Welcome to Spring! Unfortunately the weather is still struggling to escape the shackles of winter storms and temperatures! A number of very important world and domestic issues have presented themselves during the month of March. On a European level the EU states struggle to reach agreement on the migrant crisis;Europe, the Middle East and Africa have suffered further terrorist attacks by extremists; and the people of America await the outcome of the primaries and the presidential nominations. At home, we continue to debate whether to remain part of the EU, the Chancellor has been criticised for suggesting the redistribution of welfare from the poor via cuts in Personal Independent Payments to fund reductions in taxation for the better off, and more recently the threatened closure of the Port Talbot steelworks has featured as one of the main news items. As Humanists we have, and we continue to, engage with these topical debates in our various meeting forums. We explored aspects of Thomas Paine’s life at the March GMH meeting and touched upon his views on the redistribution of wealth and on the populous’ engagement with the political system. The Stockport, Bolton and Oldham meetings have similarly discussed topical issues on international poverty alleviation and religious issues. Looking beyond this month I would highlight two important Humanist events: on 16th May we will host an ‘armchair discussion’ with the Bishop of Manchester, Guy Otten and Susanne Schultz in Central Manchester and on 18th June we are facilitating a Euro Hustings event in Didsbury.

All GMH events appear on the Meetup portal.Meetup allows groups to publicise events and to show interest from members in attending events. This portal is widely used by people who are looking for interesting activities and groups. Most GMH members who attend meetings do not currently register their attendance with Meetup. If all members did register this, the profile of the group would be raised and this in turn would encourage more public interest. Why not sign up as a Meetup member which involves going to

and providing some basic information. Then search “Greater Manchester Humanists” to get to our page and join the group. Many Thanks.

Did you know that if you purchase Amazon goods via the BHA website that the BHA gets a commission for each sale? The BHA has wrestled over the ethics of supporting Amazon given its poor tax history but finally decided to stay with it. So why not support the BHA by accessing the Amazon site via the button on the bottom right of the BHA website?

GMH Meeting - Thomas Paine – The Restless Revolutionary

Robin Grinter delivered a talk to the group on 9th March on Thomas Paine. He provided an account of Thomas Paine’s life and highlighted some interesting facts about his personality. Thomas Paine was born into humble beginnings. He turned his hand to a number of professions: he worked with his father as an apprentice stay maker, he joined the Merchant Navy, he opened and ran a tobacco shop, he worked as an Excise Officer and then as a Teacher. He was not considered to be a good business man and blamed his failures on corrupt systems. He became a politically active civic member. In 1774 he went to the USA and became a citizen of Philadelphia with the help of his friend Benjamin Franklin and arrived just in time to participate in the American Revolution. He became editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine and started issuing Common Sense in 1776 which was the most widely read pamphlet of the American Revolution. John Adams said that without Common Sense the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain. The ideas outlined in Common Sense were favoured by philosophers at the time and were generally known but it was Thomas Paine who outlined these in an easier, more accessible style. These pamphlets were issued throughout the American Crisis and were said to have helped Americans win the War.

Thomas Paine also effected change in the UK. Edmund Burke espoused dictatorial government as a necessity because of the inherited wisdom of the few and the majority being unwise. Thomas Paine argued against this: that the government should eradicate poverty, redistribute wealth from landowners to the poor, that a minimum income should be provided and that the government should provide a marriage allowance and an old age allowance. These ideas terrified the government, which was made up of landowners,and Thomas Paine was tried and convicted in absentia in 1792 for seditious libel. He left the UK in 1792 never to return. Paine’s ideas on the welfare state were 150 years before his time. His ideas were said to have set the foundation for drawing working people into politics in the UK and the Great Reform Act of 1832. Paine also inspired the French Revolution. He lived in France for most of the 1790’s. He was made an honorary citizen in France in 1792 and was elected to the French Convention. In 1793 he was arrested by the Jacobeans but avoided execution through the intervention of James Monroe, the American Minister to France and future president. It was interesting to note that in 1797 he discussed the invasion of England with Napoleon.

