DOCSLIB.ORG

Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 114 No. 3 £1.50 March 2009 A NEW TRANSLATIONOF BAROND'HOLBACH'S CHRISTIANITYUNVEILED RoMtel CsonVobsturity Series by' taron d'Holbach A Ca,n:rówrsvii Documents The fiat new 0.1'mila:ionin over 2134:1yriars "%viala cull inn-min:non mid notes by david I I olOhnn . This edition by David flolohan contains a wealth of biographical material on d'Holbach and his circle, previously only available in French. Illustrated and annotated liberally, it sets all the documents in their biblical, historical, philosophical, political and cultural context. See page 18 Hodgson Press THE SPIDERS OF ALLAH: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War James Ilider 3 THE REPUBLIC OF HEAVEN; GERRARD WINSTANLEY AND THE DIGGERS John Severs 7 FIXING OUR BROKEN DEMOCRACY Ken Ritchie Ii THOMAS PAINE, POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION AND CURRENCY CRISIS Ellen L. Ramsay 17 BARON D'HOLBACH AND THE FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT 'It's raining bombs on the house of the Lord' aDiderot David Holohan 18 VIEWPOINTS: Sue Mayer, Dick Clifford.Tom Rubens 30 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 32 SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WC I R 4RL. Tel: 020 7242 8031/4 Fax: 020 7242 8036 Website: www.ethicalsoc.org.uk email: [email protected] Chairman: Giles Enders Hun. Rep.: Don Liversedge Vice-chairman: Teny Mullins Treasurer: John Edwards Registrar: Donald Rooum Editor, Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac SPES Staff Executive Officer: .Emma J. Stanford Tel: 020 7242 8031/4 Finance Officer: Linda Alia Tel: 020 7242 8031/4 Lettings Officer: Carina Dvorak Tel: 020 7242 8032 Librarian/Programme Coordinator: Jennifer Jeynes M.Sc. Tel: 020 7242 8037 Lettings Assistant: Marie Aubrechtova Caretakers: Eva Aubrechtova (i/c); Tel: 020 7242 8033 together with: Shaip Bullaku. Angelo Edrozo, Nikola Ivanovski.Alfredo Olivio, Rogerio Retuerna, David Wright Maintenance Operative: Zia Hammd New Members The Society is pleased to welcome to membership Leonard Atkinson of Grays in Essex, Alun Llewelyn of Kenton in Middlesex, John Molson of Harpenden in Hens, Peter Morgan of Ashford in Kent, Tiffany Prince of Wanstead, Sylvette Wyatt of North London Donor The Society is grateful for a donation from Mr L.E. West of 150. Obituary We regret toteport the death of Julien Gross of London NW3 Voltaire Lecture - a joint BHA/SPES event Kenan Malik on THE GUILT OF SCIENCE? Race, Science and Darwin Chair: Polly Toynbee 6.30pm, Thursday 23 April 2009, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC IR 4RL LS (BHA or SPES), £7 others. Tickets online from www.humanism.org.uk by debit/credit card or by cheque to British Humanist Association marked FOR VOLTAIRE LECTURE with your name and a return address, to 1 Gower Street, London, WC I E 611D. SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Reg. Charity No. 251396 Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are: the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism, the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in relevant fields. We invite to membership those who reject supernatural creeds and are in sympathy with our aims. At Conway Hall the programme includes Sunday lectures, discussions, evenine courses and the renowned South Place Sunday Concerts of chamber music. The Society maintains a Humanist Reference Library. The Society's journal, Ethical Record, Is issued monthly. Memorial meetings may be arranged. The annual subscription is £18 (£12 if a full-time student, unwaged or over 65). 2 Ethical Record, March 2009 THE SPIDERS OF ALLAH: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War James Hider, Times Middle Eastern Bureau Chief Lecture to the Ethical Society, I I January 2009 What do you say to a man whose cousin has just been ripped apart by a suicide bomber during a Muslim festival in Iraq? I told the young sheikh I was sorry for his loss. Wrong answer. The sheikh brushed aside my condolences. 'I am jealous of him, he has gone straight to heaven' he told me with absolute conviction. 