The O Project on hold

Just to let you know that the O Project has be on hold for a while because of compter and time problems but I hope to be back in some form in the Autumn.

Thanks

Hamish

World Blood Donor Day

14 June is World Blood Donor Day: a special day dedicated to celebrating and thanking voluntary non-remunerated blood donors. The O Project supports blood donation as part of its Life after Death initiative.

 

 

 

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21 March. On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid “pass laws”. Proclaiming the Day in 1966, the General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.HMD aims to commemorate, to educate and to prompt action in the UK. HMD commemorates the lives of those lost in the Holocaust; as a result of Nazi persecution and in more recent genocides. It educates about the Holocaust and it lessons for the present day. It prompts action in the UK highlighting the continuing dangers of racism, anti-semitism and all forms of discrimination.

The tragedies of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur show that the international community, and each of us as citizens, has not truly understood the lessons of the Holocaust.

Ultimately the aim of HMD is to motivate people individually and collectively, to ensure that the horrendous crimes, racism and victimisation committed during the Holocaust and more recent genocides are neither forgotten nor repeated, whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

I will blogging about the Holocaust and humanism in the coming week.

International Human Solidarity Day

International Human Solidarity Day was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2005 as an initiative in the fight against poverty. It is:

• A day to celebrate our unity in diversity
• A day to remind governments to respect their commitments to international agreements
• A day to raise public awareness of the importance of solidarity
• A day to encourage debate on the ways to promote solidarity for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals including poverty eradication
• A day of action to encourage new initiatives for poverty eradication

Volunteering at Christmas

“This year, why not forego the turkey, switch off the TV and do something completely different - such as volunteering? There are dozens of charities desperate for people to lend a helping hand over the festive season and volunteering attracts people from all walks of life who have at least one thing in common - they’re sick of Christmas….” Read more on the Guardian website

If you’re a humanist planning to volunteer this Christmas, don’t forget to email the O Project at info@oproject.co.uk to be part of our 100 volunteers campaign.

Human Rights Day

10 December marks the date over fifty years ago when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed, with its vision of a world in which all might enjoy rights and freedoms without discrimination.

This historic document outlines the human rights standards the UN believes should be enforced by all nations - among them “the right to life, liberty and nationality, to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to work, to be educated, and to take part in government.”

That day in 1948 could arguably be called the birth of the modern human rights movement. With widely agreed-upon universal standards in place, “atrocities” could be more concretely labeled “violations” and could be more readily acted against. States that have embraced these standards have, for more than half a century, observed December 10 as Human Rights Day.

“Human rights are our common heritage and their realisation depends on the contributions that each and every one of us is willing to make, individually and collectively, now and in the future.”  

Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Scottish government determined to tackle shortage of organs for transplant

Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has said she wants to see Scotland move up the European organ donor league, in which it is performing badly, and is sympathetic to calls for a “presumed consent” system on the part of donors.

To see how you can become an organ donor see the O Project’s Life After Death campaign.

Research suggests generosity is in the genes

The BBC reports that an Israeli study involving 203 people revealed those who had certain variants of a gene called AVPR1a were on average nearly 50% more likely to give money away in an online task.

Lead researcher Dr Ariel Knafo said: “The experiment provided the first evidence, to my knowledge, for a relationship between DNA variability and real human altruism.”

The gene AVPR1a plays a key role in allowing a hormone called arginine vasopressin to act on brain cells. Vasopressin, in turn, has been implicated in social bonding.

Humanism included in online RE resources

The Guardian has a revieew of ICT resouces to support religious education classes.

It refers to REonline, “perhaps the best UK’s subject-centred site…run by the Christian foundation, Culham Institute”

“We’ve analysed the national framework and identified the key concepts,” says Tony Parfitt, who runs the site. “The framework now mentions 10 major faiths rather six, including Bahai, Humanism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism. We have 10 people from the faith traditions writing about them, and we give links to websites and supplementary reading. That’ll all be free with REonline.”

