Posted by Stephen Law on January 24, 2012
CFI UK EVENTS AT SUNDAY TIMES OXFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL
Tickets on sale NOW: http://oxfordliteraryfestival.org/
2.00pm Wednesday 28th March
Nigel Warburton: LITTLE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
Nigel Warburton makes difficult philosophical concepts easy with his Little History of Philosophy. The senior lecturer in philosophy at the Open University follows humanity’s quest for answers to some of the big questions: what is reality? and how should I live? Warburton, author of several popular introductions to philosophy, takes a chronological look at key moments in the history of Western thought from the execution of Socrates to the modern animal rights movement. Warburton presents more than a history of ideas, he invites the reader to think for himself.
12.00 noon Thursday 29th March
David Aaronavitch: CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere – from Pearl Harbour to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. David Aaronovitch’s VOODOO HISTORIES entertainingly demolishes the absurd and sinister conspiracy theories of the last 100 years. Aaronovitch reveals why people are so ready to believe in them and the dangers of this credulity. Meticulous in its research, forensic in its reasoning, hilarious in its debunking, this book will arm anyone who has found themselves at the wrong end of a conversation about moon landings or the twin towers. His book explodes the conspiracy theories surrounding:
- the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
-Pearl Harbour
-The deaths of Kennedy, Monroe and Princess Diana
-“Pseudohistory” such as the Holy Blood, Holy Grail
-9/11 Truth Movement
-The moon landings
David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on culture, international affairs, politics and the media.
12.00 noon Saturday 24th March
Prof Steve Jones: CREATIONISM AND EVOLUTION
Many biologists are worried by a recent and unexpected return of an argument based on belief by the certainty, untestable and unsupported by evidence, that life did not evolve but appeared by supernatural means. Worldwide, more people believe in creationism than in evolution. Why do no biologists agree? Steve Jones will talk about what evolution is, about new evidence that men and chimps are close relatives and about how we are, nevertheless, unique and why creationism does more harm to religion than it does to science.
Steve Jones won the Aventis Prize for Science Books (then known as the Rhone-Poulenc Prize) in 1994 for ‘The Language of the Genes’. In 1997 he was awarded the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Prize – the UK’s foremost award for communicating science to the public.
10.00am Thursday 29th March
Stephen Law: BELIEVING BULLSHIT
Nutty, and sometimes dangerous, forms of religious beliefs are on the rise around the world. We need to be on our guard.
The central aim of Stephen Law’s latest book is to immunize readers against the wiles of many cultists, creationists, “New Age” faddists, self-styled gurus, psychics and healers and other purveyors of snake oil by providing a “How to…” pocket guide to the tricks of the trade. By such means, an impregnable fortress can be constructed around a set of beliefs, rendering it immune to any sort of rational criticism – an intellectual black hole. Law flags up eight main mechanisms involved in producing such psychological fly-traps and reveals how they succeed in imprisoning minds.
Stephen Law is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London and Provost of Centre for Inquiry UK. He has written several popular introductions to philosophy including The Philosophy Gym (Headline) and The Philosophy Files (Orion, for children). His latest book is Believing Bullshit (Prometheus).
Posted by Stephen Law on November 24, 2011
SATURDAY 28TH JANUARY 2012
CONWAY HALL. 25 Red Lion Square Holborn
Introduced by Dr Stephen Law of Heythrop College, University of London and Editor of Think (Royal Institute Philosophy) Provost of Centre for Inquiry UK.
Presented by CFI UK and The Ethical Society.
This event focuses on the criminalization of religious hatred, defamation, and insult under European human rights, and how this functions as a de facto blasphemy law.
Tickets on sale here.
General: £10 general public
Members and students: £8 BHA, AHS and SPES members and students with valid ID
Free to members of the Centre for Inquiry UK.
***Special offer*** Joint tickets to this event and the Beyond the Veil event on the 14th January: £16 general public and £12 members and student ticket offer.
PROGRAMME
10.30am REGISTRATION
11.00 am Kenan Malik - Beyond the sacred
Kenan writes: The idea of blasphemy is closely linked to the concept of the sacred. Detachment from the sacred, the former Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor claimed at the installation ceremony for his successor, has been responsible for war and terror, sin and evil. In this view the acceptance of the sacred is indispensable for the creation of a moral framework and for the injection of meaning and purpose into life.
I want to deconstruct the concept of the sacred and to challenge the idea that without a notion of the sacred there can be no boundaries to human behaviour, no anchor for our ethical beliefs, no meaning to our existence. The sacred, I want to argue, is less about the transcendent than it is about the taboo. ‘The sacred order’, as Leszek Kolokowski, the late Polish Marxist-turned-Christian philosopher, observes, ‘has never ceased, implicitly or explicitly, to proclaim “this is how things are, they cannot be otherwise”.’