'I'm sure my cousin is being hosted by Imam Hussein even now.' The encounter took place in the Shia holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad in March 2004, the first time the faithful had been allowed to gather freely to celebrate the festival of Ashoura, marking the death of Imam Hussein, in decades. Outside, pilgrims who had spent the morning beating themselves over the heads with swords until their scalps were bloody, resumed their devotions despite the fact that almost 100 of their fellows had just been blown to pieces by a gang of Sunni suicide bombers who believed they, too, were going to heaven. The remains of the kamikazes could be seen next to their victims — lakes of blood, mangled corpses, a security guard placing a woman's severed head on her body so it wouldn't be lost for burial. A Pathogen Through History Such is the power of ideas - and the absolutism of religious ideals in particular. In the Middle East, you can trace the course of such ideas like a pathogen through human history, as ancient notions of existence spread from one civilization to the next, mutating and taking over large groups of people, forcing them into courses of action that to the rational mind appear insane. In 2006, in the self-proclaimed Islamic Caliphate which Al Qaeda-led rebels had established just 30 miles north of Baghdad, reliaious zealots tried to enforce •their own brand of morality dredged up from the seventh century. Greengrocers were killed for displaying cucumbers next to tomatoes, because one apparently represented masculinity and the other femininity. Bananas had to be sold in discreet black plastic bags for the same reason. Absurd, but disobeying could cost you your life. The pinnacle of this weirdness came in an order for shepherds to make their goats wear underpants so as not to offend (or perhaps arouse) holy warriors. The penalty for violating this Benny Hill-style ruling, was death. And not an easy death either - beheadings were the standard practice for Al Qaeda' killers, while the Shia death squads who roamed Baahdad preferred using electrical drills to off their victims. By that summer of 2006. Iraq was a terrifying Petri dish for examining the way ideas mutate and transform themselves into deadly myths and ideologies. For 35 years, people had lived in a bubble of fear, fed news only by the paranoid, brutal dictator Saddath Hussein. When the American military kicked down the door of the aSylum in 2003, there was a sudden implosion of warped beliefs, conspiracy theories and crazed ideologies that demonstrated just how quickly and violently the human mind can be whisked off into the darkest recesses of madness. Ethical Record, March 2009 3 At first, shortly after the invasion, conspiracy theories emerged through the recent surface of oppression, urban myths developed about American soldiers deserting in droves, or claims arose that the US military was covering up their huge losses by burying dead troops in mass graves out in the desert. Some of these were clearly malicious in intent - the rumour that the ubiquitous Ray-Ban sunglasses worn by US soldiers against the dust and dazzling sunlight were actually said to be X-ray specs that could see through women's clothing was one example. A ridiculous notion, but one that some Iraqi men readily believed: they duly went and got their guns to protect their womenfolk's modesty. With no independent media to rely upon, and no history of normal, rational behaviour to act as a yardstick, it was enough for someone to voice an idea for it to be possible. By keeping his people in the dark - to the point where many would consult magic men in touch with djinns, or genies, to solve crimes rather than going to the corrupt police — Saddam had left Iraqis in a state of almost medieval gullibility: many people I spoke to believed their president, still a fugitive after the war, could never be killed by the Americans because he had a magic stone that he wore around his neck, protecting him from bombs and bullets. The charm had apparently been 'scientifically' tested on chickens and cows to make sure it worked, I was told by a number of people. Fire a bullet at a cow wearing the charm and the projectile would fly around its target. Throughout history, myths have arisen and been adapted by subsequent civilizations. In 701 BCE, the unstoppable Assyrian army laid siege to the city of Jerusalem, capital of the tiny kingdom of Judah, at a time when the Jewish faith was still crystallizing. Some 20 years earlier, the same war machine from what is now Iraq had laid waste to the kingdom of Israel, just north of Judah, carrying the 10 tribes away into slavery and assimilation. But now, The Prophet Isaiah proclaimed in the name of the still-untested god Yahweh, that against all the odds the Assyrians would perish at the hands of an angel of death sent by the Lord. Isaiah's people put their faith in him, while to even the odds the Judean military commanders blocked off the wells around the besieged city. Sure enough, the Assyrian conquering hordes dropped like flies, probably from cholera contracted from drinking unclean water. Birth Of The Giant Spider Myth In the meantime, the pious people of Jerusalem thanked their one all-powerful God for delivering them from slavery. In future, defeats would not be interpreted as god's failure to protect his people, but instead, as punishment for their failure to live up to his ideals.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Christianity Unveiled; Being an Examination of the Principles and Effects of the Christian Religion
