Humanists UK
Humanists UK,[2] known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs" in the United Kingdom[3] by campaigning on issues relating to humanism, secularism, and human rights. It seeks to act as a representative body for non-religious people in the UK.
Formation
1896
100,000 members and supporters[1]
- Union of Ethical Societies (1896–1928)
- Ethical Union (1928–1967)
- British Humanist Association (1967–2017)
The charity also supports humanist and non-religious ceremonies in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Crown dependencies and maintains a national network of accredited celebrants for humanist funeral ceremonies, weddings, and baby namings, in addition to a network of volunteers who provide like-minded support and comfort to non-religious people in hospitals and prisons. Its other charitable activities include providing free educational resources to teachers, parents, and institutions; a peer-to-peer support service for people who face difficulties leaving coercive religions and cults; work to promote tolerance and understanding between religious communities and the non-religious; and work to promote understanding of humanism. The current president of Humanists UK is Adam Rutherford and the chief executive is Andrew Copson. The association currently has 70 affiliated regional and special interest groups and claims a total of approximately 100,000 members and supporters.[1]
Humanists UK also has sections which run as staffed national humanist organisations in both Wales and Northern Ireland. Wales Humanists and Northern Ireland Humanists each have an advisory committee drawn from the membership and a development officer. Wales Humanists and Northern Ireland Humanists campaign on devolved issues in Cardiff and Belfast and work to expand the provision of humanist ceremonies, pastoral care, and support for teachers in those countries.[4][5]
The organisation's Articles of Association sets out its aims as:
The organisation also wishes to build itself as a sustainable and nationally-recognised organisation as a voice for non-religious people.[7]
Campaigns[edit]
Schools[edit]
The organisation opposes faith schools because "The majority of the evidence [...] points towards their being an unfair and unpopular part of our state education system which the majority of people in Britain want them phased out."[18] In addition, they argue that faith schools are "exclusive, divisive and counter intuitive to social cohesion" and blame religious admissions procedures for "creating school populations that are far from representative of their local populations in religious or socio-economic terms."[19]
While the organisation is opposed to faith schools receiving any state funding whatsoever, it supports the Fair Admissions Campaign which has a more limited scope because "it furthers our aims of ending religious discrimination and segregation in state schools; and secondly because we know how important this particular topic is."[20] The organisation campaigns for reform of Religious Education in the UK including a reformed subject covered by the national curriculum which is inclusive of non-religious viewpoints, such as "Belief and Values Education". They believe that "all pupils in all types of school should have the opportunity to consider philosophical and fundamental questions, and that in a pluralist society we should learn about each other's beliefs, including humanist ones".[21]
Humanists UK President-elect Alice Roberts was criticised for sending her child to a faith school,[22] despite Humanists UK's campaign against state-funded religious schools. She responded that this was the very point of the campaign: that she, like many other parents, had little choice over where to send her child[23] and that she would have preferred a non-faith school option local to her.[24]
Humanists UK also support humanist volunteers on the local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education which currently determine the Religious Education syllabus for each local authority. Educational issues have always featured prominently in Humanists UK campaigns activities, including efforts to abolish compulsory daily collective worship in schools and to reform Religious Education so that it is "Objective, Fair and Balanced" (the title of an influential 1975 booklet) and includes learning about humanism as an alternative life stance.
The organisation opposes the teaching of creationism in schools. In September 2011, Humanists UK launched their "Teach evolution, not creationism" campaign,[25] which aimed to establish statutory opposition to creationism in the UK education system.[26] The Department for Education amended the funding agreement for free schools to allow the withdrawal of funding if they teach creationism as established scientific fact.[27] In 2019, Humanists UK's Wales Humanists branch revived the campaign in partnership with David Attenborough after the Welsh Department of Education omitted to include similar safeguards against teaching creationism in schools.[28]
Humanists UK has long campaigned in opposition to collective worship laws in the UK which require all schools to hold school assemblies "of a broadly Christian character". In 2019, the charity backed two parents to take a human rights challenge to those laws, arguing that the state had a duty to treat non-religious pupils equally and by effectively isolating those who withdraw from compulsory worship, discrimination occurs.[29] Later that year, Humanists UK launched a new website, Assemblies for All, which compiles school assembly resources from NGOs, charities, government sources, the BBC, and businesses to make it possible for teachers and school leaders to put on "inclusive assemblies" on diverse topics – including the environment, mental health, and public holidays – as opposed to the collective worship required by law.[30]
Through its education website Understanding Humanism, the charity also provides resources to teachers who want to include humanist perspectives and information about humanism in lessons.[31]
Constitutional reform[edit]
The organisation campaigns for a secular state, which it defines as "a state where public institutions are separate from religious institutions and treat all citizens impartially regardless of their religious or non-religious beliefs."[32] It points to issues such as the joint role of the British monarch (both Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Head of State), the reserved places for bishops in the House of Lords, the status of the Church of England (the officially established church[33]), and other "discriminations based on religion or belief within the system" such as those in education and Public Services.[34]
Lecture series[edit]
Humanists UK runs a prestigious annual events programme, including the Darwin Day Lecture (on themes connected with Darwin's work and humanism), the Rosalind Franklin Lecture (commemorating women in humanism), the Voltaire Lecture (on humanism more generally), the Bentham Lecture (co-hosted with University College London's philosophy department), the Holyoake Lecture (held in Manchester and covering humanism and political thought), and an annual convention which moves around the UK from year to year.
Past speakers at these events include top scientists, authors, and academics, including Steven Pinker, Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins, Robert Hinde, AC Grayling, Natalie Haynes, Bonya Ahmed, Bettany Hughes, Alice Roberts, Nick Cohen, Ludovic Kennedy, Michael Foot,[125] Lawrence Krauss, Eugenie Scott, Adam Rutherford, Tom Blundell, and Jerry Coyne,[126] Anne Glover, Angela Saini, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore,[127] Jim Al-Khalili, Owen Jones, and Kate Pickett.[128]
From 2011 Humanists UK presented an annual award for special contributions to Humanism. It is known as the Humanist of the Year Award, having been known prior to 2014 as the Services to Humanism Award. The award was customarily presented during Humanists UK annual conference (or, in 2014, the UK-hosted World Humanist Congress). Since 2016 it has been presented at a special reception event. Past winners are:
Earlier awardees include A.J. Ayer, Leo Igwe, Polly Toynbee, and Julian Huxley.[131]