In the Humanist/Atheist world there seems to be an abundance of apathy. In fact, at times, it feels like the only thing we Atheists are any good at is failing to get motivated, or show support for an important national issue. I'm not talking about activists... being active on an issue is in the job description for those guys... I'm talking about run-of-the-mill non-believers.
These Apatheists (apathetic atheists) are everywhere. In my home town I get chatting to people who share my non-belief and mention that I'm involved in a few Humanist groups, and get the same response every time. "Oh... can't see the point." or "Isn't that just another religious group?" It doesn't help that the other thing Humanist/Atheist groups are really bad at is promotion. Ask the person next to you at work, or on the bus what "Humanism" is and I doubt they will have a clue.
Have a quick Google search for "Welsh Humanists". It's a new group, so they have a little bit of leeway, but the first (and probably one of just two) articles you'll find outside of the official BHA* pages, will be Kathy Riddick commenting on a petition organized by two Cardiff schoolgirls. In the BBC report Kathy is quoted as saying this:
"Forcing children to worship a god they may or may not believe in is obviously unacceptable and represents an affront to young people's freedom of religion or belief. It shouldn't take two school pupils to convince the Welsh Government of this."
You're right Kathy... it shouldn't! It is very much, however, the remit of the Welsh Humanists to convince the Welsh Government of this! This is what you are supposed to be doing! Not a pair of fifteen year old schoolgirls! You!
In my area there are three Humanist groups that I am aware of. West Glamorgan Humanists (WGH), West Wales Humanists (WWH), and Llanelli Humanists. The first two are BHA affiliates, the latter, which is a Facebook-only group for the time being, is not. Guess which one produces leaflets, bookmarks and posters? Yup... the one that has no physical presence! Kathy Riddick once bemoaned the fact that there were only around 800 confirmed BHA members in Wales... is it little wonder when nobody knows there is a Humanist group in Wales?
The WGH are all over 60 years old and invite speakers to a two-course luncheon, once a month, in a hotel in Swansea, with a yearly get-together at a member's home. Other than that you don't hear a peep out of them, nor would you know they existed but for word-of-mouth.
The WWH also hold monthly meetings (in Narberth!) and the odd talk, and they also have a yearly party. Other than that, neither of them advertise, nor do they write to the newspapers (though individual members sometimes comment in letters sections), nor do they produce posters, or write letters to MPs/AMs, organize debates, or any other useful/promotional thing. I think in the three years the WWH have been running only one member has ever appeared on radio talking about Humanism. Nobody knows they even exist! How can they when WWH meetings are rarely held anywhere else other than fucking Narberth! It's a pokey little village in the middle of nowhere FFS! Yes, it could be argued that for the three counties it's quite central, but the total population of the entire area is about a third of the nearest large town, Carmarthen.
I mean, come on guys! There's a real reason to be active every week in the press around our area, but not a sound can be heard. All our newspapers produce a religious "Thought For The Week" segment, but where're the letters asking for a secular version... or better yet, an atheist one? It's time we got organized and got our names out there isn't it? Or are we going to wait until some other schoolgirls pick up the reins again and do our jobs for us?
At this rate the one group that doesn't physically exist is going to overtake all the other BHA Humanists and render them even less relevant than they seem to be now!
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*The British Humanist Association recently changed its name to "Humanists UK", which I refuse to use. It's insipid and says nothing to me about unity, or structure. Dropping the British and Association just to appear more trendy, when the BHA top-brass are all tweed- and corduroy-wearing middle-class toffs is ridiculous. They'd have been better off paying for someone to teach them how to wear jeans and t-shirts than changing their whole brand.
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