Last week I had a great freethought tour. I visited the birthplace of the great American free thinker, anti slavery activist, humanist and feminist Robert Green Ingersoll on Dresden, and the house of the great American free thinker, anti slavery activist, feminist and the leader of suffrage movement Susan B. Anthony in Rochester.
I am going to attend World Humanist Congress 2014 in Oxford. I will get the opportunity to meet humanist scientists, philosophers, writers, intellectuals I admire so much.
I am so excited!
That was last year.
We celebrated universal citizenship this year inside and outside of the Paris city hall.
People were invited to make their universal citizenship passports.
They made passports and then they put their passports on the white wall in front the city hall.
There should be no national boundary. World belongs to everybody. Everybody should have freedom of movement, freedom of migration and settlement. Nobody should suffer from inequalities and injustices. Nobody should be oppressed because of his or her gender, nationality, ethnicity, language, colour, ideology, age. It is still a dream. But we are working to make our dream come true.
A short Humanist animation written & produced by the British Humanist Association about how we learn what’s true through the use of evidence and science.
I just love these videos. Hope British Humanists will continue producing more videos like these and help to eradicate ignorance.
You are old, you are retired, you are lonely, you are depressed, you are derailed, you want to get rid of alcohol addiction, drug addiction, porn addiction, you are bedridden or in jail – people will advise you to do some irrational stuff like reading holy books, praying to god etc. but rational people do not get so easily convinced with irrationality.
Now, non religious Alcoholics Anonymous meetings began. Isn’t it fantastic! Let’s see what happened to Glenn.
Glenn, a painter living in Manhattan, When he first went to an A.A. meeting 27 years ago, he found himself confronted by religious language and ritual that he considered anathema. Desperate to stop drinking, he tried to fit in.
“They had this fake-it-till-you-make-it attitude,” recalled Glenn, “This feeling that the religion will catch up with you. It worked in the sense that I got sober. But I got weary of it. It felt mindless.”
Soon after resuming A.A., though, he heard about a meeting designed for atheists. Though he found that group dogmatic in its own way — more concerned with criticizing religion than with reinforcing sobriety–he subsequently discovered a meeting for humanists and freethinkers.
In its “fellowship of concerned, loving people,” he said, he found a secular version of the “Higher Power” to which A.A. literature refers. Humanist A.A. groups also have drafted their own nontheistic versions of the 12 steps. Instead of needing divine assistance for recovery, for example, one step states that “we needed strengths beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity. By now, Glenn has sponsored seven humanists into A.A. He regularly attends three secular A.A. meetings each week.
People, sane or insane, can become addicted to different things. But secular or non-religious people do not require divine assistance for recovery. Ideas of rationalism and humanism are enough to encourage people in order to get rid of addiction and live life to the fullest, because we only get one life to live and obviously there is no afterlife!
I attended two atheist-humanist conferences in last two months. One was in Kamloops, Canada and another was in Dublin, Ireland.
Canada conference’s topic was Imagine no religion.
You can listen to almost everyone here.
Ireland conference’s topic was Empowering women through secularism. Here you will get to listen to all great speakers.
It was a privilege to meet great scientists, humanists, and great thinkers of our time in both conferences. We do not waste our time by repeating there-is-no-god, because we all are pretty sure that there is no god. Rather we talk about science, evolution, education, secularism, women’s rights, rights of LGBTQ and many other important issues. Our aim is to make people better people and to make the world a better place. Atheism alone can not do everything.
When we are not on the stage, we do not forget to have some good time for ourselves.
Here we are:
![IMG_1127[1]](https://i2.wp.com/freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/files/2013/07/IMG_11271.jpg?ssl=1)
Daniel Dennette, PZ Myers, Ophelia Benson, Sean Faircloth, Michael Nugent, Ann Brusseel, Jane Donnelly, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Nina Sankari, Maryam Namazie, me and others.
Next time you should try not to miss great conferences on atheism, secularism, feminism, and humanism.
I received a Universal Citizenship Passport yesterday. The organizers seriously issued passports for 100 people . A milestone was achieved yesterday with the official launch of the Organisation for Universal Citizenship at UNESCO in Paris and the official handover of passports to people. I am grateful to Emmaüs International, France Libertés and Mouvement Utopia for making my dream of one world and one passport come true.
Passport number. Surname. First name. Date of birth. Date of issue. That’s all. No mention of birthplace, country of birth, gender, religion, colour, country.
The passport says:
The states that recognise the validity of the Universal Citizenship Passport allow holders to cross their borders and settle freely in their territory without a visa.
In order to be valid, every Universal Citizenship Passport must be countersigned by the official representative of the relevant state and by the Organisation for Universal Citizenship.This passport is a travel document and does not serve as an identity document.
