Herding Cats

In one day, the Atheist Campaign have raised nearly ten times more money than their original target of £5500. So cats can be herded after all?

Growing Up in the Universe

In 1991, Richard Dawkins presented the Royal Institution Christmas lectures for Children, and to help illustrate our tendency to think we are superior to the rest of the species on the planet, he invited a member of the audience to read an excerpt from Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

The lecture series, titled ‘Growing up the Universe’ has recently been released on DVD. I remember it when it was first broadcast on the BBC, and as a 15 year-old who’d had a vaguely Christian education and thus had many unanswered questions about our origins, it was a wonderfully inspiring and educational piece of television.

On Radio 4’s Thought for the Day

Much as I like Radio 4, the one-sidedness of the Thought for the Day section of the Today programme disappoints me. Why are religious views implicit when we think of Thought for the Day, when there is no such mention of religion in the title?

In 2002, representatives of the British Humanist Association, the National Secular Society and the Rationalist Press Association sent a letter to the BBC complaining about the fact that the two minute, forty-five second slot is only for the broadcasting of religious views. As a result, the BBC granted some air-time for a secular viewpoint from Richard Dawkins, and this wasn’t even part of the Thought for Day slot. Furthermore, while there have been speakers representing other faiths, the views expressed are pretty much always from the believers in a Judeo-Christian God.

Just as the BBC has policy of un-biased, neutral reporting of news, should not the same be true for the Thought for the Day. I have no problem with some religious view expressed, but how about about a more balanced selection of speakers throughout the week?

To provide this balance, I’ve had the idea of providing a ‘Rational Thought for the Day’ podcast including audio and video of prominent secular thinkers and writers, and maybe publish it at around 07:50 when the Radio 4 version goes out. It would take a bit of development time and a lot of co-ordination, but does anyone think this would be a good idea?