This week, 7th-13th February, the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS), which is facilitated and supported by the British Humanist Association, has been encouraging its members to raise money for a wide variety of charities. ‘Non-Prophet Week’ is off to a great start, with £1,400 having been raised over the first three days, and over 50 events are planned by about 20 different societies. The formula for these events is very simple: Societies ‘choose the charity, raise the money, give the money to the charity, have the fun, compete with other societies to see who can raise the most, and boast about their results to the wider world.’
AHS President Richy Thompson commented, ‘There is a common misconception that the religious do more for charity than the non-religious, brought about by the fact that whilst the religious give to religious causes, the non-religious give to neutral, secular causes such as humanitarian charities. During this week we will still be giving to secular causes, but in a more visible way.’
AHS Secretary Nicola Jackson, who has been coordinating the week, added, ‘It’s great to see so many societies participate in this event, which is running for the first time. We will continue to monitor activities during the week itself – you can stay up to date on the Non-Prophet Week website.’
Notes
Non-Prophet Week’s website can be found at http://www.ahsstudents.org.uk/nonprophetweek/
Read the BHA’s recent brief on religion, belief and volunteering
For comment or information, contact Richy Thompson, AHS President, at president@ahsstudents.org.uk, or Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive, on 020 3675 0959 or andrew@humanists.uk.
The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies is the umbrella organisation for all non-religious student societies in institutes of higher education across the UK. The AHS’s vision is a thriving atheist, humanist or secular student society in every institute of higher education in the UK, networked together, with a shared voice in public life, whose members can contribute to and be part of the wider national and international movement. The AHS’s mission to build, support and represent atheist, humanist and secular student societies; to facilitate communication between them, to encourage joint actions and to ensure that their members have opportunities to be part of the wider national and international movement.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.
The AHS is facilitated and supported by the BHA.