Time: 17 November 2011, 18:30 - 21:00
Place: Ricardo LT, Drayton House, University College London
For
our first panel discussion, UCLU ASHS invited the university's faith
societies to explore the topic of secularism. The panel consisted of
representatives from UCLU AMSA (Tahir Nasser) and UCLU Catholic Society (Kajtek Skowronski), as well Treasurer Kieran on our behalf, while President Robbie chaired the discussion.
Each
of the panelists were first given 3 minutes to express their views on
secularism in the UK. AMSA, highlighting citations from the Koran,
advocated a view of 'You for your religion and me for my religion': the
ruling religion in a non-secular state would impose restrictions on the
minority religions. This would conflict with the Islamic principle of
justice, as 'secularism is justice.' Hence, the role of religion in
society should be to guide, but not dictate, legislature. Echoing this
sentiment, CatholicSoc expressed that theocracy will not work in society
- highlighting that Jesus believed the church and state were distinct
-, but that religion should still maintain an active role of positive
moral guidance in a system grounded by secular reason. A note was also
made on how UCL's secular roots was the first university in England to
admit Catholic students. Finally, ASHS brought up the issue that
although the UK policy is to treat all religions as equal, this does not
necessarily prevent the conflicts we would wish for secularism to
prevent. Moreover, the Judeo-Christian foundations of the UK still has
its influences in this society, as evidenced by e.g. the Queen being
Head of State and Bishops in the House of Lords.
As
each of the three societies represented were in favour of a secular
Britain, then, the Q&A session of the discussion revolved around the
more fine-grained differences in their approaches to a secular state. A
question from the audience led to reflections from each of the
panelists on their stance on government-funded faith schools in the UK.
AMSA conceded that allowing for private faith schools will uphold the
principle of free will, whereas public schools should teach morality
common to all religions, rather than promote any one religion over
others. Conflicts within religions are too many and too complex to avoid
implicitly favouring one religious view. Contrastingly, CatholicSoc
argued in favour of public faith schools by pointing out that the free
choice of schools is still maintained, and that government funding is
not significantly drained by maintaining faith schools. Moreover, it was
stressed that faith schools do not necessarily limit diversity in the
student population, as many Catholic schools are attended by a wide
variety of non-Catholic ethnic minorities. Countering this, Kieran
representing the ASHS reflected on his own experience in Catholic
schools, noting that despite being in one of the most multicultural
areas in the UK, the vast majority of his peers were Catholic.
Nevertheless, faith schools should be upheld, he argued, as this would
allow for 'atheist academies', i.e. 'you have to play along to get
along.'
The topic of faith schools was further explored
in detail between the panelists and the audience members: to what
extent is admitting a child to a faith school an act of labelling or
priming an individual without self-awareness? Here, CatholicSoc pointed
out that regardless of admission to faith school, children cannot be
brought up with blank slates, and that as long as faith schools teach
the national curriculum, religious supplementary input is not a negative
influence if this is what the parents wish for their child. Another
issue raised by the audience, was that while public funding of faith
schools may not necessarily be financially detrimental, it is also a
question of morals, as individuals would not want their tax money to
contribute towards values they do not support.
Following
continued discussion of other less strictly relevant (but inevitable)
issues including human versus religious morality and whether there is
such a distinction, as well as abortion and ethics, each of the
panelists summarised their views. CatholicSoc asserted that a secular
state should not undermine the role of religion, but value well-reasoned
religious beliefs; ASHS cast reflection on how religion will still
inevitably influence a secular state, in particular discussions
regarding abortion and LGBT - an influence which must be accepted for
democratic reasons; while AMSA expressed surprise at the knowledge of
Britain's non-secular influences during the discussion, and stressed
that although a secular state free of any ruling religion would be the
only just form of government, non-secular influences such as the
monarchy should not be removed as this would demonstrate injustice to
the country's heritage.
Friday 25 November 2011
Event report: Interfaith panel discussion - 'Should Britain be a Secular State?'
Labels:
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UCLU ASHS event
Saturday 5 November 2011
Event report: Paolo Viscardi - "Myths, Memes, & Misidentifications"
Time: 03 November 2011, 19:00 - 20:30
Place: Ramsay LT, Christopher Ingold Building, University College London
UCLU ASHS gathered on this rainy Thursday night for a talk on mermaids, the Montauk Monster, and Japanese Monkeyfish, amongst other dubiously existing creatures introduced to us by Paolo Viscardi. As a natural history curator at the Horniman Museum in South London, co-founder of London Science in the Pub, and administrator of askabiologist.co.uk, Viscardi presented numerous examples from both history and his own experiences of the evolution of myths, memes, and misidentifications in society, demonstrating how "members of the public are freaks."
With an educational background in biology and geology, Viscardi applies his knowledge of fossils and bones in his work at the Horniman Museum. As such, he frequently receives inquiries from laymen finding ambigious-looking objects around the country requesting their identification (or confirmation of wacky suspicions, rather), of which he listed several examples: a concreted sea urchin believed to be a dinosaur egg; the all so familiar random toast burns believed to be the manifestation of Jesus and its Muslim equivalent; the Pope in a fire; and the 'polar bear' washed up on the beach in Cornwall. These are all examples of pareidolia, people's tendency to assume things are 'super freaky' because it looks different or has certain features, reflecting the intrinsic human ability to search for and attribute meaning to ambiguous stimuli. When taken to the extreme, pareidolia can also reflect human idiocy, as it were, exemplified by the case of the man who was so convinced the piece of rock he had found was a dinosaur egg containing an embryo, that he kept it for over 20 years and staked his entire retirement on it.
