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| Formation | 1866 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Charles Bradlaugh |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Limited company |
| Headquarters | London |
Region | United Kingdom |
President | Keith Porteous Wood |
Executive Director | Stephen Evans |
| Website | www |
The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866.
The NSS, whose motto is "Challenging religious privilege", campaigns for a secular state where there is no established state religion; where religion plays no role in state-funded education, does not interfere with the judicial process nor does it restrict freedom of expression; where the state does not intervene in matters of religious doctrine nor does it promote or fund religious activities, guaranteeing every citizen's freedom to believe, not to believe or to change religion. [1]
Although the organisation was explicitly created for those who reject the supernatural, the NSS does not campaign to eradicate or prohibit religion, arguing that freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion, is a human right and that state sponsorship of selected religions encroaches upon that right. It holds that belief should be a private matter for the home or place of worship and does not belong in the public sphere. In seeking to represent the interests and viewpoints of atheists, the NSS is often critical of what it sees as the damaging effects of religion. [2]
The National Secular Society was founded in 1866 with Charles Bradlaugh as president and Charles Watts as secretary. There were a number of secularist groups around the UK and they joined up to coordinate and strengthen their campaigns. The word secularism was coined by George Holyoake in 1851. The NSS's principles asserted that "this is the only life we have, and that we should work for its improvement". [3]
In 1877 Bradlaugh and Annie Besant were prosecuted for publishing a book containing birth control information, The Fruits of Philosophy by the American doctor Charles Knowlton. [4] They were convicted, but acquitted on appeal. The issue of contraception divided secularists and a breakaway group, the British Secular Union, was formed. It closed after a few years.
Bradlaugh's struggle to enter Parliament became an important moment in the development of nineteenth-century secularism. He was elected for Northampton in 1880. He believed he had the right to affirm rather than swear on the Bible, but when refused, said he would take the oath. He was told that since he did not believe in the Bible he could not swear on it. For six years he struggled to overcome this problem, by legal and electoral methods. In 1886 a new government allowed him to be sworn in. He later brought about a change giving all MPs the right to affirm. He was a very active MP on behalf of the poor, the Irish and Indian independence.
Bradlaugh, who died in 1891, was succeeded as president by G. W. Foote, editor of The Freethinker. Foote noted that the death of Bradlaugh brought the "heroic period" of freethought to an end, [5] and he never succeeded in galvanising NSS members as Bradlaugh had done. Foote's successor was Chapman Cohen (president from 1915 to 1949), a prolific pamphleteer and author of books on religion and philosophy for a popular audience. In the first half of the twentieth century the NSS campaigned against the BBC's religious broadcasting policy, for disestablishment and for secular education.
Notable presidents in the second half of the twentieth century were David Tribe and Barbara Smoker, who did much to increase the use of the media to put across secularist views. In the twenty-first century, the NSS continues as an organisation campaigning in the UK and EU against what it regards as religious privilege in public life.
The NSS is incorporated as a UK Company Limited by Guarantee, no. 01418145. [6] The Society's income in the year 2006–2007 was £232,149, as quoted in the Accounts submitted to the authorities at Companies House. It receives no funding from the government or outside bodies: its campaigning is wholly supported by membership subscriptions and donations. Membership numbers are not included on the NSS website, although an article in The Daily Telegraph on 13 February 2012 stated that the society had about 7,000 members.
Education is one of the NSS's prime concerns, and it continues to campaign against public funding of faith schools. It holds that morality, ethics and citizenship should be taught outside a religious framework. It also opposes the teaching of creationism, or intelligent design as an alternative to mainstream science. In addition, it is against the appointment of teachers and support staff according to religious criteria, as part of a more general campaign against exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation for religious bodies. The Society has successfully campaigned for the legal right of older pupils to opt themselves out of religious assemblies at school.
The Society argues that children of families of no-faith and "the wrong faith" are being increasingly discriminated against in admission procedures, because of the high number of religious schools. [7] Together with City Technology Colleges (which also have admissions privileges), the Society would like to see these schools become community schools, although it accepts the need for a transition period to achieve this goal. The NSS has drawn attention to recent statistical research supporting its claims of discrimination in faith schools, based on selection of pupils from wealthier families. [8] Specifically, religious schools take in 10% fewer poor pupils than are representative of the local area. However, both representatives from the Church of England and a separate Parent Association denied the existence or evidence of selection to their own schools being based on social background, and a spokesman for the Centre of Economics has indicated that the bias in social background may stem from those more likely to apply to a religious school, not the selection process. [9]
The NSS has claimed that faith schools exacerbate religious, ethnic and cultural divisions, by separating children from those of other faiths and cultural backgrounds. In 2010, the NSS instigated a judicial review to test the legality of prayers being part of the official business of Council meetings, as it believes politics and religion should be kept separate.
