Talking about Buddhism..

In case it is of interest - I've been talking to the Buddhist magazine Tricycle: http://www.tricycle.com/blog/dangers-spirituality-interview-david-webster 

Glos Phil Soc updates..

Upcoming events:

Other than the seminar on 27th February
all other meetings will be held at
Room HC203
Francis Close Hall
University of Gloucestershire,
Swindon Road, Cheltenham.
between 7.30 and 9.30pm

Cost

£25 per year, or £3 per meeting
Students £15 per year, or £2 per meeting
Programme Of Events Spring Term 2013

Wed. 30th. January, 2013 7.30.pm FCH Room HC203. Dr. David Webster, University of Gloucestershire, will talk on "Happiness and the Truth of Death: A Dispirited Account of Being Happy without Religion OR Spirituality". The talk is based on his recently published book by Zero Books.

Wed. 20th. Feb.2013. 7.30.p.m FCH HC203. Prof. Brad Hooker, University of Reading, will talk on "Impartiality". He is currently working on a textbook on a history of 20th. Century moral philosophy and a book on "Fairness".

Wed. 27th. Feb. 2013.10.30.a.m. Norwood Arms, Bath. Rd., Cheltenham. Society Seminar: "Telling or uttering the truth?"Click here for more information.

Wed. 13th. March, 2013. 7.30.p.m. FCH HC203. James Derounian, University of Gloucestershire, will talk on: "Big Society or Big Con?: An analysis on Coalition rhetoric, policy and practice". James is a lifelong community activist, who contributes to the Guardian's Community web-site.


Contact Us: pj@glosphilsoc.co.uk
Produced by Sipeda Ltd © 2009-2011

Census Data 2011 - Religion

The 2011 Religious Data from the Census is out - see http://philosvids.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/2011-census-religion-data/ for a link...

Bible & Spirituality Seminar - Open to all

This week: Free to all -

Prof. Melissa Raphael,
‘Idolatry and the Alienated Human Form: Jewish Spirituality, Art, and the Advertisement of Perfection.’

Wednesday 5 December, 5.30-7.00
FCH HC204

Diwali Field Trip..

On tuesday, RPE (and a few others) went to the Leicester Diwali 2012 celebrations...

More details can be seen at http://www.leicester.gov.uk/diwali/ but the best account is probably that offered by staff and students over on our course Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPEglos/

Reminder

Just to remind visitors that we also have a Facebook  group, which is open to all..

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPEglos/ 

Enjoy...
d.

Hi..

For those looking for revision or other materials on A-Level (AS and A2) Religious Studies, Philosophy & Ethics, etc - we also have a blog over at http://philosvids.wordpress.com/ that has a series of videos that we keep adding to...

Feel free to view them - and we will take more questions if you email them to dwebster@glos.ac.uk


Cheers,
dave

The Examined Life Video Presentation

Thanks for the presentations this morning. Very interesting and enjoyable...and I like this video!

Well done all.

Examined?

New students looking for info on the film The Examined Life should look at http://r-p-e.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/examined-life.html and will also find useful stuff at https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPEglos/ - hope you enjoyed the film!

d.

Atheism Plus?

As the UK papers catch up on the Atheism Plus business, you can see the background at http://dispirited.org/2012/08/30/atheism-plus-or-not-or-something-else/


D.

Gay, Black, and Quaker: History Catches Up with Bayard Rustin

Interesting essay at Religion Dispatches:

Stephen Angell's piece begins:

Recent weeks have seen history-making collaborations among leaders of the African American and LGBT equality movements. In May, the national board of the NAACP endorsed marriage equality for same-sex couples, shortly after President Obama did the same. This month, LGBT leaders joined the NAACP and others in New York City to call for an end to the police department’s “stop and frisk” policy, which has targeted mostly African Americans and Latinos.
“In the last four years, with the increase in hate crimes across the country, with states attempting to encode discrimination into their state laws and constitutions,” NAACP President Ben Jealous told the Times, “it’s become clear that, just as Bayard Rustin admonished us all, that we would either stand together or die apart.”
That comment certainly led many readers to ask, “as who admonished us?” Bayard Rustin’s pivotal role as advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and as organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech) should have assured his place in American social and political history.
But Rustin has long been denied his proper place—largely because he was an openly gay man.