The Montauk Monster, in particular, is a case of mistaken identity which received widespread attention. A 'weird alien monster creature with a beak' washed up on the shore of Montauk, spawning a cult movement including Montauk Monster artwork, websites, origami and Montauk Monster on toast, before the truth was finally revealed as retold in this video. Instead of indulging in this the hysteria of pareidolia, Viscardi urged us to look at the Monster's teeth, as teeth are very good indicators of the species. Showing us images of the Montauk Monster's skull next to four comparable skulls of North American mammals, the audience unanimously correctly identified the Monster's skull as that belonging to a raccoon. Its carcass had been in water for such a long time that it had lost all its fur, thus giving it its otherwordly appearance.
Viscardi described further examples of such mistaken identities and manufactured monsters. Travellers, including Christopher Columbus, encountering the then unfamiliar species of manatees and dugongs, would often think they were mermaids. Stories of mermaids have been around for thousands of years, and there is a large body of folklore and myths surrounding these mythological creatures. Naturally, then, sailors knew much more about mermaids than manatees and dugongs. This, coupled with likely mental disturbances, such as hallucinations, caused by long travels, would lead the sailors to believe these squishy creatures were mermaids.
It goes without saying that the phenomenon of pareidolia can easily be exploited for personal gain. Mermen, or Japanese Monkeyfish, were believed to be manufactured by sewing the upper half of a monkey to the lower half of a fish. P.T. Barnum was a notable scam artist who in the mid-1800s misrepresented the so-called 'Fejee Mermaid' with a rich 'background story', 'verification' of authenticity by a 'Dr Griffith' and clever manipulation of newspaper journalists. This caused great uproar among the public, generating substantial sums of money for Barnum. Years later, a Japanese Monkeyfish arrived at the Horniman Museum. CAT scans, x-rays and other examinations revealed the 'part fish, part monkey' to be constructed by a piece of wire, some pieces of wood, a bundle of fiber, some fabric, clay, papiermaché and some fish bones.
In conclusion, then, 'always check your facts, otherwise you'll end up looking like an arse.' Also, there are lots of weirdos out there.
Check out Viscardi's blog for Friday mystery objects or visit the Horniman Museum (supposedly wonderful in the summer for picnic with mates!).
Place: Ramsay LT, Christopher Ingold Building, University College London
UCLU ASHS gathered on this rainy Thursday night for a talk on mermaids, the Montauk Monster, and Japanese Monkeyfish, amongst other dubiously existing creatures introduced to us by Paolo Viscardi. As a natural history curator at the Horniman Museum in South London, co-founder of London Science in the Pub, and administrator of askabiologist.co.uk, Viscardi presented numerous examples from both history and his own experiences of the evolution of myths, memes, and misidentifications in society, demonstrating how "members of the public are freaks."
With an educational background in biology and geology, Viscardi applies his knowledge of fossils and bones in his work at the Horniman Museum. As such, he frequently receives inquiries from laymen finding ambigious-looking objects around the country requesting their identification (or confirmation of wacky suspicions, rather), of which he listed several examples: a concreted sea urchin believed to be a dinosaur egg; the all so familiar random toast burns believed to be the manifestation of Jesus and its Muslim equivalent; the Pope in a fire; and the 'polar bear' washed up on the beach in Cornwall. These are all examples of pareidolia, people's tendency to assume things are 'super freaky' because it looks different or has certain features, reflecting the intrinsic human ability to search for and attribute meaning to ambiguous stimuli. When taken to the extreme, pareidolia can also reflect human idiocy, as it were, exemplified by the case of the man who was so convinced the piece of rock he had found was a dinosaur egg containing an embryo, that he kept it for over 20 years and staked his entire retirement on it.
The Montauk Monster, in particular, is a case of mistaken identity which received widespread attention. A 'weird alien monster creature with a beak' washed up on the shore of Montauk, spawning a cult movement including Montauk Monster artwork, websites, origami and Montauk Monster on toast, before the truth was finally revealed as retold in this video. Instead of indulging in this the hysteria of pareidolia, Viscardi urged us to look at the Monster's teeth, as teeth are very good indicators of the species. Showing us images of the Montauk Monster's skull next to four comparable skulls of North American mammals, the audience unanimously correctly identified the Monster's skull as that belonging to a raccoon. Its carcass had been in water for such a long time that it had lost all its fur, thus giving it its otherwordly appearance.
Viscardi described further examples of such mistaken identities and manufactured monsters. Travellers, including Christopher Columbus, encountering the then unfamiliar species of manatees and dugongs, would often think they were mermaids. Stories of mermaids have been around for thousands of years, and there is a large body of folklore and myths surrounding these mythological creatures. Naturally, then, sailors knew much more about mermaids than manatees and dugongs. This, coupled with likely mental disturbances, such as hallucinations, caused by long travels, would lead the sailors to believe these squishy creatures were mermaids.
It goes without saying that the phenomenon of pareidolia can easily be exploited for personal gain. Mermen, or Japanese Monkeyfish, were believed to be manufactured by sewing the upper half of a monkey to the lower half of a fish. P.T. Barnum was a notable scam artist who in the mid-1800s misrepresented the so-called 'Fejee Mermaid' with a rich 'background story', 'verification' of authenticity by a 'Dr Griffith' and clever manipulation of newspaper journalists. This caused great uproar among the public, generating substantial sums of money for Barnum. Years later, a Japanese Monkeyfish arrived at the Horniman Museum. CAT scans, x-rays and other examinations revealed the 'part fish, part monkey' to be constructed by a piece of wire, some pieces of wood, a bundle of fiber, some fabric, clay, papiermaché and some fish bones.
In conclusion, then, 'always check your facts, otherwise you'll end up looking like an arse.' Also, there are lots of weirdos out there.
Check out Viscardi's blog for Friday mystery objects or visit the Horniman Museum (supposedly wonderful in the summer for picnic with mates!).
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