{"id":2820,"date":"2025-07-31T10:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T10:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2025-07-31T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T10:54:08","slug":"connecting-with-nature-and-humanist-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/?p=2820","title":{"rendered":"Connecting with nature and humanist ‘spirituality’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Op piece Romford Recorder and Barking and Dagenham Post May\/June 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Spiritual\u2019 is a vague, hard to define word I avoid using. But I guess it could describe my sense of connection with nature, stirred afresh by recent news stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appointment of a \u2018Voice\u2019 to speak for our local rivers is a fantastic development inspired by the global Rights of Nature movement. It\u2019s possibly the first example in the UK. The spokesperson will be part of the Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne Catchment Partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remit is laid out in a \u2018Declaration of Rights of the River Roding.\u2019 This acknowledges \u2018that rivers are essential to all life and perform essential ecological functions.\u2019 It declares the Roding \u2018to be an indivisible and living whole.\u2019 As a living entity it \u2018should possess legal standing in a court of law and have all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.\u2019  The Declaration fosters a model \u2018based on living in harmony with nature and respecting both the rights of nature and human rights.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving our rivers their own voice is a powerful expression of the desire to restore our natural environment after years of pollution, reckless extraction and biodiversity devastation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mindset this movement is up against was personified by the Sycamore Gap news story and the cutting down of that iconic tree. One of the two convicted defendants said it was \u2018just a tree\u2019 and couldn\u2019t understand why its destruction hit the headlines as much as it did. Some comfort can be taken from the outrage expressed worldwide towards this senseless act of vandalism. But the uncomfortable truth is that the blind spot it showed towards nature pervades society. It\u2019s epitomised by the delight with which Trump spouts the mantra \u2018Drill baby drill.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t believe humans were created separately and given dominion over the rest of nature. \u00a0We are part of nature, and share much of our DNA with the rest of the natural world from which we have evolved. Our survival depends on recognising our fragile interdependence. To quote the great Humanist, David Attenborough, who\u2019s just turned 99: \u201cIt seems to me that\u00a0the natural world\u00a0is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Kaufman
Chairperson East London <\/strong>Humanists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Op piece Romford Recorder and Barking and Dagenham Post May\/June 2025 \u2018Spiritual\u2019 is a vague, hard to define word I avoid using. But I guess it could describe my sense of connection with nature, stirred afresh by recent news stories. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9c4oP-Ju","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2822,"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions\/2822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastlondon.humanist.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}