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This is a list of our past events. To see our current / upcoming events please use the events link.
(some events not listed)
| 10th October | Wittgenstein versus Dawkins Professor Simon Blackburn (Cambridge) |
| 24th October | Absurdities of Life - Love, Luck and McTaggart's Cat Dr Peter Cave (Open) |
| 31st October | Dawkins' Case Against Religion Professor Peter Lipton (Cambridge) |
| 7th November | The Perils of Darwinian Ethics Dr Tim Lewens (Cambridge) |
| 14th November | Jesus! What Was That? Dr Mike Gilchrist (Theology, CUAAS member) |
| Thursday 19th January | Union debate | ||
| Thursday 26th January | Union debate | ||
| Thursday 2nd February | Discussion: subject tba | ||
| Thursday 9th February | 'The God that Wasn't There' | Video presentation | Queens' Building Lecture Theatre, Emmanuel College |
| Thursday 16th February | 'They REALLY Believe: How Conversion-based Movements are Reshaping Religion' | Dr David Lehmann (Social Science, Cambridge) | Harrods Room, Emmanuel College |
| Thursday 23rd February | 'Is Christianity Reasonable?' | Peter Hitchins (Mail on Sunday journalist, author and broadcaster) | |
| Thursday 2nd March | 'The Political Theology of Modern Catholicism' | Dr Emile Perreau-Saussine (Cambridge) | |
| Thursday 9th March | 'The Intelligent Design Controversy' | Dr Arif Ahmed (Philosophy, Girton College, Cambridge) | Upper Hall, Emmanuel College |
| Thursday 16th March | William James' Philosophy of Religion | Dr Eric James (Philosophy, Corpus Christi, Cambridge) | Harrods Room, Emmanuel College |
| Thursday 6th October | Squash Come and meet the committee and other members, ask questions, have a chat, and enjoy some free grub! Special discounted membership available on the day. | Squash will run from 7.30pm to 9.30pm or so, but, for this informal event, feel free to arrive and leave any time. It is FREE for all. | The Squash will be held in the Timmy Hele Room (Green Room) in Emmanuel College - just look for the signs from the Porter's Lodge onwards. | |
| Thursday 13th October | Are the Gospels Anti-semitic? | Professor G A Wells (Birkbeck, London) | The Old Library in Emmanuel College | Professor Wells is the author of no fewer than eight books on early Christianity in which he shows the inadequacy of much mainstream NT scholarship and advances his own radical re-evaluation of Christian origins. In this talk he will be examining the complex relationship of early Christians (as epitomized by the authors of the canonical Gospels) with the ancient culture from which their own faith sprang. It will, you can be sure, include contentious insights; anyone interested in the NT, Judaism, ancient history, or indeed the history of Jews in Christendom down to the present day, should come along. |
| Thursday 20th October | The Evolution of Religion | Professor Donald Broom (Animal Welfare; St Catherine's, Cambridge) | Angevin Room in Queens' College | The author of a book on this subject (along with many contributions to the field of animal ethics), Professor Broom is also a Christian. So, expect a contentious thesis and many points of debate after the talk! |
| Thursday 27th October | Science and Religion: The Immersion Solution | Professor Peter Lipton (Head of the Department of History & Philosophy of Science, Cambridge) | The Old Kitchens in Queens' College. | 'One way to resolve the cognitive tensions between science and religion is to give up on the religion. But there are many other options, because there are many different ways to interpret both science and religion. I will sketch one particular interpretation of religion, inspired by recent work in the philosophy of science. According to this 'immersion solution', we give religious texts a literal interpretation, we make various uses of those texts, but we do not believe that what they say is true. This interpretation supports a religious form of life but is compatible with agnosticism and perhaps even with atheism.' |
| Thursday 3rd November | What Should an Atheist or Agnostic Say About Human Dignity? | Dr Richard Ashcroft (Medical Ethics; Imperial, London) | Venue to be confirmed | |
| Thursday 10th November | Are Religions Fictions? | Professor Simon Blackburn (Philosophy; Trinity, Cambridge) | Venue to be confirmed | |
