Nontheists gather for conference
Talk from humanist perspective resonated with many.
The Nontheist Friends Network has been meeting this month for its annual conference.
Member Tim Regan told the Friend that the speakers for the three evening sessions on 7, 14 and 21 July were chosen for the cancelled 2020 conference at Woodbrooke. These included: Andrew Copson, executive director of Humanists UK, Gill Pennington, former Woodbrooke tutor, and Dinah Livingstone, editor of Sofia (Sea of Faith).
Tim Regan described the sessions as ‘brilliant’. The first one, he said, featuring Andrew Copson, was successful because ‘for many of us nontheists, he put into words what we feel about our sense of spirituality. He talked about it from a humanistic perspective which really resonated with a lot of us’. However the network is also interested in hearing more dissent. ‘You don’t [always] want a talk that you agree with completely, you want a talk that challenges you afresh.’
The conference arose out of monthly ‘creative conversation’ sessions started at the beginning of the pandemic. They’ve proved fantastically popular’, said Tim Regan. ‘The first few, we were getting almost 100 people and now we get around eighty people every month, and it’s also attracted non-Quakers.’ This, he says, has led to some interesting challenges as not all have been familiar with Quaker worship.
One person came a little later so she missed my introduction. She was convinced that her Zoom was broken because the room was utterly silent, and she kept logging on and off and playing with her mute button.’
Comments
i would like to join your community. How do i go about it?
By Lee@No18 on 22nd July 2021 - 12:58
I’d very much like to join this group.
By DeeT on 22nd July 2021 - 17:33
There’s more details on how to join on our website: https://nontheist-quakers.org.uk/ Or you can just email me (our current clerk) at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
By dumbledad on 9th August 2021 - 12:09
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