What do Albert Einstein, Margaret Atwood, and Neil Peart have in common?
On the surface, not much. Einstein was a famous scientist, Atwood is a well-known author, and Peart is the drummer from the legendary Canadian rock band Rush. Though they have diverse backgrounds, these people do have one thing in common: They’re all humanists.
What is a humanist? A humanist is someone who values evidence over opinion, who values rational thought over reactionary thought, and who believes that human beings can solve their own problems without appealing for help from the supernatural. They value compassion over hate, facts over faith, and they tend to think that one of the best things to do in life is to serve their community in some way.
The Comox Valley Humanists was started several months by Tony de Castro. He wanted to bring together people who share some or most of the above values and talk about issues in the world from a humanist perspective.
What have Tony and the other members liked about the group so far?
“The fact that we all get to know people we would not normally have a chance to meet. Our group has members from all sorts of backgrounds. We don’t always agree on everything, but it is a wonderful learning experience and it teaches us to be more tolerant of other peoples’ views.”
The Comox Valley Humanists invite everyone who is interested to come to their next meeting. Check out their website, cvhumanists.org and e-mail cvhumanists@shaw.ca for more information.
The meeting starts this Saturday at 10 a.m. at Serious Coffee in Courtenay. The topic for discussion will be Funding Faithful Science.
— Comox Valley Humanists