| Thursday 17th November | The Peppered Moth: Evolution in Black and White | Dr Michael Majerus (Evolution; Clare, Cambridge) | Venue to be confirmed | |
| Thursday 24th November | Is Britain Still a Secular Society? | Dr Evan Harris MP (Epidemiologist & MP for Oxford West) | Venue to be confirmed | |
| Thursday 1st December | The God That Wasn't There | Video presentation | Venue to be confirmed |
| Thursday 5th May | A Brief History of Disbelief - part 3 | Video presentation | |
| Thursday 12th May | How Can We Decide What is Right and What is Wrong in Bioethics? | Professor Michael Reiss (London University Institute of Education) | |
| Wednesday 18th May | Darwin, Meaning and Truth | Professor Daniel Dennett (philosophy/A.I., Tufts). | 5pm, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Lensfield Road (Lady Margaret lecture) |
| Thursday 19th May | Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon | Professor Daniel Dennett (philosophy/A.I., Tufts). | 7.30pm, Winstanley lecture theatre, Trinity College |
| Thursday 20th January | Scientific Authority vs Scientific Authority vs Parental Authority: the case of the MMR vaccine' | Professor Tom Sorell (Philosophy, University of Essex) |
| Thursday 3rd February | This House Believes Religion is No Longer Needed | non-CUAAS debate at the Cambridge Union |
| Thursday 10th February | The Life of Brian | Film |
| Thursday 17th February | God and Proof | Dr Nick Everitt (Philosophy, East Anglia) |
| Thursday 24th February | Discussion | subject TBA |
| Thursday 3rd March | Religion, Education and War | Professor David Colquhoun (Pharmacology, UCL) |
| Thursday 10th March | How to Make Machines with Souls | Professor Aaron Sloman (Computer Science, Birmingham) |
| Thursday 17th March | In Defence of Dualism | Dr Peter J King (Philosophy, Oxford) |
| Thursday 14th October | TBA - an e-mail will follow soon (Professor Simon Blackburn is sadly unable to speak tonight) | |
| Thursday 21st October | Is Agnosticism really just shame-faced Atheism? | Discussion evening |
| Thursday 28th October | The Dangers of Religion | Dr Anthony Grayling (Philosophy, Birkbeck College, London) |
| Thursday 4th November | Formal Hall | Venue to be announced |
| Thursday 11th November | Democratic authority vs Scientific Authority vs Parental Authority: the case of the MMR vaccine | Professor Tom Sorell (Philosophy, University of Essex) |
| Thursday 18th November | The Case for a Spiritually Aware, Tolerant Atheism | James Eisner (CUAAS member, Cambridge) |
| Thursday 25th November | Simultaneous Policy: International Co-operation on Global Problems | John Bunzl (Founder & Director, International Simultaneous Policy Organisation) |
| Thursday 2nd November | Sex Without God | Dr Peter Cave (Philosophy, Open University and London City University) |
| Thursday 22nd April | Dr Peter King (Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford), The Baby and the Bathwater - Do humanists necessarily have to reject belief in things like an afterlife or an objective morality when they reject religion? | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Thursday 29th April | Dr Alan Howarth (Department of Philosophy, London Metropolitan University), Freedom, Rights, and the Challenge of Diversity - Just how far can tolerance and pluralism be taken in a modern, liberal, democratic state? | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| To be announced | Fromal Hall, (Venue and details to be announced). | |
| To be announced | Garden Party, (Details to be announced). |
| Friday 23rd January | Dr Simon Glendinning (Department of Philosophy, Iniversity of Reading), Humans and (Other) Animals | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 30th January | Prof Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS (Professor of Biology as Applied to Medicine in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology of University College, London), The Biology of Belief | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 6th February | Discussion evening, (Topic to be announced). | Event will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 13th February | Social event, (Details to be announced). | Event will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 20th February | Alan Howarth (London Metropolitan University), Freedom, Rights, and the Challenge of Diversity | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 27th February | Kate Soper (London Metropolitan University), Humanism and Speciesism | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 5th March | Dr Julian Baggini (Editor of the Philosophers' Magazine), Who Let the Dons Out? Academics, Intellectuals and Public Debate | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Erasmus Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 10th October | Squash. Our squash gives you an excellent opportunity to learn more about the society and secular thinking in general. Refreshments will be available and our committee look forward to answering your questions. | The event will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 17th October | G.A. Wells (Emeritus Professor of German, Birkbeck College, London), The Christ Myth. Was he crucified under Pontius Pilate? A radical re-evaluation of Christian origins. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 24th October | Piers Benn (Lecturer in Medical Ethics and Law, Imperial College, London), Theistic Proofs. Does belief in God require evidence? | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 31st October | Scott Campbell (Lecturer, Philosophy/Genetics, Biorisks and Society, University of Nottingham), Cancelled. | Cancelled |
| Friday 7th November | Richard Turner (Cambridge Raj Yoga Society), The Essence of Spiritual Understanding. It has been said that the essence of spirituality is like a pinch of salt in a sack full of flour. So what is the core message, and what wisdom and insight does it offer us? In this talk, Richard will be attempting to demonstrate how this essence is accessed through reason and understanding. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 14th November | Discussion evening, Morals for Mortals - why do atheists care about morality?. | Event will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 21st November | Peter Hall-Garrett (Lecturer in Enlightenment History and Philosophy, University of Essex), Descartes in the 21st century. Descartes, his Discourses, and their meaning to us as we embark on the 21st century. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 24th January | Richard Norman, Morality and War: a Humanist Perspective. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 31st January | David Papineau, Death of Dualism. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Thursday 6th February | Brendan Larvor, Britain's Blasphemy Laws. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Trinity College OCR (up the stairs opposite the entrance to the dining hall) |
| Friday 14th February | DISCUSSION GROUP, Free will and Determinism. | Discussion will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
| Friday 21st February | Michael Clark, Murder. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Trinity College Winstanley Lecture theatre (Blue Boar Court) |
| Thursday 27th February | DISCUSSION GROUP, Atheism vs. Agnosticism. | Discussion will start at 7.30pm in the Trinity College OCR (up the stairs opposite the entrance to the dining hall) |
| Friday 28th February | Dennis Cobell, Disestablishmentarianism. | Talk will start at 7.30pm in the Bowett Room, Queens' College |
HmmSoc Introductory Squash, Friday 11th October
Kenneth Wolfe - "The role of the media in the public perception of science and religion". 7.45pm Wednesday 16th October Kennedy Room, Cambridge Union
Stephen Law - "Is Creationism Scientific?", Friday 18th October
Lawrence T. Roach - "The Society of Humankind". Friday 25th October
Sean Sayers - "Marxism and Religion", Friday 1st November
HmmSoc Pasta Evening. Monday 4th November, St. John's College
Jonathan Ree - "Is it easy to be an Atheist?", Friday 8th November
Peter Cave - "Love, Luck and Liars - Some Little Paradoxes of Life", Friday 15th November
HmmSoc discussion group - "Is absolute secular morality possible?", 7.30pm, Erasmus Room, Queens', Tuesday 19th November
Margaret Boden - "Artificial Intelligence and Religious Belief", Friday 22nd November
HmmSoc Formal Hall. Tuesday 26th November, 7pm, St. Johns College
Richard Wiseman - "Investigating the Paranormal: a Sceptical Perspective", Friday 29th November
Julian Baggini - "How Rational are We?", Monday 2nd December 7.30pm, Small Combination Room, Churchill College
HmmSoc AGM and Elections, Friday 6th December