The humanist values of community morality are also Labour values

By Kristofor Brown / @KristoforBrown

Next Thursday, at its Annual General Meeting, Labour Humanists will launch a whole range of new activity leading up to the General Election.

Labour Humanists exists to spread awareness of humanism and humanists within the Labour Party and to promote humanist and Labour values. We are committed to:

* Fostering a commitment to equality and universal human rights, including the freedom of religion and belief for all people.

* Promoting a rational approach to bioethical, medical and scientific issues as the best guarantee of human progress.

* Defending and advancing secular government and an open society as the best model of a society where all can be included.

* Advocating an inclusive and accommodating education system which can meet the needs of children and parents of different religions and beliefs in a framework common to all, and opposing faith schools and academies.

* Defending the secular nature of our public services.

I’m sure some of you are wondering just what a humanist believes in and how our values match Labour’s.

A humanist is someone who believes that morality does not have some supernatural origin but that it derives from our need to live together in communities. This conviction leads naturally to a concern that our actions should contribute to the happiness and welfare of both ourselves and others. When someone who is a humanist comes to consider what is right and what is wrong (not just on a grand scale but in our everyday choices), the benefit or harm that it will bring to those around us, to wider humanity – including future generations – and to the world are the only factors which matter. Individual rights and freedoms are important to humanists, but individual responsibility, social cooperation and mutual respect are just as important. These values are those, I hope, we all share as Labour values too.

Some will suggest nearly everything a humanist campaigns for is done in negativity, such as campaigning against faith schools, bishops in the House of Lords or faith-based welfare. These, however, are not negative campaigns – they all stem from a positive position that humanists hold on what sort of society we want to live in.

As humanists we believe in an open society and that one set of religious or non-religious beliefs should not be given official privilege. Otherwise, people whose beliefs differ from the mainstream can be made to feel isolated or inferior.

For everyone to feel included within public institutions, the neutrality of the public framework must be apparent and genuine. Humanism is a strategy for the establishment of a public sphere in which the negotiations vital to an open society can be held in a way that’s accessible to all – something that should be at the very core of the Labour Party’s belief. Unfortunately, our society is far from matching up to this ideal.

This is true in many ways, but two of the most current manifestations are state-funded religious schools and the presence of Church of England bishops as of right in the House of Lords. The presence of Bishops in the Lords is an obvious archaism and one which can hardly be defended.

This is just some of what we campaign for and believe. At our Annual General Meeting we want to talk about the ideas that Labour Humanists can campaign for in the run up to the General Election and why Humanists up and down the UK should turn to Labour, as many humanist values are also Labour values.

We are always seeking new ideas, and particularly new members. So come along to our meeting next Thursday 22nd October, at 7pm at Conway Hall, and help us shape our campaigns for the future.

If you would like more information about Labour Humanists you can visit our website.