Welcome to the god-free of Derbyshire

We are secularists and humanists - the Aims and beliefs menu will tell you more.

We are god-free rational freethinkers with no need for god or religion. We are atheists or agnostics.

Belief in god continues to fall

Page 190 of the latest "Social Trends 2008" from the Office of National Statistics shows that belief in god continues to plummet in the UK.

The tendency of most polls is to exaggerate religiosity - because people don't like to admit that they don't believe or they think they are C of E because that's what one is expected to say. The C of E has always been the fall-back position for the religiously disinterested.

None-the-less, only 38% of those asked said that they believed in god - and church membership continues to drop like a stone. There are exceptions - immigrants from Poland etc. have given a temporary boost to the Catholic Church and the "war on terror" continues to recruit for Islam.

Full details may be found here.

Throwing the baby out with the bath water

"Look how terrible and immoral society has become now that religion is losing its influence!"

1. This exposes an astounding lack of historical knowledge about religion, religious leaders and churches - many of whom have set some pretty disgusting moral examples over the last couple of thousand years.
2. If you insist on associating religion with morality, it is not surprising that the rules of your holy books are thrown out when people eventually reject god, religion and superstition. Common moral values need to be agreed and taught totally independently of the various and conflicting god-given rules of various religions.

A definition and a question

Definition:: "Bigot: one who holds a point of view irrespective of reason and without investigating evidence of its truth or falsehood."

Question: "do religious people investigate different religions before making their choice of which one to follow, or do they grab the first one that comes their way - via family, peer group and community?"

Unfortunately the answer is the latter. Most religious people do not even understand the background controversies of their own religion, let alone investigate the beliefs of others. For example, how many Christians have explored the evidence, or lack of it, for the historical existence of Jesus? How many Muslims have explored the conflicting nature and interpretations of many of the hadiths?

We are not saying that all religious people are bigots - some of them have investigated other religions before making their choice.

It is interesting to hear a Christian Vicar say quite openly: "I am an atheist when it comes to Islam - I simply do not believe in the Islamic god." or an Immam say that "Christians are wrong and they will go to hell." (Note: we have never met a C of E vicar who does not admit to having doubts - we have never met an Immam who admits to any doubts.)

If we had a pound for every time we hear: "you do not need to investigate further when you have the truth" we would be millionaires! There is a certain cocky arrogance about the religious when they get like this - it must be the bigotry that does it.

It is not surprising that most "inter-faith dialogue" consists of cosy chats over tea and biscuits rather than discussions of theological differences.

Have we investigated religions? You bet! The average active non-believer is a great reader - our bookshelves groan under the weight of religious books and histories of what has been done in the name of religion! Of course we investigate - after all, we are fascinated as to why some people feel a need for a god and religion while we have no such need.

Setting the record straight - lies and half-truths told by religious leaders

Religious leaders are great ones for using emotive language to whip up emotional reactions. Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster, in his latest outburst concerning the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill used words like "Frankenstein" and "monster" to describe groups of cells. "Putting the fear of god into them" comes naturally to religious leaders - a task made easier by the gutter press (Daily Mail, Express etc.) whose interests are best served by a society based on fear. The Catholic Church has a long history of rational argument (!) - if it had its way we would still be living on a flat earth with the sun going round it and with no advances in medicine, no contraceptives, no organ transplants and certainly no embryo research. 75,000 women die and 2.5 million are seriously injured each year from back street abortions thanks to the Catholic Church. Catholics seem to forget that they are free not to take advantage of any medical break-throughs that may follow from embryo research - but they have no right to dictate what the rest of us do. Question: how come Catholic families are so small in England? It couldn't be that English Catholics are selective about which parts of the Church's teachings they follow could it? If only Catholics in the third world had the same selective freedom! Tom Wright, C of E Bishop of Durham, says that "utopian secularism ... believes that we have the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people..." Cormac and Tom are being rather wayward with their use of language - perhaps they need to sit down with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. Some information about us for religious readers

An excellent rant!

