the difference is amazing. Having a full and restful nights sleep has made me feel awake, alert, and sharp.  So sharp I thought about weighing myself this week, realising I was very overweight (if not obese).
The realisation came that my holiday is only a few months away, and I look like a beached whale only! Not only that but I definitely don’t feel as confident knowing how overweight I am, just shy of that dreaded 100kg (220lbs). That is with a body fat of 30.6%.Â
So there is the reality, overweight and unfit.  What to do? Well I know the answer to that, and it means eating sensibly, and getting active again.  Rather strangely I do prefer to be active, but for some reason I’m not.  An interesting psychological paradox perhaps. Someone suggested earlier in the week I was not “self motivated”, but I don’t actually think self motivation exists. Motiviation is usually driven by a fear of some undesirable outcome. We go to work so we can earn money to pay our bills. How many people would be self motivated to work if they had a million or two in the bank.
My motiviation to lose weight is one of fear, a fear of being too fat to play badminton, the fear of being ridiculed for being fat, and the fear of the health risks.
I am currently also considering entering the EAS Body for Life competition. The I’ve got Julie to take my before pictures this morning, but I cannot say I like the idea of anyone seeing my beer barrel belly in public.
I DO NOT HATE CHRISTMAS!!!!
Posted by: | CommentsSo the festive time of year once again approaches where Pagan’s and Christians have their various celebrations of the season, and once again that time of year when secularists, humanists and atheists come under attack.
Only last week in a debate in the house of commons we heard of a great new bit of propaganda called “Christianophobia”, a term invented by the religious to make us feel that those the poor pathetic Christians of this country are being victimised and aren’t allow to celebrate their festivals.   The MP for Wrekin, Mark Pritchard talks of “relentless assault, mostly by stealth, on this nation’s much-loved Christian heritage ” and claims, “As far as I can see, there is no offence in the minds of people of other faiths and of no faith, unless they are perhaps zealots, humanists and secularists in relation to this country celebrating and commemorating Christian traditions such as Christmas and Easter.”
I have NEVER heard any humanist suggest that we ban Christmas and I challenge him to produce evidence to the contrary or retract his statement. My local humanist group had a discussion on the Christmas traditions and their Pagan origins last Sunday.  In fact I have never seen a release from either the BHA or the NSS or any other humanist group suggesting Christmas was banned.  Â
Equally I have no problem with Navity plays at schools, after all it is only a story. Why should anyone feel fearful of fictional plays?
As far as I am concerned his comments are merely an attack on humanists, and I feel a great swell of pity for someone so deeply lacking in understanding of what the humanist movement is all about. I have read the Christian propaganda (BIBLE), but can he say he’s well read on the concept of humanism.
What angers me the most is that when I say “I do not celebrate Christmas”, I am scorned with “bah humbug”, and told that “I hate Christmas” (which I do not).  I dislike the commerical trappings of Christmas and I think it is cheap, tacky and exploitative.  In fact many Christians agree with this position and think the holiday shouldbe more spiritual.  For me Christmas is a non-event, I dislike the commercialism, and I don’t worship the Christian God. It is no more complicated than that.
I have to say that it is remarkable that other faiths don’t seem so offended by the fact that as a humanist I don’t celebrate Eid, or Diwali, or Hanukah. May I ask why it is such an offence to Christians that I choose not to celebrate their holiday?
I would also like to know why it is that Christians feel the need to bring their worship into our public places when other faiths do not? If people want to put up decorations (whatever their faith), I don’t really care, its up to them. I wonder how many eyebrows would be raised if my Hindu colleagues at work put up little statues of their gods on their desks and chose to pray at lunchtime? As a Humanist I would not be offended at all as long as I was not expected to participate.Â
Many humanists do have some sort of celebration which they call Winterval, or Midwinter (from the Pagan tradition). My own wife celebrates Yule. These are not the same as the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, but may look similar from the outside.Â
My annual celebration is on new years eve, and that is my time to reflect on the old, come together with friends, and welcome the start of a new year. I also make a point of celebrating my birthday, a marking of my life journey.
