Religion & Belief
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Humanism and the Armed Forces
As a representative of the UK Armed Forces Humanist Association, Robin offers an insight into some of the issues facing Humanists in the military today.
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What is Humanism?
What do we mean by Humanism? What does it mean for how we live our lives? And what is the role of the Humanist movement?
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Oi! Scientology!
John Sweeney is 'psychotic, a bigot and a liar', and also the reporter who made the BBC Panorama programmes about the Church of Scientology.
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The Christian Ideology of New Atheism
Michael Burgess presents a talk on how the ideology of New Atheism mirrors that of Christianity.
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Origins of Islam
The talk is about the mythical origins of Islam. Most people know that much of the origins of Christianity and Judaism is mythological, but it is not so widely known that Islam's origins are similarly mythical. This is not least because Muslims insist Islam is rooted in factual history and get 'touchy' if this, or any aspect of Islam, is questioned.
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Good and Evil in Gospel Myth
Unfortunately we only captured the first half of this talk. Jim Hatfield explores the hidden meanings that can be found below the surface of Gospel language.
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Learning From Monks
Julian has spent several days visiting and staying at monastries researching a forthcoming article for the Financial Times magazine. He and his partner were asking the question. does monastic life contain any lessons from the secular world? In this talk, he discusses his conclusions.
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How Do People Lose Religion?
Millions of people have lost religion in the western world since the 1960. How does this happen? At what ages? What are the triggers? Is there a difference between men and women? Professor Callum Brown draws on the accounts of those he has interviewed in North America and Britain.
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Campaigning for a Secular World
In this talk, Pavan reviews the position as to secularism and religion in Britain today, and then discusses some current campaigns the British Humanist Association are working on.
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Humanism for a Better World
Should we be working together, as humanists, for a better world? Richard addresses the potential problems and poses some questions.
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Going Soul-o: Lessons from an Atheist's time at Christian Camp
Alex Gabriel, former chair of Oxford Atheist Society, recently attended Soul Survivor - the largest evangelical Christian festival for young people in the UK. In this talk, he discusses his experiences at the event.
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Scientific Standards: Does Religion Measure Up?
In memory of Gerry Hannant, who sadly passed away in 2010, we present the only known recording of one of his lectures, recorded in 2007 at Leeds Atheist Society.
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Brainwashed! A Cult Survivor's Tale
Arthur Chappell describes how he was seduced into an Eastern meditation cult in the early 1980's, despite being an ex-Catholic atheist. The talk takes you step by step through the process of conversion, so that you can see step by step how the cult world wraps itself around you, cutting off exits, making rational thinking and doubt difficult and later near impossible.
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Faith Schools - Why It Matters
Dan Bye talks about faith schools and why we should be concerned about their current growth.
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Talking to Creationists
Mark Edon discusses how the tslk to people who believe that the world is only 6,000 years old, in the face of insumoutable evidence.
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The Nature of the Debate
Professor A. C. Grayling discusses the nature of the debate surrounding the related, but separate areas of atheism, humanism and secularism.
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Perspective: Zoroastrianism
As part of the 2011 Leeds Perspective Citywide course, Malcolm Deboo presents an introduction to what is generally regarded as the world's oldest monotheistic religion - Zoroastrianism.
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Humanist Chaplains: For and Against
The idea of Humanist Chaplains has been a poloarising issue within the non-religious community. In this debate, recorded as the Swarthmore Centre, as part of Leeds Reason Week 2011, sees Dr Paul Dean and Dr Gijsbert Stoet put the arguments for and against Humanist Chaplaincy.
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Perspective: Scientology
Recorded as part of the Leeds Perspective Citywide course that took place in 2011, Sam Butler presents an introduction to Scientology.
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The Atheist Responses
Chris Worfolk regularly discusses some of the most common arguments that come up when discussing religion and what the arguments and counter-arguments to these are. These can be seen in the "Debating the Theists" talk which can also be found in the collection.
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Religion as a Human Creation
Over the past century, there has been a steep decline in religious adherence. However, some groups, including many Quakers, Universalists, Humanists and even Anglicans have continued to find benefit from religion, despite discarding their belief in a god.
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Perspective: Quakers
Recorded as part of the Leeds Perspective Citywide course which took place in 2011, University of Leeds chaplains Robin Fishwick and Chris Whichelo present an introduction to the Religious Society of Friends, better known as Quakers.
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Inside the Evangelists' Lair
In 2006, Chris Worfolk founded Leeds Atheist Society while studying at the University of Leeds. During his time running the society, he had a great deal of interaction with the other faith societies on campus.
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Humanist Chaplaincy
Recorded at Enquiry 2010, Dr Gijsbert Stoet, head of the Humanist Chaplaincy Network, discusses the research he has done into a topic which has quickly become a polarising issue.
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Perspective: Humanism
Recorded as part of the Leeds Perspective Citywide events in 2011, Tim Stephenson presents an introduction to Humanism.
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Creationism
Evolution is a topic which is accepted by not only the scientific community worldwide, but now pretty much everybody - including the Church of England and the Vatican!
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Cutting Religion out of Medicine
Recorded as part of Leeds Reason Week 2011, Dr Antony Lempert, coordinator of the Secular Medical Forum, discusses the problems encountered when religious beliefs come into conflict with modern medicine.
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One Law for All
Human rights activist Maryam Namazie, discusses the One Law for All campaign which she heads up, which campaigns to maintain a single secular legal system, free from the influence of Sharia law.
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A History of Atheist Charity
People have often claimed that religious people are more generous when it comes to giving to charity. The stats don't hold up though - Sweden give the biggest percentage of their GDP to charity in the world; they're also one of the most irreligious nations.
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Prescribing Religion: What's the Harm?
Recorded as part of the Enquiry 2010 Conference, Dr Antony Lempert discusses the problems that arise when religious tradition comes into conflict with modern medicine.
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Inside the Evangelists' Lair
In 2006, Chris Worfolk founded Leeds Atheist Society while studying at the University of Leeds. During his time running the society, he had a great deal of interaction with the other faith societies on campus.
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Creationism
In this talk, delivered to Leeds Skeptics in the Pub, Mark Edon discusses how creationists in the UK have been trying to infiltrate our school system in order to push their religious ideology.
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Intelligent Design
Heini Reinert discusses the abject failure of the Intelligent Design movement to put forward a coherent theory that could be considered science.
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Perspective: Judaism
As part of the Leeds Perspective Citywide series that took place in 2011, Nicola Jackson presents an introduction to Judaism.