From Sunday to Wednesday this week the British Humanist Association (BHA) exhibited at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference, this year in Brighton, just as it is at other party conferences. On Monday morning, together with Labour Humanists, the BHA hosted the always hugely popular ‘No Prayer Breakfast’ fringe, where delegates are given a chance to hear from a range of prominent Labour humanist voices over pastries and bacon butties. This year the speakers were BHA Vice President Polly Toynbee, Shadow First Secretary of State Angela Eagle MP, Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister and All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) chair Clive Lewis MP, Kelvin Hopkins MP, London Assembly Member Tom Copley, and Labour Humanists Chair Naomi Phillips, with BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson chairing.
Speaking first at the packed-out fringe, Polly Toynbee expressed her dismay at the recent defeat of the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Commons. She talked of her personal grief at her mother’s lack of control over the time of her death. Assisted dying, once legalised, will not be widely used, but is necessary for the few who will use it, and reassuring for others. Arguments about the need to support palliative care instead beg the question, ‘why not both?’, and in reality such arguments are often a proxy for religious arguments. 82% of the public support reform.
Following on, Angela Eagle, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and an APPHG member, noted that Humanism doesn’t have the same platform in politics as religions. But more than, she argued, it was important for humanists to speak up against religious fundamentalism, with shocking events occurring at home and abroad. She said it was vital that individual humanists and humanist groups worked made alliances with those of religions in order to do it.
Tom Copley, a BHA Board member, reiterated the point that the religious lobby punches above its weight. It is vital, therefore, that the BHA continues to grow in support to put across the opposite point of view on such questions. Tom pointed to religious segregation by state schools as another area of concern. He finished by stating his view that humanist values and Labour Party values are one and the same – both believe in equality, freedom, and human rights.
Clive Lewis said he is proud and happy to be APPHG chair. Humanism, for Clive, is about standing up for one’s thoughts, ideals, and principles, including in hostile territory. He talked about the challenges Humanism faces due to the lack of knowledge of the term, and the need to change this. He said the resurgence in people’s participation in politics seen over the last year is very humanist.
Naomi Phillips discussed a recent survey of Labour Humanists members about what they think the group’s priorities should be. Identified were the campaign against discrimination by state-funded religious schools, for human rights and equalities, and for evidence-based policy making. Naomi discussed the importance of keeping the Human Rights Act, and in particular the rights it contains of freedom of religion or belief, and of speech, thought and expression. She pointed out that although blasphemy laws were repealed in England and Wales in 2008, free speech faced serious threat from a culture of censoring material that might be ‘offensive’.
Kelvin Hopkins, also an APPHG member, pointed to the fact that, with humanist bloggers being murdered in Bangladesh, and wars over religion occurring in the Middle East, standing up for freedom of religion or belief was more important than ever. Kelvin also touched on the Assisted Dying Bill, which demonstrated the power of the religious lobby, but pointed to demographic shifts as indicating the winds of change.
The audience asked questions about assisted dying, the need for tolerance, religious schools – including about admissions practices, working with those of other political affiliations, tackling homophobia, homeopathy, equalities, and women’s rights.
The British Humanist Association is also holding fringe events and has stalls at the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Party conferences, and is attending the conferences of three other parties.
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For further comment or information contact BHA Director of Public Affairs and Campaigns Pavan Dhaliwal at pavan@humanists.uk or on 0773 843 5059.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethically and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion of belief.