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EALING HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
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Extract from EHA BULLETIN issue 50, June 2003
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CONTENTS
The following chapters have been extracted from the Bulletin:
Click chapter you want to view
New book by Paul Kurtz (reviewed in next issue)
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Meeting of 24 April 2003
Jean Rathbone: Why do we need humanist ceremonies?
The talk, given by a BHA officiant, was on the subject matter of a leaflet, reproduced below, and of a book "Funerals without God" which is available from the BHA (tel. 020 7079 3580). These words though will not convey Ms Rathbone's charismatic style of presentation and directness in answering all questions.
The death of someone close. The death of a close relative or friend can be a bitter experience for any of us. Although we may sense that time can eventually soothe our grief, the present feeling of shock and loss is very real.
The funeral should help family and friends to express and share their sadness. It is likely to be the last opportunity when together they will be focusing their thoughts on the person who has died. The ceremony deserves to be remembered as an occasion which uniquely and affectionately honoured that person's life, and for that it needs to capture the essence of their personality.
Who might prefer a humanist funeral? While churchgoers and others committed to a religious faith will normally want a minister or religious leader to officiate, there are more and more people for whom religion is less important or who have made a clear decision to live their lives without it.
For them, a religious funeral service may seem insincere and bring little consolation. It may not feel the right way to say their final farewell to someone who did not accept the religious view of life and death. In this case it is likely to have more warmth and meaning if the ceremony is of the kind favoured by the British Humanist Association's officiants.
What sort of people are officiants? Humanist officiants come from a variety of backgrounds. What they share is an ability to empathise with the experience of bereavement. They are men and women familiar with the procedures of cremation and burial. They need to be good interviewers and attentive listeners; sensitive to the family's wishes yet ready to give clear guidance as needed; able to prepare and take charge of a solemn public occasion.
Whatever the circumstances of the life and death, officiants are not there to moralise or judge - but to understand. Together with you they can plan a personal and dignified funeral ceremony, and conduct it for you on the day if that is your wish.
The ceremony: Once it has been arranged to have a non-religious humanist ceremony, the officiant will wish to speak with, and ideally meet those closely affected by the death. It is helpful for the officiant to get to know as much as possible about the person who has died; for each ceremony is different and highly individual, even if the form of it may seem quite simple.
Members of the family or friends can, if they wish, participate with a reading or a poem, or with their own tribute. It all helps make the occasion more personal and special.
Music: Music can speak direct to the emotions and can often be a poignant way of reflecting the personality of the one who has died. Usually an organist is available, and many crematoria have facilities for playing tape cassettes or CDs. This gives considerable freedom of choice, and the officiant can advise on what may be appropriate.
What might others think? Above all, the kind of ceremony must be right and appropriate for the person who has died and for the close family. You need not be concerned that anything in the ceremony might offend anyone who perhaps still feels uneasy about a non-religious funeral; the object is not to be hostile to religious beliefs, merely to focus in a sincere way on the reality of the life that has ended. Most officiants will also include in the ceremony a short period for quiet reflection, and that gives anyone who wants it an opportunity for silent prayer.
People often say afterwards how moving, sincere and fitting they found the ceremony. For the immediate family and close friends it will be a great comfort to have provided a ceremony such as the person who has died would have wanted.
Some practical points
1. The British Humanist Association has a national network of accredited officiants, organised into nine Regions. The back panel of their leaflet explains how you can contact someone for help or advice, and gives details of a BHA booklet which could be particularly useful if you wish to prepare the ceremony yourself.
2. If at all possible, the Funeral Director or nearest friend or relative should contact an officiant before the date and time of the funeral are arranged, to ensure that he or she can be available.
3. Non-religious funerals have the same status in civil law as religious ones. They are ever more familiar in public crematoria and cemeteries, and to Funeral Directors whose first concern is the wishes of the family.
4. The officiant normally receives a fee similar to that of a minister. The Funeral Director handles the payment and will put it on the bill as one of the 'disbursements'.
