The New Humanism conference at Harvard #1

The New Humanism conference at Harvard - commemorating 30 years of Humanist chaplaincy at Harvard
Some comments and observations

Overview

Taking a look at Greg Epstein's brief biography on the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard website explains a great deal about the style of this celebratory conference. It left me with a variety of emotions and thoughts, a great deal of admiration and many questions some of of which still need time to form properly. The conference was in many ways a great success. A number of very eminent people attended and according to Greg:

"*All events were totally sold out, and in the end 3 venues had to be changed due to lack of space. Dozens of people were turned away. Given that we spent almost no money on advertising, we are so incredibly grateful for your help spreading word of mouth.

*Many journalists were present but primarily were from periodicals or other publications that won’t be writing things up right away, so keep an eye out in the coming days/weeks for more. "

I was amazed by the variety and number of American Humanist organisations present. I had hoped to meet up again with Dan Barker or Annie Laurie Gaylor from the Freedom from Religion Foundation. I heard someone say that they had been invited (I can't imagine Greg leaving out anyone who could, with the widest possible interpretation, fit in to the wide spectrum or, as I am sure many at the conference would put it, the broad church of US Humanism. the FfRF is a fierce freethought organisation involved in some momentous court battles at the moment and Annie and Dan were probably not free to attend. Their website states:

"With more than 9,200 members (and growing fast), we are the largest group of atheists and agnostics in North America. "

However I heard during the conference breakfast with E.O Wilson the claim that at least half of the 150,000 Unitarian Universalists were fully fledged Humanists, but I also gathered that some ex UUs were concerned about the direction the UUs were presently taking, although I didn't get to understand what the issues were.

Of course as part of the Secular Coalition of America the FfRF were in a sense represented.

Godless Harvard

The conference began with a tour of Harvard. There was a clear blue sky and a sense of relief among the Cambridge and Boston residents that spring had finally arrived after a long cold spell. We had been instructed to gather no later than 3.55pm at the Johnston Gate entrance to Harvard Yard.

By that time several tens of people had already gathered. I was beginning to wonder how the organisers would cope with such a large group. The man (on the left) holding the bottle is Greg Epstein the Harvard Humanist Chaplain. He had a good strong voice and introduced us to our guide, Dr Stephen Shoemaker, author of several articles on religion at Harvard. He too could project his voice very well. Dr Shoemaker told us about the fascinating history of the role played by religion and secularism in the development of what is still known as 'Godless' Harvard.'

At the end of the tour we were given a choice of going three different ways: have something to eat before the main events, visit with Professor Stephen Pinker, although it was made clear that his office was not that big so we were also invited to go into the church behind us to hear the Reverend Professor Peter Gomes give a sermon/talk. We were told that he was a charismatic preacher and that some of us might like to see him in action. I sensed that there were quite a few young people understandably really keen on visiting with Stephen Pinker so I decided to go instead for something to eat at the invitation of Hemant Mehta, Chair of the Secular Student Alliance and the man who sold his 'soul' on ebay. The pizza was so good (that's Hemant about to eat a slice) that I decided there and then that I would join the SSA. It was a very energising experience to be among so many enthusiastic young Humanists.
I noted that one of the people in the room was a young guy from Sweden who was sporting a small cross on a chain around his neck. Mel Lipman, President of the American Humanist Association, told me that he had asked him about it and it seems that the Swede was just so confident in his secularism that he wore the cross simply because " he liked jewellery".