    Christianity Unveiled; Being An Examination Of The Principles And Effects Of The Christian Religion by Paul Henri d’Holbach - 1761 [1819 translation by W. M. Johnson] CONTENTS. A LETTER from the Author to a Friend. CHAPTER I. - Of the necessity of an Inquiry respecting Religion, and the Obstacles which are met in pursuing this Inquiry. CHAPTER II. - Sketch of the History of the Jews. CHAPTER III. - Sketch of the History of the Christian Religion. CHAPTER IV. - Of the Christian Mythology, or the Ideas of God and his Conduct, given us by the Christian Religion. CHAPTER V. - Of Revelation. CHAPTER VI. - Of the Proofs of the Christian Religion, Miracles, Prophecies, and Martyrs. CHAPTER VII. - Of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion. CHAPTER VIII. - Mysteries and Dogmas of Christianity. CHAPTER IX. - Of the Rites and Ceremonies or Theurgy of the Christians. CHAPTER X. - Of the inspired Writings of the Christians. CHAPTER XI. - Of Christian Morality. CHAPTER XII. - Of the Christian Virtues. CHAPTER XIII. - Of the Practice and Duties of the Christian Religion. CHAPTER XIV. - Of the Political Effects of the Christian Religion. CHAPTER XV. - Of the Christian Church or Priesthood. CHAPTER XVI. - Conclusions. A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR TO A FRIEND I RECEIVE, Sir, with gratitude, the remarks which you send me upon my work. If I am sensible to the praises you condescend to give it, I am too fond of truth to be displeased with the frankness with which you propose your objections. I find them sufficiently weighty to merit all my attention. He but ill deserves the title of philosopher, who has not the courage to hear his opinions contradicted.
    [Show full text]
  • The Enlightenment, Special Ediction October 2010
    The Enlightenment The Newsletter of the Humanist Association of London and Area An Affiliate of Humanist Canada (HC) Volume 6 Number 8 Special Issue Two Contrasting Legacies of the Axial Age Grecian Philosophical Rationalism & Monotheistic Christianity From about 900 to 200 BCE (Before the Common Era) in different regions of the world, four great traditions came into being that have continued to influence humanity to this day. They were Confucianism and Taoism in China; Hinduism and Buddhism in India; monotheistic Judaism in Israel (followed by its offshoot Christianity); and philosophical rationalism in Greece. This was the period of Confucius, Buddha, Jeremiah and Socrates. During this era, which came to be known as The Axial Age, spiritual and philosophical geniuses pioneered intense creativity and generated new kinds of human experiences unlike anything that had occurred up until that time. This special issue of The Enlightenment will explore the outcomes of two of these historical entities, the glory that was Greece and the monotheistic Judaism in Israel that led to the invention of Christianity and the founding of the early Roman Catholic Church. In the centuries leading up to the beginning of the Common Era (CE) great things were happening in Greece. This was the civilization that spawned philosophy, democracy, and humanism, among other things, in a polytheistic society that honoured many gods and goddesses. At the same time, not far away in Palestine, the Jews were worshiping only one God called Yahweh. In the first century CE, one of these Jews who went by the name of Jesus, organized a band of twelve disciples and began preaching a reformed gospel that irritated the leaders in the Jerusalem Temple, and possibly the Roman civic authorities as well.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Polite Eighteenth Century, 1750–1806 A
