25th August 2024

Dialogue Network Group

The Dialogue Group, chaired by Jeremy Rodell coordinates humanists who are involved in inter-faith groups. I attended the online meeting with some 15 other humanists, representing our group. The purpose is to inform religious groups about humanism and spread knowledge about humanism to inter-faith groups. The Dialogue Society was mentioned.

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Watford Area Humanists campaign on local issues, in order to bring an understanding of Humanism to a wider local audience. We particularly welcome the opportunity to send speakers to schools and colleges so that children and young people can be afforded an opportunity to appreciate that there are many people – locally, nationally and internationally – just like themselves, who choose not to consume the various brands of religion on offer.

We have visited local secondary schools to support the work of teachers and students studying GCSE and GCE Religious Studies, with a view to assisting them in achieving a balanced understanding of the historic role of religious and secular philosophies.  This free service is offered to schools to assist them in enhancing their pass grade levels. Requests for school speakers can be made at www.understandinghumanism.org.uk/school-speakers/

We welcome the opportunity to share with young children and young people the experience that they are not alone in not believing in the existence of supernatural beings or an after-life and that we can all collectively develop personal codes of ethics and shared moral values without the need for deities, prophets, sacred texts or ancient prescriptions for a good life. Our life is now and it is now that we have to live our lives in the best way we can.

Watford Area Humanists support campaigns by Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) and international Humanist organisations to achieve and defend universal human rights that support individual freedom of belief and practices which do no harm to others.

Humanists UK campaigning activities can be accessed via the internet on: http://www.humanism.org.uk/campaigns

Recent campaigning successes include:

• The abolition of blasphemy and blasphemous libel laws.
• Support for the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Act.
• Support for various new Equality Acts.
• Supporting employees in successful landmark religious discrimination tribunal rulings.

• • The religion question is voluntary; 94.0% (56.0 million) of usual residents answered the question in 2021, an increase from 92.9% (52.1 million) in 2011.

  • For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3% (33.3 million) in 2011; despite this decrease, “Christian” remained the most common response to the religion question.

  • “No religion” was the second most common response, increasing by 12.0 percentage points to 37.2% (22.2 million) from 25.2% (14.1 million) in 2011.Humanist weddings in Northern Ireland and Jersey,

    Hopefully – now – better days lay ahead for the cause of Humanism in Watford and the wider South West Hertfordshire area.

    

Local Issues

We campaign against the introduction of single-religion schools in the Watford and South West Herts area or the use of public land for the erection and operation of privately-owned church businesses.

If you would like to join us in opposing any attempts to introduce religious apartheid which will ghettoise young children, then please get in touch and help us to stop highly unwelcome and unwanted proposals.

We closely monitor disposals of public land and other assets to local religious businesses and the actual sale/lease and community use agreement terms on which public assets are disposed.

National Issues

We are currently supporting the campaign against the introduction of sharia law in Britain through the quasi-legal pretext of administrative law.  We also support legalising voluntary and assisted suicide for those for whom the quality of life is no longer worthwhile.

European Issues

Working with Humanists UK and European Humanist organisations to ensure any EU Constitution is developed on the basis of secular and not religious values.

We believe European culture is a composite of many cultures, many of which pre-date the human creation of religions.

International Issues

Watford Area Humanists have applied to be an associate member of Humanists International and anticipate being approved for membership in August 2021.

Watford Area Humanists oppose exploitation of young children in countries such as Nigeria, where unscrupulous religionists exploit ignorance and superstition among uninformed and uneducated people at the expense of vulnerable young children, who are labelled as “witches”.

We welcome developments such as the development of humanist schools in countries such as Uganda, which was featured in our meeting at the Watford Town and Country Club on Tuesday, 15 September 2009, following which £200 was raised by collection from WAH members for the schools. to which was added a further £200 in branch funds.  We have also made contributions to the work of other humanists world-wide.