The Quaker Burial site. - 1

Doreen Valiente plaque unveiled

"Witches descend on Brighton for plaque unveiling." (Argus report)

Brighton & Hove Humanists

MEETING TONIGHT:-

"Religious Rites and Animal Suffering"

by 

Trish Penney

7.30 pm for 8 at Lord Nelson, Trafalgar Street.

Council prayers in Brighton and Hove

National Secular Society - Council prayers – the ripples are still spreading: Brighton and Hove

"The new mayor of Brighton and Hove, Bill Randall, has announced that he intends to significantly increase the amount of religious participation before council meetings. As well as Christian Ministers, rabbis, Buddhists and Muslim imams will be invited to lead prayers in the council chamber.
Mr Randall says that this is all part of his 'multi-faith' year initiative forBrightonand Hove City Council.
Cllr Randall said the new multi-faith services would be legal because councillors would not be "formally summoned to attend" although they would take place in the council chamber. He said: "This is to better reflect the many faiths in our city and about promoting love and peace. During the year we will have one faith for every council meeting and the reaction to the idea has been terrific."
But one man who wasn't pleased about this was Bill McIlroy, former secretary of the NSS and editor of the Freethinker, from the Brighton and Hove Humanist Society, who said the decision to introduce multi-faith prayers into council meetings was "completely out of order".
He told the Brighton Argus: "Councils are elected to do civic business, not for part-time worshippers to turn public buildings into religious buildings. It's no good saying these prayers are fine because they are not on the agenda. They are just looking for loopholes because they know people will object. It's a total waste of time. Brighton is one of the most secular cities in the UK so I think they've got a nerve."

P Z Myers coming to Brighton

'PZ', as he is affectionately known, an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Minnesota  has, through his blog Pharyngula, become  almost as famous as Richard Dawkins as the scourge of creationists, and apologists for 'intelligent design', pseudoscience and superstitious belief systems everywhere. His blog averages over 13,000 hits per day which peaks to 25,000 when he really gets going on some item of creationist propaganda, (which seems thankfully to be more prevalent in the USA than here).

He is a speaker much sought after on the sceptic, 'new' atheist, circuits and the Brighton branch of "Skeptics in the Pub" seems to have achieved something of a scoop in getting him to give a talk at the 'Caroline of Brunswick'. The inhabitants of the "most godless city in Britain" have certainly risen to the occasion: all tickets for his talk on Tuesday 7th June are sold out.

Holy Trinity Hove for new Health Centre?

 

See Brighton & Hove News report:-

Health chiefs prescribe derelict church to host Hove medical services

Alpha Course banner

The City Council is keen to improve the image of the London Road shopping area but sagging, grubby efforts like this do nothing to help the situation. A search on the planning register for this address does not throw up any result. Perhaps the advertisers reckon "doing the Lord's work" doesn't require planning permission? Legal or not, its not doing them any favours. Its shabby condition seems to serve only as a metaphor for the faded myths & disreputable superstitions that the course is seeking to perpetuate.

Freemasonry

In the large meeting chamber of the Sussex Masonic Centre in Queens Road the ceiling is domed with a central light-fitting. This serves as a sun motif radiating out to signs of the zodiac around the circumference. Men of any religion or none are accepted into Freemasonry so long as they are prepared to affirm their belief in a Supreme Being.

Thomas Paine in his 1818 essay, "The Origins of Freemasonry" says that  "the christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: both are derived from the worship of the Sun. The difference between their origin is, that the christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun."

Apparently there is no bar on a Muslim becoming a Freemason but I am not sure how they would cope with the big "G" suspended from the ceiling of one of the smaller rooms. . . .

Nine Lessons & Carols for Godless People

Fittingly Robin Ince's Christmas show, which has been a sell-out hit at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London for the last two years, is now coming to the Dome in England's  "most godless city".


The star-studded lineup includes:-

Baba Brinkman - evolutionary rapper
Dara O'Briain - star of Mock the Week
Isy Suttie - star of Peep Show
Chris Addison - star of Thick of It
Matt Parker - stand up mathematician and warm up man for Royal Institute Christmas lectures
Richard Herring - one of Britain's top comedians & author of How Not To Grow Up
Simon Singh - scientist and author of Big Bang and Fermat's Last Theorem
Gavin Osborn - composer and accompanist for Daniel Kitson's award winning shows
Josie Long - too many awards to mention
Jo Neary - star of Ideal, Edinburgh award nominee
Helen Arney - singer, songwriter and excellent geek
Stephen Grant - king of Brighton comedy
Frisky and Mannish - the new musical sensation of the comedy circuit
Martin White's Little Brass band
Surely not to be missed by Brighton's large sceptical community and promises to be a sell-out.

