Dan Snow has been announced today as a new Patron of the UK Armed Forces Humanist Association (UKAFHA). The announcement comes in the run-up to annual national remembrance ceremonies across the UK.
This year dozens of local humanist groups across the country are getting involved in remembrance services commemorating those who have lost their lives in defence of their country. Some are specifically humanist ceremonies and others will be joining the British Legion organised ceremonies taking place in many cities including Oxford, Edinburgh, Belfast, London and Cardiff. These services are expecting large turnouts from many humanists and other non-religious peoples who feel excluded from the many remembrance ceremonies which are religious services. The rise in popularity of humanist ceremonies and the inclusion of humanists at the mainstream services indicates the increasing number of people who want to commemorate those who lost their lives in conflicts, but do not want religious worship to be part of their remembrance.
Dan Snow is a strong advocate for humanist representation at the national remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph, for which UKAFHA have been campaigning for four years. The non religious generally are the second largest group serving in the armed forces – and growing – and UKAFHA membership alone already exceeds that of religious groups such as Sikhs or Jews, which do have representation at the Cenotaph.
Pavan Dhaliwal, BHA Head of Public Affairs, commented ‘All this activity is a clear reflection of the strength of feeling many humanists have about commemorating those who have died fighting for their country. It would clearly be better for all if we had a national event which welcomed a representative of UKAFHA to commemorate those who have given their lives for our country in a way in which is inclusive.’
Notes
For further comment or information contact Pavan Dhaliwal, Head of Public Affairs at pavan@humanists.uk or on 0773 843 5059.
UKAFHA website: http://armedforceshumanists.org.uk/about/
The website of For All Who Serve: http://forallwhoserve.org.uk/
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf 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.