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British Humanist Association e-bulletin 28th June 2010 Take Action| Editorial | News| HumanistLife | BHA Events | ’Affiliated Groups Events | Other Events | Take Action Reminders A reminder: Our AGM is in less than two weeks, on Saturday 17th July. The programme and other details are on our website at Events: BHA AGM 2010. You must be a current and paid up member to attend. Take Action In England all state maintained schools are legally required to provide daily collective worship for all their pupils. In community schools the majority of the acts of daily collective worship that are provided in a given term are legally required to be of a ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’. In ‘faith schools’ the act of worship is provided in accordance with the school's trust deed or the tenets and practices of the religion or religious denomination of the school. We are strongly in favour of inclusive school assemblies, which can help to build shared values and a sense of community. We oppose acts of collective worship in school, since these exclude many, and believe that the parental right of excusal is not a proper solution. You can email your MP and sign our petition here! More information on worship in schools Humanists in and out of parliament When the Deputy PM Nick Clegg announced the ’governments initiative to ‘restore civil liberties’ through changing laws, and to repeal unnecessary laws altogether, we knew there was plenty that humanists could contribute! We kick-started involvement by non-religious people with a call to action sent to you via the e-bulletin list and to supporters on our social networking sites (facebook.com/humanism |twitter.com/BHAnews). And within the first hour, scrapping the law requiring all schools to hold a daily act of collective (Christian) worship topped the list of unwanted laws! This new scheme was launched the day after the first meeting in the new parliament of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, where the theme was also focused on change, on promoting issues of particular relevance to non-religious people and ways to gain wide support for the work of the Group from across parliament. The All Party Group has always had an active membership, with intensive work by its members to reform legislation, hold debates and ask pertinent questions of the government about how and why it comes to particular policy decisions. Key issues for the Group in the immediate future are abolishing the automatic right of Bishops to sit in the House of Lords as the work on constitutional reform moves forward; ensuring state-funded schools, including new Academies and “free schools” are open to all children regardless of belief and have open employment policies; and promoting truly inclusive public services and making sure no one can be turned away because they have the wrong “beliefs”. It’s a time of change and one that holds many opportunities for humanists from within and without parliament to make their mark. Our vision is of an open, inclusive and equal society, where civil liberties and human rights are upheld and there is an end to irrelevant discrimination, not least that which is based on belief. NEWS Protest the Pope campaign celebrates a successful London Pride The Protest the Pope Campaign walking group in the London Pride parade on Saturday attracted a huge amount of support from the crowd. The walkers were giving out fliers and stickers, wearing Pope hats and carrying a large Protest the Pope banner. Pepper Harow who helped to organise the group commented, 'We were really pleased with how the day went. We gave out thousands of fliers and stickers and got a really positive reaction from the crowd. A lot of people were already against the state visit of the Pope in September and were pleased to find that there was a group that they could engage with working on the issues. Others didn't know about the visit already and thanked us for telling them so that they could take action on it. 'We really think that we got the message across that the Pope is not welcome on a State visit. His outspoken state policies on homosexuality, condoms, education and abortion, as well as the child abuse scandal, continue to affect the rights of millions of individuals across the world and mean that he should not be given the honour of a State visit.' Humanist group in Parliament re-launches with a packed out meeting MPs, Peers and members’ staff filled the room for Wednesday night’s inaugural meeting in 2010 of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG), with a number ducking out of other meetings and parliamentary business to ensure they could attend. The APPHG brings together non-religious MPs and Peers from all three main parties, as well as members from the crossbenches in the Lords, and since 2006 has maintained the prestigious “All-Party” status. The meeting opened with its AGM and election of officers. The Rt Hon Lord Macdonald of Tradeston stood down as chair after presiding over an incredibly successful 5 years for the Group, with former Minister Lord Warner, taking over as chair. The Group welcomed the re-election of Kelvin Hopkins MP, Lord Taverne, Baroness Flather and Lord McIntosh as officers. Dr Julian Huppert MP and Lord Garel-Jones were both elected for the first time as vice chairs, and Baroness Massey, who is currently heavily involved with the Academies Bill representing the humanist position, was elected as secretary. Following the AGM, BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson addressed the Group, outlining the challenges and opportunities posed for humanists in parliament by the coalition government’s programme. In particular, constitutional reform, education and public services were flagged up as key issues for members of the Group to get involved in over the coming year. Speaking on education, Mr Copson said that the Group had reason to be concerned about ‘the religious aspects of mass deregulation’ but also said it was a great chance to get rid of the unnecessary, outdated and prescriptive laws and rules such as those on compulsory worship in schools. More news in brief... The BHA has expressed alarm at the number of 'faith schools' registering their interest in converting to academies, warning that academy status would give religious groups greater control over schools. Over 300 schools run by religious groups have formally registered their interest in