Hove vicar criticises clergy over church schools

From a Brighton & Hove News report:- Hove vicar criticises clergy over church schools

"Mr Terry, who has been a parish priest for 35 years and chairman of the governors at church and council-run schools, added: “The current legal position, which allows faith schools cynically to work the system, is a nonsense both ethically and morally, and urgently needs reform.""

"Why I am not a Christian"

Brighton & Hove Humanists first meeting after the summer break is on Wednesday, 1st  Sept. at 8pm at the Lord Nelson, Trafalgar St.

Speaker: Denis Cobell (Former president, National Secular Society) on 

"Why I Am Not a Christian. "

A plaque to the Wagners

The Wagners, Henry & son Arthur, would no doubt have been mightily pleased with the  religious ceremony attending the unveiling of a commemorative blue plaque on Saturday.  They were both ardent Anglo-Catholics, supporters of the Oxford movement, and possessed of great wealth from a hatters business at a time when everybody wore hats. Great wealth provides the means to indulge eccentricities and in the case of the Wagners this manifested itself in the "London, Brighton & South Coast Religion",  a wry reference to the private railway company which concurrently was doing so much to establish Brighton's popularity as a seaside resort. To support anglo-catholicism, and also, let it be said to bring religion to the poor of the town, the Wagners caused to be built many wonderful churches, some of which are still with us, St. Pauls, by Henry & St Bartholomews by Arthur, are prime examples.

The Wagners are important, colourful, figures in the City's architectural and social history and their commemoration at their home, the Old Vicarage, Temple Gardens, now part of the Girls' High School, is entirely fitting.

The Old Vicarage

The Brighton Blasphemy Society

This new society held its first meeting on 19th May. Its goals are:-

"To resist the forces, of religion and state, that seek to curb our freedoms of thought and speech.
We consider all religious dogmas, political ideologies, and the like to be fair game for criticism, ridicule and satire."

Sounds reasonable to me.
It has a Facebook group here, and the contact email is:- polesapartstilts@ntlworld. com

Name this bar . . .

With acknowledgements  to Brighton Daily Photo.

(Another clue.)

Henry must be turning in his grave.

St. George's Day

In many countries the 23rd April is still celebrated  as a Feast Day to mark the birth day in 303AD of St. George. It is also the date of Shakespeare's death, and, in Brighton on the nearest Sunday, the 25th., the written word and the national flower will be celebrated in Jubilee Square with a writing and poetry event, "The Book & the Rose".  In a square decked out in the red & white of St. George, the Festival Shakespeare Company will be paying a special tribute to the bard. There will be entertainment from Hanover Poetry Festival, Hammer & Tongue,  Short Fuse and the Catalyst Club and folk music from well- known Sussex performers. There will also be children's activities, deckchairs and local stalls selling flowers, including red roses, and books.

In England the use of the red upright cross of St.George originates from the 12th century crusades and in 1220 the Synod of Oxford declared St.George's Day a national feast day in England. The red cross was used as a national flag & military badge during Edward III's campaigns in France from the 1340's onwards.  In 1388 the crosses of St.George & St Andrew faced each other for the first time across the battlefield of Otterburn.

During the 15th century the celebrations for St.George's Day rivalled that of Christmas  and the symbol of the English rose became popular. It was one of the few Saint's Days that survived the Reformation in the 16th.century, but, after the Union with Scotland in the 18th. its popularity began to wane.

The English have no celebratory occasions exclusively their own and the growing independence of Scotland and Wales has given impetus to the idea that St. George's Day should be given a higher profile. Petitions have been presented to No.10 calling for a St.George's Day Bank Holiday and questions have been put in Parliament. So far these have been side-stepped but many supporters will be taking a day's holiday on the 23rd. to help publicise the call.

B&H City Council prayers.

As mentioned in my earlier post the City Council holds Christian prayers before every full Council Meeting. Too bad if you are of another denomination, atheist or simply don't believe in wasting time that local residents are paying for. (Residents incidentally, who, in Brighton are just as likely to be Jedi or Ninja turtles as Christian.) Non-participating councillors have to either withdraw temporarily from the chamber or twiddle their thumbs. This not to say there is a requirement to ban prayer altogether. It could be easily arranged that any Councillors who want can meet for prayers before the scheduled time in a separate room. The meeting proper can then get off to a flying start without what many will feel is an irritating distraction.

The admirable National Secular Society which has an eye for these anachronisms is running a campaign on this issue.