The NSS has campaigned on a number of other issues. These include the successful abolition of the blasphemy law in the United Kingdom; removal of the 26 bishops from the House of Lords; exemption of religious organisations from discrimination and equality laws; withdrawal of state funding of chaplains in prisons, hospitals and armed services; the end of tax exemption for churches; and stopping public funding of religious broadcasting (the NSS has long argued, for example, that Thought for the Day is religious propaganda broadcast by the BBC at licence-payers' expense). [10]
Further campaigns are concerned with the conscientious objections by doctors and pharmacists to refuse to administer certain procedures or treatments; the religious exemption from laws requiring stunning of animals before slaughter [11] and for the labelling of meat produced without stunning (much of it is currently sold to the general public unlabelled, both in shops and in restaurants); and the reform of the Scouts movement to remove references to God from their promise.
The NSS is frequently invited to submit consultation documents to Government and major UK organisations. For example, it has written about faith-based welfare; doctors' conscientious objections; the prosecution of racist and religious crimes; the census; organ donation; and equality issues.
It co-sponsored the launch of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and a conference for International Women's Day – Women's Rights, the Veil and Islamic and Religious Laws.
As well as its activities in the UK, the NSS has been active in Europe and at the UN, often as a representative for the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). Most notable have been interventions at the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
At a Council of Europe conference in San Marino, its interventions caused the closing communiqué to be changed to require consultation on inter-cultural matters, giving much more emphasis to civil society, as opposed to religious bodies. In Strasbourg, the NSS argued against what it saw as undue religious influence on the Council of Europe. Close links have been maintained with the politicians and secretariat.
The NSS started assisting Roy Brown on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and continues on a broader front, raising awareness of its problems with a growing list of international bodies.
In the European Parliament (EP), the NSS is involved with the Separation of Religion & Politics Working Group, and attended the launch of the Brussels Declaration. The organisation's president, Keith Porteous Wood, also spoke at a meeting in the EP sponsored by Catholics for Choice on Religion & Politics in the New Europe, and made a representation in a debate to the EP President about an invitation to the Pope to address the EP. The Society continues to be consulted by politicians seeking information or proposals. Wood spoke about problems with the United Nations Human Rights Commission at a UDHR 60th Anniversary Conference in Brussels, and at the Libre Penseé Conference at the Senate in Paris.
On 2 December 2011, the NSS and an atheist councillor took Bideford Town Council to the High Court over prayers held during council meetings. [12] The High Court ruled on 10 February 2012 that the town council was not acting lawfully, as under Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972 councils could not do anything they were not specifically permitted to do by the act. As prayers were not mentioned by the act, they could not be held as a formal part of the meeting. [13] However, the judge tempered this ruling by rejecting Councillor Bone's argument that his human rights had been breached, stating that prayers could be held as long as councillors were not summoned to attend and they did not appear as an item on the agenda. [14] Mr Justice Ouseley declared that the fact that atheists might feel uncomfortable during prayers was not a reason for them to be granted the protection of the state under human rights law, which had been the argument of the NSS's counsel. [15] At the time of the case, the 1972 act was being superseded by the Localism Act 2011, which gave councils a general power of competence 'to do anything individuals may generally do.' [16] In light of the ruling, the law was brought into force ahead of schedule in February 2012, and its general power of competence was asserted to have restored the ability of councils to hold prayers as part of the meeting should the majority of them wish to do so. [17] To remove any remaining confusion, in March 2015 the Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Act 2015 was granted Royal Assent, explicitly restoring the right of councils to hold prayers as a formal part of meetings should they wish. [18]
The NSS has campaigned against the practice of some local authorities in granting parking concessions to churchgoers. In 2011, the NSS announced its intention to take forward a legal challenge against Woking Borough Council, which allowed those attending services in churches close to the town centre to claim a refund of their parking charges. [19] The policy was retained following a review, but the council indicated the scheme could be extended to members of all religious communities or voluntary organisations on a case-by-case basis. [20] [21] Some councillors were critical of the challenge and the amount spent on defending the policy, [22] with one councillor referring to the National Secular Society as 'bullying and intolerant.' [23]
In February 2019, the NSS released a 48-page report titled For the Public Benefit? The case of removing 'the advancement of religion' as a charitable purpose. [24] It argues that the advancement of religion should not be 'regarded as an inherent public good', and charities should be required to 'demonstrate a tangible, secular public benefit under one of the other charitable purpose headings'.
