Below the screen on which the video interview with Amartya Sen had just been shown was a video camera. The camera was covered by a cloth.
Rushdie made it plain that he was not speaking as a Muslim. He said that he had been brought up as a secular Muslim and that mentioning being a Muslim in India in the 50s, 60s and 70s was nothing to do with religion. He grew up within a culture of Islam. His parents and their friends were highly educated. His father was not religious but was fascinated by the fact that the Koran was made up of chapters that had been collated after the death of the prophet and that it was clear from textual analysis that they were now in the wrong order. His father's dream was to re-arrange them into a more logical sequence. Salman's grandfather was very religious but at the same time very open-minded. Salman half admitted that it was probably him who when quite small asked his grandfather why he spent to so much time with his head lower than his bottom talking to God. His grandfather didn't censor discussion he encouraged it. Rushdie said, unable to suppress a sneer, that fundamentalist Islam is rather new. That it's arriviste. He reminded us that the creation of Pakistan was led by Jinnah who was himself nonreligious. The homeland for Muslims was constructed without believing in Islam. After all it made perfect sense that if you can't get elected in one country then just make another.
Then the moment arrived and Rushdie was asked to step to one side, the cover was whipped off the video camera and the Hyatt lectern was turned around. On the screen we now could see ourselves, the audience at Harvard. Greg with the flourish of a magician announced that we were going live via a video link to a conference taking place at this very moment in Sanford University in Alabama where Professor E.O. Wilson, world famous Harvard biologist and Humanist, was taking part. Sanford is a private Baptist-affiliated university. Greg moved aside and an executive looking young lady took her place behind the lectern facing the screen which now showed us the scene at Sanford and in a small section of the screen the scene at Harvard (us) fronted by our smiling hostess. It was shortly after 11.30 am and the Rev. Sally Bingham of San Francisco had just finished telling the Sanford conference about the Interfaith Power and Light Program www.theregenerationproject.org/About.htm
Our interlocutor declared herself to be Miss Rhode Island and said how she was honoured to be speaking to Sanford from Harvard. She then said she was here to introduce Greg Epstein Harvard's Humanist Chaplain. Greg extended the hand of friendship and hoped that this was just the start....
There was applause across the continent and the event was over.
Salman had been right. He had been interrupted from outer space by video signals of smiles and greetings bounced off satellites. A tiny seed of a future improbable joint Humanist - Southern Baptist conference had maybe been planted. Or at least I think that's what had happened.
There were a number of questions for the panel and this was the first conference I had attended where a microphone on a stand was placed in the middle of the central aisle and people were just invited to line up to ask their question. This struck me as a very good idea.
I am not sure whether I will continue to review in detail the rest of the conference. Their were some panel discussions and in the evening a gala dinner with some more awards presented and speeches delivered. I would have liked to have had the stamina to have stayed up to hear the concert given by Dar Williams who is very highly regarded particularly by the younger Humanists. ( I hadn't heard of her and don't know whether she is widely known in the UK and I am just not on the ball!) All the same I was quite pleased to find that it wasn't just those of my age who had flaked out around 10.30pm and had to miss the concert.
By the following morning E.O. Wilson had made it up from Alabama to be with us for what was billed as a breakfast with E.O.Wilson. It was interesting. He has written a book entitled "Creation" in which he addresses an imaginary Baptist minister. I quote from Publishers Weekly:
"With his usual eloquence, patience and humor, Wilson, our modern-day Thoreau, adds his thoughts to the ongoing conversation between science and religion. Couched in the form of letters to a Southern Baptist pastor, the Pulitzer Prize–winning entomologist pleads for the salvation of biodiversity, arguing that both secular humanists like himself and believers in God acknowledge the glory of nature and can work together to save it. "
Wilson, fit and lanky in the mould of Gregory Peck, is replete with Southern charm and I can well imagine how he could go down well in Alabama. For him it is the transcendent issues which must dictate the approach of Humanists like himself. For Wilson this is the essential New Humanism less concerned with religious beliefs than the acceptance of ecological necessity. Discussion did touch on whether certain people who genuinely believe that they are about to enter the Rapture (wikipedia states that this is " a common belief among Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Baptists, and many independents.") may have somewhat less urgent concerns about saving the planet for future generations. I am not sure whether he had an answer to this other than to say that it somewhat depended on how imminent those believing in the Rapture thought imminent was.
I then went across town arriving a little late to a round table discussion about Humanist education. Some of the usual issues were being raised: What exactly is Humanism? Is it right to call it a religion ? etc. Greg Epstein made it clear that he was looking for support for Humanist chaplaincies around the country from whichever quarter it could be found. If some of the major Humanist educational organisations wanted to lead the way he was more than happy but he wanted to see things happening very soon. If necessary he would raise funds elsewhere and proceed. Epstein is a man with a mission and judging from the success of this conference, I think he will succeed.
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