Humanists UK and US Embassy host reception to mark World Humanist Day

Notes

Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by over 120,000 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.

For further comment or information, media should contact Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson at press@humanists.uk or phone 0203 675 0959.

World Humanist Day is on 21 June each year. The reception was originally scheduled for that date but was delayed due to the UK general election.

US Chargé d’Affaires Matthew Palmer’s speech

‘Good evening. To all of our friends from Humanists UK: welcome to the U.S. Embassy. We’re very happy to have you here and show our support for your work and your mission.

There’s a very old story about two guys sitting in a bar in the remote Alaskan wilderness. One of them is religious, the other is an atheist, and they’ve been arguing about the existence of God with the special intensity that comes after about the fourth beer.

The atheist admits that even he has tested his faith in God. “Just the other week,” he says, “I was caught in a blizzard. I was totally lost and couldn’t see a thing. So, I fell to my knees and cried out: ‘Oh god, if there is a God, please help me!’”

In the bar, the religious guy looks at the atheist, confused. “Well then you must believe now,” he says, “after all, here you are.”

The atheist rolls his eyes: “No, God didn’t help me at all. A few people from the village happened to wander by and showed me the way back to camp.”

The point, at least for our purposes, is not who is right and who is wrong but that the same experience can mean two totally different things to two different people, depending on who they are and what they believe. 

We can imagine many more scenarios like this one, and in our increasingly diverse and fractured world, many different ways of constructing meaning from our experiences.

And it will never be our job to decide who is right and who is wrong, or to establish one belief system as orthodox and another as heresy, but to protect everyone’s right to hold their own beliefs: to worship freely, without persecution or discrimination, and just as importantly, not to worship at all or hold non-religious beliefs, without persecution or discrimination.

Unfortunately, I’ve worked in enough countries around the world to see how persecution on the basis of both religious and non-religious beliefs can devastate peoples’ lives and poison a country’s society.

Places where humanists, atheists, and even agnostics can lose their citizenship, their right to marry, their right to pursue a full education or work for their government. Countries where, still today, there is the death penalty for blasphemy – and mob violence against non-believers.

I can tell you for a fact that no matter where you are in the world, countries that don’t treat their citizens equally are objectively worse off by almost every measure.

So, like you, our State Department is working to defend the rights of non-believers around the world. Pressing those countries with restrictive laws to repeal them. Pressuring leaders of those countries to protect all of their citizens from violence and extend to them equal protection under the law. And when necessary, holding accountable those who commit violent crimes against humanists, atheists, or other non-believers.

In my job here in Embassy London, I often think about what a remarkably important example our two countries set. We live in countries where peoples of all faiths and belief systems are respected. Our constitution enshrines the fundamental separation of church and state and ensures that we do not favor religious or secular organizations in our government. More fundamentally, however, both of our societies are built on mutual respect and tolerance – bedrock values that define our special relationship and are a powerful influence on other countries.

On behalf of our Ambassador and everyone at the State Department: thank you all for your efforts to defend those values and promote them around the world. Your friendship and partnership mean a great deal to us, and if anyone wants to argue about the existence of God or the mysteries of the universe later tonight, we’ll have plenty of drinks at the reception to help you get started.

It’s now my pleasure to invite Andrew Copson, your chair, to say a few words.’

Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson’s speech

‘Across the world today there is, as there always has been, a struggle between on the one hand the advocates of closed totalitarian societies, and then those who advocate for open societies, for liberty of thought and expression, for freedom and who cherish the natural diversity that human freedom produces. Humanists have always been on that side – the side of freedom and equality and human rights.

World Humanist Day is our chance every June to celebrate these values. The General Election derailed our original plan, but we’re so pleased to be able to mark it now with all of you and with the United States’ mission to the UK.

The United States, as an advocate of international freedom of belief in recent years has given very welcome and appreciated support to those discriminated against or persecuted on account of their humanist beliefs. When Islamists in Bangladesh published a death list of humanist bloggers and began to machete them one by one; when Gulalai Ismail the founder of humanist feminist projects in Pakistan was detained, and her family tortured; when the President of Humanists in Nigeria Mubarak Bala was arrested for blasphemy, sentenced and imprisoned for 24 years. In all these cases the US has been ready to support with advocacy, asylum, and moral support. Together with our other international friends here this evening, we thank them for their work.

Because in spite of the challenges they face, humanists continue to exercise their human right to association even in the toughest places. I’ve just returned from Singapore where the General Assembly of Humanists International welcomed new member organisations in Malaysia and Indonesia: the first humanist organisations in their countries. Their ambition, courage, and commitment was an inspiration. States that can support them should all do so, and we’re pleased today to have the new UK human rights minister Lord Collins with us this evening too.

As well as our international friends today we’re also joined by many friends in UK civil society. For 130 years Humanists UK has been part of the rich mix of British society. We are pleased to be part of that plural society and to do our bit to value that diversity and work in the active creation of shared values. In that connection, we’re delighted to be joined by Lord Khan, minister in the ministry for communities and local government who will be speaking to us shortly. To him and to all of you, thank you for being here with us, please do take the time to speak with the humanist celebrants, pastoral carers, and other members of our community here this evening, We look forward to fortifying our connections with all of you in the service of our shared values.’

Government Faith and Belief Minister Lord Khan’s speech

‘It is a real pleasure to have been invited by Humanists UK and the US Ambassador to be present for this World Humanist Day celebration. As the Government’s minister for faith and belief, which includes humanists, this is not just a chance to be here and speak with you all, but a chance to show this government’s support and appreciation for the humanist community in this country. In 2021, for Humanists UK’s 125th anniversary, our new Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid tribute to humanists when he said:

“Ever since its foundation as an ethical movement, humanists have contributed enormously to our party’s and our nation’s achievements. Labour’s first Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, was an early President of Humanists UK… [Another early humanist was] Nye Bevan, the creator of the NHS.