5. The BHA's accredited officiants are subject to a code of conduct covering such matters as visiting the family beforehand if at all possible, acceptable dress for the funeral, free provision of a script copy afterwards if one is asked for, and so on.
6. If the decision you are making concerns your own eventual funeral, please ensure that whoever is likely to be organising it knows what you want. It is not enough to request it in your will; that might not be read in time to make the arrangements.
Discussion
The skill of a professional officiant lies in getting to know the deceased so well that he/she can speak with knowledge, conviction and sincerity. But there is no substitute to having the major contributions spoken by people who are long standing acquaintances of the deceased. Further skill is then required in helping those
contributors to stick to the humanist formula rather than using the occasion as a platform to express their own religious beliefs on behalf of the deceased!
A.R.C.
Religion is not the main enemy
Many people who refer to themselves as 'humanists' believe that there is a fixed, exclusive relationship, a one-to-one correspondence between the term "humanism" and "atheism" but they assume too much. The majority of references to humanism which we encounter today in sociology and the humanities are not to religion but to the Enlightenment belief that each of us possesses some unalterable essence which is what makes us unique, individual, autonomous, free-willing human beings.
The problem for BHA humanists fixated on religion is that they are unable to see that anti-humanism is not, as Arthur Atkinson insists, synonymous with religion (religious people are not that interested in atheists). Rather anti-humanism is a modern intellectual movement represented by structuralism, post-structuralism and other isms dedicated to de-centring Homo sapiens.
Thus anti-humanism as espoused by Marxist academics throughout UK and US universities is a much greater threat to the Enlightenment values of individual autonomy, rationality, free-will, realism, empiricism and scientific objectivity than the declining religions of the West (religious fundamentalism is another matter).
I know this is a forlorn hope but if BHA humanists were to give religion a rest for a while and take a closer look at anti-humanism, I can guarantee they will be shocked at the extent to which post-modernism is sapping the intellectual confidence of the present age.
D.H.
Editorial: Keeping pets and being religious
"No connection, either one way or the other" may be a valid comment. But both activities are optional and personal. Surveys of either activity have shown that some people benefit greatly. Whether we ourselves engage in them is no business of anyone else not directly affected.
To me this message is inherent to personal humanism expressed, partly, in the conversation recorded in the report 'Breakfast Morning Discussion' below. Granted reasonable communication, the level of pet-keeping and of religious practice within the community can be adjusted by agreement between those in contact.
But how are atheists likely to respond to the above article 'Religion is not the main enemy'? Do we see here a defence of religion: or is it a (misguided, most of us will think) defence of theism? Perhaps Marxist and suchlike irrelevant academics, though, will bring on their own downfall by being ignored.
Religious belief, which can be de-coupled from religious practice, is however only 'given a rest for a while' from humanist attack at the risk of us all becoming overwhelmed by anti-science. Creationism for instance, from its base in the US, is now being spread widely in the Moslem world1 where the ground is dangerously fertile. Over there humanists should have the solution to offer - from experience here in the combating of Western religious belief.
1 Edis T in Kurtz P Science and Religion. Are they Compatible? Amherst: Prometheus Books 2003 pp117-25.
Editorial: Humanists are always well informed
Isn't this important when we seek to give information to others? We can at least avoid parading our ignorance. Effective humility, rather than apparent humility, remains our best preparation - and our best defence - for when we are caught out.
A career that requires a professional qualification seems to imply an extraordinary effort to keep ourselves up-to-date subsequently. Objective humanists, surely, must claim 'Science-is-preferred-over-tradition'; and that cannot mean the previous decade's science (just as the last month's human affairs cannot inform any current discussion). Otherwise . . . just how far can we afford to be out of date on human affairs and on science?
Phonetic spelling of English
Since publication in the Bulletin the article shown here has been slightly altered by the author and is different from the printed version.
