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Welcome!

We want to make the world a better place: by talking with, listening to - and potentially working with - people who see the world differently.

We - the people on this site (and, we trust, you) - want to make the world a better place. The question is: how?  An important part of the answer is: with help from one another - we can't do this on our own.  If we want to make this happen, we will need to learn how to cooperate, really cooperate, with one another.

Right now, the challenges the world faces, but also the possibilities for real change, are greater than they have been in our lifetime.  So we want to do everything we can to understand the challenges and come up with the best possible responses, to enable us to work together and make the best changes happen.

What the human race does today, and in the next few years - how we live, the choices we make - will shape the world, and decide our future.

We need to understand the practical challenges we face.  But we also need to explore ideas and beliefs, hopes and fears, because these are the things which drive our choices and affect the way we live.  And we need to explore them with people who do not already agree with us, because we will need to cooperate with as many people as possible if we are going to beat these challenges.

We will not learn enough if we only talk to those who agree with us, and we will not be strong enough if we only cooperate with those we like.

So we want to attract a wide range of people with different ideas and opinions.  With a range of differing perspectives, we can test the evidence for our ideas and explore the alternatives, so that we have good reason to believe the actions we take are the best we are capable of.  And we always need to be open to the possibility of understanding more, and changing our strategy.

Alongside the challenges, we also want to share some good news about things which give us hope end encouragement: if we are to overcome these challenges, we will need joy and strength just as much as we need clear thinking and accurate information.

We need to act, and interact, as people, with all the benefits and struggles this brings; we cannot pretend to be impersonal dispensors of objective truth.

The problems of this world are caused by people, and they must be solved by people.  Facts really matter, but they rarely persuade people to make the changes which are needed: alongside the facts, we need the personal stories.  Issues need to be grounded in human experience, so we can relate to the story and be moved emotionally as well as intellectually.

We will aim to be as truthful and honest as possible, but nobody is entirely objective.  The best we can do is be open and honest about our preferences and prejudices, do our best to make allowances for them, and be open to other people questioning and challenging our assumptions.

What Next?

Fee free to browse.  All the content on the site is available for anyone to read.  If you wish to contribute in some way, or simply support our vision of people cooperating despite disagreement, you are very welcome to join us, but please read the material in the Introduction first, to understand how we try to do things and why we have a small monthly membership fee.

This site is currently under development - we are still copying content across from the original site.  But there is enough to give you an idea of what we are aiming to build.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

 

Activity

Adrian Roberts published an article
Climate Change: Why do some people not believe in it? In our Zoom meeting on 21st September we discussed the dangers of climate change and possible solutions, and it was interesting and important but much like a million other such discussions. The more interesting question was why we believe what we do, and why some people take an opposite view to the mainstream positions.I admit that I have made only a basic study of climate change science, and so I have essentially subscribed to the…
yesterday
Brian Monahan published an article
 

Book Review: Humankind - A hopeful history
by Rutger Bregman, 481 pages; 2020
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humankind-Hopeful-History-Rutger-Bregman-e...
To be very clear, in my (not so) humble opinion, this is a very wonderful book indeed.   It proclaims a radical idea - that people are basically good and kind when all is said and done (hence the pun in the title).   Or at least, this is what people truly try to be at heart.  Of course, it may not turn out as well as one might…
Tuesday
Adrian Roberts published an article
This was my holiday reading! A very important book. BOOK REVIEW: FASCISM – A WARNING: Madeleine Albright. Madeleine Albright was well-placed to write an urgent warning about the resurgence of Fascism. She was born in Czechoslovakia; her parents escaped first from the Nazis and then the Communists. Three of her Jewish grandparents died in the Holocaust. She was a refugee, though as she says a lucky one in that she arrived in New York on a liner, not a rubber boat, and her family were welcomed in…
Sep 9
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Improving Ourselves]
Introduction
Many of our conflicts and difficulties are the result of our tendency to create abstractions (truth, justice, freedom, greed, hate, jealousy, ...) and then argue about them.  Is justice more important than freedom?  Is positive discrimination fair?  Given the choice, should you betray your friend or your country?  I want to argue that all such questions are unhelpful: they are based upon the mistaken assumption that the abstractions in question…
Sep 7
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Spiritual Challenges]
We have a page about improving the world; this is the other side of the coin - if we want the world to improve, we need to get better ourselves.  It does not take a great deal of insight to see that the things I dislike in other people are also in myself.  It is well summarised by the apocryphal story about GK Chesterton replying to a newspaper’s question of “What is wrong with the world” with the simple response, “Dear Sirs, I am”.
And, of course, it works the…
Sep 1
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Spiritual Challenges]
All of this site can be seen as a search for ways to improve the world, make it a better place.  this page is for the 'meta level' question - how do we promote and implement all the specific ways to make the world a better place?  These are the ideas and suggestions on that subject.