    AMERICAN SCIENCE AND THE PURSUIT OF “USEFUL KNOWLEDGE” IN THE POLITE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 1750–1806 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Elizabeth E. Webster Christopher Hamlin, Director Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science Notre Dame, Indiana April 2010 © Copyright 2010 Elizabeth E. Webster AMERICAN SCIENCE AND THE PURSUIT OF “USEFUL KNOWLEDGE” IN THE POLITE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 1750–1806 Abstract by Elizabeth E. Webster In this thesis, I will examine the promotion of science, or “useful knowledge,” in the polite eighteenth century. Historians of England and America have identified the concept of “politeness” as a key component for understanding eighteenth-century culture. At the same time, the term “useful knowledge” is also acknowledged to be a central concept for understanding the development of the early American scientific community. My dissertation looks at how these two ideas, “useful knowledge” and “polite character,” informed each other. I explore the way Americans promoted “useful knowledge” in the formative years between 1775 and 1806 by drawing on and rejecting certain aspects of the ideal of politeness. Particularly, I explore the writings of three central figures in the early years of the American Philosophical Society, David Rittenhouse, Charles Willson Peale, and Benjamin Rush, to see how they variously used the language and ideals of politeness to argue for the promotion of useful knowledge in America. Then I turn to a New Englander, Thomas Green Fessenden, who identified and caricatured a certain type of man of science and satirized the late-eighteenth-century culture of useful knowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Flyer 'New Atheism'
    A Research Project at the Institute for Criticism of Religion and Atheism The "New Atheism" the Scientific Study of Religion of the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany The term "New Atheism" was introduced by The history of religion has almost always been American journalist Gary Wolf in his article The accompanied by the criticism of religion – that Church of Non-Believers (Nov. 2006). He coined The scientific study of religion (German: appears in most cases as either an inter- or the term to describe the enormous success of Religionswissenschaft) is an academic discipline intra-religious criticism. Both forms of criticism then-bestsellers – The God Delusion by the which – unlike theology – takes a neutral do not extend beyond the borders of religious British zoologist Richard Dawkins, The End of position (from outside any particular religious viewpoints, so that criticism of religion does not Faith by Sam Harris, and Breaking the Spell: viewpoint) towards its subjects of research. In necessarily imply a fundamental rejection of Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel this vein, our research project shall be religion at all. Dennett – that openly criticize most forms of examining recent tendencies in atheistic religion. Since his article, the term has been criticism of religion. The atheistic criticism of religion, however, widely used both in the media coverage as well possesses another quality. Atheism – the Ancient as in the academic and religious debate for The most prominent of the (so-called) "New Greek adjective átheos means 'godless' – is the recent tendencies of criticism of religion. In the Atheists" are Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, negation of the existence of God or the gods.
    [Show full text]
  • (2019) Revolutionary Contexts for the Quest: Jesus in the Rhetoric and Methods of Early Modern Intellectual History
    \ Birch, J. C.P. (2019) Revolutionary contexts for the quest: Jesus in the rhetoric and methods of Early Modern intellectual history. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, 17(1-2), pp. 35-80. (doi: 10.1163/17455197- 01701005) The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher and is for private use only. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/187702/ Deposited on 17 September 2019 Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk REVOLUTIONARY CONTEXTS FOR THE QUEST Jesus in the Rhetoric and Methods of Early Modern Intellectual History Abstract: This article contributes to a new perspective on the historical Jesus in early modern intellectual history. This perspective looks beyond German and academic scholarship, and takes account of a plurality of religious, social, and political contexts. Having outlined avenues of research which are consistent with this approach, I focus on radicalised socio- political contexts for the emergence of 'history' as a category of analysis for Jesus. Two contexts will be discussed: the late eighteenth century, with reference to Joseph Priestley, Baron d'Holbach, and their associations with the French Revolution; and the interregnum period in seventeenth-century Britain, with reference to early Quaker controversies and the apologetic work of Henry More. I identify ideas about Jesus in those contexts which have echoed in subsequent scholarship, while challenging the notion that there is a compelling association between sympathetic historical conceptions of Jesus (as opposed to theological) and a tendency towards radical and revolutionary politics.
