When: Thursday 1 December, 7.30pm
Online: Zoom link here
Speaker: Boyd Sleator
Northern Ireland vs London: Similarities, Differences and what we can learn from them
Looked at from London, one can easily view Northern Ireland as a one-dimensional place – protestants versus catholics pretty much defines it. This is a very out of date conclusion: today it’s a multidimensional society buzzing with new ideas and initiatives. (See the review of the Humanist Convention held in Belfast earlier this year here). One striking example is provided by the success of the NI Humanists.
Our speaker is Boyd Sleator, Coordinator of the NI Humanist Section. He will compare and contrast the social environments of Northern Ireland and London, the impact that these have had on the respective Humanist communities, and will suggest some useful conclusions that we might draw.
Boyd’s role is to expand the reach of Northern Ireland Humanists’ campaigns, services, events, community, and public awareness work; a task he has carried out with notable success.
Before he came to Humanists UK, he was an organiser for events around the public understanding of science, and founding chair of the group Atheist NI. He is particularly motivated by issues related to education reform in Northern Ireland and has spearheaded calls for reform of the Religious Education curriculum and for an end to religious privilege in state-funded schools. This has led to Boyd forming the Coalition for Inclusive Education which launches in late October this year.
Boyd is an advocate of dialogue between faith and belief groups and is the secretary for the NI Interfaith Forum which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023. Boyd’s work on taking action as a community, as well as considering what inclusive culture looks like in Northern Ireland, led him 18 months ago, with a group of like-minded individuals, to founding Free The Night. Although this is Northern Ireland focused, they have become one of the leading organisations globally advocating for the late-night creative economy.