• We are a peaceful lot - no one has ever gone to war in the name of "atheism" (They would have a job since there is no such ideology as "atheism" - atheists don't need a god but they don't share a common ideology!)

  The emotive "Stalin was an atheist and look what he did." is as silly as saying "Hitler was a Catholic and look what he did after 2,000 years of violent Christian anti-semitism." Totalitarians are not motivated by their religious beliefs/non-beliefs - though they may find them useful when persuading people to follow them. (Note: Stalin was the son of an abusive father and was trained in a Russian Orthodox seminary which may be where he derived his hatred for organised religion.)

• We don't go round killing "babies" - we can quote hundreds of religion-inspired wars throughout history where entire cities and populations: men, women and children, were wiped out in the name of god. Christianity has by far the highest historical body count, followed by Islam - the others trail a long way behind.

  We try our best to use words carefully - a "baby" is born, a "foetus" is in the womb. To us life begins with the brain activity that creates consciousness - and we are happy to accept abortion up the point where a neonate has an excellent chance of a long and healthy life outside the womb.

• We do not go round killing old people - some of us are quite old ourselves! Again, we can quote hundreds of examples of the old being slaughtered (see, we can also use emotive language!) in the name of religion.

  We believe that everyone has the right to a dignified death. Everyone should have the choice of ending their own life if they consider that their pain and suffering is just too great to carry on.

• We are not out to end religion. A secular society is the only one that guarantees freedom of belief to the religious and the non-religious. It is the opposite of a religious state which guarantees oppression in the name of writings in religious books.

  We don't hate god - you can't hate something that does not exist! We don't hate religious people. In fact, we don't "hate" anything or anyone. We judge people by what they do not by what they say and if people do bad things in the name of religion we condemn them for it. History shows that a lot of bad things have been done in the name of religion - and they continue to be done - count the bodies!

  We happen to think that religion is superstitious nonsense - but we fully understand that it provides the support and comfort needed by some people - and we would not dream of trying to take that away from them.

  We understand that some religious people feel threatened by what they see as "the relentless march of secularism". Perhaps they forget that a very large proportion of religious people are secularists - they believe that religions can stand on their own feet without the protection and support of the state.

• We treat people as equals - all of them - regardless of their gender, sexuality, age, religion, colour, disability etc. We don't peer into people's bedrooms and tell them how to behave, nor do we discriminate against people, or treat half the world's population as second class citizens, simply because "that's what it says in our holy book."
• We don't have holy books, churches, leaders, scholars, gurus, priest, men-in-frocks or any of the rituals that go with religion - we are each capable of standing on our own two feet and living by our own personal moral code - which we consider to be better than the moral codes claimed by religions. Note: we do believe in absolute morality.
• We do not subscribe to a "do what you like" philosophy of life. We promote a society which has fair and just laws which are open to criticism but which we all subscribe to as long as they do not unfairly limit the freedom of individuals or permit any person or group to cause harm to others.
• We are not responsible for global warming, we are not the cause of consumerist greed and social disorder. Hymn-singing Christian Margaret ("greed is good", "there is not such thing as society") Thatcher must carry a large part of the blame on that one. The Catholic Church (with a few honourable liberation-theologist exceptions) has a long and consistent history of supporting the forces of repression against the people of many third world countries. The USA has always been able to rely on Catholic support for consumerist capitalism and support for American corporations controlling the natural resources of the third world.
• We did not start illegal wars against Afghanistan or Iraq - Catholic Blair and Christian-fundamentalist Bush did that in opposition to Muslim-fundamentalist Osama ("hang all gays") Bin Laden.

The facts in England and Wales

References

1. Social Trends 2008

2. Harris and ICM polls, December, 2006
3. "Teenage Religion and Values ", study of 13,000 pupils by Revs. Francis & Kay 1995

Please click here for reasons why young people reject religion.

Thoughts for the day

The real question is not "is there a god?" but "why do some people need god and religion while others don't?"

• Click here for "Women's rights crushed in new theocracy of Iraq."
• Click here for "The secular state is the only way to guarantee freedom for all."
• Click here for "Religion can be cured."

