Some very new news

Mark Honeychurch - 21 July 2025

Thank you to everyone who filled in our recent survey about the possibility of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast hosts coming over to New Zealand next year, and whether this might have an effect on our conference plans for this year and next. We’ve been discussing your responses as a committee, and will be able to let everyone know fairly soon what our plans are.

In the meantime, and if you don’t already have survey fatigue, the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists (NZARH) are currently looking into the possibility of offering non-religious pastoral care in New Zealand. It’s a big project, and the group (including me, as I’m a Council member) would love to hear your views on what type of care would suit you. So, if you have a couple of minutes to spare, it would be really helpful if you could fill in the form below:

The NZARH are also starting up a cult leavers’ support group, so if you’ve left a cult, or if you’re in the process of leaving one, and you feel like you need some help, feel free to contact Jude, the office administrator, at office@rationalists.nz to find out more details.

In our newsletter this week Katrina’s written about nootropics and brain hacking, although she ends her article with a blasphemous jibe at green tea that I’ll have to push back against when we talk about this on our podcast. Bronwyn and I visited a Christian Revival night on the weekend, and I’ve written up an account of the signs and wonders we saw, or rather didn’t see. Bronwyn has looked into a haunted doll, its most recent “victim” from just a week ago, and the mundane truth behind some of the fantastical claims being made. And finally I’ve been given a heads-up by my kids about a new trend on TikTok, and this time it’s not six months old so I’m reporting on it while it’s still relevant - a supposed cult, born on TikTok, that hasn’t even reached its two week anniversary yet.