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Humanists UK Profile picture
Humanists UK
@Humanists_UK
We advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail.
Apr 8, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The UK Government is considering giving more power to state-funded faith schools, proposing to increase legal discrimination based on religion...

We think this is just plain wrong. Agree?

Add your name to our petition🧵
humanists.uk/stop-religious… All families should have the right to send their children to their local state school. It's common sense. Schools funded by taxpayers should be open to everyone, regardless of their background. humanists.uk/2024/04/08/hum…
Mar 17, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
'Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present'. Some good, ancient, and stoic advice – from the Philosopher Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. He died #OnThisDay 180 CE. 🧵 In a book he wrote to himself, known now as 'Meditations', the Roman Emperor wrote that happiness, moral virtue, love, & inner-strength are readily available to all of humanity, & that we need not look outside of ourselves to live a good, moral life.
Mar 16, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Heart-breaking. Robbed of the human right to education, dignity, and a future – young women are given no alternative but to recite scripture under brutal Taliban rule. But these establishments are not unique to Afghanistan...

france24.com/en/live-news/2… While the idea of young people being robbed of a future by religious clerics may seem far away on the other side of the world... this is simply not the case. 6,000 children are currently stuck in illegal schools in England, many of which are religious.
Mar 16, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Extraordinary to watch the mind of the American humanist playwright Lorraine Hansberry at work here in 1960. A true talent and inspiration, Hansberry was the first black woman to have a play produced on Broadway – wonderful to see her passion shine through. #HumanistHeritage Her most famous play, A Raisin in the Sun (which debuted in 1959), is a fearless commentary on racial discrimination, segregation, and the 'American dream'. It's a fantastic piece of drama, which you can watch in full on YouTube.

Mar 15, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
A wonderful moment caught in a #HumanistHeritage photo! Architect of modern humanism and our first Executive Director, Harold Blackham, appearing to crack wise at his retirement party: (pictured, right, @ConwayHall in 1968). Best of Blackham. 🧵👇 'Nothing is exempt from human question...no immemorial tradition, no revelation, no authority, no privileged knowledge.' – Harold Blackham, the architect of modern humanism & our first Executive Director, on the importance of questioning everything and everyone.
Sep 7, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
The UK Government has shelved the #RightsRemovalBill and we hope it does not return. The Bill seeks to alter the #HumanRightsAct in such a way that ordinary people would lose the power to challenge discrimination perpetrated by the state. humanists.uk/2022/09/07/gov… The #HumanRightsAct gives everyone the power to take legal action against the police (demonstrated by the victims of the rapist John Worboys). The #RightsRemovalBill diminishes this power, & with it, the ability to effectively hold the police to account. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Sep 7, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
We're really excited for our #HolyoakeLecture with author, broadcaster, @ObserverUK columnist, & our patron – @kenanmalik. Join us in Manchester 16 Nov at the @FriendsMtgHouse. Limited early bird tickets left. Book yours today. 🎫

humanists.uk/events/holyoak… Very different questions have all emerged from today’s heated debates around race, identity and culture. The ‘culture wars’ have generated ferocious argument, but little clarity... #HolyoakeLecture
Sep 5, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The #HumanRightsAct gives everyone the power to take legal action against the police (demonstrated by the victims of the rapist John Worboys). The #RightsRemovalBill diminishes this power, & with it, the ability to effectively hold the police to account.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/… Justice secretary Dominic Raab said: 'It is important that the police (and public authorities generally) are able to exercise their professional judgment in operational decision-making and the allocation of resources.'
Aug 26, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Our sister org @HumanistsInt today launched its 'Declaration of Modern Humanism' to mark its 70th anniversary. It sets out the values & principles which unites the global humanist movement. It has four sections, which we've broken down into a 🧵👇
Humanists strive to be ethical.

We accept that morality is inherent to the human condition, grounded in the ability of living things to suffer & flourish, motivated by the benefits of helping & not harming, enabled by reason & compassion, needing no source outside of humanity.
Jul 19, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Today we released this exposé, detailed here by @SerinaSandhu1 @theipaper. 'Commitments to abortion and sexual health rights have been quietly removed by the Government from an international pact on freedom of belief and gender equality.'