Thomas Paine also wrote a critique of the Bible. In “Equality of Man” he wrote that he did not believe in the God of any church, and said “my own mind is my church”. He also pointed out that the greatest afflictions had emanated from the Bible. He spent the last years of his life in the USA, where he died in 1809. He had fallen out of favour with the religious right in the USA and his friends had deserted him on account of his ridicule of Christianity. In 2002 he was voted as one of the 100 Greatest Britons!

The following points were made in the Questions and Answers session. Thomas Paine was a self educated political thinker. It has been said by a club in Lewis that he was a member of their club. There is a display on Thomas Paine at the People’s HistoryMuseum in Manchester. There is a green bronze monument to him near the BHA office and the Angel tube station in London. There was a view that if he lived today that he would write about our government, the Arab Spring, and the apathy and disinterest in politics of the populous today. The modern day Thomas Paine figures were identified as Jeremy Corbyn and to an extent Bernie Saunders, both of whom appear to tap into the current discontentment with the USA political system.

Bolton Meeting

The third meeting of the group was held on 3rd March at the Mercury Hotel bar in Westhoughton. Eight people attended and there was a general discussion on Humanist and atheist philosophy. The group agreed on the superiority of secular morality and highlighted contradictions in the Bible. There was a discussion of GuyOtten’s speech at Blackburn Cathedral and how this would have been seen as provocative, especially to the Muslim attendees. The group also reviewed Natalie Haynes’ book “The Amber Fury” and the consensus was that this was not generally liked.

Oldham Meeting

The first meeting of the group was held on Sunday 20th March at 2pmat the Rhode Island Café. The meeting was attended by six people who discussed general Humanist issues.

Central Manchester

The next meeting of the Humanist Discussion Group will be held on Tuesday 26th April and the topic will be “The difference between happiness and the meaning of life”. The following is a link

to the notes of the meeting, which will be posted before the meeting date. We meet at The Waterhouse, 67-71 Princess Street, Manchester, M2 4EG at 8.15pm in one of the quieter spaces in the pub.

Join GMH for an evening ‘armchair discussion’ between the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, Guy Otten and Dr Susanne Schultz from the University of Manchester. This event will be open to the public and will take place on Monday 16th May at the Dancehouse Theatre, Oxford Road, Manchester. This will be a ticketed event.

Do you want to understand the arguments and implications of the referendum vote on EU membership better? If yes, join us at the “Euro Hustings” on 18th June at 7pm at the Emmanuel Church, Barlow MoorRoad, Didsbury, M20 6TR. This event is sponsored by GMH and the Emmanuel Church. The ‘in’ and ‘out’ positions will each be represented by two speakers.

Stockport Group

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 20th April at 7.30pm in the back room at the Boars Head, 2 Vernon Street, SK1 1TY (near the Market Place). NarendraGhulati will give a talk on Hinduism. The next afternoon social will take place on Wednesday 27th April at 2.30pm at the Rhode Island Coffee Bar, 2 Little Underbank, Stockport, SK1 1JT (upstairs).

Blackburn Taster Meeting

A new humanist taster meeting will be held in Blackburn on 19th April at 7pm at Blackburn Friends Meeting House, Paradie Street, Blackburn, BB2 1LY. Robin Grinter and Anna Whitehead from GMH’s will deliver a ‘taster’ session on Humanism. All are welcome.

The ‘Exploring Humanism’ course originally planned to start on 4th April will now take place on seven Monday evenings from 17th October to 28th November 2016 from 7.00pm to 9.15pm at Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS, behind the Central Library. The cost is £20, with an ‘early bird’ reduced price of £17 for applications received by Monday 5th September. We have enough confirmed numbers to run this course but invite applications for the few remaining places. Further details and a booking form area available here

The Phantom of Heilbronn and other Forensic Faux Pas

Greater Manchester Sceptics Society is hosting this event at 7.30pm on Friday 15th April at The Kings Arms, 11 Bloom Street, Salford, M3 6AN. See here for details -

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For more about what’s going on at GMH check out some of the links below.

gmhumanists.blogspot.co.uk

@gmhumanists

If you would like to comment on this newsletter or send in suggestions for future content (jokes, articles, links, book reviews or whatever) please email the editor at:

CathrynMcGarvey – Newsletter Editor

April 2016 Newsletter

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