Welcoming Dessert Reception
Soon it was time to make our way to a building adjacent to the Memorial Church for what was described as a "welcoming dessert reception" being held in "the Great Space", or otherwise known as the lobby of Robinson Hall. The place was packed and filled with an anticipatory buzz which over time rose to a crescendo of animated chat. I resisted (I really did :-)) some very tasty looking cakes and pastries. Mind you I had eaten two slices of pizza! Then with others we decided to start to make our way to the church to see if we could get good seats. I walked there in the company of Roy Speckhardt, the Executive Director of the American Humanist Association (AHA), a quiet man with a steely commitment to Humanism and an incisive and confident manner. Lines of people were already streaming in to the church. I found the building quite uninspiring. It struck me as an unpleasant space (and I usually quite like churches); the pews being too closely packed together and the heavy pillars inelegant and obstructive. A peculiarly claustrophobic atmosphere was created despite the lightness of the ubiquitous white paint. Every Humanist sat before a copy of the bible slotted into the back of the pew in front. Looking towards the dark altar screen I could just see Greg Epstein peering over a massive eagle lectern. It all seemed a little bizarre. Greg's efforts to bring to the event some cultural breadth couldn't quite overcome the church's resistance. I think the choice of location was necessary in part to accommodate the numbers which I understand were in the order of 1100. Of course I think there was also the fact, if I have understood matters correctly, that this Church is also the home of the chaplaincy but what was needed was something to provide the equivalent of a tart piquant sauce to accompany and cut through the cloying taste of a greasy dish. The music didn't do the trick for me.

A trio of musicians, the Dunya Turkish Music Ensemble, played some Turkish songs. Reading the translation brought to mind (somewhat inappropriately) the Greek singer Nana Mouskouri and the blandness of the English translation she often offered for some of her melancholic songs. Here we had "I am on a long and narrow road, day and night I wander. I don't know what state I am in, day and night I wander..." etc. and "We have endured to the end of the world. We can't tell if it's a bride or a girl. What advice we heard, what counsel we've gotten, We can't tell if it's a conversation or just words." This is not to make any judgement as to the value of the music/songs intrinsically or the quality of the perfomance which I think was very high.

(photo of trio by Juliette Melton)

After this a choir - the Yiddish Community Chorus of the Workmens' Circle sang and I must admit extremely well. One of their offerings being a strange version of "We shall overcome" sung partly in Yiddish. The air was becoming heavy with symbolic meaning but of what exactly I couldn't quite make out. Greg spoke briefly enthusing in anticipation of the appearance of Salman Rushdie centre stage and of the significance of the occasion of the first such award but he then invited Steven Pinker the renowned professor of psychology at Harvard and his partner Rebecca Neuberg Goldstein to say some words of welcome. I can't recall that either had really very much to say but what they did say bubbled with enthusiasm. Fred Edwords Director of Communications of the AHA and quite some wordsmith himself provided us with some humanist context for the works of Salman Rushdie. An inscribed plaque was then presented by Greg Epstein to Salman Rushdie and the First Annual Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Humanism had been conferred.
photo: "Salman Rushdie receiving plaque" by Juliette Melton)

It was Daniel Menaker the Executive Editor in Chief of Salman Rushdie's US publishers, Random House, who gave us a fuller critical sense of the significance of the achievement of Rushdie's towering literary talent. Then, finally, peering from behind the eagle Salman Rushdie mused, "was this a "Black Sabbath" event?" and enquired conspiratorially whether " maybe we should just continue until they throw us out." Mr Rushdie was gracious and grateful for the honour bestowed and witty and urbane in his comments and observations. He then gave a reading from his most recent book. Finally the awkward symbolism, iconography and opressive architecture were made to fade into the background by the powerful inventiveness of this consummate story teller. He peopled are minds with Max Ophuls, Shalimar the Clown and the beauty who danced between them, Boonyi Kaul. After reading two substantive extracts to what seemed to me to be an enthralled audience he then generously answered many questions from the floor. I asked a question to which Mr Rushdie gave a very good answer but as I cannot remember his answer I certainly won't dwell on my question. Someone else asked about Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. I hope that maybe there will be some recording of this question and answer session but one phrase struck me as as an accurate and acute comment on Sam Harris's work which Rushdie said maybe lacked (I think this was the word he used) nuance, but he went on to say how good it was to hear a full-blooded approach among the spectrum of views. It had been an effective, stimulating event. We walked out of the church and I felt a certain magic in the Harvard night. I was too excited to just go back to the hotel and so in the company of Matt Cherry and Duncan Crary from the Institute of Humanist Studies we repaired to a nearby Harvard hostelery to drink and chat.


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To be continued - the highs and some of the lows of an exciting event.