On Wednesday 18th of June Jo Penberthy, vicar of Cucklington will be our speaker. Continue reading
The Gospels and Theistic Magic Realism
I have been looking again at the gospels and thinking about the man they describe and have come up with a new way for me of reading them. I see them as examples of theistic, magic, realism or TMR. Am I on to something or have I got it wrong? Read the paper and tell me.
Anvil Explores Freedom of Expression with Gill Cleverley
For details and the PDF of Gill’s paper go straight to the ANVIL page Continue reading
ANVIL meeting. Wed.Feb 12th
Our speaker was Dr Steve Mandel, a professional economist and past Senior Researcher at the New Economics Foundation. His paper makes out the case that both the theory and practice of economics as generally accepted by those responsible for financial policy is fundamentally flawed Continue reading
A Day to Stretch the Mind
Julie Arliss’ Academy Conferences for school students doing A Level in the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics are well known, as are her well attended conferences for gifted and talented students. This conference was quite different, it was a day for teachers Continue reading
THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE A SAFE, PAINLESS DEATH
At the first meeting of ANVIL we had an excellent discussion with really thoughtful contributions from everyone who came. Clearly the subject has relevance to all of us. In the light of that discussion I have written a thorough revision of my paper which is now entitled The Right to Choose a Safe, Painless, Death. In addition go to the end of the article and see the thoughtful comments I have received. Add yours by emailing me at johnbaxter@nullgetshot.co.uk
Religious Education in Schools is Failing. Headline
In October the major newspapers and the BBC reported that RE is failing in many schools because it has been downgraded and because too many teachers are not trained to teach it. This is the subject I devoted my career as a teacher to promote. Continue reading
Can Christianity or Buddhism be Re-cast as Secular Religions?
On Saturday 21st Sept 2013 I am attended a Sea of Faith conference in London to be addressed by Stephen Batchelor – on Secular Buddhism and Don Cuppitt on Secular Christianity and Richard Holloway, the former Scottish Episcopal Church Primate. I tried asking them to say in simple terms of about a paragraph to express the Christian or the Buddhist narrative in a secular way. Simplicity I believe is vital if this talk is to go beyond academic discussion. Continue reading
Julie Arliss Gifted and Talented Student Conference
Attending Julie Arliss’ Conference for Gifted and Talented students in March this year was for me a revelation for as a retired teacher such events did not exist twenty years ago. Continue reading
How I Failed to Bring Down Margaret Thatcher
1982 and I was teaching at Ilfracombe College, what some might later have described as a “bog standard” comprehensive for 1100 children 11-18. Continue reading