Due to the great discrepancy between pronunciation and spelling many people believe there are good reasons for an English spelling reform. However the sample phonetic text in the last Bulletin (issue 49: Editorial: Homer, the Iliad and European Culture) seemed rather inconsistent to me, so please allow me to suggest an alternative method of phonetic spelling. As I don’t have a full set of the characters of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) on my computer I have to use some other characters to represent sounds not represented by one of the standard 26 characters of the English alphabet, though I tried to use the IPA character or a similar looking symbol whenever possible. Additional characters are necessary as there are more than 26 phonemes in contemporary English (if you want to avoid the ambiguous practice of using 2 or more characters to represent one sound, such as 'sh'). For the sake of simplicity I kept the number of characters low; it could be argued that more different characters ought to be used, depending on how closely you want to match spelling to pronunciation. Also I am using low-case characters only, as I see no logical reason for using capital letters.
Below is a list of characters to be used for the English language (Southern British variety). More characters would be required if other European languages were included as well. (Contrary to what was mentioned in the previous issue of the Bulletin I believe that Spanish spelling is more phonetic than German spelling.) Please note that some of the non-standard characters used below may look different on your computer from the intended form as not all computers have the same set of characters.
Vowels: i, e, a, α, o, u, ə
Nasals: m, n, ŋ
Plosives: p, b, t, d, k, g
Fricatives: f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ſ, ж, h
Approximants: j, w, l, r
Sample text (same text as used in Bulletin 49):
ðis iz ə loŋ wei from troi ənd from houmə. ai
am θiŋkiŋ ðou ov ðə gloubl riidəz and raitəz
ov iŋliſ wen ai sədжest wii wud wiſ tu sii ə
moo fitiŋ riidжənəl koŋkluuжn tu ðə iərə ov
jurəpiiən litərəri laŋwidж witſ houmə stααtid.
The same text in standard English:
This is a long way from Troy and from Homer. I am
thinking though of the global readers and writers
of English when I suggest we would wish to see a
more fitting regional conclusion to the era of
European literary language which Homer started.
Alex Hill
An interview was given by Derek Hill on the same day as the Coffee Morning, where discussion on the chosen topics continued. {The reporter's remarks in brackets}
Attributes of Humanism 2)According dignity
Animals may be reasonably accorded more dignity by man, but not necessarily in the objective sense. Rather than define dignity {there is no definition in, for one, Flew & Priest2} giving examples may be more helpful. The Pope would be accorded a dignity in his vestments and it would be denied him if seen in the toilet. {Perhaps we should here be simply speaking instead of 'deference' which no consistent humanist is likely to accord anyway, in either instance. What about according dignity to Saddam Hussein?} Bellini's portrayal of the Doge of Venice, on view in the National Gallery, has a dignity we would almost all of us accord. With those such as Saddam Hussein - as with Donald Rumsfeld - humanists may commendably respect the man but not his views.
Religion
According to Jonathan Dollimore3 "Anti-humanism challenges the belief that man possesses some given unalterable essence which is what makes him human". Among the many writers, whose work I am presently studying, no-one mentions religion when they use the word 'humanism'.
As Kate Soper indicates4 ". . . the British Humanists . . . have nothing in common except their atheism . . . in their concern to avoid the irrationality of religion . . .". Arthur shares their views as quoted. Moreover when asked about anti-humanism - after reading of this, Marxist, concept in Soper's book4 - he surprisingly equated it with religion.
Next Time
The attributes 3)Compassion and 4)Sympathy will be considered with reference to {hopefully human as well as non-human} animals.
2 Flew A, Priest S A Dictionary of Philosophy London: Pan Macmillan, 2002.
3 In Rice & Waugh Modern Literary Theory p 159.
4 Soper K Humanism and Anti-Humanism London: Hutchinson 1986 P 13.
Antisocial Behaviour
Copies of an article "The Impact of antisocial lifestyle on health. Family,school and police interventions can reduce health risks" British Medical Journal 2003 April 19 pp384-5 had been attached to the agenda. An evidence-based approach to the problem offers something of value for all who share the writers' concerns, Raymond Carlisle had suggested. It was agreed that the suggestions made for tackling health issues can be expected to have a positive effect too on social welfare, which is at least equally important.
