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ISSN 0014-1690 The Ethical Record Vol. 98 No. 4 El April 1993 THE STORY OF THE SOCIETY Nicholas Walter 3 THE POLITICS OF SIMONE WEIL: THEORY • AND PRACTICE Christopher Hampton 10 TOYNBEE HALL: SELF- SERVING OR ACCOUNTABLE? Prof. Gerald Vinten 14 SOCIAL CHANGE Margaret Chisman 16 VIEWPOINTS M Neocleous, P Cadogan, Alireza. 16 SCIENCE AND THE EDITORIAL — HIGH HUMANIST HOPES GENERAL READER Peter Reales 21 In our 200 year progress from dissident congregation to humanist society, we have shed, ATHEIST ASSOCIATION? along with the dogmas of religion, its symbols Harry Whitby 24 and trappings too. Nevertheless, the apparently ephemeral event of the release of 200 balloons ATTACKS ON SCIENCE - on the 14th February 1993 can perhaps be seen in retrospect as a symbolic act. GOOD AND BAD ColM Mills 25 The event was the brainchild of Michael SHOULD HUMANISTS Newman; he felt the need to commemorate the PLAY DICE? bicentenary in a more graphic way than could be Ronald Skene 29 done by speeches alone. As we stood in Red Lion Square, watching the balloons soar ever ETHICAL SOCIETY higher over London, some of us may have been EVENTS 31 moved to wonder... Could those balloons, imprinted with SPES — FREETHOUGHT — 1793-1993 and gradually diffusing over the capital, symbolise the 'dissemination of ethical principles' for which the Society still stands and for which the world has such sore need? SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Telephone: 071-831 7723 Trustees Louise Booker, John Brown, Anthony Chapman, Peter Heales, Don Liversedge, Ray Lovecy, Ian MacKillop, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe. Appointed Lecturers Harold Blackham, T.F. Evans, Peter Heales, Richard Scorer, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe, Nicolas Walter. Officers Honorary Representative: Nicolas Walter. General Committee Chair: Diane Murray. Vice Chair: Louise Booker. Treasurer David Williams. Editor, The Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac. Librarian: Edwina Palmer. Registrar James Addison. Secretary of the Society: Nina Khare. Hall Manager Steven Norley. New Members Lenore Blegvad, Odin Dekkers, Darragh Morgan. Obituary Marthe Sinha It is with sadnessthat we report the death of Marthe Sinha on the 13th March. She was a member of long-standing and a Life Member of SPES who served for many years on the general Committee and for some time was a Trustee. Marthe was an accomplished teacher, and travelled widely. Unfortunately during recent years she had an illness that restricted her mobility. However we remember her at her best when she would give balanced views, and always produced reasoned arguments. Her opinions were definite, ethical and well expressed. Marthe will be missed for her sound judgements and her pleasant personality. Louise Booker LIBRARY NOTES The following books by Professor G.A. Wells, whose recent lecture was printed in the March issue of the ER, are now in the Library: Belief and Make-Belief (1992) Did Jesus Exist? (rev. ed.) (1986) The Historic Evidence for Jesus (1982) Erratum Does Clio have Secrets? (March ER, top of page 9). A line was omitted from the above article by Prof. George Schwarz. The paragraph in question should read: To Hegel, the whole dynamic, organic movement of humanity in its course is activated by Spirit, with its built-in energy for drawing all mankind, despite many relapses and setbacks, up to the Absolute. History is like a drama, with Spirit as the dénoument, while Spirit at the very apex is total freedom. In this drama people like you and me are the actors, while the Absolute Spirit is the producer and, yes, playwright. 2 Ethical Record, April, 1993 THE STORY OF THE SOCIETY Nicolas Walter Summary of a Lecture to the Ethical Society 14 February 1993 [Nicolas Walter. the present Honorary Representative, began by mentioning that he was introduced to the Society by his grandfather, S. K. Ratcliffe. who had first attended South Place 100 years ago, had first lectured there 80 years ago, had been an Appointed Lecturer until his death 35 years ago, and was the author of the last history of the Society] Exactly two hundred years ago today, on 14th February 1793, this Society began its formal existence. Our bicentenary is being celebrated by all sorts of special events this year, but this is the only one directly connected with that event and specifically concerned with the whole course of events since then. Of course it is impossible to give the full story at a single meeting. When Moncure Conway told the story of the first century, he gave four lectures (May-June 1893) which were printed in his Centenary History of the South Place Society (1894). When S. K. Ratcliffe brought the story up to date for the first half-century of Conway Hall, he wrote twelve articles (Monthly