A three-day conference will next month see rationalists, humanists and sceptics descend on Havelock North to discuss a range of issues.
Future Directions of Rationalism and Humanism will feature speakers from New Zealand and the United Kingdom, including Children's Commissioner Russell Wills.
Organiser John Timpson, of the New Zealand Associationof Rationalists and Humanists' (NZARH) Havelock North branch, said the event was intended to be a meeting of the three similar groups of thought.
"At our base we have the same philosophy, we're all using the scientific method and honesty to look at matters," he said.
"The plan is to at least meet each other and start networking."
The conference would also focus on poverty, sustainability and employment.
Among the speakers are Professor Martin Manning from the University of Victoria, who spent five years in Colorado managing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment of the physical science of climate change, prior to that organisation being awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Also on the programme is Professor Guy Standing from the University of London, whose recent work has focused on the need to move towards unconditional basic income and deliberative democracy.