The certainties of the sacred, I will argue, provides false hope and in so doing undermine our humanity by denying human choice.
Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster. He is a presenter of Analysis, BBC Radio 4′s flagship current affairs programme and a panelist on the Moral Maze. He used to present Nightwaves, BBC Radio 3′s arts and ideas programme. He has written and presented a number of radio and TV documentaries including Disunited Kingdom, Are Muslims Hated?, Islam, Mullahs and the Media, Skullduggery and Man, Beast and Politics.
Kenan Malik’s latest book is From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy. The book was shortlisted for the 2010 George Orwell Book Prize.
12.00 Andrew Copson – Blasphemy laws by the back door
Andrew Copson has been chief executive of the British Humanist Association since 2010 before which he spent five years coordinating the association’s campaigns work including on blasphemy and free speech issues.
After decades of campaigning the criminal offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel have been abolished but censorship of blasphemous content and even threatened prosecution of blasphemes continues in the UK. Andrew explores how corporate interests, opaque advertising regulations and new criminal laws continue to stifle free expression and free criticism and mockery of gods and religions.
1.00-1.30 Lunch
1.30 Austin Dacey – The Future of Blasphemy
Austin Dacey, Ph.D., is a representative to the United Nations for the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the author of The Future of Blasphemy. He writes
If blasphemy is an affront to values that are held sacred, then it is too important to be left to the traditionally religious. In the public contestation of the sacred, each of us—secular and religious alike—has equal right and authority to speak on its behalf and equal claim to redress for its violation. Laws against blasphemy and “religious hatred” are inherently discriminatory because they give traditional faith communities a legal remedy that is not available to religious minorities and secularists when their sense of the sacred is violated.
2.30 Jacob Mchangama (to be confirmed)
Between blasphemy and hate speech: How hate speech laws are being used to enforce blasphemy norms
Most European states have abolished or ceased enforcing blasphemy laws. Yet “controversial” criticism of religion still risk falling afoul of speech restrictions in the form of hate-speech laws prohibiting incitement to religious hatred. A term which is defined differently in many jurisdictions and may include anything from satirical religious cartoons to harsh criticism of religions. Rather than securing tolerance and social peace modern hate speech laws reinforce group identities and illiberal religious norms to the detriment of freedom of expression and conscience.
Jacob Mchangama is director of legal affairs at Danish think tank CEPOS and an external lecturer in International Human Rights law at the University of Copenhagen. Jacob has a special focus on freedom of expression and has published articles in international newspapers such as Wall Street Journal Europe, Jerusalem Post, Spiked, Globe and Mail, The Australian and Jyllands Posten. His work on human rights and free speech has been mentioned in The Economist, CBS.com and Courrier International.
3.30 Maryam Nazazie
Blasphemy, Offence, and Islamophobia limiting Citizen Rights
Maryam will be speaking on how accusations of blasphemy, offensive speech and ‘Islamophobia’ censor and restrict free speech, limit citizen rights, and aid and abet Islamism.
Maryam Namazie is Spokesperson of the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran. She is also National Secular Society Honorary Associate and the NSS’ 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner and was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007 by Elle magazine Quebec.
4.30 End
A variety of interesting books will be on sale at the event, provided by Newham books.
Posted by Stephen Law on
BEYOND THE VEIL – A CLOSER LOOK AT SPIRITS, MEDIUMS AND GHOSTS
Saturday 14th January 2012
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London
Bookshop by Newham Bookshop
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE.
General: £10 general public
Members and students: £8 BHA, AHS and SPES members and students with valid ID
Free to members of the Centre for Inquiry UK.
***Special offer*** Tickets to this event and the Blasphemy! event on the 28th January £16 general, £12 members and students):Members and student ticket offer and General public ticket offer.
10.30am REGISTRATION
11.00 CHRIS FRENCH
Spirits on the brain: Insights from psychology and neuroscience
Chris French is a Professor of Psychology and Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and former editor of the Skeptic.
Belief in spirits can be found in all human societies and a substantial proportion of the population claim to have had direct contact with a spiritual realm beyond ordinary experience. This talk presents an overview of scientific research into sleep paralysis, near-death/out-of-body experiences and reincarnation claims in support of the claim that such topics can be understood without recourse to paranormal explanations.
12.00 HAYLEY STEPHENS
‘Is there anybody there?’
A ghost hunter that doesn’t hunt for ghosts, Hayley Stevens has been researching paranormal reports since 2005. She is the co-host of the Righteous Indignation Podcast, blogs at ‘Hayley is a Ghost’, occasionally writes for numerous publications, and has spoken internationally about ghosts and critical thinking.
