British Humanist Association

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of Philosophy series on

Humanism (humanist philosophies)

Happy Human

Humanism (life stance)

International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) American Humanist Association Amsterdam Declaration British Humanist Association National Secular Society

Secular humanism

Council for Secular Humanism A Secular Humanist Declaration

Religious humanism

Christian humanism Jewish humanism Buddhist humanism

Related articles

Ethical Culture Marxist humanism Cosmic humanism Existential humanism Integral humanism Transhumanism Posthumanism Antihumanism List of humanists

History of humanism

Renaissance humanism Humanism in Germany Humanism in France Humanist Manifesto

Philosophy Portal · v • d • e

The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." ^[1] The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect. It works for an open and inclusive society with freedom of belief and speech, and for an end to the privileged position of religion in law, education, broadcasting and wherever else it occurs.

The BHA is the foremost provider of humanist and non-religious ceremonies in England and Wales,^[2] maintaining a national network of accredited officiants. This network offers humanist wedding/civil partnership celebration, humanist baby naming and humanist funeral ceremonies.

The BHA is a member organisation of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and of the European Humanist Federation. (Also see other BHA affiliations).

The Association's logo is closely derived from the international Happy Human symbol, which itself is a BHA trademark freely licensed by the BHA for use by other bona fide Humanist organisations.

Contents 1 Campaigns 1.1 Religion and Schools 1.2 Constitutional reform 1.3 Broadcasting 1.4 Ethical Issues 1.5 Atheist Bus Campaign 2 History 3 Criticism 4 Famous British Humanists 4.1 BHA Presidents 4.2 Current Vice-Presidents 4.3 Distinguished Supporters 5 IHEU's minimum statement on Humanism 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Campaigns

The British Humanist Association campaigns for a number of causes. It campaigns for legal provision against discrimination on grounds of religious belief or sexual orientation. It has called for unification of existing anti-discrimination legislation and has contributed to the Discrimination Law Review which developed the proposed Single Equality Bill.^[3] Many of its campaigns are based on free speech and human rights legislation and it has paid special attention to the Human Rights Act 1998.^[4] The BHA supports the international campaign to make Charles Darwin's day of birth a public holiday, Darwin Day.

In tandem with its provision of humanist ceremonies the BHA also campaigns on marriage laws, demanding full equality for same-sex and humanist marriage ceremonies.^[5]

[edit] Religion and Schools

The BHA claims that schools "are where many people – parents, children and teachers – first encounter religion and religious privilege" and that this is a "major part"^[6] of their campaigns agenda. They claim that faith schools are "exclusive, divisive and counterintuitive 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."^[7] In September 2008 it was announced that the BHA, alongside religious organisations, teachers' unions and other human rights campaigns groups, were among the founding members of the Accord coalition.

The BHA campaigns for reform of Religious Education in the UK on the grounds 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". ^[8]. They would like to see a reformed subject such as "Belief and Values Education" which was inclusive of secular positions and - unlike Religious Education at present - covered by the national curriculum. For many years they have also supported local humanist volunteers on the SACRE bodies which currently determine the RE syllabus for each local authority area.

[edit] Constitutional reform

The BHA campaigns for a secular state, which they define as "a state where public institutions are separate from religious institutions and treat all citizens impartially regardless of their religious or non-religious beliefs."^[9] They point to issues such as the joint role of the British monarch (both Head of Church 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^[10]), and other "discriminations based on religion or belief within the system" such as those in education and Public Services.^[11]

In 2008 the "blasphemy law was repealed, an issue over which the BHA had long-campaigned^[12]

[edit] Broadcasting

The BHA claims that the rules on religious programming within the BBC constitute a "religious privilege"^[13] and reserve particular criticism for the Thought for the Day slot on Radio 4's Today programme.^[14] In April 2009 a "breakthrough"^[15] in the BHA's campaign saw Andrew Copson (their Director of Education and Public Affairs) invited to participate as the first humanist representative in the BBC's new Standing Conference on Religion and Belief, replacing the Central Religious Advisory Committee.

[edit] Ethical Issues

As well as campaigning on secularist issues the BHA comments and campaigns on ethical issues on which Humanism has a unique or characteristic position.^[16] Persistent campaigns include the legalisation of assisted dying, retaining the legality of abortion as a "last resort"^[17], defending stem cell research for medical purposes, and calling for consistent and humane law on the slaughter of animals.

[edit] Atheist Bus Campaign

On 21 October 2008, the British Humanist Association lent its official support to Guardian journalist Ariane Sherine as she launched a fundraising drive to raise money for the UK's first atheist advertising campaign, the Atheist Bus Campaign. The campaign aimed to raise funds to place the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" on the sides of 30 London buses for four weeks in January 2009. Expecting to raise £5,500 over six months, the prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins agreed to match donations up to £5,500 to make £11,000 total.^[18] Within 18 hours the campaign had reached in excess of £30,000 of donations from individuals and companies worldwide^[19] and has since raised over £140,000,^[20] enabling a nationwide advertising campaign to be launched on 6 January 2009.

[edit] History

The British Humanist Association was founded in 1896 by American Stanton Coit as the Union of Ethical Societies, which brought together existing ethical societies in Britain. It became the British Humanist Association in 1967, during the Presidency of philosopher A.J. Ayer.

