May 23rd, 2019
Close to 800 people turned out in central London last week for Humanists UK’s 2019 Voltaire Lecture, part of the Humanists UK annual lecture series. This year, the lecture was given by geneticist and Humanists UK patron Dr Adam Rutherford, who spoke in the proud humanist tradition of anti-racist campaigning with a stirring and all-too-relevant […]
May 23rd, 2019
The UK Government has announced it is conducting a review into how the Home Office assesses asylum claims on the basis of religious, non-religious, or LGBT asylum, following Humanists UK’s work to raise the issue in Parliament. Humanists UK, the national charity working on behalf of the non-religious, welcomed the review, adding that many non-religious […]
May 21st, 2019
Scientist, writer, and broadcaster Alice Roberts has today launched a new, ‘massive open online course’ (MOOC) on humanism introducing participants to humanists from around the world to hear their stories and explore their beliefs and values. The new course, launched in partnership with social learning platform FutureLearn, called ‘Humanist Lives’, has been developed by Humanists […]
May 20th, 2019
A Birmingham school facing protests around the teaching of LGBT issues has reportedly seen 600 pupils withdrawn from the school today in an alarming escalation which is placing children’s safety and education at risk, Humanists UK says. Education publication TES today reported that 600 pupils have been taken out of Anderton Park Primary in Birmingham […]
May 20th, 2019
Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor David Gauke has signalled his personal support for reform of the UK’s assisted dying laws, adding that he is in ‘favour of reforms in this area’. His comments, which appeared in the print version of The Express yesterday, are the first time such a senior Government minister […]
May 17th, 2019
Norfolk County Council has given the go-ahead for a new Catholic primary school, which can legally select 100% of its pupils on the basis of faith, to open on the site of an independent school in Swaffham, Norfolk. The decision comes as 14 bids for a new capital funding scheme for similarly selective voluntary aided […]
May 17th, 2019
Home Office caseworkers have begun receiving mandatory training on religion or belief asylum claims from Humanists UK experts, in a move that will improve officials’ understanding of humanist and non-religious asylum applications. Humanists UK, the national charity working on behalf of the non-religious, is one of a number of religion or belief groups which helped […]
May 16th, 2019
Weddings conducted by Humanists UK celebrants in England and Wales grew in 2016 from the previous year, with Humanists UK now conducting more weddings than the Baptists for the first time in history – therefore becoming the fifth biggest provider of faith or belief weddings. According to the latest official figures, the number of weddings […]
May 15th, 2019
Wales Humanists has called on the Welsh Government to stop violence against children, urging the Government to ban all physical punishment of children in Wales. In its response to the Welsh Government consultation on ‘reasonable punishment’ in Wales, Wales Humanists said that, just as adults have legal protection from assault, children should have the same […]
May 15th, 2019
A Pakistani humanist who received death threats from his family after renouncing Islam, and whose original asylum claim was rejected by the Home Office because he didn’t identify Plato and Aristotle as humanists, has been granted asylum in the UK. Humanists UK member Hamza bin Walayat applied for asylum on the grounds that he would […]
May 14th, 2019
For Dying Matters Awareness Week, a national week dedicated to promoting healthy conversations about death and dying, humanist celebrant Kate Hobson talks about the privilege of conducting humanist funerals. When people ask me what I do, I am proud to say I am a humanist funeral celebrant. It’s not the only work I do, but […]
May 7th, 2019
Paul Lamb, paralysed from the neck down, is bringing a new legal case against the Secretary of State for Justice, challenging the law on assisted dying in the UK. He is being supported by Humanists UK and represented by law firm, Leigh Day. Paul, 63, was severely injured in a car accident in 1990 and […]