The Mind of God
Photocopies of another article Brooks M. "The Impossible Puzzle" New Scientist 2003 April 5 pp34-5 were circulated by Arthur Atkinson in a follow-up of his earlier report and comment5 following the original use of the term 'The Mind of God' by Professor Paul Davies.
Professor Stephen Hawkins, also a popularist cosmologist, had echoed the term at the end of his book A Brief History of Time with the same disregard that such theological allusions lie well outside the specialisms of astronomy or physics, as Arthur has reminded us in the past. The implicit claim is of data which would require us to postulate a supra-universal entity (God) of appeal to those of superstitious inclinations. Now Professor Hawkins is reneging on its principal attraction to them, that of making things intelligible.
According Dignity
At a so-called 'Inter-faith Meeting' attended by Maggie Adams, a Christian member of the audience thanked the predominant Moslem platform in saying she and her group 'were privileged to be present'. Why? When non-Moslems where kept on the floor and discouraged from asking any challenging questions. John concurred, I am effectively intimidated by Islam but not, any longer, by Christianity. The announced intention of more than one imam is for Islam to conquer the world for Allah by peaceful means if possible but by violence otherwise.
The progress of a prior discussion with Derek Hill (see the report 'Breakfast Morning Discussion' above) was related by Raymond with the conclusion that according a worthwhile minimum of dignity to all fellow human beings seemed the most reasonable attitude. Maggie countered with the view that dignity, like respect, had first to be earned before being accorded. Donald Rumsfeld was quoted by Raymond (in a discussion of a poem in which he had written that "what we do not know we do not know") and there ensued a general reaction against according any prior dignity to such a personality. Or to the Pope. A recent television reportage of the Queen of Spain, with constitutional status to sustain, kneeling before the Pope to kiss his ring had disturbed several participants. Grandeur of appearance is intended to overawe, not persuade. Arrogance seems to determine prevalent assumptions by the BBC that everyone is a Christian - as is the case with Bush and Blair, to the detriment of education and democratic aspiration - unless proved otherwise. Contrary to the view expressed by Derek, Humanism is all to do with "A world view which excludes revealed religion".
The next topical item was taking the place of a, postponed, discussion on a model of human culture in 4 spacial grades - how the differing priorities of individuals, households, local communities, regional governments and global organisations had evolved.
Irresponsibility of Tony Blair
Provoked by an article in the Daily Mirror, a popular newspaper which had been previously supportive of the government, Arthur presented - and found general support for - opposition to the direction taken lately under Blair's leadership. Although the possible suppression of the persisting firemans' strike met with a mixed reaction, the meeting was agreed that there were considerable risks and no advantages to giving 'Foundation Status' to certain hospitals. The UK Health Service performance currently was judged, by most participants, to be outperformed by, as specified, France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium in terms of minimum delay in referral for specialist care.
A more active role for Ealing Humanists?
Following the presentation at the previous Thursday Meeting (see 'Report from Meeting' above) it was proposed by John Bennett that further discussion could be helpful. In case opportunities existed similar to the one taken up by Charles Rudd when EHA Secretary to the Dolphin Women's Club as reported in January 2000. Ms Rathbone's suggestion, of canvassing for such contacts, was concluded however to be excluded on present policy. Planning moved to the production and distribution of posters for the Thursday Meeting and to the future program of speakers.
Latter-day scientists
What is a gene? Or, for that matter what do replies mean which include such terms as "DNA", "chromosome", "human genome"? {Has a gap been identified which is worth our hearing an informative (opinion-free) session similar to those on cosmology and on quantum mechanics? That question at least calls for opinion.}
5 Atkinson A The Cosmic Fairy p.129.