The inclusion of Humanism is welcomed especially in light of  calls from Ofsted for religious education to include non-religious beliefs. Although in reality it is pretty uneven and not particularly favourable, with humanism lumped in with ethical egoismfor example (but not say rights or utilitarianism) in one section. At least it’s a start though and hopefully more, better resources will grow in time. (I am involved in developing some myself so watch this space!)

100 volunteers

To mark International World Volunteer Day the O Project is launching 100 volunteers, an initiative to encourage 100 humanists to undertake new volunteering activity, because sometimes we need to stop arguing against the view that religious belief makes us better people and just prove that it is not the case.

Volunteering might be anything from spending a few hours gardening for your neighbour to committing to a long term role like a school governor. Think about what interests you, what skills you have to offer and, just as importantly, what skills you would like develop.

 

You can search for opportunities at www.do-it.org.uk.

 

Alternatively you might want to become a:

• School governor

• Magistrate

• Charity trustee

• Member of an Independent (Prison or Immigration centre) Monitoring Board

Once you have decided what you want to do email the O Project with a description of what you plan to do (or even better let us know what it’s like when you start)  and why.  I’ll then make a post here to encourage and inspire others. And yes, I’m on the look out for something myself too!

International World Volunteer Day

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the focal point for International Volunteer Day (IVD), and provides many resources on its World Volunteer Web to help both volunteers and voluntary organisations make the most of the Day.

Included is an IVD Tool-kit with resources organisations can use to customise their own IVD publications and media relations. Organisations are invited to report their IVD activities to the UNV via the World Volunteer Web, so that these activities can be promoted on the web to UNV’s global audience.

In its 2001 resolution, the United Nations General Assembly called on “governments, with the active support of the media, civil society and the private sector, to observe 5 December, IVD, and to include activities focused on following-up on the achievements of IYV”.

For more information visit the International Volunteer Day website.

Today is the International Day for Tolerance

Following the United Nations Year for Tolerance in 1995, the International Day for Tolerance was first observed on 16 November 1996.

Activities on the Day seek to promote recognition of the need for tolerance and understanding of the practise of tolerance. Building tolerance and trust in diverse communities is not done overnight, but takes time and commitment. Building tolerance requires access to education. Intolerance is often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the “other”, other cultures, religions and nations. Intolerance is also closely linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride: notions taught and learned at an early age. Therefore in coming years, we need to place greater emphasis on educating children about tolerance, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

But we should not forget that education does not end in school, that adults - firstly as individuals capable of committing acts of intolerance but more importantly in their capacity as parents, law-makers and law-enforcement officials - also need to be considered a priority target of our educational efforts.

An International Day for Tolerance can serve as an annual occasion for tolerance education as well as for wider social and political reflection and debate on local and global problems of intolerance. It is a moment to take stock of the progress made during the year and to propose fresh policies to close remaining gaps.

While the problem of intolerance is global, in the sense that it is on the increase in many parts of the world, the manifestations of intolerance usually take on local or national forms. Thus, in order to be effective, global norms against intolerance need to be combined with local, national and not least individual measures.

For more information visit the International Day for Tolerance website.

The complex picture of belief

Measuring the number of people who are religious is a bit of a tricky job. We can be pretty sure that there are people who don’t believe in God or myths or any supernatural business. We can also be sure that there also people who, say, believe in the literal truth of the Bible, that God has stuck around after the creation business and intervenes in our lives now and then. But what about the rest - the majority of people?

BHA launches secularism booklet

The New Humanist’s Paul Simms reports on the recent launch of the BHA’s secularism pamphlet.

The debate was opened by philosopher David Papineau…who put his case for a secular society as one intended not to cause differences, but rather to ensure that all citizens are free to practice their religion (or lack thereof) as they please, with the state favouring none. He presented secularism as a fair system, and one which encourages the loyalty of all groups to the state, since they have no need to fear that it is infringing on their religious autonomy.

