Enlightenment in the 21st century
Eulogy to Max Kruse, who not only gave Urmel to the world
He descends from a famous family, his books were sold millions of times – and yet, Max Kruse remained modest all his life. Last Friday, Urmel inventor and gbs advisory board member Max Kruse died at the age of 93 in his hometown of Penzberg. Michael Schmidt-Salomon commemorates a good friend and foundation colleague.
German politics falls behind international debate on animal ethics
The Committee on Petitions of the German Bundestag rejected the petition "Basic Rights for Great Apes", which aimed at recognising chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orang-utans as legal entities. "We did not expect anything different, because from the traditional Christian point of view the abolition of the sacrosanct dividing line between humans and animals is an unheard of taboo infringement", explained the spokesman of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung, Michael Schmidt-Salomon. And yet, the petition was not in vain, "as it strongly stimulated the social debate on animal ethics".
gbs brochure published in German and English
German politicians (especially the Christian parties, but also SPD and Die Grünen) like to speak of the so-called "Christian values" to which contemporary Europe allegedly owes so much. In fact, however, the popular reference to the "Christian Occident" (which is currently being stressed again in the debate on same-sex marriage) is in clear contrast to the facts of European history, as a brochure recently published by the Giordano Bruno Stiftung in German and English shows.
Giordano Bruno Stiftung supports appeal of LSVD
At the conference "Give Peace A Chance" in Cologne, representatives of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung alongside Irish secularists celebrated the sensational success of the referendum on the equality of homosexual and heterosexual partnerships in marriage. Today the Lesben- und Schwulenverband in Deutschland (LSVD - Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany) and "Campact!" launched a corresponding initiative for Germany. The Giordano Bruno Stiftung firmly supports this campaign.
Singer interview in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung causes irritation
Michael Schmidt-Salomon, philosopher and spokesman of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung, cancelled his participation in the award ceremony for the Australian philosopher Peter Singer. This is because of a recent interview with Singer, published yesterday by Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ): "In this interview, Peter Singer represented positions which, in my opinion, not only contradict a humanistic-emancipatory understanding of politics, but also contradict his earlier positions," Schmidt-Salomon said. "In this situation, I have to stop things short, because I cannot give a laudation to a prizewinner when I can't judge which positions he actually holds."
Severe criticism against left-wing supporters of anti-Singer protest
Michael Schmidt-Salomon had already commented on the anti-singer protest in Germany before his departure for Greece, where he discussed his book "Keine Macht den Doofen", which was popular with the Greek left. After his return from Athens, the philosopher and spokesman of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung once more added to his criticism, which was unusually severe against the left-wing supporters of the protest.
Interview with Michael Schmidt-Salomon on the protest announcement "Stop Peter Singer!"
On Tuesday, the left-wing daily "Junge Welt" published an article strongly criticising the planned award for "animal suffering reduction" to the Australian philosopher Peter Singer. Shortly afterwards, drastic comments on the Internet were calling for "the guy to be put up against the wall". Humanistischer Pressedienst (Humanistic Press Service) had a conversation with Michael Schmidt-Salomon, who was invited by the organisers of the prize to give the laudation for Peter Singer on May 26 at the Berlin Urania.
gbs publishes English version of documentary "Hoffnung Mensch"
In recent months, we repeatedly received requests for an international (English) version of the gbs foundation film "Hoffnung Mensch". Filmmaker Ricarda Hinz has now elaborately produced this version. Susan Bonney-Cox took on the part of the off-speaker, Phil Bonney, Toni Dunham, and Katie Jordans acted as voice-over speakers. The script was translated by Robert Spence and Angela Lahee. Since the German title "Hoffnung Mensch" cannot be adequately translated into English, Michael Schmidt-Salomon proposed a new title for the English version of the film: "In Humanity We Trust". Please enjoy!
Giordano Bruno Stiftung sincerely thanks all supporters and draws a first conclusion
The petition submitted by gbs spokesman Michael Schmidt-Salomon after the attack on "Charlie Hebdo" to delete the "blasphemy paragraph" 166 StGB (German Criminal Code) has attracted more than 11,000 signatories - significantly more than 98 percent of the petitions submitted to the German Bundestag so far. The Giordano Bruno Stiftung would like to thank all those who contributed to the spreading of the petition, and is now awaiting the outcome of the parliamentary inquiry, which is likely to take several months.
Giordano Bruno Stiftung calls for the strengthening of freedom of art, press, and expression
The Petition Committee of the German Parliament published the petition for the deletion of the so-called "blasphemy paragraph" 166 StGB (German Criminal Code) on its website. The paragraph threatens artists with prison sentences of up to three years if they "insult" religious or ideological confessions in their works in a way that is likely to endanger public peace. The petition can be signed from now on. The subscription period ends on 17 February, 2010.