The All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) came together yesterday to celebrate a landmark High Court win for humanists. The judgment found that it is ‘unlawful’ for humanists to be excluded from Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACRE) – and heard directly from those involved in securing the landmark ruling.
On 26 May, Mr Justice Constable ruled in the High Court on a case brought by humanist Steve Bowen, who successfully challenged his local authority’s attempt to block him from the council’s religious education committee. In the landmark judgment, he concluded that it was ‘unlawful’ for Kent County Council to refuse Steve’s membership of the SACRE. Humanists UK facilitated the bringing of the case and supported Steve throughout.
In a conversation chaired by Tommy Sheppard MP, attending parliamentarians heard from Steve Bowen, his solicitor Dan Rosenberg of Simpson Millar LLP, Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Robert Cann, and Julia Ewans, humanist representative and Chair of Cambridgeshire Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education.
Steve Bowen detailed humanist involvement with Kent SACRE, where his predecessor had long been allowed to only observe the meetings, and shared his disappointment at being denied full membership when he applied. Julia Ewans meanwhile outlined how she joined her local SACRE in 2013 as a non-voting member, but ‘always felt treated like a full member’. She subsequently did become a full member and ultimately became the group’s Chair in 2017, demonstrating what humanist inclusion can look like. Cambridgeshire’s recent locally agreed syllabus is fully inclusive of humanism, and is testament to the added value that having a humanist on a SACRE brings. Dan Rosenberg outlined the legal aspects of the Bowen case, and Humanists UK’s Robert Cann spelled out the charity’s long history of campaigning on reform to the RE curriculum and mused about the wider impacts of the case.
During the meeting, parliamentarians reiterated the importance of fully inclusive RE, and voiced their frustration at a lack of Government support for Private Member’s Bills that could address some of the shortcomings, such as the Education (Non-religious Philosophical Convictions) Bill sponsored by Vice-Chair of the APPHG Baroness Burt.
Since a 2015 judgment, Religious Education (RE) has been required to be inclusive of non-religious worldviews like humanism. But RE syllabuses for many state schools, rather than being set nationally, are agreed at a local level by each SACRE. Now SACRE membership must also be fully inclusive.
The All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group is a cross-party group of 115 members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords of all the main parties. The Group is not part of Humanists UK, but Humanists UK provides the secretariat.
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For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson at press@humanists.uk or phone 020 7324 3072 or 020 3675 0959.
Read more about the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.
Read the judgment in R (Bowen) v Kent County Council.
Read more about our work on religious education.
Read more about SACREs.
Read more about volunteering to represent humanism on a SACRE.
Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by 110,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.