More below 👇

inews.co.uk/news/governmen… 'References to repealing discriminatory laws that threaten women’s “sexual and reproductive health and rights” and “bodily autonomy” have been removed from a statement published on the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website.'
Jul 19, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Everyone should able to get married in a way, & a place, that best suits them & represents their honestly held beliefs. For 1000s of humanists couples in England/Wales, that isn't a registry office! The time is now to legally recognise humanist marriages.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n… Unlike England & Wales, people in Scotland and Northern Ireland can have a legally recognise humanist wedding almost anywhere. Often this is a place meaningful to them – perhaps the place they met...
Jul 19, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BREAKING: All reference to 'sexual and reproductive health & rights' & 'bodily autonomy' was deleted from a statement organised by the UK Govt. The statement was to show international solidarity, including on abortion rights at #FoRBMinisterial 5-6 July.
humanists.uk/2022/07/19/abo… The statement was issued by the UK as part of an #ForbMinisterial #forbforall. A total of 23 countries signed the joint statement before it was amended. Malta, which has the strictest stance on abortion in Europe, has signed the statement after abortion rights were removed.
Jul 19, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
No more delays, no more excuses. Now the Law Commission's report on marriage is finally out, the time for the UK Government to finally give legal recognition to humanist marriage in England and Wales is now.

Thousands of couples are waiting! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

humanists.uk/2022/07/19/hum… Humanist weddings give non-religious couples the depth, flexibility, and authenticity they're looking for. They're legally recognised in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Jersey, Guernsey, and Ireland – but not in England & Wales!
May 6, 2022 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
To celebrate our 126th anniversary we've launched a ‘History of Humanism in 100 Objects’. We're now in week 2 of the series & have just published articles on objects 11-20. Find out more about the people/ideas that have shaped our movement for 100+ yrs. 👇humanists.uk/2022/04/29/hum… Object 11: The Ascent of Man, the BBC series presented by humanist philosopher Jacob Bronowski. It uniquely charts humankind's scientific and cultural evolution in a way which had never been done before. If you watch one thing this weekend, make it this.
heritage.humanists.uk/object/the-asc…
May 5, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Well said, @stephenfry. Humanist don't claim to know anything for certain. Every statement of knowledge is provisional - we are open-minded and ready to be proved wrong by someone with better information or a better analysis.
May 4, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
T.H. Huxley coined the term 'agnostic' to clarify that debating god’s existence was pointless. He's also famously known for saying he'd rather be descended from an ape than a bishop during a debate in 1860, a real 19th century mic drop moment, so to speak. heritage.humanists.uk/thomas-henry-h… Huxley was born #OnThisDay in 1825 and was tireless & vociferous promoter of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, and became known as 'Darwin’s bulldog'. Most notably, he helped to create the new professional class of scientists in Britain... #HumanistHeritage
Nov 3, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/6 Disestablishmentarianism thread:

#Onthisday in 1534 Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, defining the right of Henry VIII to be 'Supreme Head of the Church of England' thereby establishing the CofE. 487 yrs later, we are making the case for disestablishment... 2/6 The only two sovereign states to award clerics of the established religion votes in their legislatures are the UK & the Islamic Republic of Iran. The UK Parliament automatically awards 26 seats in the Lords to CofE bishops, also known as ‘The Lords Spiritual'.
Nov 1, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Throughout recorded history there have been non-religious people who believed this life is the only life we have, that the universe is a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side, & that we can live ethical & fulfilling lives on the basis of reason & humanity. #thatshumanism Image They have trusted to the scientific method, evidence, and reason to discover truths about the universe and have placed human welfare and happiness at the centre of their ethical decision making. #thatshumanism
Sep 30, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Today is #InternationalBlasphemyRightsDay. It marks the anniversary of the publication of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons in Denmark, which resulted in violent protests, riots, and more than 250 reported deaths. humanists.international/get-involved/c…. Today is about raising awareness. Blasphemy laws still exist in the 21st century. And wherever they exist they undermine human rights and freedom of expression. They lend a false legitimacy to those who commit acts of murder & violence in their name.
Sep 29, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Blasphemy and 'insult to religion' laws put 'religious feelings' above some of the most fundamental rights a human being has. They are absurdities that undermine human rights wherever they stand on statute books. Insult to the 'finality of prophethood' is a common blasphemy accusation in Pakistan. The mere existence of the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, for example, is deemed blasphemous on the basis that the founder Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad claimed to be a prophet.
Sep 29, 2021 • 6 tweets • 5 min read
We still can't get over how much fun our #VoltaireLecture was! It was our best attended Voltaire Lecture to date! Thank you to all of our attendees, to @theAliceRoberts for chairing, and of course, to our brand new Voltaire medallist @nicholaraihani!

humanists.uk/2021/09/23/nic… We will be releasing a full video the #VoltaireLecture very soon, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, please do check out our other lectures online! youtube.com/humanistsuk