BHA mourns Rt Hon Michael Foot, activist, journalist and humanist (1913-2010)

3 March, 2010

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has expressed its sorrow at the death of its member and Distinguished Supporter, Rt Hon Michael Foot, who has died at the age of 96.

Foot was a long-time supporter of the BHA – particularly of its education and campaigning work – and gave the Association’s prestigious Voltaire Lecture in 1988, named after a philosopher that he admired especially, saying that, if virtue consists of doing good and if loving mankind with a passion constitutes being a saint, Voltaire was one.

Like Clement Attlee before him and Neil Kinnock after him, Michael was a Labour leader whose view of life was a humanist one.

Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association said, ‘We remember Michael and celebrate his life not just as the life of an intelligent and principled politician but as a great British Humanist. A good life for all is a humanist aspiration, and Michael was one humanist who worked hard to make that a reality for every man and woman. His steadfast dedication to humanist and progressive ideals of freedom, peace, social justice was pursued in a life of both thought and action – another humanist ideal.’

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For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson, 020 7079 3583.

The British Humanist Association was founded in 1896 and is the national charity promoting Humanism, campaigning for a secular state and an open society and representing and supporting non-religious people.