Does God exist? Alan Alda, perhaps best-known as Hawkeye in the 70s series MASH. He now hosts Scientific American Frontiers on US television: “Until I was 20 I was sure there was a being who could see everything I did and who didn’t like most of it. He seemed to care about minute aspects of my life, like on what day of the week I ate a piece of meat.

On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen. All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion – some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public’s reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations.

The US Presidential race begins in Iowa. Since what happens there affects us here, itll be interesting to see which Republican candidate wins the most religious votes. Religion isnt supposed to be an election issue, but try telling them that. Out in Iowa, with the bell at last ringing and the combatants charging out of their corners, the Republican card has come down to the Maulin Mormon versus the Battlin Baptist.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) representing the 56 Islamic States renewed its attack on the Universality of Human Rights at the 6th Session of the Human Rights Council that ended on 14 December. On Human Rights Day, 10 December, Ambassador Masood Khan, speaking on behalf of the OIC, claimed that the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam “.. is not an alternative, competing worldview on human rights.

Rather than the usual New Year’s resolutions about reducing your credit card debt, losing weight or giving up smoking, we would urge you all to make one about something much more important to future generations. To vow to support Human Rights. For it is they which underpin our way of life – for many they represent one of the greatest achievements of Western civilisation. The body overseeing Universal Human Rights is the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

This week, on Wednesday 9th January, an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill will be proposed by Dr Evan Harris MP (honorary associate of the NSS) to abolish the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. We’re affiliated to the The British Humanist Association (BHA) and The National Secular Society (NSS), who’ve campaigned for the blasphemy laws to be abolished and have briefed MPs about the present amendment, as well as representing the case for abolition to Government.

Thank you to everyone who lobbied his or her MP on the blasphemy issue. In the House of Commons this evening, Dr Evan Harris MP stated the case for abolition clearly and eloquently. At the end, Government Justice Minister Maria Eagle said they had “every sympathy for the case for formal abolition” and promised that the Government would bring in its own amendment, after a swift consultation with the C of E.

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Tickets are still available for the 2008 BHA Darwin Day Lecture, to be chaired by Richard Dawkins and given by Tim Lewens. Tickets are available by telephoning the BHA on 020 7079 3580 and cost 5 for BHA members and 7.50 for non-members. Email the BHA for more information – info@humanism.org.uk Tim Lewens on Charles Darwin: a philosophical naturalist Chair: Professor Richard Dawkins The Darwin Lecture Theatre, University College, London, Gower Street, WC1

Tickets are still available for the 2008 BHA Darwin Day Lecture, to be chaired by Richard Dawkins and given by Tim Lewens. Tickets are available by telephoning the BHA on 020 7079 3580 and cost £5 for BHA members and £7.50 for non-members. See our events calendar for details. Tags: Darwin+Day, lecture, Richard+Dawkins, Tim+Lewens

The Jan/Feb issue of New Humanist is out now and packed with new year goodies. In a natural history special Laurie Taylor interviews David Attenborough, and we ask four scientific experts what they would like to talk to Darwin about if he happened to invite them for dinner. Plus brilliant pieces on the UK Government’s Muslim policy (Dave Rich says they are finally getting it right), the need for luxury, the return of torture as policy and the great photographers EO Hopp and Don McCullin.

Amongst other things, Huckabee is a Creationist. Scary! Tags: You+Tube, America, Religion, Evangelicals, Huckabee, Republicans

The UK government is planning to review the law on ‘collective worship’ in state schools. It is compulsory – indeed more compulsory in the letter than in the usual practice; and teachers must, however wearily, devise a ‘broadly Christian’ message for the whole school. Faith Central – Times Online – WBLG: School Assembly revamp. Click the link above to read more. Tags: Schools, Education, Assemblies, School+assemblies

The Jonathan Dimbleby Big Debate – Religion in Schools | Teachers TV. You can either watch the 60 minute video online or download it from the Teachers’ TV website. The synopsis is as follows: Jonathan Dimbleby and a panel of experts come together to debate the controversial subject of religion in Britain’s schools. The role of religion in education is a subject rarely out of the headlines. Despite Britain’s multi-faith society, schools are still required to include a collective act of worship of a Christian nature, while faith schools and religious academies have raised fears about community cohesion and covert selection.

Tags: Eh?, You+Tube, Peanut+butter, Evolution

The first Jedi Church in the UK is to open on Holyhead. Two brothers, who consider themselves Jedi Knights, have decided to set up the church as a meeting point for the 300,000 Britons who claimed Jedi as their religion in the national census in 2003. Faith Central – Times Online – WBLG: Britain to get Jedi Church. May the Force be with them! Tags: Jedi+Church, Star+Wars, Census

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Humanist & Secularist campaigns. A briefing on all the current campaigns that you might contribute to with letters or emails. They include the Scouts’ promise (the Scout Association discriminates against non-religious young people by the requirement to make a promise to God), and the Government policy of handing over welfare and health care to faith-based organisations. We’ll be at the Quaker Meeting House, Church Street, Colchester – near The Mercury Theatre and the water tower.

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Go out and buy carrots. Make soup. Have fun. You’ll see much better in the dark! A silly idea that started on Facebook. Further info: http://www.panicbuyers.co.nr/

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Margaret Nelson provides a Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Suffolk for 2 minutes sometime between 7.25 and 7.35 am. Today’s will be about Darwin Day – the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. BBC Radio Suffolk’s FM frequencies are 103.9 (Ipswich), 104.6 (west Suffolk), 95.5 (Lowestoft), 95.9 (Aldeburgh). It’s not available on medium wave or DAB, but you can listen live online – see link below.

It takes quite a lot to make Richard Dawkins look like a charitable, kindly injured innocent, but the trick has been managed by a ghastly group calling themselves the Pilgrim Baptist Church, who run a funeral oration site and (though the Prof is in robust health) have announced Dawkins’ memorial service for Friday, pronouncing “Richard Dawkins has proven to be one of the most wicked human beings to ever walk the earth” (hard luck, Hitler).

E-mail: mail@suffolkhumanists.org.uk Event description: Margaret Nelson provides a Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Suffolk for 2 minutes sometime between 7.25 and 7.35 am. BBC Radio Suffolk’s FM frequencies are 103.9 (Ipswich), 104.6 (west Suffolk), 95.5 (Lowestoft), 95.9 (Aldeburgh). It’s not available on medium wave or DAB, but you can listen live online – see link below. Further info: http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/local_radio/index.shtml

Go to the Independent’s website to sign a petition calling on the Foreign Office to use its influence to prevent the execution of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh for “blasphemy” in Afghanistan. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women’s rights – Asia, World – Independent.co.uk. A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. The sentence is then upheld by the country’s rulers.