How can we affect or stimulate positive change?
Facts Are Not Enough

 
Aug 31
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Improving the World]
Question
It often feels like the world is going backwards. Facts are clearly not enough, so what can we do to change hearts and minds?
I have been talking with people about how to change hearts and minds for a long time, and along the way have picked up what seem to be some insights into the nature of the problem, and some thoughts which may contribute towards an answer.  As always, let's regard this as a starting point to be improved.
Context
You cannot make…
Aug 31
Mark Collins published an article
Hearts and minds are a very challenging thing to influence! It is clear that, certainly in the West, we are dealing with decades of indoctrination that have resulted in a larger number of people believing in the ethos of the individual rather than the community. Of self interest rather than communal interest. Ordinary people face an incredible challenge if they are to change the direction of travel. Our institutions, even in so called democratic countries, are often difficult to participate in…
Aug 29
Paul Hazelden posted an event

Sep 21, 2023 from 8:00pm to 9:30pm

Online

Aug 23
Paul Hazelden posted a blog post
Over the past few days, I have met and heard about numerous people who are deeply distressed by the recent news concerning Lucy Letby, the nurse who has been convicted of killing seven babies.  As they describe it, they are partly distressed because of the dreadful nature of the events, and partly because they cannot understand why a nurse would kill babies.
My standard response is that it is right and healthy to be distressed when we hear about such things, but please do not attempt to…
Aug 22
Paul Hazelden posted a discussion
Introduction
For now, this is the place to record what we want by way of website functionality.
Once we are clear about what we would like, we can talk productively about priorities, and how much the various details are worth, but that is another stage of the discussion.
Access and Membership
Almost all the site is public, freely accessible by anyone on the Internet.  The only exceptions are:

administration functions, only accessible to site administrators;
some site statistics (such as…
Aug 8
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Spiritual Challenges]
Some thoughts about spirituality...
John Bean contributed the following.
Sam Harris, who wrote 'Waking Up: Searching for Spirituality Without Religion', is one of the 'new atheists'; he is trying to create a non-religious (pseudo) spirituality based on reductionist neuroscience.  I agree with Harris that spirituality is important, indeed vital. The trouble is he draws on his neuroscience to follow the Buddhist idea of no-self, whereas I think the Christian idea is…
Aug 3
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Christianity]
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful.
This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Introduction
(This article needs to be re-worked, and probably divided into different topics, but in the meantime it contains some useful material.  It was originally written in May 2021.)
Context
Jesus was a Jew, brought up within the Jewish faith.  We cannot understand what he did and taught if…
Jul 30
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Christianity]
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful.
This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Introduction
The Bible as we have it today, is two collections of books.  Two faith communities have created these collections, and said that these are helpful books, worth preserving and reading.  The collections are referred to by Christians as the Old Testament and the New Testament, but what…
Jul 29
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Spiritual Challenges]
Introduction
This is a common theme running through many of the issues we face: it is very easy to see the world as a set of binary choices - either this is true, or that is.  Climate change is either man-made, or it is not; euthanasia is either a good thing or a bad thing; we have to support global capitalism or reject it.
In real life, some of our choices really are binary: either I apply for this job, or I don't.  But even then, other possibilities might exist:…
Jul 28
Paul Hazelden published an article
[Back to Christianity]
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful.
This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Introduction
Jesus promised His first disciples, "I will build my church", but it seems unlikely that the Church we see today was what He had in mind at the time.
If we are genuinely seeking to follow Jesus, then we have to ask ourselves: when Jesus promised to build His Church, what did He have…
Jul 27
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