    [Show full text]
  • An Enlightening Compendium
    An Enlightening Compendium Excerpts From - The Enlightenment A Secular Mini-Journal for Inquiring Minds By Donald A. Hatch Table of Contents Introduction 5 Imagine – By John Lennon 8 Section I - Humanism What is Humanism – By Dr. Rod Martin 9 Are You a Humanist? – By Duncan Watterworth 15 Humanist Associations – DAH 16 Humanist of the Year – About Pat Duffy Hutcheon 16 Amazing Life – By Pat Duffy Hutcheon 18 The Long Past of Humanism – By Dr. Rod Martin 19 Humanist Blessings – DAH 24 Five Humanists of Note 25 Mary Wollstonecraft – By Adriaan Mak 25 Percy Bysshe Shelly – DAH 26 Simone de Beauvoire – DAH 27 Richard Dawkins – DAH 28 Christopher Hitchens – DAH 29 The Human in Humanism – By Dr. Rod Martin 30 Faith, Reason and Atheism – By Dr. Rod martin 36 Life is a Stream Evolving – By Pat Duffy Hutcheon 40 Section II - Secularism Suma Secularia – DAH 41 The Advantages of Secular Societies – DAH 46 A Tale of Two Societies -Scandinavian and American – DAH 48 Secularism as Guarantor of Social Harmony – By Dagmar Gontard Zelenkova 50 How to be Secular: A Call to Arms for Religious Freedom – By Jaques Berlinerblau 52 Godless – By Dan Barker 55 Living the Secular Life – By Phil Zuckerman 57 Free Thinkers: A History of American Free Thinkers – By Susan Jacoby 58 Atheism For Dummies – By Dale McGowan 59 Section III - Science The Pale Blue Dot – By Carl Sagan 62 Ann Druyan’s Comments on Her Husband’s Death 62 What an Amazing Wonder – This Pale Blue Dot – DAH 63 What a Wonderful World – By Luis Armstrong 68 Science Versus Metaphysics and Theology
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Skepticism, Atheism, Humanism, Naturalism, Secularism, Rationalism, Irreligion, Agnosticism, and Related Perspectives)
    Unbelief (Religious Skepticism, Atheism, Humanism, Naturalism, Secularism, Rationalism, Irreligion, Agnosticism, and Related Perspectives) A Historical Bibliography Compiled by J. Gordon Melton ~ San Diego ~ San Diego State University ~ 2011 This bibliography presents primary and secondary sources in the history of unbelief in Western Europe and the United States, from the Enlightenment to the present. It is a living document which will grow and develop as more sources are located. If you see errors, or notice that important items are missing, please notify the author, Dr. J. Gordon Melton at [email protected]. Please credit San Diego State University, Department of Religious Studies in publications. Copyright San Diego State University. ****************************************************************************** Table of Contents Introduction General Sources European Beginnings A. The Sixteenth-Century Challenges to Trinitarianism a. Michael Servetus b. Socinianism and the Polish Brethren B. The Unitarian Tradition a. Ferenc (Francis) David C. The Enlightenment and Rise of Deism in Modern Europe France A. French Enlightenment a. Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) b. Jean Meslier (1664-1729) c. Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789) d. Voltaire (Francois-Marie d'Arouet) (1694-1778) e. Jacques-André Naigeon (1738-1810) f. Denis Diderot (1713-1784) g. Marquis de Montesquieu (1689-1755) h. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) B. France and Unbelief in the Nineteenth Century a. August Comte (1798-1857) and the Religion of Positivism C. France and Unbelief in the Twentieth Century a. French Existentialism b. Albert Camus (1913 -1960) c. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) United Kingdom A. Deist Beginnings, Flowering, and Beyond a. Edward Herbert, Baron of Cherbury (1583-1648) b.
