British Humanist Association

Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs" in the United Kingdom by campaigning on issues relating to humanism, secularism, and human rights. It seeks to act as a representative body for non-religious people in the UK.

The charity also supports humanist and non-religious ceremonies in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Crown dependencies and maintains a national network of accredited celebrants for humanist funeral ceremonies, weddings, and baby namings, in addition to a network of volunteers who provide like-minded support and comfort to non-religious people in hospitals and prisons. Its other charitable activities include providing free educational resources to teachers, parents, and institutions; a peer-to-peer support service for people who face difficulties leaving coercive religions and cults; work to promote tolerance and understanding between religious communities and the non-religious; and work to promote understanding of humanism. The current President of Humanists UK is Adam Rutherford and the Chief Executive is Andrew Copson. The association currently has 70 affiliated regional and special interest groups and claims a total of approximately 100,000 members and supporters.

Humanists UK also has sections which run as staffed national humanist organisations in both Wales and Northern Ireland. Wales Humanists and Northern Ireland Humanists each have an advisory committee drawn from the membership and a development officer. Wales Humanists and Northern Ireland Humanists campaign on devolved issues in Cardiff and Belfast and work to expand the provision of humanist ceremonies, pastoral care, and support for teachers in those countries.

Aims

The organisation's Articles of Association sets out its aims as:
* The advancement of Humanism, namely a non-religious ethical lifestance the essential elements of which are a commitment to human wellbeing and a reliance on reason, experience and a naturalistic view of the world.
* The advancement of education and in particular the study of and the dissemination of knowledge about Humanism and about the arts and science as they relate to Humanism.
* The promotion of equality and non-discrimination and the protection of human rights as defined in international instruments to which the United Kingdom is party, in each case in particular as relates to religion and belief.
* The promotion of understanding between people holding religious and non-religious beliefs so as to advance harmonious cooperation in society.

The organisation also wishes to build itself as a sustainable and nationally-recognised organisation as a voice for non-religious people.

History

The organisation was founded in 1896 by American Stanton Coit as the Union of Ethical Societies, which brought together existing ethical societies in Britain. Other important founding figures included Elizabeth Schwann (who presided over the inaugural conference), and the feminist writer Zona Vallance (its first Secretary). The writer and critic Leslie Stephen, father of Virginia Woolf, was also a founding figure; he had been President of one of the societies which federated as the Union of Ethical Societies. It changed its name to the Ethical Union in 1920 and was incorporated in 1928. In 1963 H. J. Blackham became the first Executive Director, and the society became the British Humanist Association in 1967, during the Presidency of philosopher A. J. Ayer.

This transition followed a decade of discussions which nearly prompted a merger of the Ethical Union with the Rationalist Press Association and the South Place Ethical Society. In 1963 the first two went as far as creating an umbrella Humanist Association of which Harold Blackham (later to become a President of Humanists UK) was the Executive Director. However, Humanists UK, the Rationalist Association and the South Place Ethical Society (now Conway Hall Ethical Society) remain separate entities today and in 1967 the Union of Ethical Societies alone became the British Humanist Association.

In the 1960s, the organisation campaigned for reform of the 1944 Education Act's clauses on religion in schools and it was active in the campaign to legalise abortion and homosexuality. It supported repeal of Sunday Observance laws and the end of theatre censorship, the provision of family planning on the NHS and other reforms. More generally Humanists UK aimed to defend freedom of speech, support the elimination of world poverty and remove the privileges given to religious groups. It was claimed in 1977 that Humanists UK aimed "to make humanism available and meaningful to the millions who have no alternative belief."

The local ethical societies united in 1896 had (mainly during the 1950s) renamed themselves as humanist groups and their number grew over time, becoming today Humanists UK's network of affiliated local humanist groups. A network of celebrants able to conduct non-religious funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies and same sex affirmations (before the law allowing gay civil partnerships) was also developed and continues today as Humanist Ceremonies.

Social concerns persisted in Humanists UK's programme. Humanists UK was a co-founder in 1969 of the Social Morality Council (later transmuted into the Norham Foundation), which brought together believers and unbelievers concerned with moral education and with finding agreed solutions to moral problems in society. Humanists UK was active in arguing for voluntary euthanasia and the right to obtain an abortion. It has always sought an " open society". It is credited with substantially popularising the salience and use of the concept in Britain. In 1969 it filled Royal Festival Hall for an influential conference on ''Towards an Open Society''.

Humanists UK claimed that the rules on religious programming within the BBC
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