Informal gathering at The Carlingford Arms in the village for drinks on Friday evening Welcome & Introductions - Terry Saunders (HAI Chair)

Transcription

1 August 26-27, 2017

2 Informal gathering at The Carlingford Arms in the village for drinks on Friday evening Saturday 26th August Registration & Bookshop Welcome & Introductions - Terry Saunders (HAI Chair) Opening Address - Professor David McConnell (Trinity College) An Organic Sense of Spirit - Gill Bell (Biodynamic Psychotherapist) Break Tea, Coffee & Scones Christian fundamentalism - Rev. David Armstrong Lunch in the Village Religion and Humanism - Common Ground: A religious perspective - Fr. Joe McDonald Moving Beyond Religion - Brian McClinton Social Evening and 8pm at Carlingford Sailing Club Entertainment provided by Beyond the Pale Drinks from 7 at the Sailing Club bar

3 Sunday 27th August Welcome & Introductions - Terry Saunders (HAI Chair) Humanistic interpretations of traditionally religious concepts - Professor Joachim Duyndam (University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht) Break Tea, Coffee & Scones Separation of Church & State - Ailbhe Smyth (UCD) Plenary session and discussion Closing Remarks The Summer School will be followed, as is now tradition, by an afternoon ramble up Slieve Foy

4 All Ireland Humanist Summer School Heritage Centre, Carlingford, 26th-27th August 2017 Humanism Religion and Spirituality Summer School starts at 10am on Saturday 26 th, with registration from 9.15 am. The session on Sunday begins at 10am. Prices for the weekend Full weekend ticket: 80 Both seminars: 45 Saturday only: 30 Sunday only: 15 (Half price concessions available for students and OAPs) Three course meal with music and dancing on Saturday night at Carlingford Sailing Club: 35 (no concessions available)

5 Professor David McConnell is the Humanist Association of Ireland s Honorary President. He received his PhD in Biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in He has served as President of the Zoological Society of Ireland and Chairman of Fota Wildlife Park, and is an Honorary Life Member of the Royal Dublin Society. He recently retired after a distinguished academic career at Trinity College Dublin, where he was Professor of Genetics from 1990 to He was inaugurated as a Pro-Chancellor at Trinity last year; a position reserved for the most distinguished graduates and academic members of staff who have made exceptional contributions to the College over the course of their career. David will give the opening address at the Summer School. Gill Bell What makes people feel a need for, and turn to, religion? Is it comfort? Peace of mind? Forgiveness? Love? Gratitude? A feeling of connection? Can a humanist, who does not believe in a god or higher authority still be spiritual? These questions and more will be explored in Gill s talk, An Organic Sense of Spirit. Gill Bell qualified as a primary school teacher and gained a B Ed from Roehampton University. She moved to Ireland in the 1970s to pursue a lifestyle based on self-sufficiency. After teaching and performing dance, she became Fringe Coordinator and then Administrator of the Sligo Arts Festival. In 1996 she wrote her dissertation, An Organic Sense of Spirit My personal journey through cancer to health and wholeness. She has been a Biodynamic Psychotherapist for over 20 years and is a board member of the Institute of Biodynamic Medicine. Gill has been a member of Humanist Association of Ireland for almost three years and is the convenor of the North West Humanists in Sligo.

6 Rev. David Armstrong grew up in East Belfast; an area strongly loyalist and verbally Christian. After studying at Queen s University, Belfast, he became assistant Presbyterian minister at Carrickfergus under Dr. Ronnie Craig. Appointed minister at Limavady in 1980, he fled the town five years later after receiving death threats from loyalist paramilitaries. Rev. Armstrong engendered Christian fundamentalist wrath after visiting the local Catholic Church and befriending the congregation and their priest. He also worked as a prison chaplain where he attempted to get members of the UDA and Provisional IRA to engage with each other. His invitation to the local Catholic priest, Fr. Kevin Mullan, to speak to his Presbyterian congregation led to significant protest and he was even a boycotted in the town for a time. For the following three years, his gestures made regular headlines in the press and on television in Britain, Ireland, Europe and Australia. This cross-church unity, and his efforts to foster reconciliation, infuriated hardline loyalists and Rev. Armstrong and family were forced to leave for England, where he studied at Oxford and was later appointed Church of England clergyman at Holy Trinity, Cambridge. He later ministered in Carrigaline, Co. Cork. In 2011 he returned to Northern Ireland. He is now retired and living in Carrickfergus. The Reverend will discuss the topic of Christian Fundamentalism.

7 Fr. Joe McDonald was born on Falls Rd, Belfast in 1961, the eldest of four children. He was a member of Irish Christian Brothers for 25 years, during which time he spent periods in the classroom teaching English, Psychology and Religious Studies. He was the last religious Headmaster of The Abbey in Newry. Eleven years ago he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Dublin by Diarmuid Martin and is now in his fifth year as Parish Priest at St. Matthew's, Ballyfermot. His interests include reading and writing, current affairs, travel, genealogy, cinema and drama, and dogs. Fr. Joe will discuss the commonality between religion and humanism, including the need for greater separation of Church and State. Brian McClinton was born on the Shankill Road, Belfast, in He was educated at the Boys Model School, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and Trinity College, Dublin. He has been active in Humanism in Northern Ireland since 1984 and, along with Sean Kearney, set up the Toland Summer School in 1998; a precursor of the all-ireland Summer School, of which he is also co-foundeder. He is well known to Irish humanists as the editor Humanist Ireland and The Irish Freethinker and Humanist magazines. He is the author of a Humanist Handbook and Ulster s Third Way: The Humanist Alternative Beyond Orange and Green. He has also had a lifelong interest in the Shakespeare authorship question and is the author of The Shakespeare Conspiracies. He taught for 36 years at Friends School, Lisburn, and is now retired and lives in Lisburn. Brian s talk at the Summer School is entitled Moving Beyond Religion.

8 Professor Joachim Duyndam is Professor of Humanism and Philosophy at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrechy, and holds a PhD in philosophy. He leads the research programme Humanist Traditions, Resilience, and Ageing Well. His own research is currently focused on the significance of exemplars to ageing well. He believes that humanism covers traditions of making meaning and applying certain values, embodied by exemplary figures, aiming at enhancing people s resilience. Joachim will discuss humanistic interpretations of traditionally religious concepts, including (religious and post-religious) identity, meaning-in-life, and community. Ailbhe Smyth is a Senior lecturer in Women s Studies at University College Dublin. Active in several NGOs and community organisations for many years, she was an Executive Adviser to the YES EQUALITY Campaign, Chair and Director of National Lesbian and Gay Federation ( ), convenor of the Feminist Open Forum, and a former member of the advisory group to Akidwa, the Association of African Women in Ireland. She has written extensively on the matter of Separation of Church and State, the topic that she will discuss at the Summer School, and is the convenor of the Coalition to Repeal the Eight Amendment.

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