I was unable to attend Humanists UK's conference in Cardiff earlier this year and so I jumped at the chance to attend the American Humanist Association’s 83rd Annual Conference held online. It was good to make contact with the new Executive Director of AHA, Fish Stark, and to find out how he acquired such an unusual name. You’ll find the explanation inside this month’s lively issue.
Our main theme this month, “Why do we exist?”, has generated a wonderful variety of responses. Emeritus Professor Richard Norman brings philosophical rigour and precision to bear on the question, while Maggie Hall takes us on a whistle-stop tour of religious responses to it. Anthony Lewis has tackled it from a philosophical and scientific point of view, while John Coss and John Hubbard have subtly changed the question to “How are we to live?” and “How might we be?” Humanist celebrant Kate Domaille concludes that we exist to live good lives and to foster harmony, happiness and joy as best we can. Aaron takes a more futuristic perspective and asks whether an alien spacecraft, passing by in ten thousand years' time, will be able to say that we contributed something positive to our galaxy. Our poets, David Seddon and John Hubbard, have also contributed thoughtful and imaginative responses to our chosen theme.
Sophy Robinson, a former trustee of Humanists UK, is planning to join our editorial team and this month she has contributed an informative article on longevity. Chris Highland from North Carolina has also sent in a thought-provoking piece on whether humanism can be conceptualised as a device for fostering integration and interconnectedness. And Mike Flood has asked whether humanism is fit for the 21st century with a response from me.
We hope you will share our articles on social media. You’re also free to republish them in your own humanist newsletters and elsewhere, as long as you credit the author and provide a link to Humanistically Speaking. For more details, refer to our Creative Commons licence by following the links at the bottom of every page.
At our Annual General Meeting in July, we took the decision to reduce our output from ten issues per year to six. We remain absolutely committed to producing a great magazine which gives an independent voice to humanists and freethinkers around the world, but as volunteers leading busy lives we have to pace ourselves! So we'll be back in December. If you’d like to contribute an article or news report, do get in touch. And do please read Aaron's article If you’re a humanist, why not write for us? in this issue.
Thank you for your encouragement, friendship and support.
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