    [Show full text]
  • Antidotes to Deism: a Reception History of Thomas Paine’S the Age of Reason, 1794-1809
    ANTIDOTES TO DEISM: A RECEPTION HISTORY OF THOMAS PAINE’S THE AGE OF REASON, 1794-1809 by Patrick Wallace Hughes Bachelor of Arts, Denison University,1991 Master of Library Science, University of Pittsburgh, 1994 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2013 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Patrick Wallace Hughes It was defended on March 20, 2013 and approved by Van Beck Hall, Associate Professor, Department of History Alexander Orbach, Associate Professor Emeritus, Department of Religious Studies Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor, Department of History Adam Shear, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies Dissertation Advisor: Paula M. Kane, Associate Professor and John and Lucine O'Brien Marous Chair of Contemporary Catholic Studies, Department of Religious Studies ii Copyright © by Patrick Wallace Hughes 2013 iii ANTIDOTES TO DEISM: A RECEPTION HISTORY OF THOMAS PAINE’S THE AGE OF REASON, 1794-1809 Patrick Wallace Hughes, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2013 In the Anglo-American world of the late 1790s, Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason (published in two parts) was not well received, and his volumes of Deistic theology were characterized as extremely dangerous. Over seventy replies to The Age of Reason appeared in Britain and the United States. It was widely criticized in the periodical literature, and it garnered Paine the reputation as a champion of irreligion.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethical Record the Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol
    Ethical Record The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 114 No. 6 21.50 June 2009 TFIE ETHICAL SOCIETY'S EXHIBITION FT—STOTITIC7PI7AZC'E By Saturday 6 June, the exhibition of fossils THI KU. S 0 C I ETY I (some real, soMe copies), selected and arranged, by EVO4Ition'the Finsils Say Yes: Mike l-lowgate, had been set up in the corridor of Conway Hall. Richard Dawkins was i n the building having that morning spoken in the main hall as part of the BHA/SPES day of talks on the theme 'Religion, Humanism and Science'. In Mike's words, 'Richard has graciously Conway Hall foyer Fossil anunonites agreed to open the and drawings by Donald Roonm exhibition'. After cutting a red ribbon, Dawkins agreed the fossils do indeed say 'yes', being tangible, although they were not now the only important evidence for evolution. • In his lecture in the morning, Dawkins had examined in detail the famous dast paragraph of the 1st edition of Darwin's Origin of Species (a copy of which, he said, was his most prized possession — because in its later editions (2nd to 6th) the unscientific phrase `by the Creator' had been inserted after the word 'breathed"into a few forms or into one;'). Dawkins felt, as 1 think we all do, that those three words were added in deference to his wife's belief — [That she would go to Heaven while Charles, if an atheist, would go to Hell {Ed.}]. N. KOREA'S ATOM-BOMB ENRAGES TIIE HYPOCRITES Norman Bacrac RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY AND VIRTUES John Radford 3 IN DEFENCE OF AGNOSTICISM Isaac Ascher 8 Viewpoints: Chris Purnell, John Edmondson, Albert Adler 14 POEM: GUERNICA REVISITED Martin Green 17 THE SCIENCE COLLECTIONS IN THE BRITISH LIBRARY ..
