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In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises John’s talk about his experiences as a humanist celebrant

John’s journey

John was brought up with a Baptist mother and was baptised when he was 16. His church was part of the ‘Jesus’ movement. When at Sheffield University he joined the Christian Union but lost his faith and became strongly not religious.

His career was in IT and management consultancy. When he retired, he thought what now? He was attracted to humanism and checked on the website that he was indeed a humanist. He felt he could use his skills of presentation and experience of meeting people to become a humanist celebrant and looked into the training.

Continue reading “Event Report: February 21st meeting with John Leaman – an Introduction to Humanist ceremonies”

Humanists UK launches a new membership recruitment drive, fronted by an animated film from its patron, Stephen Fry

As well as being an actor, broadcaster, director, and writer, Stephen Fry is also a humanist, and a proud patron of Humanists UK.

In this new video, Stephen looks at the work Humanists UK does to help people live full, satisfying lives without religion. From campaigning for an education system free from discrimination, to providing popular humanist weddings, as well as pastoral care in hospitals and prisons, humanists work for the good of everyone to promote a fairer society.

Joining Humanists UK is an opportunity to engage with a thriving community of like-minded people who think for themselves and act for everyone.

For more information, please visit: humanists.uk/join

Humanists take part in Ludlow ceremony

On Remembrance Day, 13th November 2022, a small group of us gathered at the Ludlow War Memorial and we laid a wreath on behalf of the Ludlow and Marches Humanists.

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises the fascinating and topical talk given by Dr. Kelcey about the history of vaccination.

Colin has spent the last two years working with the Oxford AstraZeneca team. The team mutually supported each other by phone. Someone hacked a member’s phone and obtained the numbers of all the team. Team members were rung, often at very inconvenient times, haranguing them and calls were often very abusive. E-mails were also sent to the team members in a similar vein. Colin started to look into the anti-vax movement.

Continue reading “Event report: October 18th meeting with Dr. Colin Kelcey – Blossom and the Origins of the Anti-Vax Movement”

In this event report, our newsletter editor Frances Lloyd summarises the thought-provoking talk given by Robert about Humanists’ work towards inclusive education

Robert has been in this post at Humanists UK since last November. Education is their biggest campaign. Robert gave some examples of their work. They have exposed concerns about illegal religious schools with practices such as physical abuse for alleged profanities which could be something like mild blasphemy. There are also sometimes concerns about religious indoctrination in legal faith schools. On this, Robert said much depends on the will of the Head who may be highly religious.

Continue reading “Event report: September 20th meeting with Robert Cann, Education Campaigns Manager for Humanists UK”