Hello, world!

[Chris Worfolk]

Hello everyone, I'm Chris, founder of Leeds Atheist Society.

[norman]

Hello from me too.

I am Norman, co-founder and current secretary of the Leeds University Union Atheist Society.

[Greyham]

and i'm graham. Not actually a member of the atheist society but leeds uni student and long term atheist none the less

[Jenna]

Hi everyone,
I'm Jenna Catley, founder of the Keele Humanist Group, Keele University. Our group is very new, in fact we're having our first meeting next week! :-)

[Ellis Pugh]

Hi I'm Ellis, co-founder and soon-to-be president of the Durham University Humanist Society (when we get ratified that is...)

[SolentSecularists]

Hey I'm Steph, co founder of Southampton Solent University's Secular Society...

Wooo....

xx

[alexlaird87]

Hi, i'm Alex Laird and i am the president of the Aberdeen University Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society...

nice to meet you all!

[Alex Kennedy]

Hi, I'm Alex and I am a campaigns officer for the British Humanist Association.

[norman]

It's really good to see so many new member so quickly.

Welcome all!

[grammar king mike]

Hi my name's Mike, I'm a member of the Edinburgh University Humanist Society.

[Rogerrp]

Hi all,

This is Roger Redondo, president of the Edinburgh Uni Humanist Society. Our officers are very excited by the potential of the Secular Portal and we would like our student group to be added to your list.
Here is our info:
Humanist Society @ University of Edinburgh
Chaplaincy Centre
1 Bristo Square
EH8 9AL
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Humanist.Society@ed.ac.uk
http://humanist.eusa.ed.ac.uk
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=225372302

[Moogle]

Yo!
I be Liz .. erm, I joined cus I know Norm an Chris :-D
Im also a member of A-Soc in Leeds :-)

[norman]

Humanist Society @ University of Edinburgh
Chaplaincy Centre


Would be interested to see how many other chaplaincies allow non-thist grous to use their premises...

I know ours won't.

[grammar king mike]

Would be interested to see how many other chaplaincies allow non-thist grous to use their premises...

I know ours won't.

Wow, really? Well actually, if we named ours the Atheist Society I don't think ours would either...

[Rogerrp]

Not 100% true but definetily a good point Mike.

The UoE Chaplaincy website says:

<<The Chaplaincy is a University provision of pastoral and spiritual support for students and staff of all faiths and none. We offer support through the presence of a Chaplaincy team and staff and through places for meeting, reflection, one-to-one support, welcome and hospitality.>>

So, in theory, nonbelievers are welcomed. I remember when we started that the Chaplaincy's main concern with us was to make sure that we were going to work for our members rather than against the other groups (religious as they were).

In that case, Humanism, rather than Atheism, was the appropriate hat to be wearing (which I bet is what Mike meant on his reply and which sends us to another discussion already somewhere else in the forum). ;)

I am looking forward to the return of our "Chaplaincy Liaison Officer" from a break in Canada so he can explain in some detail our approach and experiences with the Chaplaincy at the UoE (also in another forum thread).

R

[StuartR]

Hello all, I'm Stuart Ritchie, current Secretary of the Humanist Society at the University of Edinburgh.

[bobchurchill]

Hullo

I'm Bob Churchill, and like Alex I work for the British Humanist Association and I have some responsibility for liaising with Groups.

I think that an autonomous student group network for humanist and other secularist groups is a great idea. :)

Remember any student groups who aren't already can affiliate with the British Humanist Association for free - and then we send you things like BHA News through the post, and include you on our website.

Glad to be here!

[AlexMagd]

Hello,

I'm Alex Gibson, ex-President and ex-Secretary of the Oxford Secular Society. We're only a couple of years old and were very surprised that nobody thought of the idea before us; then again pretty much every college here employs its own chaplain so maybe that not surprising!

[ChloeC-F]

Hi everyone,

I'm Chloe, Pres Elect of Oxford Sec Soc for the coming spring term (we like to plan ahead). Looking forward to meeting y'all on Friday.

[Rogerrp]

Welcome Oxford Secular Society!
Here in Edinburgh we were also very surprised that with 211 societies (half of them inactive though) there was no Atheist, Humanist or Secular Soc!
However, there is the Pro-Evolution Soccer Soc, the Fashonistas, even a Frequently Asked Question Soc!!!
Amazing!

[AlexMagd]

What makes it stranger is that apparently in Oxford a few decades ago the biggest society was the Humanist Society. Biggest! That's more members than the Christian Union, the political societies and the Oxford Union! I suppose it must just have collapsed in on itself (or maybe they thought their work was done!)

[grammar king mike]

Gotta ask Alex, Chloe etc, is religion such a big thing in Oxford as it seems? I remember I went there for an open day and it seemed every college had a chapel (some massive) and generally religion seemed to have a really big profile. I'm almost certain I got told off for using the phrase "go to hell" on a Sunday as well, although that could've been at Cambridge.

[AlexMagd]

All the Oxford colleges have chapels and employ chaplains (mainly in the religious sense but they do offer pastoral support to anyone who needs it) and most colleges have their own choirs etc. Obviously that means that some of my fees go to paying Magdalen's chaplain's wages but apart from that religion isn't massively intrusive.

Most of the chaplains are generally stereotypical jumpers-and-smiles Anglicans who are *nice* and not foaming at the mouth, and while the Oxford Intercollegiate Christian Union holds some annoyingly-titled debates ("Moral atheists: a contradiction in terms?") they aren't really evangelists. Honestly, most religious people in Oxford keep it to themselves and the college chaplains tend to be pretty laid back.

You get the occasional controversy (in one college to become a scholar you had to recite a prayer and a few people refused, and there was a bit of a stink about it) but most of the time it's not majorly problematic.

[norman]

print "Hello World!"

Now I have all the lates posts!

Victory is mine!

[Chris Worfolk]

Spammer :p.

[norman]

I'm not convinced it is qualifies as spam...

On topic, single post delivering no off-site content.

On that note though, I really do fancy a bit of Spam.

[apollyon]

Hi All! My name is Adam and I am one of the co-founders of the University of Liverpool Atheist Society.

(Good to see so many other atheist societies starting up!)

[Chris Worfolk]

Great to have you here Adam. I hope you'll find the community a useful resource as many of us have been in your position.

[grammar king mike]

Ooh, excellent! Welcome to the forums.

[AlexMagd]

Hey Adam, nice to meet you. Good to see that the old hometown is represented here now :)

[Ellis Pugh]

Hello Adam, welcome to the forums!

Out of interest, is your society brand new, or did you co-found it a while ago?

[Nicola]

Hey all
I'm Nicola Jackson
Secretary of Leeds University Atheist Society.
I must admit i'm supprised to see so many people on here. I kind of exspected there to be just Chris and Norm on here.
It makes me so happy to know that there are so many similar societies all over the country!
Can't wait to meet you all.

[norman]

Welcome!

About time you got on here, lol.

BTW, it is just me and Chris - we suffer from some serious bouts of multiple personality syndrome :P

[Chris Worfolk]

I can't believe she said that lol!