So let me say it loud and clear for those that are deaf during this Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ: I do not and never have hated Christmas, and I have never had any desire to ban Christmas. To deny someone the right to chose their faith goes against my core values pertaining to freedom of religion. I would ask during this season of of good will that I am allowed my freedom from religion.
Related Documents:
BHA: http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/newsarticleview.asp?article=2401
BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm
NSS: http://www.secularism.org.uk/christianophobiaclaimsarepurepar.html
Religious Descrimination by Charities
Posted by: | CommentsI often hear about so called “Angry” atheists who are out to ban religion. Well I can’t speak for those people, but as a Humanist I stand firm against injustice in all its forms.
The BHA announced on their web site that they are currently working to help someone fight the injustice of descrimination on the grounds of belief. The specific case has also been reported on the BBC that:
“The employment policies of a Christian charity are being challenged at a tribunal examining claims of religious discrimination by two former employees.”
I admit I do not know the detail of the case, but what I do know that is that my values echo that of Hanne Stinson.  The example Hanne gave where a Bishop needs to be religious is obvious and that is a capability issue for the role of being a Bishop. However, office workers for Charity should be hired, evaluated and promoted on the basis of their capability to do the job for which they are employed. They do not need to talk to God in order to manage payroll, do administration, or look after IT systems.Â
Many years ago I knew someone that told me they were fired from a church organisation because they had an extra-marital affair. Their job was to look after IT systems, and the affair was a private matter. However his employers found out and fired him for that very reason.
Why do religious organisations think it is okay to judge a person’s entire character because they don’t believe in god, or a different god? Many humanists do work for charitable causes, and contribute as much as those religious folk.
The law is very clear, and the exceptions where religious discrimination are allowed are very very few. As a manager involved in recruitment I would only ever look at capability as a deciding factor for hiring someone.
It’s a shame that we hear so much about interfaith dialogue, but not engagement with humanists. We aren’t scary, and you may find we have more in common than we differ. Only this week I read that the Pope has been denouncing atheists, which does not serve social cohesion, it simply alienates us from working alongside our fellow humans in endeavours that could benefit many.
Of course if atheism was a religion perhaps we could charge the pope with Blasphemy.
Gillian Gibbons: The Saga ends
Posted by: | CommentsI have to say I am very pleased that Gillian Gibbons has been pardoned and sent home. One of the things that disturbed me about this whole incident was how it blew up in the media so quickly.  Â
I am glad however that my call to moderate Muslims did not go unanswered and the Muslim Council of Britain spoke out against the arrest and sentence. I thank the Lord (Ahmed) that he and his colleague were able to negotiate a resolution to the incident. Unfortunately when religious texts are so open to interpretation and blasphemy laws exist this sort of thing cannot fail to happen.Â
I have a deep dislike for blasphemy legislation because you’re implying that religion cannot and never should be challenged. I would argue that a faith that cannot stand the test of being challenged in the court of public opinion is worthless. The “just because” argument always seems to be the last resort of many religious zealots and I find it intellectually deficient. Our freedom of speech is not absolute by any means, however I think Islamic and Christian blasphemy laws are plain wrong and deny people what is a reasonable freedom of expression.
I have many countries on my “no-fly” list because I know that as an atheist I could be stoned, imprisioned, beaten, tortured and all sorts of inhumane things, just because I don’t hold the same belief as someone else. I find this sad because this denies me a cultural exchange with the peoples of those counties who I expect are very very decent people.
Where I find religion and I get along quite well is where you can sit down and discuss in a comparative way, our beliefs are and how we derive our values from them. In fact I personally think that RE should be taught that way in schools so that children aren’t afraid to address faith, and so that we have a better understanding of one another.  This comparative approach can only serve to improve social cohesion in our society.
