3.4.11
Programme for 2011
Sat 15 Jan 2011, 1.30 for 2pm
Bradford Central Library, Meeting Room 2
The Paradox of Religious Atheism
Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1.30 for 2pm
Religion, Transcendence and the Visual Arts
LEEDS: South Parade Baptist Church
Kirkstall Lane, Headingley LS6 3LS
Sat 24 Sep 2011
Excursion to the Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield
Details tba
Sat 26 Nov 2011, 1.30 for 2pm
Religion, Drama and Poetry
South Parade Baptist Church (The Parlour Room)
Kirkstall Lane, Headingley LS6 3LS
Bradford Central Library, Meeting Room 2
The Paradox of Religious Atheism
Introduced by Ken Smith, former SOF Trustee and Chaplain, Whitgift School
Sat 9 Apr 2011, 1.30 for 2pm
Religion, Transcendence and the Visual Arts
LEEDS: South Parade Baptist Church
Kirkstall Lane, Headingley LS6 3LS
Sat 2 July 2011, 1.30 for 2pm
Books that Matter - Members' Choices
SETTLE: Quaker Meeting House, Kirkgate, Settle, N. Yorks BD24 9DX
Sat 24 Sep 2011
Excursion to the Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield
Details tba
Sat 26 Nov 2011, 1.30 for 2pm
Religion, Drama and Poetry
South Parade Baptist Church (The Parlour Room)
Kirkstall Lane, Headingley LS6 3LS
10.3.11
SoF at Leeds Reason Week 2011
We had a good turn-out of SoF people at the 2011 Leeds Reason Week Panel on 'Religion as a Human Creation' (Monday 7th March). Two of us were panellists.
We were primed to defend the non-realist view of religion, along with the positive aspects of religious life. But a little surprisingly it turned out that these were well understood and even largely accepted by the atheist and humanist audience. Rather, their fire-power was directed at aspects of religion that we (SoF) do not endorse, but perhaps after this encounter should pay more attention to. These were:
faith schools (seen as socially divisive)*
indoctrination of children into literalist beliefs; also fear and guilt before a supposed all-seeing and punitive deity
social exclusion, eg of homosexuals
failure to educate congregations out of literalist and fundamentalist attitudes
blocking of medical advances, eg stem cell research
taking public funds for religious institutions which claim exemption for practices outlawed for the rest of the population (eg gender discrimination)
While this would be a shift of focus for us (tackling the negatives, rather than, as we have tended to do, promoting the positives), what was revealed was an unexpected target shift on the part of the atheists and humanists. Their campaigns target beliefs, rather than practices, but it became clear to us during this session that it is practices that they really object to.
* We have already had a session on this, from Allan Hayes.
19.12.10
'Christmas is for life, not just for Christmas' Bishop Nick Baines
Nick Baines, 'controversial blogging bishop' has just been named as the next Bishop of Bradford. I have to confess that I had never heard of him before, but a little research reveals that his Christmas book last year 'Why Wish You a Merry Christmas?' raised a storm because it seemed to criticise Christmas Carols.
Naturally, the book was wilfully misconstrued by the media, though some of his remarks do sound non-realist: “I always find it a slightly bizarre sight when I see parents and grandparents at a nativity play singing Away In A Manger as if it actually related to reality.” This, along with his quip about Christmas being for life, not just for Christmas, suggest he may be someone for SOF people in Yorkshire to watch.
There is a podcast (No.13, Nov 2009)about his Christmas book, a newspaper article, and of course his famous blog. There is also quite a bit of comment about him on the internet if you care to look, for example. He also has an entry in Wikipedia.
Naturally, the book was wilfully misconstrued by the media, though some of his remarks do sound non-realist: “I always find it a slightly bizarre sight when I see parents and grandparents at a nativity play singing Away In A Manger as if it actually related to reality.” This, along with his quip about Christmas being for life, not just for Christmas, suggest he may be someone for SOF people in Yorkshire to watch.
There is a podcast (No.13, Nov 2009)about his Christmas book, a newspaper article, and of course his famous blog. There is also quite a bit of comment about him on the internet if you care to look, for example. He also has an entry in Wikipedia.
12.10.10
Opinion Piece October 2010
Small and Imperfectly formed - but still in the Spirit.
A personal view of the Sea of Faith
The recent Papal visit was a perhaps overdue reminder that there are still many people with an attachment to Christianity in this country. Religion rarely features in the news unless there is scandal, controversy or conflict to report. It is true that attendance at the mainstream churches continues to decline steadily, but there are new Christian organisations springing up everywhere - witness the Abundant Life megachurch in Bradford, the Aire Valley Community Church, and Sheffield's Centre for Radical Christianity, among many others in Yorkshire.
