THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION
The RPA was formed in 1899 by a group of freethinkers led by Charles Albert Watts. Its aims are to argue for a rational approach to human problems, to suggest reasoned alternatives to religious dogmas, to advance a secular system of education, to defend freedom of thought and civil liberties, and to encourage activities in support of these aims. The RPA is one of the main organisations in the humanist movement, but its distinctive feature remains its attachment to the principles of rationalism, defined as the mental attitude which accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a system of philosophy and ethics verifiable by experience and independent of all arbitrary assumptions or authority. The RPA organises conferences and finances social surveys, and generally puts the point of view of rational humanism before the public and the authorities.
But the RPA's main activity has always been the publication of periodicals and books. A regular paper has been published since 1885, first called the Literary Guide, then the Humanist, and since 1972 the New Humanist; this is a vehicle for free and critical comment on current issues, edited by Jim Herrick. An annual collection of essays was also published from 1884, first as the Agnostic Annual, then as the Rationalist Annual, and from 1968 to 1980 as Question', this was a forum for more serious and sustained discussion of rationalist topics. The RPA published books and pamphlets for many years under the imprint of Watts & Co., which produced the well-known Thinker's Library; since 1954 its imprint has been that of Pemberton Publishing Co. Ltd., which publishes books on its own account and also in association with other publishers.
Details of RPA membership and publications appear on the inside back cover
PRESIDENT Professor Sir Herman Bondi
VICE-PRESIDENTS Professor Antony Flew
Professor Paul Kurtz
HONORARY ASSOCIATES
Professor Sir Alfred Ayer H. J. Blackham Professof Marcel Boll Professor Sir Hermann Bondi Dr G. Bourne Brigid Brophy Senator A. Buisseret Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet Dr S. Chandrasekhar Professor Bernard Crick Dr Francis Crick Dr E. J. Dingwall Professor Paul Edwards
Professor Sir Raymond Firth Professor Antony Flew Professor Ernest Gellner J. S. L. Gilmour Dr James Hemming Professor Sir Fred Hoyle S. I. Hsiung Professor Leopold Infeld Professor Paul Kurtz Naomi Mitchison Dr Ernest Nagel Dr Joseph Needham
Kathleen Nott Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien M ile P. H. Pardon Professor Sir Karl Popper Dora Russell Professor Margaret Schlauch Professor A. B. Shah Professor B. F. Skinner Dr V. M . Tarkunde Lord W illis The Baroness Wootton Professor J. Z. Young
Professor G. A. Wells
(Chairman)
I. R. Russell
(Vice-Chairman)
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr Colin Campbell
Antony Chapman
Dr Roger Manvell
David Pollock
Or D. J. Stewart
Nicolas Walter
MANAGING DIRECTOR 6 COMPANY SECRETARY Nicolas Walter
ACTING EDITOR Jim Herrick