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Government announces another ‘faith promotion’ initiative for 2012

1/13/2012 7:11 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
The government has announced its support for ‘A Year of Service’ to recognise ‘the role of faith in inspiring charitable work’ which will support religious-led volunteering days throughout 2012. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has said that while initiatives which bring together local communities and encourage volunteering can be really positive, focusing on religious groups is likely to be divisive and has...

Growing majority of young people have no religion, government must start listeni...

12/7/2011 7:29 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Two-thirds of young people and half of the population as a whole do not belong to any particular religion, and the steady decline in religiosity in the UK is set to continue, the 28threport of the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey has found. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the findings,...
Unlike the highly flawed Census question, which at best measures a weak cultural affiliation to...

Right to Object? Conscientious Objection and Religious Conviction: important new...

11/2/2011 8:01 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Is equality law oppressive or vital to protect liberty? Should there be legal exemptions for religious groups – and are there justifications for exemptions without religion? If burqas are permitted in the workplace, why not bikinis? Is conscientious objection an absolute right?
Right to Object? Conscientious Objection and Religious Conviction, published by the British Humanist Association (BHA), will be...

Church of England looks to being ‘largest sponsor and provider of secondary educ...

9/30/2011 12:29 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has said that the government’s Academies programme presents an opportunity for the Church of England (CofE) to play an increasingly important role in state education, with the Church ‘quite conceivably [to] become the largest sponsor and provider of secondary education in this country.’ The British Humanist Association (BHA) has said that such a change would ‘surely lead...

New Government statistics illustrate ‘madness’ of privileged place in policy for...

9/22/2011 8:54 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Religious people are not more likely to participate in society than non-religious people and Christians are less likely than others to mix with people from different backgrounds and beliefs, new Government figures have suggested. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the findings as further evidence against the mistaken idea – increasingly advanced by religious leaders and Government representatives of...

Regulatory body to investigate “proselytising” GP in open hearing

9/16/2011 7:36 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
An NHS doctor who has been reported to have discussed Christianity ‘thousands of times’ with patients is being investigated next week by the General Medical Council (GMC), the regulatory body for doctors, following a...
Dr Richard Scott, a former missionary and a lay preacher, has opted to have an oral hearing which...

Secular Europe Campaign Protest March and Rally - New videos announced

8/15/2011 2:05 PM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
Saturday 17th September 2011, London
*** Embargoed for 16 August 2011 00:01  ***

PRESS RELEASE FORWARDED FROM THE SECULAR EUROPE CAMPAIGN

In the lead up to the Secular Europe Campaign’s march and rally in London on 17th September exclusive videos from some of its most well-known supporters are being launched on the campaign’s YouTube channel over the coming weeks. Today, two new videos have been launched...
Islam in a Secular Europe
 

Islam in a secular Europe

8/10/2011 10:29 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
*For immediate release*

Islam in a secular Europe

Islam in a Secular Europe is the theme of the 2011 annual Secular Europe Campaign debate, hosted by the British Humanist Association (BHA) and the Central London Humanists, in association with Conway Hall. Using a ‘Question Time’ format, this timely debate comes one year on from the Pope’s state visit to the UK, which prompted the largest ever protests against the...

Parliament calls humanists to give evidence on the “Big Society”

6/24/2011 5:06 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
A parliamentary inquiry has called on the British Humanist Association (BHA) to give evidence on the government’s “Big Society” agenda. The BHA is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people, and it is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for a secular state.
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson will give evidence in a session for parliament’s Public Administration Select Committee’s...

Control of vital service for trafficked women handed to evangelical religious gr...

4/12/2011 4:24 AM EST  -   British Humanist Association Press Room
In a shock move, the government has awarded a contract to provide vital services for trafficked women to the Salvation Army, withdrawing funding from pioneering women’s charity Eaves Housing, which had previously been commissioned to provide those services. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has called the decision ‘deeply concerning’ and has called on the government to make assurances that religious groups...