I'm a member but the Belgian humanist organizations clearly need to become more organized, there are chapters in just about every city and they pretty much operate on their own. I was a member of HVV in a different city so I didn't get any info on what was going on in the city I live in now.
I'm now member of both chapters and I will not extend the membership of my original city when it comes up.
The lecture was OK, a rehash of a lot of things I already knew but still good to listen to and learned a few more things about Darwin's personal life.
The drink afterwards was good to find out a bit about the organization but other than that it was pretty cold (literally and figuratively)
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One remark regarding your article: the belgian humanists are not all atheists. A serious number of members of the humanist movement are actually freemasons. Whatever some freemasons, such as lately the ex-grand master of the Belgian Great Eastern, declare, freemasonry implies a believe in a higher being, mostly called 'great architect' (of the temple). Somebody who accepts the existance of a higher being is not an atheist but a deist.
I don't think I implied that they were.
But still apart from an apparently fundamental Protestant who was living with some members I think everyone there was atheist.
Johan Braeckman didn't mince words to put down any notion of a higher being, the reaction from the attendants was one of support for this notion.
So, while I do not know the large picture of HVV membership (and I agree that there may be a large number of deist or freemasons) I did feel right at home among the attendants and the literature I get does not seem to advance a freemasonry agenda. But, thanks, I'll try to stay on my toes and look out for it.
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