This transition followed a decade of discussions which nearly prompted a merger of the Union of Ethical Societies with the Rationalist Press Association and the South Place Ethical Society. In 1963 the discussions went as far as creating an umbrella Humanist Association of which Harold Blackham (later to become a President of the BHA) was the Executive Director. However, the BHA, the Rationalist Association and the South Place Ethical Society remain separate entities today and in 1967 the Union of Ethical Societies alone became the British Humanist Association.^[21]

The 1960s the BHA campaigned on the repeal of Sunday Observance Laws and the reform of the 1944 Education Act’s clauses on religion in schools. More generally the BHA aimed to defend freedom of speech, support the elimination of world poverty and remove the privileges given to religious groups. Ambitiously, it was claimed in 1977 that the BHA aimed "to make humanism available and meaningful to the millions who have no alternative belief."^[21]

At this time the BHA also supported a growing number of local communities, continuing today as a network of affiliated local humanist groups. A network of celebrants able to conduct non-religious funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies and same sex affirmations (before the law allowing gay civil partnerships) was also developed and continues today as Humanist Ceremonies.^[22]

Educational issues have always featured prominently in BHA campaigns activities, including efforts to abolish daily worship in schools and to reform Religious Education so that it is objective, fair and balanced and includes learning about humanism as an alternative life stance. Gaining recognition for humanism as a lifestance has been a constant theme.

Social concerns have persisted in the BHA’s programme. The BHA was a co-founder of the Social Morality Council (now transmuted into the Norham Foundation), which brought together believers and unbelievers concerned with moral education and with finding agreed solutions to moral problems in society. The BHA has been active in arguing for voluntary euthanasia and the right to obtain an abortion. It has always sought an "open society".

The Humanist Housing Association attempted to provide accommodation for needy, elderly humanists, the Agnostics Adoption Society worked to gain adoption rights for the non-religious and the Humanist Counselling Group pioneered in non-directive counselling. Since 2004 many of the affiliated local humanist groups have raised funds for Humanist schools in Uganda and now through the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust.^[23]

[edit] Criticism

On 8 January 2009 Christian Voice announced they had made an official complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority asserting that the Atheist Bus slogan broke rules on "substantiation and truthfulness" ^[24]. The BHA publicly laughed off the complaint and wondered how the ASA would be able to make a decision as to the "probability of God's existence".^[25]

Bryan Appleyard has criticised^[26] both the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society for their campaign^[27][28] against the Scout's oath of allegiance as have Deborah Orr^[29] and Rod Liddle.^[30]

[edit] Famous British Humanists

[edit] BHA Presidents

• Polly Toynbee 10 July 2007–present
• Linda Smith (2004 – 27 February 2006)
• Claire Rayner (1999–2004)
• Hermann Bondi (1982–1999)
• James Hemming (1977–1980)
• H. J. Blackham (1974–1977)
• George Melly (1972–1974)
• Edmund Leach (1970–1972)
• A.J. Ayer (1965–1970)
• Julian Huxley (1963–1965)

[edit] Current Vice-Presidents

• Professor Simon Blackburn
• Baroness Blackstone
• Professor Richard Dawkins FRS
• Lord Hughes of Woodside
• Professor Richard Norman
• Claire Rayner OBE
• Dr Harry Stopes-Roe
• Baroness Turner of Camden
• Baroness Whitaker
• Jane Wynne Willson
• Professor Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS

[edit] Distinguished Supporters

Numerous 'Distinguished Supporters' are aligned with the British Humanist Association from all walks of life:

• Academics including Professor Sir Michael Atiyah OM FRS, Dr Susan Blackmore, Professor Colin Blakemore FRS, Dr Helena Cronin, Professor Sir Anthony Epstein CBE FRS, Professor Antony Flew, Professor Frank Furedi, Professor A. C. Grayling FRSA, Professor Robert A Hinde CBE FRS, Professor Sir Harry Kroto FRS, Professor Sir Roger Penrose FRS, Professor Steven Rose, Professor Laurie Taylor

• Actors and entertainers including Jane Asher, Faith Brook, Miriam Karlin OBE, Stewart Lee, Warren Mitchell

• Artists, novelists and creative professionals including Alan Brownjohn, Maureen Duffy, Anish Kapoor, Ian McEwan, Sir Terry Pratchett, Phillip Pullman CBE, Sir Salman Rushdie

• Broadcasters and journalists including Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Dr Kenan Malik FRSA, Jonathan Meades, Polly Toynbee

• Politicians and peers from across the party spectrum, many of whom are also members of the BHA's All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.^[31]

• Scientists and medical professionals including Sir Roy Calne FRS, Professor Steve Jones, Randal Keynes OBE, Sir John Maddox, Sir John Sulston

Prominent deceased Distinguished Supporters include philosopher A J Ayer, founder of the BHA Harold Blackham, visionary science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke, social and political theorist Bernard Crick, child psychologist and activist Dr James Hemming, jazz and blues singer George Melly, comedian Linda Smith.

For a full list and more information regarding the 'Distinguished Supporter' honorific, see the BHA's complete list.

[edit] IHEU's minimum statement on Humanism

All member organisations of the IHEU are required by IHEU bylaw 5.1 to accept the IHEU minimum statement on Humanism:^[32]

"Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality."

[edit] See also

• Humanist Society of Scotland
• International Humanist and Ethical Union
• National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies
• National Secular Society
• Rationalist Association
• South Place Ethical Society

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BHA Website