converting to academy status with the Department for Education. Meanwhile, amendments to stop inclusive community schools transforming into religious academies have been tabled to the Academies Bill ahead of its report stage in the Lords on July 6th. The BHA had briefed peers before the amendments were debated on Wednesday. Humanist peers, including distinguished supporters of the BHA, criticised the Bill in previous debates for its potential to increase the influence of religious groups on the school system. As it stands the Bill will make it compulsory for state-funded religious schools to become religious academies, but there is no analogous protections for community schools to always become inclusive secular Academies. Religious Academies are free to teach their own syllabus and will be able to discriminate on religious grounds against pupils and staff. As discussed in the editorial, we had an opportunity to raise awareness and lobby for change on worship in schools last week. BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson stated, ‘If the government wishes to free schools from prescriptive legal regimes, then it is difficult to see why the law on collective worship, which requires all schools to hold a daily act of worship, should not be one of the first laws to be thrown on the bonfire.’ Take action! HUMANISTLIFE Today on HumanistLife, the New York Times investigates the ’Vaticans implication in the sex abuse scandal; Europe’s Planck telescope produces an image of the universe that has been six months – and 14 billion years – in the making; the Daily Mail links the Atheist Bus Campaign with the demise of all moral feeling!; and in our featured article from the continuing Humanist Heroes series, Sir David Blatherwick celebrates the poetic good life espoused by Lucretius. BHA EVENTS Holyoake Lecture 2010: John Harris on ‘Taking the “human” out of Humanism’ John Harris has written widely on bioethical issues, including Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making People Better, Clones Genes and Immortality, and On Cloning for the Thinking In Action series. Discovery and innovation are creating new technologies which challenge our notions of humanity to and beyond breaking point. These technologies will improve cognitive powers, extend life expectancy and enable us to interact intimately with machines. It is certain that in the future there will be no more human beings but we may hope that there will still be beings for whom the philosophy of humanism, almost certainly under a new name, is relevant and important. You can buy your tickets online. Or you can pay over the phone with a credit or debit card at 020 7079 3580. Lines are open 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. AFFILIATED GROUP EVENTS Find a local humanist group near you North Yorkshire Humanist Group Monday 12th July, 7.30pm. Denham Room, Priory Street Centre, York YO1 6ET. A talk by BHA accredited celebrant Michelle Burns on "Being a Humanist Celebrant". www.humanism.org.uk/meet-up/groups/north-east/north-yorkshire Birmingham Humanists Wednesday 21st July, 7.45pm. Friends Meeting House at St James Road (junction with George Road) Edgbaston. “Changes In Religious Thought From The Renaissance To The Enlightenment”. Dr Tim Betts, who has given us several entertaining evenings in recent years, has agreed to talk to us on how religious ideas have changed over a period of around 500 years, and the significance of these changes to us as Humanists. www.humanism.org.uk/meet-up/groups/midlands/birmingham OTHER EVENTS Human Rights in the Community 8th July, The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, 1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DB, 9.30am-1pm HEAR, EREN(English Regions Equality Network), BIHR(British Institute of Human Rights) and RAISEare pleased to be hosting a jointevent for London and the South East of England’s voluntary and community sector on human rights, helping the third sector to empower the lives of individuals and communities. NEW: Thought for the Day The BBC are running a consultation on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7. This is your chance to tell them what you think about their programming! We want an end to the privileged status and position of religions and religious broadcasting by the BBC, and for some programmes about humanism or from a humanist perspective to be broadcast. In spite of legislation making clear that religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs such as Humanism, should be treated equally in terms of broadcasting, the BBC continues to resist doing so. We want the BBC to fulfil its obligations and include Humanist programmes in its broadcasting! Take Action! The new government has announced that it will ensure ‘all schools have greater freedom over the curriculum’ and has also announced that it will not be implementing the new primary curriculum proposed by the previous government which, among other things, included evolution for the first time. We are concerned that this will mean that there will be less evolution taught in schools and a greater risk that some schools, particularly ‘faith schools’ may try to introduce creationism into the science classroom. You can take Action Now! Protest the Pope! The Pope is planning to visit the UK on a Papal visit later this year. The Pope's opposition to women's reproductive rights, gay equality, embryonic stem cell research and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV has a huge effect on the human rights of millions of people across the globe. We want to make sure that the UK government understands our concerns, takes the opportunity to speak out against these practices and does not make the taxpayer cover the cost of the visit. You can: Not already a BHA member? Join now and support our vital work! ABOUT THE E-BULLETIN BHA policy How to contribute If you have an upcoming event or news item you would like mentioned in this bulletin, please email the editor (we reserve the right to edit submissions for publication). Enjoyed the bulletin? Why not forward it on? Feel free to send the bulletin to humanist and freethinking friends, and any local or national media contacts. To unsubscribe from this bulletin, email website@humanism.org.uk with “Unsubscribe from BHA e-bulletin” in the subject line. Contact us The British Humanist Association 1 Gower Street London WC1E 6HD Tel: 020 7079 3580
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