As someone who used to actively hunt for proof that ghosts existed, Hayley has first hand experience with the weird and scary lengths that ghost hunters will go to, to contact the dead and prove they exist in spirit form. ‘Is there anybody there?’ will give insight into the modern world of ghost hunting where a scientific approach is more likely to be an updated version of seance parlour antics – from the evolution of table tipping, to the revolution of the Ghost busting Smart phone apps.
1.00-1.30 LUNCH BREAK
1.30 PAUL ZENON
Title: Mediums at Large
Paul has been a professional trickster for almost thirty years during that period has appeared countless times as performer, presenter and pundit on numerous TV shows across many genres. As someone who spent a brief period (in his admittedly misguided youth) as a fortune-teller and ‘psychic’, and as a lifelong student of cons, scams and swindles, he is well qualified to talk about the current crop of mediums and the media bias towards their promotion. He would like to take the precaution of prefacing his entire talk with the word ‘allegedly’.
A mild rant about TV mediums and the similarity to their predecessors of a century ago.
2.00 RICHARD WISEMAN
Parnormality
Richard Wiseman is the Professor for the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He has been active in the skeptical movement for many a year, does Twitter stuff, has recently written ‘Paranormality: Why we see what isn’t there’, and likes dogs.
Do ghosts really exist? What actually happens at seances? How do you go about testing mediums? Why do these sorts of paragraphs often involve a long list of questions? All of this and more will be revealed in an exciting talk that will dig deep into the psychology of belief. Free packet of peanuts for the best question.
3.00 IAN ROWLAND
Title: You Are The Magic
Ian Rowland is a writer and entertainer with an interest in various aspects
of how the mind works or sometimes doesn’t. He taught FBI agents how to be
persuasive, and taught Derren Brown how to read fortunes. In America, in
front of 10 million TV viewers, he proved that he could talk to dead people
- or at least fake it well enough to convince complete strangers. He knows
an awful lot about cold reading (look it up), but tries not to drone on
about it at parties. He is good at drinking tea and waiting for interesting
invitations to come his way.
Ian will perform a few miracles, just because he can and it’s fun, while
explaining the truth about psychic powers, miraculous gifts and the
afterlife. He will also demonstrate that you are just a little bit more
magical and miraculous than you may realise.
4.00 END
Posted by Stephen Law on July 26, 2011
CFI UK and SPES present
CONSPIRACY THEORY DAY
Sunday 25th September 2011
9/11, alien visitation, Jewish cabals and global warming – why are people drawn to conspiracy theories, and what holds them captive? What are the warning signs of a dodgy conspiracy theory? What conspiracy theories are actually credible, and why? Spend an entertaining and informative day with some if the world’s leading experts.
PROGRAMME
10.30 Registration
10.45-11.55 Chris French and Robert Brotherton
“Conspiracy Minded: The Psychology of Belief in Conspiracy Theories”
12.00- 1.10 Karen Douglas
“A Social Psychological Perspective On Conspiracy Theories”
2.00-3.10 David Aaronovitch
“Do Conspiracy Theories Have Common Characteristics Over Time And Space?”
3.10-4.10 Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller
“Truth And The Net”
4.10 End
EVENT DETAILS
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL.
Cost £10. Booking in advance available at the BHA website FROM JULY 25TH. Remaining tickets will be for sale on the door.
Organized by Stephen Law, Provost CFI UK. Media can contact Stephen on [email protected]
Posted by Stephen Law on March 31, 2011
MAJOR EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Tuesday 12 April 2011, 7:30pm (doors open at 7:00pm)
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
WHO SAYS SCIENCE HAS NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT MORALITY?
with Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins
TICKETS ON SALE FROM 10 a.m. FRIDAY 1 APRIL at BHA website here.
In his new book ‘The Moral Landscape’, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris challenges the commonly held view that science has nothing to say about moral issues and that religion is the best authority on meaning, values and a good life. For Sam, the goal of ‘The Moral Landscape’ is to begin a conversation about how moral truth can be understood in terms of science. Richard Dawkins is known for his persistence in demanding a rational and scientific approach to solving life’s most fundamental questions wherever and whenever it can be applied. So, can science help us to determine how we should live in the 21st century?
Join us as these two pinnacles of rationalist thought discuss how the science of morality might be formulated and applied to human well-being.
This, **the first ever appearance of Sam and Richard together in public**, will be followed by a book signing. You can buy copies of books by Sam and Richard at the Sheldonian after the event, or bring your favourites with you.
Tickets are £4. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 1st and can be purchased through the BHA website. Net proceeds from the event will be donated to Amnesty International and Non-Believers Giving Aid.
This talk is brought to you by The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, UK, The British Humanist Association, The Centre for Inquiry, UK, Oxford Atheists, Humanists, and Secularists, and Project Reason.
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