Humanists and Humanists UK have been at the forefront of the fight for social change: to decriminalise homosexuality, to end corporal punishment in schools, and to introduce free school meals. But you’ve also played an integral role in our communities: from setting up humanist housing associations and adoption agencies through to today’s very popular humanist ceremonies.“

Today Humanists UK represents 130,000 members and supporters across the UK including through its sections Wales Humanists and Northern Ireland Humanists and its sister association, Humanist Society Scotland.

As the Prime Minister alluded to a few years ago, humanists are a major part of life in the UK today. For example: Humanist pastoral carers actively support people during some of life’s most difficult moments as part of chaplaincy teams of life in 40% of hospitals and 20% of prisons, and more recently as part of the armed forces; humanist school speakers support hundreds of schools each year to deliver high-quality inclusive lessons about humanism alongside religions, with trained volunteers visiting a quarter of a million pupils in classrooms in recent years; and humanist celebrants organise incredibly popular non-religious weddings, funerals, and namings.

And of course many of the UK’s most famous and beloved celebrated artists, writers, thinkers, and broadcasters are humanists. I was looking down the list of Humanists UK’s 200 or so famous patrons and it really is astonishing to see so many household names on that distinguished list. It seems so long ago now, but the fact that humanists are a community of action and not just words was made clear to everyone during the pandemic: One in three members of Humanists UK volunteered in their local community at the height of the pandemic; in addition to humanist funeral celebrants and pastoral carers being on the front line as key workers during that period; while Humanists UK staff also supported the national effort as part of the government’s ethical and moral advisory group and by supporting the vaccine rollout

As the Minister, I also appreciate Humanists UK’s dialogue work with religious groups. As the recent riots have reminded us, hatred and misinformation can spread like wildfire in siloed communities, but it’s difficult for lies and hatred to fester in communities where we already instinctively respect and understand and care for one another as friends and neighbours.

Humanists have always in my experience been keen to bridge the divides in our society, supporting united communities where we can all get along and live well together, side by side, whatever our beliefs.

And I know there are many religious guests and friends of Humanists UK and the US embassy here today who have seen that approach firsthand as well.

I want to end my remarks by saying simply this: thank you. Humanists UK’s community services today benefit over 1.5 million people each year – from weddings and funerals to newer services like a helpline for vulnerable humanists, and asylum support. And, of course, out there in our local communities as well.

That is something that this Government, and I personally, am happy to say I recognise and value. So here’s to the humanist community and all that you do to help make this country great.’

Humanists UK Vice President Polly Toynbee’s speech

‘Humanists UK is approaching its 130th birthday – and it’s already come a long, long way. I can speak for how much Humanists UK has grown since I was President, roughly a decade ago, and in that time not only has the membership ballooned – I believe it was 130,000 members and supporters last I heard – but so too has the practical, on-the-ground impact of Humanists UK.

The number of ceremonies every year has gone through the roof – Northern Ireland is a fabulous example of that – and thousands of people are receiving high-quality support, including on complex issues like asylum and specialist care, for the first time. Everywhere that humanism is treated fairly, we’ve seen huge improvements.

Whether that’s in Wales, where humanists worked as valued partners in supporting the government’s curriculum reform, in Northern Ireland, where thousands of couples since 2018 have taken up the expanded choice of a meaningful humanist ceremony, or of course Scotland, where not only are humanist ceremonies an international success story, they’ve actually driven up marriage numbers as a whole and curiously, appear to have the lowest divorce rates.

Of course, England and Wales still do not have legal humanist ceremonies but Labour in opposition promised to give speedy legal recognition to humanist marriages and we hope they will get on with that soon now they are in government. 

There’s also a lot to be said about the value of Humanists UK’s campaigning and advocacy work – I’m proud to be Vice President of the organisation that put together the largest ever coalition of UK civil society groups to protect our Human Rights Act.

That says something, I think, about the motives behind Humanists UK – they really do believe in a world where everyone has equal rights, where every one’s freedom of thought, expression, conscience, and choice is respected.

A good example of that is all the extensive work Humanists UK reports on at the UN Human Rights Council, where it has special consultative status, and uses its platform to champion freedom of religion or belief and speak out against persecution of religious minorities… as well as humanists who, of course, still face terrible punishments and oppression and risk of death in many countries themselves.

Now, I also want to point out that we’re hosting this reception a few short weeks, really, after the riots – and I really do see humanism, with its emphasis on reason, kindness, and consideration, as the antithesis of the horrifying events we saw in our city streets over those days – blind hate, ignorance, and violence.

Of course the humanist view is as the late MP Jo Cox put it – herself a member of Humanists UK – when she said:

“We are more united and have far more in common then that which divides us.“

I really believe this too, and I know that’s Humanists UK’s vision of society as well. Now, given that this is what Humanists UK stands for, we as humanists should ask ourselves this: How can we make that known, better understood? 

Well, when I was President of Humanists UK, the tagline was in fact ‘For the one life we have.’ This meant, of course, that humanists believe this is the only life we have and that we should cherish it; that we should lead a good life, do right by others, and make it count. But it takes a bit of unpacking.

Today’s Humanists UK slogan has more emphasis on that same value of positive action, collaboration, and concern for others:

“Think for yourself, act for everyone.”  

However, for another good definition of humanism, and in honour of our hosts this evening, I’d like to offer a quote from the American founding father Thomas Paine (I have it up on my wall at home) who put it this way:

“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good”

Thank you.’