Possibly more suprising is the existence of a small national group the Sea of Faith (now officially called just by its initials 'SOF'), with its own Yorkshire Network. Despite its original name, this is a group whose mission is 'exploring religion as a human creation'. Distinct from atheists and humanists, SOF people seek to conserve what is valuable in religion, while moving on from what they see as irrationality, naive superstition, complacent conservatism and just plain injustices in the traditional (and some of the new) religions.
What is left of value, then? SOF meetings focus on the unavoidable reality that philosophy, the arts, and even science all grew out of religion. Obviously these babies are not being thrown out with the bathwater of religion, but all of them have a spiritual aspect which it is at least impoverishing, and at most tragic, to deny. Science, and nowadays even philosophy, confine themselves to asking small-scale 'How?' questions, and have ceased to ask the big questions such as 'Why?' This practical, no-nonsense approach has been a fruitful one, by cutting out questions that were incoherent or impossible to answer. But it has borne many bitter fruits as well.
Modern philosophy, and especially the social sciences and psychology have become narrow, technical and arid. There are individuals who try to break out of the frame, sometimes successfully, but they are always seen as mavericks. The consequences of science and technology conducted without a wider humane vision have global impacts in weapons development, environmental damage, irresponsible methods of food production and processing, and the power of drugs companies to influence national health policies.
Only the arts have shamelessly kept alive their original link with spirituality, and where would we be without the drama, images and music that infuse our everyday life, even if only in the mass media, fashion, pop music and advertising? The energy, vigour and zest for life that the arts, and especially the popular arts express stem from the very opposite of the 'no-nonsense' attitude.
Dangerously, the arts all depend on our society's deliberate acceptance and cultivation of them, calling for investment, education and training. Luckily, the arts also depend on people's natural immediate responses to colour, shape, pattern, movement, music, drama, fantasy and imagination, and these responses are not likely to wither away any time soon. Business people may scoff at their 'creatives', yet must acknowledge the power of advertising that makes use of these natural responses.
Drama, fantasy and imagination are the ingredients, and expression, of the all-important questions of morality (questions about how we should live) that, in some form or other, exercise everyone. Outside the churches, we are faced with paradoxes like outright rejection of the idea of God (too fantastical), yet interest in the patent fictions of film, television drama and novels. Even Santa Claus rides out stronger every year.
These are the fascinating puzzles about modern spirituality that SOF seeks to explore - not hoping to promote Santa (he hardly needs it), but trying to understand the underlying contradictions of modern life that are dissolving the traditional expressions of spirituality.
Carol Sherrard (Yorkshire Network contact)
A personal view of the Sea of Faith
The recent Papal visit was a perhaps overdue reminder that there are still many people with an attachment to Christianity in this country. Religion rarely features in the news unless there is scandal, controversy or conflict to report. It is true that attendance at the mainstream churches continues to decline steadily, but there are new Christian organisations springing up everywhere - witness the Abundant Life megachurch in Bradford, the Aire Valley Community Church, and Sheffield's Centre for Radical Christianity, among many others in Yorkshire.
Possibly more suprising is the existence of a small national group the Sea of Faith (now officially called just by its initials 'SOF'), with its own Yorkshire Network. Despite its original name, this is a group whose mission is 'exploring religion as a human creation'. Distinct from atheists and humanists, SOF people seek to conserve what is valuable in religion, while moving on from what they see as irrationality, naive superstition, complacent conservatism and just plain injustices in the traditional (and some of the new) religions.
What is left of value, then? SOF meetings focus on the unavoidable reality that philosophy, the arts, and even science all grew out of religion. Obviously these babies are not being thrown out with the bathwater of religion, but all of them have a spiritual aspect which it is at least impoverishing, and at most tragic, to deny. Science, and nowadays even philosophy, confine themselves to asking small-scale 'How?' questions, and have ceased to ask the big questions such as 'Why?' This practical, no-nonsense approach has been a fruitful one, by cutting out questions that were incoherent or impossible to answer. But it has borne many bitter fruits as well.
Modern philosophy, and especially the social sciences and psychology have become narrow, technical and arid. There are individuals who try to break out of the frame, sometimes successfully, but they are always seen as mavericks. The consequences of science and technology conducted without a wider humane vision have global impacts in weapons development, environmental damage, irresponsible methods of food production and processing, and the power of drugs companies to influence national health policies.