Record, February 1952 -January 1953) which were reprinted in The Story of South Place (1955). And many other lectures and articles have covered particular aspects and topics. I have told the story of the first two centuries in a forthcoming book, We Move on, but even this still barely covers the essential events. Here it is possible only to consider a few particular points. Facts and fallacies Virtually every account of the Society during the century since Conway's is marred by errors and omissions, most of them trivial but some of them serious. Many will be silently corrected in my forthcoming account, but the carelessness of historians, both professional and amateur, never ceases to astonish. For example, it is often said that the original name of the congregation, the Philadelphians, means 'loving brothers'. Well, that is the meaning of the word in the original Greek but not the reason for its use here. Like everything else in the Protestant Christianity from which we came, it is in the Bible. A passage in the Book of Revelation concerns 'the church in Philadelphia' — not the town in modern America, but a town in ancient Asia Minor — to which God says: 'I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.' The point is that Parliament Court was not a gathered church of the elect, like most Puritan congregations, but an open church based on the Universalist theory that all shall be saved and the Universalist principle that all were welcome to attend. (There was actually a group of Philadelphians in England a century earlier, based on the same text, but there is no other connection with them.) Again, it is often said that Universalism denies Hell. Well, some Universalists believed that no one would go to Hell, but most believed that sinners would go to some kind of temporary Hell, rather like the Purgatory of the Roman Catholics. The point was that God was too good to damn anyone (even the Devil) for ever, and that the worst man (even the Devil) isn't bad enough for such a fate. Here is the tiny humanist seed in the compost heap of Protestant speculation. Periods and patterns Fixing periods in history is necessary — necessary to put chronological development into an intelligible framework, but dangerous in raising artificial chronological barriers. Finding patterns of other kinds is also necessary but also dangerous. Bearing this in mind, what are the significant periods and patterns in our history? They may be listed according to different criteria, as follows. Ethical Record, April, 1993 Premises We were at Parliament Court until 1824, at South Place from 1824 to 1929, at Conway Hall from 1929. (When the Society left Parliament Court, it became a Baptist chapel and then a Jewish synagogue, which it is still; it was turned back to front, so that it now opens into Sandys Row. When the Society left South Place, the old chapel was demolished and replaced by an office building, which was itself demolished and replaced by another one sixty years later; there is still a wall plaque marking the site of the chapel.) Affiliation We belonged to Christian denominations until 1835, were an independent society until 1887, and have belonged to the Ethical and then the Humanist movement since 1888. Numbers We started at about 250, rose and fell to reach about 650 in the early 1930s, then again to reach about 850 in the late 1960s, then down again to about 400. Leaders We had Winchester and Vidler from 1793 to 1816, Fox from 1817 to 1853, lerson and Barnett from 1853 to 1863, Conway from 1864 to 1884 and from 1892 to 1897, Coit from 1888 to 1891, Appointed Lecturers from 1900, General Secretaries from 1966 to 1981, Honorary Representatives from 1982, and Committees and Trustees throughout. Doctrine Christian heresies — Universalism (the belief that no one will be damned for ever and that everyone will shall be saved) until 1802, Unitarianism (the belief that God is one and that Jesus was human) — until 1835; free religion — moving from Theism (undogmatic belief in a personal God) to Humanism (undogmatic belief in Humanity) until 1884; ethical Humanism since 1888. To put the sequence in epigrammatical form: during the first century, Winchester taught that God is love, Vidler taught that God is one, Fox taught that God is everything, Conway taught that God is nothing; during the second century, we have talked about goodness and humanity, and argued about religion and worship. Forms We began with normal Christian church services — prayers and sermons, hymns and anthems, baptisms and funerals (and weddings from 1838 to 1977), and communion (we still possess the communion plate). We gradually discarded religious observance the Minister's title of Reverend and the administration of communion in 1833, the Minister's gown in 1864, prayer in 1869, the pulpit and pews in 1872, services in 1938, hymns in 1961.