Read the rest at:
 
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/5840/gay%2C_black%2C_and_quaker%3A_history_catches_up_with_bayard_rustin/

Revision Q&A With Dr Roy Jackson.

OK!  See below: we received some questions and have made a video response for revising students: here it is:

-----------

Hi,

Following some conversations with teachers, and the publication of the 2nd edition of The God of Philosophy, we are going to record a revision Q and A session with Dr Roy Jackson.

Our plan is:
Teachers: get your students (GCSE/AS/A2 level) to think of Philosophy of Religion questions and send them to dwebster@glos.ac.uk by the end of FRIDAY 5TH MAY. 


Then next week - I will will quiz Dr Jackson - on video - and post the resulting set of answers on this blog (and YouTube). Be sure to include the person who asked the question - and the school name - so I can tell Roy who is asking it.

Roy is Course Leader for the Religion, Philosophy and Ethics course here, and I will be asking Roy the questions...

You can also ask the questions via our FaceBook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPEglos/ 

[you may need to join but all are welcome, the group contains our students, ex-students, teachers, staff elsewhere, and people studying these subjects at colleges & schools too]

Atheism, Religion & Ethics

There is a new piece at http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/04/17/3478816.htm by Zizek: where he looks at the idea that we need religion in order to be moral people..

I like the bit below, not that I am sure I am totally persuaded by it:

..a quick look at our moral landscape confirms that it is a much more appropriate description of the atheist liberal/hedonist behaviour: they dedicate their life to the pursuit of pleasures, but since there is no external authority which would guarantee them personal space for this pursuit, they get entangled in a thick network of self-imposed "Politically Correct" regulations, as if they are answerable to a superego far more severe than that of the traditional morality. They thus become obsessed with the concern that, in pursuing their pleasures, they may violate the space of others, and so regulate their behaviour by adopting detailed prescriptions about how to avoid "harassing" others, along with the no less complex regime of the care-of-the-self (physical fitness, health food, spiritual relaxation, and so on).

Today, nothing is more oppressive and regulated than being a simple hedonist.

------------
As always with articles with hundreds and hundreds of comments: BE VERY WARY of reading them.. 

New Blogs: Philosophy of Religion, and 'spiritual' images..

Dr Roy Jackson, the RPE Course Leader has a new blog at http://www.godofphilosophy.com/ - which has loads of material on the Philosophy of Religion.

This includes short videos, blog posts, a sample chapter from the 2nd edition of his book The God of Philosophy, web-links, and more. He will also be expanding it as time goes on. It will be of interest to our students, but also to those revising for religion, philosophy and ethics in an A Level context...

While on the subject of blogs - I have a new one at http://dispirited-dave.tumblr.com/ for my (ever-growing) collections of odd/unusual Buddha images, and for images related to my interest in Mind/Body/Spirit self-presentations..

Feel free to look at the picture blog too (the Budha stuff may need you to look at some of the past pages, as there is a growing archive in them). You can also submit images to this gallery/photo-blog at http://dispirited-dave.tumblr.com/submit

Cheers,
Dave

Want to be an RE Teacher?

On Wednesday April 25th at 5pm, two former RPE students, and now RE teachers, will come in to FCH to talk about their teaching experiences and answer any questions you may have. Jason Chambers and Kt Green are products of the class of 2008 and so they were the first to graduate from the RPE degree. This will be an informal session and it is a chance for you to find out more about the experience of becoming and being a teacher generally, and in the subject of religion and philosophy more specifically.

If you can’t make the session, then put in a question in the comments and hopefully I can read some of them out on the day. 

Wednesday 5pm at FCH HC204