Editor’s welcome

John Lennon’s song “Give Peace a Chance” was released in 1969 as a single by the Plastic Ono Band under the Beatles’ Apple label. It was recorded during Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Bed-In for Peace” protest in Montreal and it quickly became an anthem for the anti-Vietnam War movement. I was ten years old and I well remember its monotonous and repetitive lyric and tune. How has peace fared in the intervening 56 years? Most countries in the world are at peace, but current conflicts, emerging from long-standing and irreconcilable historical claims, are causing immense destruction and human suffering with no end in sight.

Our main theme for this issue therefore is “peace” – a surprisingly rich and complex topic for humanist exploration. Humanists are not straightforwardly pacifists – although some may be. The causes of human conflict are many and varied. And peace, where it currently exists, is often the outcome of a long process of reform, dialogue and cultural change. Our articles on Cambodia and Albania are particularly informative in this regard. We’ve also looked at some of the philosophers of peace, notably Kant, and the history of peace movements. Some of you will recall that the Norwegian Humanist Association hosted a wonderful World Humanist Congress on the topic of peace in 2011. I regret not going, but we've been able to dust off Richard Norman's highly relevant and informative lecture at the congress, as well as bringing the Oslo Peace Declaration to your attention.

There’s loads more to explore in this issue of Humanistically Speaking, including another delightful and inspiring article from our Dublin friend Owen Morton, and Dr George Locke’s piercing account of growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness in South West Wales. Contributions from North Carolina, Uganda and India make this issue truly international. It's a great honour to have a contribution from Air Marshall Vir Narain (Retd.) who is Chairman of the Indian Humanist Union.

I hope I've whetted your appetite to get stuck in. I also hope you will share our articles on social media. You’re free to republish them in your own humanist newsletters and elsewhere, as long as you credit the author and provide a link to Humanistically Speaking. For more details, refer to our Creative Commons licence by following the links at the bottom of every page.

We’ll be back in August. If you’d like to contribute an article or news report, do get in touch. Thank you for your encouragement, friendship, constructive criticism and support.

David Warden

PS We congratulate Humanists UK on becoming the publisher of New Humanist magazine which has been going strong for 140 years. Humanistically Speaking is a mere embryo by comparison!

PPS Plastic Ono Band - Give Peace A Chance (1969)