The world is a shared heritage: no-one chooses the place, time or circumstances, political, economic or environmental, of their birth.
Universal Citizenship has its roots in the history of the struggle for the recognition of human rights.
It is based on major texts such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and more recently World Charter for Migrants. As an extension of these documents, this Manifesto is contributing to the struggle to secure their application.
Universal Citizenship is based on freedom of movement and settlement anywhere in the world for all individuals, irrespective of their nationality.The signatories to this Manifesto are committed to considering Universal Citizenship as a fundamental value whose implementation they will defend, alongside with following political goals.
*Abolishing policies aimed at restricting people’s freedom of movement and settlement, with particular reference to visas.
*No migrant may be classed as illegal.
*Unconditional access for migrants to the rights in force in the host country, in the areas of education, social protection, and more especially health-care and employment.
*Recognition of the right to asylum is a fundamental and inalienable right.Ecuador is the first country which is going to recognise Universal Citizenship Passport. Other countries should think about recognising it. If humans move forward, there will be no national border to restrict movement of humans. Universal Passport may look like a fiction today, but one day it will definitely be reality.
The bearded man standing beside me is Adolfo Kaminsky. He started forging documents after escaping deportation to a Nazi death camp. He went on to become one of the world’s best forgers, creating documents that saved the lives of Jews, spies and freedom fighters. Adolfo Kaminsky has received Universal Passport. Many other extra-ordinary people and victims of repressive migration policy have also received Universal Passport.
Isn’t it wonderful?
I am going to give you a very good news. The news is, humanist weddings have become increasingly popular in Scotland, and they may outnumber Church of Scotland weddings if current trends continue. Bravo Scotland!
I have been to a few humanist wedding in Germany and Sweden in ’90s. If I were not against marriage, I would have chosen to have a humanist wedding for myself. I personally know some officiants in Europe who perform secular humanist celebrancy services for weddings, funerals, child naming, confirmation, coming of age ceremonies and other rituals. People in every country should have options to have humanist celebrations for social events.
Humanists want no religious celebrations. ‘Humanists believe that human experience and rational thinking provide the only source of both knowledge and a moral code to live by. They reject the idea of knowledge ‘revealed’ to human beings by gods, or in special books. Most humanists think science provides the only reliable source of knowledge about the universe. And people can live ethical and fulfilling lives without religious beliefs.’
The fundamentals of modern Humanism are:
1. Humanism is ethical. It affirms the worth, dignity and autonomy of the individual and the right of every human being to the greatest possible freedom compatible with the rights of others. Humanists have a duty of care to all of humanity including future generations. Humanists believe that morality is an intrinsic part of human nature based on understanding and a concern for others, needing no external sanction.
2. Humanism is rational. It seeks to use science creatively, not destructively. Humanists believe that the solutions to the world’s problems lie in human thought and action rather than divine intervention. Humanism advocates the application of the methods of science and free inquiry to the problems of human welfare. But Humanists also believe that the application of science and technology must be tempered by human values. Science gives us the means but human values must propose the ends.
3. Humanism supports democracy and human rights. Humanism aims at the fullest possible development of every human being. It holds that democracy and human development are matters of right. The principles of democracy and human rights can be applied to many human relationships and are not restricted to methods of government.
4. Humanism insists that personal liberty must be combined with social responsibility. Humanism ventures to build a world on the idea of the free person responsible to society, and recognizes our dependence on and responsibility for the natural world. Humanism is undogmatic, imposing no creed upon its adherents. It is thus committed to education free from indoctrination.
5. Humanism is a response to the widespread demand for an alternative to dogmatic religion. The world’s major religions claim to be based on revelations fixed for all time, and many seek to impose their world-views on all of humanity. Humanism recognizes that reliable knowledge of the world and ourselves arises through a continuing process. of observation, evaluation and revision.
6. Humanism values artistic creativity and imagination and recognizes the transforming power of art. Humanism affirms the importance of literature, music, and the visual and performing arts for personal development and fulfillment.
7. Humanism is a life stance aiming at the maximum possible fulfillment through the cultivation of ethical and creative living and offers an ethical and rational means of addressing the challenges of our times. Humanism can be a way of life for everyone everywhere.
Atheists, secularists, and humanists should reject religious ceremonies for their weddings, funerals, confirmations etc. Humanist ceremonies are much better, more rational, more meaningful and more beautiful than religious ceremonies.
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I have sympathy neither for Hamas nor for Israeli government. They both brutally kill people. I cried for six million innocent Jews who were tortured and killed by Nazi Germany. I cry for innocent Palestinians who get killed by Israel.