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography of Occult and Fantastic Beliefs Vol.1: a - D
    Bruno Antonio Buike, editor / undercover-collective „Paul Smith“, alias University of Melbourne, Australia Bibliography of Occult and Fantastic Beliefs vol.1: A - D © Neuss / Germany: Bruno Buike 2017 Buike Music and Science [email protected] BBWV E27 Bruno Antonio Buike, editor / undercover-collective „Paul Smith“, alias University of Melbourne, Australia Bibliography of Occult and Fantastic Beliefs - vol.1: A - D Neuss: Bruno Buike 2017 CONTENT Vol. 1 A-D 273 p. Vol. 2 E-K 271 p. Vol. 3 L-R 263 p. Vol. 4 S-Z 239 p. Appr. 21.000 title entries - total 1046 p. ---xxx--- 1. Dies ist ein wissenschaftliches Projekt ohne kommerzielle Interessen. 2. Wer finanzielle Forderungen gegen dieses Projekt erhebt, dessen Beitrag und Name werden in der nächsten Auflage gelöscht. 3. Das Projekt wurde gefördert von der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Sozialamt Neuss. 4. Rechtschreibfehler zu unterlassen, konnte ich meinem Computer trotz jahrelanger Versuche nicht beibringen. Im Gegenteil: Das Biest fügt immer wieder neue Fehler ein, wo vorher keine waren! 1. This is a scientific project without commercial interests, that is not in bookstores, but free in Internet. 2. Financial and legal claims against this project, will result in the contribution and the name of contributor in the next edition canceled. 3. This project has been sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany, Department for Social Benefits, city of Neuss. 4. Correct spelling and orthography is subject of a constant fight between me and my computer – AND THE SOFTWARE in use – and normally the other side is the winning party! Editor`s note – Vorwort des Herausgebers preface 1 ENGLISH SHORT PREFACE „Paul Smith“ is a FAKE-IDENTY behind which very probably is a COLLCETIVE of writers and researchers, using a more RATIONAL and SOBER approach towards the complex of Rennes-le-Chateau and to related complex of „Priory of Sion“ (Prieure de Sion of Pierre Plantard, Geradrd de Sede, Phlippe de Cherisey, Jean-Luc Chaumeil and others).
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Atheism, Secularism, Humanism
    What is Atheism, Secularism, Humanism 3. A History of Atheism and Freethought Although modern-style atheism and secularism have not always existed, both have a long and diverse history • “Freethought” is a more inclusive term for all forms of questioning and rejection of received religious belief and authority • Bertrand Russell 1957 “The Value of Free Thought”: “What makes a freethinker is not his beliefs but the way in which he holds them. If he holds them because his elders told him they were true when he was young, or if he holds them because if he did not he would be unhappy, his thought is not free; but if he holds them because, after careful thought he finds a balance of evidence in their favor, then his thought is free, however odd his conclusions may seem.” In some estimations, the first freethinker in recorded history was the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton (1353-36 BCE) • Replaced the traditional gods with the monotheistic religion of Aten (the sun) • He was regarded as a “heretic king” and his cult was expunged after his death • A papyrus from around that era reads: “Since the time of our ancestors, generations have come and gone and been replaced. The gods who lived in former time, rest in their pyramids, the dead nobles too are buried in their pyramids. And those who built the tombs—the places have disappeared. What has happened to them?” During the so-called Axial age (circa 600 BCE) many traditions challenged traditional authority or proposed natural or moral systems without god(s) • Confucius has been described as an “agnostic
    [Show full text]
  • Enlightenment April 2011, the Newsletter of the Humanist
    The Enlightenment The Newsletter of the Humanist Association of London and Area An Affiliate of Humanist Canada (HC) Volume 7 Number 2 April 2011 Les Philosophes From the 1750s to the 1770s, the Paris salon of Baron Thiry d’Holbach was an epicenter of debate, intellectual daring, and revolutionary ideas. It brought around one table, vivid personalities such as Denis Diderot, Lawrence Sterne, David Hume, Adam Smith, Horace Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, Ferdinando Galiani, the radical ex-priest Guillaume Raynal, the Italian Cesare Beccaria and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who later split with the group. It was a moment of astonishing radicalism in European thought, so uncompromising and bold that it was viciously opposed by rival philosophers such as Voltaire and eventually by Rousseau. It was finally suppressed by Robespierre and his Revolutionary henchmen. This climatic moment in Western history has largely Baron d’Holbach been forgotten by historians, who have looked no further than what the official version of events showed. In a recently published book entitled A Wicked Company, acclaimed historian Philipp Blom retraces the fortunes and characters of this exceptional group of friends and brings to light their startling ideas. The thinking of these brilliant minds, full of wit, courage and humanity, created a different and radical French Enlightenment based on atheism, passion, empathy, and a compelling insightful perspective on society. The vision they discussed around the baron’s dinner table was one in which women and men would no longer be oppressed by the fear and ignorance instilled by religion, but could instead live their lives to the full.
    [Show full text]