- Giordano Bruno Foundation
The Giordano Bruno Foundation ( _de. Giordano Bruno Stiftung) is a Germany based non-profit foundation under public law that pursues the “Support of Evolutionary Humanism”. It was founded by entrepreneur
Herbert Steffen in 2004 and was named after the Dominican monkGiordano Bruno who was convicted of heresy and burnt at the stake in 1600. The foundation's executive spokesman isMichael Schmidt-Salomon , who also wrote the “Manifesto of Evolutionary Humanism ” ( _de. Manifest des Evolutionären Humanismus) on its behalf. From its beginnings the foundation was particularly committed to the work of church criticKarlheinz Deschner .The Giordano Bruno Foundation is emphatic on criticism of religion. It holds the view that religions “balefully affect the cultural evolution of humanity to this day”. With its commitment to a “Cultural Ideal of Humanism and Enlightenment” it tries to counter the thoughts of “German (Christian) Cultural Ideals (Leitkultur)” as well as the politically indifferent multiculturalism. [ [http://www.politik-poker.de/leitkultur-humanismus-und-aufklaerung.php Dr. Michael Schmidt-Salomon: Leitkultur Humanismus und Aufklärung ] ]
The Foundation supports the Central Council of Ex-Muslims ("Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime"), founded in 2007. [ [http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1171180717727.shtml Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime] , "KÖLNER STADT-ANZEIGER", 11 February 2007 (Accessed 8 April 2008)] The council consists of former
Muslim s that criticizeislamism and tries to raise consciousness for the lacking religious freedom withinislam .Activities
One of its projects is the “Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen Deutschland” (fowid) ( _en. Research Group World Views Germany) that customizes empirical data on the social dissemination of word-views.Its fields of work are:
#Evolutionary Humanism / naturalistic world-view
# Criticizing religion /Secularism
#Epistemology /Philosophy of Science
#Ethics In collaboration with the “Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands” ( _en. Humanist Association of Germany) it coined the “Humanistischer Pressedienst” ( _en. Humanist News Service)”. The Humanist News Service brings secular humanist views to the public.Deschner Award
In 2004 when Karlheinz Deschner was celebrating his 80th birthday, the foundation announced that they will award a biannual price in honor of him. The award which is endowed with 10'000
Euro s will be given to individuals or organizations that "contribute extraordinarily to the secular, scientific and humanistic cause" [cite web |url= http://www.giordano-bruno-stiftung.de/Deschnerpreis/deschnerpreis.html|title= Der Förderpreis der Giordano Bruno Stiftung|accessdate=2008-06-11 |publisher= Giordano Bruno Stiftung|date= 2004-05-25 ] . The first Deschner award was given toRichard Dawkins on October 12, 2007. [cite web |url= http://richarddawkins.net/article,1747,Richard-Dawkins-receives-the-Deschner-Prize,Giordano-Bruno-Foundation-Richard-Dawkins|title= Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize|accessdate=2008-06-11 |publisher= RichardDawkins.net|date=2007-10-14]Board of Directors
The board of directors consists of
Herbert Steffen and Michael Schmidt-Salomon. The board of trustees consists ofCarsten Frerk ,Hermann Josef Schmidt undJacques Tilly .References
Links
* [http://www.giordano-bruno-stiftung.de/ Giordano Bruno Foundation] (in German)
* [http://fowid.de/ Research Group World Views Germany] (in German)
* [http://hpd-online.de/ Humanist News Service] (in German)
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