Abstract

Black, Alan W The Rationalist Press Association, which was one of the original sponsors of the British Humanist Association, was also one of the influences which helped to bring the New South Wales Humanist Society into being. The immediate event which triggered the formation of the latter society was the visit to Australia in 1959 of the American evangelist, Billy Graham. Bill and Daphne Weeks, two Sydney school teachers who were members of the Rationalist Press Association, felt the need for an organisation to promote humanism in Australia. Even prior to the Graham visit, they and others of similar persuasion had been writing to the ABC Weekly urging the Australian Broadcasting Commission to include humanist views in its programmes