National organisations that we support

National Secular Society

British Humanist Association

Pope promotes social cohesion with attack on the god-free

Ex-Hitler Youth member, Joseph Alois Ratzinger (alias Pope Benedict XVI), has declared that atheism has "led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice."

Following on in the same tone adopted by Mr Ratzinger, we would point out that there is no such thing as atheism, that 200,000 women have had back-street abortions in Poland since the Catholic Church banned legal abortion, that over 100 women have died from back-street abortions in El Salvador for the same reason, that hundreds of thousands have died of AIDS because of the Catholic ban on contraception and that the Church continues to pay out billions in compensation for the abuse, rape, sodomy and buggery carried out by "celibate" Catholic priests.

We recommend that Joseph studies some history and comes up with the body count that has resulted from religious ideas. He might also like to explain why the Catholic Church provided escape routes for Nazi war criminals at the end of WWII, why the Church refused to ex-communication Hitler and why 2,000 years of anti-semitism promoted by the Christian church culminated in the murder of over 6 million Jews in Nazi Germany. ("Double Cross" by David Ranan)

The importance of words

Religious words are full of glib, value-laden assumptions - we need to make it crystal clear what they really mean. See the Glossary page for definitions.

Our use of key words:

• Not "god" but "a god", "your god", "their god" etc. There are over 800 different gods to choose from.
• Not "he" when referring to a god but "she". If challenged, ask "does your god have a penis?"

  The religious claim that "he" is neutral - a neutrality that has led to the oppression of women by male-dominated religions. Time to redress the balance.

• Not "religion" but "a religion", "your religion", "their religion" etc. There are over 100 different religions and sects in the world today.
• Not "faith" but "need". A god and a religion meet the personal psychological and social needs of some people.
• Not "faith school" but "segregated religious schools" - as in "the new apartheid of segregated religious schools".
• Not "atheist", "agnostic" or "non-believer" but "god-free" - this expresses a positive thing - freedom from the mental shackles of religion.

Secularist of the year, 2007

Richard Dawkins presented the £5,000 prize from the National Secular Society to Mina Ahadi from Iran but now living in Germany. Mina campaigns for the rights of women under Islamic law and she founded the International Committee against Stoning. Dawkins said: "I have long felt that the key to solving the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression would eventually be the awakening of women, and Mina Ahadi is a charismatic leader working to that end. The brutal suppression of the rights of women in many countries throughout the Islamic world is an obvious outrage. Slightly less obvious, but just as outrageous, is the supine willingness of western liberals to go along with it. It is worse than supine, it is patronising and condescending. Wife-beating is part of ‘their’ culture. Who are we to condemn their traditions? A religion so insecure as to mandate the death penalty for apostasy is not to be trifled with, and ex-Muslims who stand up and fight deserve our huge admiration and gratitude for their courage. Right out in front of this honourable band is Mina Ahadi. I salute her and congratulate her on this well-deserved award as Secularist of the Year."

Teachers, lecturers, colleges, student groups

We are very happy to speak to any group including: teachers who want to find out more about humanism, RE classes where an alternative perspective is required, primary schools that want an example of a non-religious assembly and debating societies. We have done talks and debates on a wide variety of topics from "Does god exist?" to "Is it possible to enjoy a good and happy life without god, religion or superstition?" We don't charge for our time or travel - we just ask for a glass for water! Please get in touch and we will be there. Ben Elton's new novel Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where what a person 'feels' and 'truly believes' is protected under the law, while what is rational, even provable is condemned as heresy. A world where to question ignorance and intolerance is to commit a Crime against Faith Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolerance combines with a confessional sex obsessed, self-centric culture to create a world where nakedness is modesty, ignorance is wisdom and privacy is a dangerous perversion It offers a chilling vision of what's to come? Or something rather closer to what we call reality?

Darkly comic and scary!

An Arab view of religion

And now for something completely different ...

Perhaps we should learn from religious extremists ...
Note for the intellectually challenged - this is an example of irony!