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Humanists UK
@humanists.uk
14K followers 590 following 2.7K posts
We advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail.
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humanists.uk
We will remember everyone.

Everyone who fought, who lived, who died, and every conscientious objector, too.

We will remember their sacrifice.

We will remember their belief in freedom, and the common humanity that unites us.
November 9, 2025 at 8:00 AM
humanists.uk
Humanist hero #LadyFlorenceDixie – writer, explorer & 1st president of the British Ladies’ Football Club – died #onthisday, 1905. A yr earlier, Watts & Co had published her pamphlet 'Towards Freedom' in which she wrote this iconic line.

May she be better known. heritage.humanists.uk/lady-florenc...
November 7, 2025 at 10:01 AM
humanists.uk
As the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire lay on his deathbed, a priest urged him to renounce Satan. Voltaire, characteristically, purportedly replied: 'Now is not the time for making new enemies.'
Voltaire's last words are amongst my most favourite. He was on his deathbed. A priest asked him to renounce Satan and he said 'Now is not the time to be making new enemies'. Sandi Toksvig on QI
November 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
humanists.uk
Extraordinary to watch the mind of Lorraine Hansberry at work here in 1960. This clip offers a glimpse into her sharp intellect and commitment to storytelling and portraying the human condition, before her untimely death at the age of 34. #HumanistHeritage #BlackHumanism
November 6, 2025 at 12:53 PM
humanists.uk
American humanist James Baldwin speaking at the University of Cambridge in 1965. His words on racism still resonate today. An incredible piece of #HumanistHeritage. A true 'pin drop' speech. No one said it quite like Baldwin. #BlackHumanism.
November 6, 2025 at 12:46 PM
humanists.uk
Zora Neal Hurston was a humanist novelist hailed as the 'Queen of the Harlem Renaissance;'. Her anthropologist training taught her that 'gods always behave like the people who make them,' concluding that religion was 'simply' not for me.
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
humanists.uk
Robert Wedderburn was an abolitionist who was imprisoned for blasphemy for his radical campaigning on the streets of London. The son of an enslaved Jamaican woman and her Scottish enslaver, he used the language of the pulpit to denounce religious hypocrisy and demand justice for enslaved people and the poor.
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
humanists.uk
James Baldwin was a novelist and essayist who exposed the moral hypocrisies of racism, religion, and power in mid-century America. Rejecting the dogmas of the Church he once preached in, he agued that love and honest - not faith - were the only means to human freedom
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
humanists.uk
Lorraine Hansberry was a playwright and activist who gave voice to Black struggle and human dignity in mid-century America. Her works questioned why human achievements were so often credited to the very religious forced that so often stood in the way of progress.
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
humanists.uk
W.E.B Du Bois was a pioneering sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist who championed reason and education as tools for liberation. A religious sceptic, he was human progress as the work of human hands, urging people to seek justice through knowledge, not divine intervention.
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
humanists.uk
We're hosting an online event on #BlackHumanism this evening with our patron, the historian SI Martin, and the American folklorist Anthony B Pinn. Book now! 🧵
Black Icons in humanist history
November 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
humanists.uk
The new rise of Christian Nationalism in the UK – a movement opposing women’s rights, freedom of religion or belief, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, and LGBT rights – is NOT representative of the vast majority of the UK, NatCen’s research confirms.
November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
humanists.uk
One can see that suffering, and feel it too, no? Empathy leads to compassion. The famous humanist the 'unholy' Margaret Knight, who dared to suggest that children could be taught morality without religion, would also add:
'Why should I consider others? Myself, I think the only possible answer is the humanist one, because we are naturally social beings; we live in communities, and life in any community from he family outwards, is much happier, and fuller, and richer if the members are friendly and cooperative than they are hostile and resentful.
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
humanists.uk
But what does a humanist RE school resource look like?

Well, this! We recently launched these posters for schools as part of our #thatshumanism campaign.

You can download the posters, and hundreds more resources on the @humanismedu.bsky.social website.

We'll post a link in 🧵
What is humanism. Humanism is a non-religious approach to life, centred on living a meaningful, ethical life based on reason and compassion. Humanists see the universe as a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side, and look to science to answer questions about the natural world. Humanists believe this life is the only life we have, so they focus on living well in the here and now, guided by empathy and our shared humanity.
November 5, 2025 at 1:15 PM
humanists.uk
Some wonderful news this morning 🎉

We've campaign on this for decades. Now, we look forward to working with the UK Government to make it happen.

When it comes to religion and belief, children deserve an objective, broad, and balanced education.
RE to be added to the National Curriculum and is fully expected to include humanism.
November 5, 2025 at 11:39 AM
humanists.uk
November 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
humanists.uk
The #ECHR is under attack. Last week, Reform Leader Nigel Farage attempted to introduce a private member’s bill to withdraw from the #ECHR, announcing that Reform would withdraw from the Convention. It was voted down by MPs. humanists.uk/2025/10/29/h...
November 4, 2025 at 10:33 AM
humanists.uk
What does it mean to call yourself a 'humanist', anyway?
Who are humanists? A humanist is a non-religious person who shapes their own life in the here and now, because they believe it's the one life they have. Humanists see no evidence to believe in gods or an afterlife. They try to do good for its own sake, without expectation of reward after death. Humanists act morally on the basis of humanity's natural capacity for compassion, empathy, cooperation, and our ability to help and support others.
November 3, 2025 at 2:18 PM
humanists.uk
Wise words from our patron, Indian humanist, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, born #OnThisDay in 1933. Wishing him a very happy 92nd birthday!
'Human development, as an approach, is concerned with what I take to the basic development idea: namely, advancing the richness of human life rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live, is only a part of it.
November 3, 2025 at 11:41 AM
humanists.uk
Anil, @andrewcopson.bsky.social says, has the honour of being both the last Voltaire Lecturer and the inaugural Rationalist Press Lecture Medallist.

Congratulations @anilseth.bsky.social, Rationalist Press Medallist 2025!

And that's a wrap. See you all at next year's #RationalistPressLecture!
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 PM
humanists.uk
A huge round of applause for Anil before @andrewcopson.bsky.social appears to present the medal. He is taking a moment to pay tribute to Dick Taverne, a former Voltaire Lecturer and humanist hero who died this week.
October 31, 2025 at 8:57 PM
humanists.uk
We're now over to the Q&A session with @iandunt.bsky.social and @anilseth.bsky.social. The first question asks: if consciousness is an emerging property of the structure of our brains, could computers mirror this structure closely enough to recreate this? Anil dissects this.

#VoltaireLecture
October 31, 2025 at 8:41 PM
humanists.uk
'Voltaire encouraged us to think for ourselves and push back on dogma and arguments from authority. Think for yourselves through the arguments for AI consciousness and push back against false certainties.' #VoltaireLecture
October 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
humanists.uk
Creating a consciousness is not something that humans should seek to do - especially given the conscious being's capacity to suffer

But even the appearance of AI consciousness could harm humans

Just this week OpenAI revealed that many 000s of AI users show signs of potentially AI induced psychosis
October 31, 2025 at 8:34 PM
humanists.uk
On the question of 'What is consciousness?', Anil quotes Voltaire, for whom the #VoltaireLecture is named, who stated simply:

'Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.'
October 31, 2025 at 8:32 PM