Only the arts have shamelessly kept alive their original link with spirituality, and where would we be without the drama, images and music that infuse our everyday life, even if only in the mass media, fashion, pop music and advertising? The energy, vigour and zest for life that the arts, and especially the popular arts express stem from the very opposite of the 'no-nonsense' attitude.
Dangerously, the arts all depend on our society's deliberate acceptance and cultivation of them, calling for investment, education and training. Luckily, the arts also depend on people's natural immediate responses to colour, shape, pattern, movement, music, drama, fantasy and imagination, and these responses are not likely to wither away any time soon. Business people may scoff at their 'creatives', yet must acknowledge the power of advertising that makes use of these natural responses.
Drama, fantasy and imagination are the ingredients, and expression, of the all-important questions of morality (questions about how we should live) that, in some form or other, exercise everyone. Outside the churches, we are faced with paradoxes like outright rejection of the idea of God (too fantastical), yet interest in the patent fictions of film, television drama and novels. Even Santa Claus rides out stronger every year.
These are the fascinating puzzles about modern spirituality that SOF seeks to explore - not hoping to promote Santa (he hardly needs it), but trying to understand the underlying contradictions of modern life that are dissolving the traditional expressions of spirituality.
Carol Sherrard (Yorkshire Network contact)
9.9.10
Meeting in Leeds 25th Sept 2010
Anna Sutcliffe will introduce discussion on 'The Family', and what light Sea of Faith's view - of religion as a human creation - can shed on this increasingly controversial and contested way of living.
The venue is in Leeds - South Parade Baptist Church (Greenhouse Room), on Kirkstall Lane, Headingley LS6 3LS. The church is to the left off Headingley Lane/Otley Rd as you are heading out of Leeds, standing at the junction of Kirkstall Lane and Cardigan Road. There is parking in the roads nearby, or at the nearby Arndale centre on Otley Road (the continuation of Headlingley Lane). There are frequent buses up Headingley Lane from the rail and bus station.
As usual, the venue will be open from 1.30pm for a 2pm start, with hot drinks available. Please feel free to bring sandwiches and join us for lunch before the 2pm start. (If this will be your first visit, it would be helpful if you could let us know on sofn.yorks@gmail.com)
The venue is in Leeds - South Parade Baptist Church (Greenhouse Room), on Kirkstall Lane, Headingley LS6 3LS. The church is to the left off Headingley Lane/Otley Rd as you are heading out of Leeds, standing at the junction of Kirkstall Lane and Cardigan Road. There is parking in the roads nearby, or at the nearby Arndale centre on Otley Road (the continuation of Headlingley Lane). There are frequent buses up Headingley Lane from the rail and bus station.
As usual, the venue will be open from 1.30pm for a 2pm start, with hot drinks available. Please feel free to bring sandwiches and join us for lunch before the 2pm start. (If this will be your first visit, it would be helpful if you could let us know on sofn.yorks@gmail.com)
17.5.10
Meeting in Huddersfield 5th June 2010
Peter Wrigley provided this synopsis:
All political parties, with the possible exception of the Greens, seem to regard continued economic growth as a high priority, and most commentators seem to regard the achievement of continued economic growth as a measure of a government's success.
However, whether or not continued growth is sustainable or even desirable is being increasingly questioned by some economists and other academics. Peter Wrigley, a retired teacher of economics, will put and examine critically the case for prosperity without growth.
(Peter Wrigley has a blog at keynesianliberal.blogspot.com)
The venue is the Albert Hotel, 36 Victoria Lane, Town Centre, Huddersfield HD1 2QF. We have booked the back room, from where we can buy drinks but also bring our own food if people wish to join us with their packed lunches from 1.30pm.
There is a car park nearby, under the Kingsgate Shopping Centre.
The Steady State Economy
All political parties, with the possible exception of the Greens, seem to regard continued economic growth as a high priority, and most commentators seem to regard the achievement of continued economic growth as a measure of a government's success.
However, whether or not continued growth is sustainable or even desirable is being increasingly questioned by some economists and other academics. Peter Wrigley, a retired teacher of economics, will put and examine critically the case for prosperity without growth.
(Peter Wrigley has a blog at keynesianliberal.blogspot.com)
The venue is the Albert Hotel, 36 Victoria Lane, Town Centre, Huddersfield HD1 2QF. We have booked the back room, from where we can buy drinks but also bring our own food if people wish to join us with their packed lunches from 1.30pm.
There is a car park nearby, under the Kingsgate Shopping Centre.
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