Our October meeting will feature people sharing their lived experiences of questioning and then leaving their religion to finding humanism.

Last October, Oxford Humanists were privileged to host the international organization “Recovering from Religion” on one of the legs of their UK Tour in support of Faith to Faithless, the apostasy support arm of Humanists UK. It was also our First Birthday, but that got rather lost in the occasion!

As a nod to that event, our October meeting is entitled “Recovered from Religion” and is to celebrate people who’ve made that Faith to Faithless journey. Because this is also our Second Birthday, there’ll be cake and a little celebration to mark the occasion!

The evening will be led by Nick Baldwin, a local humanist celebrant and Dr Diana John, our Oxford Humanists Coordinator. Nick, who once lived as a closeted and married Baptist minister, now embraces his identity as an openly gay humanist and is the President of LGBT+ Humanists. Diana grew up in South Africa in the ‘70s and ‘80s as a committed born-again Christian. On moving back to England in 1989, she joined Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, and was a group leader for the Alpha Course and experienced the “Toronto Blessing”, which was the pivotal moment in questioning her faith.

The meeting is also open to any of the audience to share your own experiences, if you have either made a similar journey yourself or are maybe even just starting it. You are welcome to contact events-oxford@humanistbranches.uk to let us know you wish to contribute or simply turn up on the night and mention you have something you would like to share. Afterwards we will enjoy a special birthday cake and some prosecco or non-alcoholic drinks to toast two years of Oxford Humanists Local Group!

The event is free to attend, but any donations will support Oxford Humanists in expanding our future activities.

More about the Venue: The North Oxford Community Centre Annexe will be open from 19:15pm. There is parking close by at Summertown Car Park or Ferry Car Park. The No.14 Bus runs from Oxford Railway Station to Summertown every ~15 minutes.

We hope to see you there!

Description supplied by the event organiser.