Australian research finds religious youth more likely to volunteer

Andrew Singleton of Monash University, Australia previews some findings from The Spirit of Generation Y his study of spirituality among 1216 young Australians which revealed that religion is strongly associated with many positive life outcomes.

We found that one in five 13-to-24 year olds are actively religious, while about one in six could be described as atheists. The rest are religiously or spiritually disengaged but tend to either secular indifference or a superficial interest in the New Age.

…The religiously active are more likely to have positive civic attitudes, display high levels of social concern and be actively involved in community service. Active Christians, for example, do much more hours of volunteer work per month than secular youth. On a measure of the extent to which a person holds positive human values — favouring an ethical life, justice for all and having an orientation to the common good — we also found the religiously active to be streets ahead.

These findings make sense when we consider that regular attendees at religious services are encouraged to lead altruistic and ethical lives and given ample opportunities to partake in community service.

What about the young atheists? Most secular-minded youth are more self-oriented because there is no widely understood or shared ethical alternative paradigm on which to model their lives. Despite recent commentary about “generation Y” being community-minded, our evidence suggests that the prevailing ethos of the past decade — individualism and consumerism — afflicts young people in spades. And the secular humanists and rationalists do not seem to be putting up a credible, earthly alternative way of life.

Christian Today reports further that the study found 71% of Gen Y are not involved in any kind of community service in a typical month - whether fundraising, office work, signing a petition, collecting for a charity or coaching a sporting team. The study found that 77% of those whose spirituality type is Secular and 51% of Active Christians are not engaged in community activities in any way and do nothing for others apart from close family and friends.

However, a significant proportion of Gen Y go against that trend. They demonstrate strong community values and are actively involved in their communities in ways that assist the marginalised and disadvantaged. Some do hard-edge volunteer work that requires both initiative and courage. This type of service takes them outside their comfort zone and provides them with new skills and confidence.

Those who engage in voluntary work are likely to have a strong commitment to community values and be actively involved their faith. Active Christians and those New Agers who were brought up Christian demonstrate high levels of community involvement and altruism.

Spirituality type is also correlated with generosity: although 25% of Seculars and 8% of Active Christians give nothing to charity in a year, those Active Christians who do donate are generous in their giving.

If we are serious about our humanist values, we should look for all those who share them, and work with them.

Richard Norman argues in New Humanist magazine that new wave atheism is aggressively antagonistic to religion but it’s more fruitful to find common ground. He writes:

Humanism is more than atheism, it is about putting humanist beliefs and values into practice and trying to make the world a better place. And that is impossible unless we’re prepared to cooperate with others who share those values, including those for whom the values are inseparable from a religious commitment.

105th birth anniversary of Indian atheist

The Sisat Daily (The largest urdu news circulated and widely read daily in india) reports on the 105th birth anniversary of atheist leader, social revolutionary and freedom fighter Gora.

International Day against Fascism and Anti-semitism

Today is the International Day against Fascism and Anti-semitism, an annual commemoration of the ‘Kristallnacht’ pogrom - a joint campaign of anti-fascist, anti-racist, human rights and Jewish organisations.

After World War II the Europeans decided that they would never let anything like the Holocaust happen again. Anti-fascist, anti-racist, human rights, Roma and Jewish organisations both inside and outside the UNITED network commemorate the Kristallnacht, which took place on 9 November 1938.

This partly state-organised pogrom against German Jews symbolises the beginning of the Holocaust. The commemoration has taken on a new meaning as we remember not only the victims from 1938, but also campaign against the rise of neo-nazism and racism in Europe today, and show support for the recent victims of racist and fascist attacks.

Appointment of equalities commissioner criticised

The appointment of Joel Edwards - general director of the Evangelical Alliance- to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has attracted criticism because of his public anti-gay views, highlighting the tensions between the religion and belief and sexual orientation ‘equality strands’.

Atheist and gay rights groups have questioned his committment to the EHRC’s aims to “work to eliminate discrimination, reduce inequality, protect human rights and to build good relations, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to participate in society.”