Humanist Society of Scotland
Encyclopedia
The Humanist Society of Scotland (HSS) is a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 voluntary charitable organisation that promotes humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

 views. It is a member of the European Humanist Federation
European Humanist Federation
The European Humanist Federation-Fédération Humaniste Européenne is an international association that federates numerous European humanist associations. It also has individual members. The members of its administrative board are elected for three-year terms by the general assembly of the member...

 and the International Humanist and Ethical Union
International Humanist and Ethical Union
The International Humanist and Ethical Union is an umbrella organisation embracing humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, the IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member organizations in 40...

.

History and aims

Formed in 1989 out of an association of local humanist groups around Scotland, the Society's objective is "to represent the views of people in Scotland who wish to lead good and worthwhile lives guided by reason and compassion rather than religion or superstition". As of August 2010, it has 6,500 members. The Society also claims to have a representative role for the 28% of Scots (as of the 2001 census) who identify themselves as having no religion. Along with the British Humanist Association
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...

, the Society believes that the wording of the census question tends to inflate the numbers of people identifying themselves as religious who were brought up in a tradition of religious belief but who either no longer believe or who have significant doubts. The Society has campaigned to persuade the Registrar General to amend the question for the 2011 census.

The official symbol of the HSS is an adaptation of the Happy Human
Happy Human
The Happy Human is a secular icon and the official symbol of the International Humanist and Ethical Union , a world body for Humanism, and has been adopted by many Humanist organisations and individuals worldwide. Its origin was a competition organised in 1965 by the British Humanist Association...

 symbol which incorporates the Saltire
Flag of Scotland
The Flag of Scotland, , also known as Saint Andrew's Cross or the Saltire, is the national flag of Scotland. As the national flag it is the Saltire, rather than the Royal Standard of Scotland, which is the correct flag for all individuals and corporate bodies to fly in order to demonstrate both...

. The Society also publishes a quarterly magazine, Humanitie.

Campaigns

The Society campaigns for a secular State in Scotland, and to abolish religious privilege. Its main efforts have concentrated on seeking to allow legal humanist weddings, and to secularise State education.

Weddings

In January 2001, the Society lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament calling for the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 to be amended to allow legal humanist wedding ceremonies, alongside religious and civil ones. Although the Act was not amended, section 12 of the Act allows the Registrar General for Scotland to authorise temporary additional celebrants. In 2005, the Registrar agreed to authorise 12 celebrants from the Humanist Society, in part because of a concern that allowing legal religious weddings but not legal humanist ones might not be consistent with the right to "freedom of thought, conscience and religion", which includes non-religious belief, in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The first legal humanist wedding took place at Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo, formally the Scottish National Zoological Park, is a non-profit zoological park located in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland...

 on 18 June 2005 between Karen Watts (from Ireland) and Martin Reijns (from the Netherlands).

Humanist weddings have since becoming increasingly popular and, in 2009, over 1,000 legal humanist weddings took place in Scotland, and over 50 celebrants are now authorised to conduct them. The Society organises training, mentoring and performance reviews of celebrants, and submits names of celebrants to the Registrar General annually for authorisation. The Society also performs a similar role for celebrants to conduct same-sex commitment ceremonies, funerals and baby-namings, although formal authorisation by the Registrar is not required for these ceremonies since they have no effect on the legal status of individuals concerned.

Other issues

The Society supports both the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, introduced in the Scottish Parliament by Margo Macdonald
Margo MacDonald
Margo MacDonald MSP is a Scottish politician and former Scottish National Party MP and Deputy Leader...

 MSP, and the campaign for equal marriage in Scotland to allow LGBT couples to be legally married as an alternative to civil partnerships.

See also

  • British Humanist Association
    British Humanist Association
    The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...

  • National Secular Society
    National Secular Society
    The National Secular Society 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 religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...

  • National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies
    National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies
    The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, or the AHS as it is more commonly known, is a national umbrella organisation for free thinking student societies in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is composed of student societies many of which are...


External links

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