Each year, the NSS holds the Secularist of the Year award ceremony at which the Irwin Prize of £5,000 is presented. Nominations for the Secularist of the Year are made by members of the National Secular Society; the winner is chosen by the Officers of the Society, along with Michael Irwin, who has donated the funds which underpin the award. Previous prize winners include former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) Evan Harris, Lord Avebury, Sophie in 't Veld MEP and Peter Tatchell.
Charles Bradlaugh was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866, 15 years after George Holyoake had coined the term "secularism" in 1851.
The Golden Age of Freethought is the mid 19th-century period in United States history which saw the development of the socio-political movement promoting freethought. Anti-authoritarian and intellectually liberating historical eras had existed many times in history, notably in eighteenth century France. But the period roughly from 1875 to 1914 is referred to by at least one contemporary writer as "the high-water mark of freethought as an influential movement in American society". It began around 1856 and lasted at least through the end of the century; author Susan Jacoby places the end of the Golden Age at the start of World War I.
Barbara Smoker was a British humanist activist and freethought advocate. She was also President of the National Secular Society (1972–1996), Chair of the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society (1981–1985) and an Honorary Vice President of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association in the United Kingdom.
Jim Herrick was a British humanist and secularist. He studied history and English literature at Trinity College, Cambridge University, and then worked as a school teacher for seven years. He wrote or edited several books on humanism and the history of freethought.
David Harold Tribe was an Australian secularist, humanist, and author of numerous books, articles and pamphlets. He was born in Sydney, Australia, grew up in Brisbane, and lived in the United Kingdom from the 1950s into the 1970s.
The Freethinker is a British secular humanist publication, founded by G. W. Foote in 1881. One of the world's oldest surviving freethought publications, it moved online-only in 2014.
George William Foote was an English secularist, freethinker, republican, writer and journal editor.
William J. "Bill" McIlroy was a British secularist and atheist activist, writer and editor.
Chapman Cohen was an English freethinker, atheist, and secularist writer and lecturer.
Charles Watts was an English writer, lecturer and publisher, who was prominent in the secularist and freethought movements in both Britain and Canada.
The National Reformer was a secularist weekly publication in 19th-century Britain (1860–1893), noted for providing a longstanding "strong, radical voice" in its time, advocating atheism. Under the editorship of Charles Bradlaugh for the majority of its lifespan, each issue stated that "The editorial policy of the Paper is Republican, Atheistic, and Malthusian, but all opinions are freely admitted, provided only that they be expressed reasonably and in proper language."
Secular Review (1876–1907) was a freethought/secularist weekly publication in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain that appeared under a variety of names. It represented a "relatively moderate style of Secularism," more open to old Owenite and new socialist influences in contrast to the individualism and social conservatism of Charles Bradlaugh and his National Reformer. It was edited during the period 1882–1906 by William Stewart Ross (1844–1906), who signed himself "Saladin."
Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner was a British peace activist, author, atheist and freethinker, and the daughter of Charles Bradlaugh.
Harriet Teresa Law was a leading British freethinker in 19th-century London.
Edinburgh Secular Society is an organisation, based in Edinburgh, dedicated to promoting secularism across Scotland; it was established on 28 October 2012.
Eunice Kate Watts was a British secularist and feminist writer and lecturer. She was one of the most prominent women active in the British freethought movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The British Secular Union was a secularist organisation, founded in August 1877, primarily as a response to what its founders regarded as the "dictatorial" powers of Charles Bradlaugh as President of the National Secular Society. The founding members were Kate Watts, Harriet Law, George William Foote and Josiah Grimson; George Holyoake had accepted the nomination of Vice President of the National Secular Society so only gave support for the formation. The group adopted the Secular Review as their official paper.
The secular movement refers to a social and political trend in the United States, beginning in the early years of the 20th century, with the founding of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism in 1925 and the American Humanist Association in 1941, in which atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, freethinkers, and other nonreligious and nontheistic Americans have grown in both numbers and visibility. There has been a sharp increase in the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated, from under 10 percent in the 1990s to 20 percent in 2013. The trend is especially pronounced among young people, with about one in three Americans younger than 30 identifying as religiously unaffiliated, a figure that has nearly tripled since the 1990s.
Robert Joseph Forder was an English freethinker, radical, publisher and bookseller and birth controller. He was particularly associated with the career of Charles Bradlaugh and the National Secular Society.
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